Work Text:
“Is it almost time for cooking school?” Jessie asked Amanda as she ran into the kitchen. “The snow started!”
“I don’t know; that depends.” Amanda replied. “Did you finish your assignments on Blackboard? Do I have to check to see if you actually did them, or did you rush through?” Jessie’s school had closed for the day since bad weather was expected right around the time kids would normally be going to school, so her teacher had put some worksheets and other activities on their virtual classroom.
“Yeah, I did! Here, let me show you!” Then, she stopped and looked around, seeing that Sonny still wasn’t home. “Mom, we can’t start cooking school without Sonny, remember? Do you think he’ll be back soon with the ingredients?”
“He should be. I just hope he’s having a safe trip.” Amanda and Sonny were both working from home, and since his day wasn’t too busy, he’d agreed to go to the grocery store to get ingredients for the family’s “lesson.” She just wished he hadn’t waited until today, but she also knew he was good at driving in the snow and considered it a challenge, so she wasn’t too worried. He always took his phone and packed an emergency kit for the car to keep her at ease.
“Do you know what we’re making yet?” Jessie asked.
“Nope. It’s even a surprise for me. Now come on, let’s go check your homework.”
“So, what’s in the bags?” Amanda asked Sonny once he had come home. She admitted that she was just as excited as Jessie to cook lunch with the family because they only got to have dinner together during the week. On the weekends, lunch normally consisted of standards like grilled cheese, peanut butter and jelly, or Kraft macaroni and cheese. Sometimes hot dogs, if she was in the right mood for making something different. So today felt like a special occasion.
“We’re going to make pizza!” Sonny said excitedly. “From scratch, of course. I know. I thought briefly it might be a better idea if I just bought the premade crust to make the first time a little easier for Jessie and Billie, but I couldn’t help myself in the end. Besides, I think it will be more fun watching them mix all the ingredients and roll out the dough. You still have Jessie’s chef hat and apron, right?”
“Oh, for sure. And Billie hasn’t gotten to wear the ones we got her for her birthday, so I can’t wait to see them on her. Lots of pictures for sure. Jessie’s going to be even more hyper when she finds out pizza is on the menu. I had to make sure she didn’t do a sloppy job on her homework because she wanted to start quicker.”
“As long as she’s good to go, then I don’t think we should waste anymore time. Just let me unpack everything and get set up, and we’ll go tell the girls after.”
As Amanda anticipated, Jessie was ecstatic to hear that pizza was on the menu and she’d get to help make it.
“Sonny, do you think this is going to be better than the frozen pizza Mom makes us sometimes?” she asked.
“Hey, you like that pizza.” Amanda protested.
“I know. But remember when I was making spaghetti sauce with Sonny and I told him you used the stuff in the jar? He said his sauce is better, and I agree. I really liked it.”
Amanda sighed and shook her head. While most parents would consider it an insult if their kids told them their cooking sucked, she knew that she wasn’t in any position to argue. Some days it felt like yesterday when Sonny was busting her for using jarred spaghetti sauce and enjoying a frozen Marie Callender’s pie for dessert. Besides, it would take a lot more than Jessie’s off-the-cuff remark to really hurt her feelings. Hard to be mad at a seven-year-old who didn’t quite know how to filter herself yet.
“Well, I liked to do things quickly when you were a baby,” she explained to Jessie. “You kept me very busy, and I didn’t have a lot of free time. Sonny actually taught me a lot about cooking just like he’s going to show you and Billie how to make a good pizza.”
She gave him a suspicious look. “And since when do you make fun of my cooking?” she asked. “Oh wait, besides all the time, I mean.”
“You weren’t home,” he replied. “I remember you liked that picture of her sitting on the stove stirring the sauce.”
“Are we going to make pizza sauce today too?” Jessie interrupted.
“Of course we are!” he told her. “Listen, I hope you girls grow up making as much fresh food as possible. That’s why we’re mixing the dough too.
“Now, once we stir the yeast and the water together, we get to add the flour and salt. The yeast is going to help the dough rise so our pizza isn’t mushy and flat. Then, we get to shape it into a big ball and roll it out with the rolling pin. Do you want to do that, or should your mom or I do it?”
“I think it might be better if Sonny rolled the dough,” Amanda suggested. “Jessie, maybe you could help form the crust. You always like eating the crust when you have pizza, right?”
“It’s one of the best parts! I like when it’s crunchy.”
When it was time to put the dough on parchment paper to roll out, Sonny put flour on his hands. “Since it’s snowing outside, I think we should make it snow in here!” he decided. “Let’s all put our hands in the bag and pretend the flour is snow, but only light and fluffy snow. Flour is one of the most important ingredients in cooking and baking; you need it as a base for baked macaroni and cheese, cake, cookies, and so much more.” He started things off by sticking his hand in the bag and dusting some on Amanda’s and the girls’ noses, which made everyone giggle.
“You know you’re cleaning this up, right?” Amanda joked as she ran a hand through his hair after putting flour on her hand.
“Are you going to help me wash my hair? Although, it’s already going gray, so I guess the white dusting compliments it.”
“Mom, look, I’m making it snow!” Jessie threw her hands up and watched the flour sprinkle to the floor. She was trying to entertain Billie, who was wide-eyed and had already brushed her flour-covered hands on her apron. “Billie seemed a little scared when I tried to put flour on her face like Sonny just did to you, so I decided not to do it.”
“That was very nice of you.” Amanda said. “Maybe Billie would like to stir the sauce today since you’ve helped Sonny make spaghetti sauce before. Or you guys could do it together because after all, you’re both the chef’s apprentices.”
“What’s that?”
“It means you’re a student who’s learning how to do a very big job. Do you like learning how to cook?”
“It’s fun, yeah. I liked watching the dough form and get all sticky.”
“I think you’re going to like the pizza sauce even more.” Sonny said. He reached for the can of tomato sauce. “Now, I know that I said I don’t really like to use jarred sauces, but for pizza sauce, you always start with a can of tomato sauce. But when it gets really good is when you add the spices for taste. For this recipe, we’re going to use salt, pepper, and oregano. Don’t worry; you won’t taste it on the pizza.”
He held up a garlic clove. “And this is fresh garlic. There’s nothing wrong with garlic powder, but this just adds more natural flavor. I’m going to cut this, though. I don’t want my students to get hurt.”
“And Mom’s going to put in the seasonings.” Amanda added.
“I’m afraid the girls will just dump them into the sauce and go overboard,” she whispered to Sonny. “I don’t think Jessie understands subtle yet. We’ve seen the way she douses her waffles in syrup and whipped cream and we have to try and stop her before she gets in too deep.”
“Oh, no kidding. Wait till we see her put the cheese on top of the sauce. It’s going to be all over the stone and dripping into the crust.”
Once it was time to stir the sauce, Jessie helped Billie hold the wooden spoon. “OK, Billie, you have to go slowly,” she explained to her little sister. “Sonny taught me that you just have to keep an eye on it but you don’t want it to start bubbling because then it makes a big mess. We have to mix it so all the seasonings can be together.”
“Good job, Jessie,” he said as he watched her and Billie work together. “You obviously remembered the lessons I taught you. So far, I think you’re getting an A.”
“This is a lot more fun than my regular school work.”
“I know, but every chef had homework in cooking school and had to practice a lot to become one of the best. But in our home, you’re always the best chef.”
“No, you are!”
“What about your mom? Do you think she makes good food?”
“She does make good breakfast,” Jessie replied. “Like when we have pancakes. Did you teach her that too?”
“Nah, I think she picked that up all by herself. She said she’s always liked pancakes.”
“And I love the new griddle Sonny got me for Christmas,” Amanda said. She looked into the pot and quickly smelled the sauce. “Wow, you two are doing a great job. Pretty soon, that’ll be ready to spread out onto the dough, and then the best part is, we can put the cheese on top! And some toppings, if you want.”
“I want as much cheese as possible.” Jessie said. “I love lots of cheese!”
“Do you want anything else on it? Like pepperoni or sausage or maybe even some spinach?”
“Why would you put vegetables on pizza? I thought veggies were, like, something you have with chicken or a snack.”
“You would be surprised at what people like on their pizza. Did you know you can use bacon, olives, or even pineapple as a topping?”
“Ewww, pineapple on pizza?!” Jessie scrunched up her nose.
“The next lesson you need to learn in cooking school is that taste is what we call subjective,” Sonny told her. “That means different people like different things. Like how you like your eggs scrambled but I eat mine sunny-side up so I can dip my toast into the yolk. And don’t knock spinach. It’s very good for you, and I bet you’ll like it when you’re a little older. It doesn’t even taste like anything. Remember when I showed you it’s just green leaves?”
“And she asked who would want to eat leaves.” Amanda remembered, laughing.
“I just want a lot of cheese.” Jessie repeated. She had already opened the bag of mozzarella and was sticking her hand inside to start measuring it out.
“OK, well, why don’t you let Billie help you sprinkle it on top of the sauce?” Sonny suggested. “You can put the cheese on half of the pizza, and she can do the other half. I’ll show her. Then, once it’s ready, we’re going to put it on the pizza stone so it can bake.” He reached into a cabinet by the stove and pulled out the new wooden pizza stone he’d gotten a while ago but rarely had a chance to use. After all, if they wanted pizza, it was usually from a restaurant or the frozen food aisle at the grocery store due to his and Amanda’s work schedules.
“This is a special baking sheet just for pizza,” he continued, letting Jessie and Billie see it. “You can use a round metal pan too, like the one your mom has, but this is what will let us pretend we’re having real New York pizza from a restaurant. Now, we need to let it bake for about 20 or 30 minutes, and then it’ll be time for lunch. You’ll be happy to know that I did cave, in a way, and just bought frozen chicken nuggets for us to have on the side. So we don’t need to cut the chicken and hand bread the pieces. But someday!”
“Not until they’re very advanced students,” Amanda said. “I don’t think they have the attention span for that. But that’s fine. For now, it’s cute to see them so excited about how their finished product is going to turn out. Let’s get some pictures before we eat.”
Once the pizza came out of the oven, Amanda and Sonny took pictures of both the finished pie and Jessie and Billie each with a slice on their plate. Then, they cut their own slices and sat down at the table with their girls.
“I think this looks great,” she told Jessie. “It was made with a lot of love, no doubt. And the crust is just perfectly brown. Not burnt, and not an air bubble to be found, even though I know you said that’s always the best part because you like to pop it. Sonny, you’re the teacher; how do you think your students did?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” he replied. He started to eat his piece. “Well, Jessie, thank you for all the cheese; it’s definitely slipping off pretty easy. Next time, we should put extra cheese on only a quarter of the pie so it’s more balanced for the rest of us. But you know what? It’s fresh and hot. I give it a gold star, not to mention two As for both of my students.”
“Did you girls like having Sonny as your teacher?” Amanda asked.
“Yeah!” Jessie exclaimed. “I hope we can do it again!”
“Me too!” Billie agreed.
“Well, it always helps when the teacher gets a good grade too.” She turned back to Sonny and smiled. “You have done a fine job with your students, I admit. I could use more help in the kitchen as they get older, both in terms of chores and helping me continue to be a better cook.”
“Thank you. It’s fun to teach them too.” He smiled back at the girls and said, “OK everyone, now the best part of your lesson is getting to enjoy the fruits of your labor. So, without further ado, let’s eat!”