Celebrity chefs collaborate to create school meals

Commercial chefs lending their talents to the school meal area is not new, but it isn’t often that such a confluence of culinary talent gets together to work on the problem of formulating compliant school meal recipes as happened last month at West Ashley High School in the Charleston County (S.C.) Public School District.

The occasion was the fourth Schwan’s Chef Collective K-12 Kitchen Collaborative, which seeks to encourage more students to eat in school cafeterias. It brought together celebrity chefs Adrienne Cheatham (Streetbird, Red Rooster, TV’s “Top Chef”), Todd Erickson (Society Restaurant/Lounge, GLAM Vegan, Huahua’s Taqueria, TV’s “Beat Bobby Flay”), Uno Immanivong (Red Stix Asian Street Food, Chef Uno Brands, Chino Chinatown) and Jet Tila (The Charleston, Pakpao Thai, TV’s “Chopped,” “Cutthroat Kitchen,” “Iron Chef America,” “Guy's Grocery Games” and “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”).

Chef Uno Immanivong works the West Ashley High lunch line to learn about school meal operations at the point where the rubber hits the road.

Previous Chef Collectives were held in Wayzata, Minn., Albuquerque and Houston, so this was the first to be held on the East Coast, and West Ashley was a perfect venue with a diverse student population and a forward-thinking school meal program that isn’t afraid to experiment , make changes and try new things even if they borrow from the commercial world.

Related:Former Noma chef Dan Giusti on the importance of chefs in schools

Using survey data gathered by West Ashley’s DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) student organization to find out what students like to eat plus first-hand experience by working the West Ashley lunch line, the commercial chefs in collaboration with Schwan’s chefs Deb Hay, Michael Gunn and Craig Claude and students from the high school’s culinary arts program worked on developing recipes that meet USDA school meal requirements, stay within school meal budget parameters, are practical to prepare by school kitchens and use federal commodities and Schwan’s products.

Jet Tila and Todd Erickson work on school meal recipes with Schwan’s chef Deb Hay.

The chef teams came up with 17 new kid-approved recipes—eight basic ones that can be prepared with minimal skill and equipment, a “plus up” version of each that requires a bit more prep and one bonus dumpling/vegetable bowl recipe. The eight items were taco pizza, white pizza with Alfredo sauce, hibachi pizza, hot honey chicken pizza, chicken lo mein, Szechuan beef sandwich, Asian meatball rice bowl and teriyaki chicken rice bowl.

Of these, the taco pizza and the chicken lo mein (see recipe here below), both developed by Immanivong and West Ashley junior Orion Tyra, were chosen to be served on the West Ashley cafeteria line, with the celebrity chefs and culinary arts students providing needed help to serve the meals. Students turned out in large numbers to try what the celebrity chefs created and both dishes were a big hit, with a district record 1,212 students and 122 teachers going through the lines in the cafeteria that day, according to the Charleston County School District’s Office of Nutrition Services. In all, 450 of the taco pizzas and 707 of the chicken lo mein dishes ended up being served.

Related:Chefs feature USDA-compliant meals at their restaurants

Chicken Lo Mein

Servings: 32

BASIC RECIPE

5.6 lbs. chicken breast meat, cooked & diced

16 oz. Minh Szechwan sauce

16 oz. Minh teriyaki sauce

32 oz. Minh Szechwan sauce

32 oz. Minh teriyaki sauce

24 oz. water

5 lbs. Twin Marquis WG yakisoba noodles, frozen

7 cups carrots, shredded

20 cups broccoli florets

5 cups celery, sliced

1. Spray bottom and sides of 2" full hotel pan with pan spray.

2. Place diced chicken in pan and add 16 oz. Teriyaki and Szechwan sauce measures. Stir to thoroughly combine.

3. Cover pan with foil and bake in 350°F oven for 45 minutes or until internal temperature of 165°F is reached. Hold hot for service.

4. Spray bottom and sides of 4" full hotel pan with pan spray.

5. Add 32 oz. measures of Szechwan and teriyaki sauces and water to pan. Place frozen noodles on top of sauce mixture. Cover with foil and bake in 350°F oven for 40 minutes.

6. Remove pan with noodles from oven. Uncover and add carrots, broccoli and celery. Mix well and recover with foil. Bake 60 minutes more or until internal temperature of 165°F is reached. Remove from oven and hold hot for service. Mix well before serving.

Approximate Nutritional Contribution per serving

Calories 440

Total Fat 7 g

Saturated Fat 2 g

Cholesterol 60 mg

Sodium 1,130 mg

Carbohydrates 61 g

Dietary Fiber 5 g

Sugars 24 g

Protein 29 g

Potassium 360 mg

Iron 4 mg

Calcium 85 mg

NSLP/SBP Crediting Information

Meat/Meat Alternate: 2 oz.

Grain: 2 oz. equivalent

Vegetable [total] 7/8 cup

ADVANCED RECIPE

160 pieces breaded popcorn chicken*

32 Minh chicken egg rolls

24 oz. Minh Szechwan sauce

24 oz. Minh teriyaki sauce

24 oz. water

5 lbs. Twin Marquis WG yakisoba noodles

6.5 cups carrots, shredded

18 cups broccoli florets

3 cups celery, sliced

*5 pieces = 1 M/MA, 1/2 grain

1. Bake popcorn chicken according to package instruction. Hold hot for service

2. Bake eggrolls according to package instructions. Hold hot for service

3. Spray the bottom and sides of a 4" full hotel pan with pan spray.

4. Add Szechwan and teriyaki sauces and water to pan. Place frozen noodles on top of sauce, cover with foil and bake in 350°F oven for 40 minutes.

5. Remove pan with noodles from oven. Uncover and add carrots, broccoli, celery. Mix well and recover with foil. Bake 60 minutes more or until internal temperature of 165°F is reached. Remove from oven and hold hot for service. Mix well before serving.

6. Top each serving with 5 pieces of chicken and 1 egg roll.

Approximate Nutritional Contribution per serving

Calories 520

Total Fat 14 g

Saturated Fat 3 g

Cholesterol 60 mg

Sodium 1,060 mg

Carbohydrates 74 g

Dietary Fiber 7 g

Sugars 15 g

Protein 27 g

Potassium 690 mg

Iron 5 mg

Calcium 100 mg

NSLP/SBP Crediting Information

Meat/Meat Alternate: 2 oz.

Grain: 2 oz. equivalent

Vegetable [total]: 1 cup

Taco Pizza

64 oz. taco seasoned ground beef, prepared

4 cups pico de gallo

32 oz. cheddar cheese

8 68594 BD Scratch Ready Pizzas

16 cups shredded romaine lettuce (optional)

4 cups pico de gallo (optional)

1. Evenly layer 8 oz. taco meat, 1/2 cup pico de gallo and 4 oz. cheddar cheese over top of each pizza.

2. Bake at 350°F high fan for 14-16 minutes in convection oven or at 420°F for 6-7 minutes in an impingement oven*. NOTE: Rotate product halfway through bake time for convection oven. Pizza is done when cheese begins to brown and is completely melted in the middle.

3. Cut into 8 pieces to serve.

4. For optional advanced version, mix romaine and 4 cups pico de gallo in a bowl. After pizza is baked, top each slice with 1/4 cup of the lettuce/pico de gallo mix.

*Due to variances in oven regulators, cooking time and temperature may require adjustments.

Recipe developed by Chef Uno Immanivong

Approximate Nutritional Contribution per serving

Calories 380

Total Fat 18 g

Saturated Fat 8 g

Cholesterol 50 mg

Sodium 420 mg

Carbohydrates 35 g

Dietary Fiber 3 g

Sugars 9 g

Protein 22 g

Potassium 550 mg

Iron 3 mg

Calcium 318 mg

NSLP/SBP Crediting Information

Meat/Meat Alternate: 2 oz.

Grain: 2 oz. equivalent

Vegetable [total] 3/8 cup