Little Chefs Big Meals: Cooking at Home with The Hatfields

Quinn and I are masters at cooking at home.

I don't know, we've been doing it for 15 years,

we've been kind of doing the dance in the

home kitchen, and we've gotten quite good.

[Quinn] I like to do a lot on the grill,

which kind of like separates us,

everybody gets their space.

[Karen] We totally divide and conquer.

We plan the menu.

Obviously, it can be a little more rustic at home,

and I think that's a great way to do it.

But also, because it's just the two of us,

and maybe a kid helping out you wanna kind of

keep it all simple.

You have to cover all everything,

from it being good for them,

quick, finding something that's like, interesting,

but not too adventurous for them.

Yeah, there's a real balance because,

I think it's our goal to sit down to a family dinner

that everybody will want to eat.

So, for Quinn and I we wanna eat something

possibly with a little bit of technique involved.

And we have to then weigh in what the kids needs are,

and what they're likely to eat.

[Quinn] You know, you're sort of like, alright

we're incorporating this thing we know they like,

and maybe something a little bit new and kinda like let it--

[Karen] If it fails, you pull out the macaroni and cheese.

(laughter)

So, when we were figuring out today's meal,

ultimately I think we wanted something

simple and delicious, that also really

highlighted the seasons.

So, we're gonna be doing a red wine braised short rib.

We have the brown sugar broiled carrots,

the peach and avocado salad,

and then we're gonna do

grilled corn with parmesan.

So, the short ribs, you know it's these great

beef short ribs and we just season them,

salt and pepper,

sear them off in the pan that we're gonna braise them in.

So I do, I'll do like a couple at a time,

kind of keep a little space in the pan,

allow myself to get nice caramelization on the meat.

And once the meat's all seared,

it comes out of the pan,

and we're actually going to caramelize

the shallots and kinda just like reinforcing that.

How long has it been since you've cut an onion like that?

Monday.

(laughter)

[Quinn] Like all those caramelized flavors from

the shallot and the initial roasting of the meat,

and the wine all sort of comes together in this

really great, like glazey sauce.

The peach and avocado salad's just sliced avocado,

and peach and a little bit of fresh herb, lemon juice,

olive oil, salt and pepper, very very simple.

The kids love avocado and,

I always like to have food, you know for me, colors,

bright colors represents different nutrients.

That's fun to incorporate into the meal.

And what's great about the corn is,

you know we actually cook it a little bit,

before we blanch it.

When you blanch it, it's got a little bit

of water in it, it can hit the grill and

you can just get that char on the outside,

and you're not really trying to cook the corn

all the way through, cause you've already cooked it.

One day they like something, and then

the next day they don't.

And they've been eating maybe carrot sticks,

or you know, raw carrots for snacking,

for a year and then all of a sudden,

they don't like them that way at all.

And our daughter likes to peel carrots with us sometimes,

it's one of her favorite things to help

us with in the kitchen.

So it's fun to be able to do those mornings with her.