Les Petits Chefs make pizza from scratch with Massimo Bruno

Massimo Bruno is a bit of legend amongst the Petits Chefs alum – to the point where a bunch of them paused in their tracks the other day when they realised that Massimo was “in the house” and making pizza. I saw more than a few wistful looks from boys who are no longer in the club 😉  He’s come to work with the boys four times already – to make pizza, pasta, gnocchi and panzerotti – so I was wondering what on earth he would make with them this time around. I went back through my notes to see if any of the boys had been here the very first time Massimo came to the school to make pizza and since none of them had, I thought it was a great recipe to work with – my focus on this club is to show the boys that some of their favourite foods are easy to make (better versions of) at home and, well, who can resist a good pizza?

He demonstrated the easiest (and arguably the best) pizza – simple tomato sauce with mozzarella and a touch of Parmesan…

Then the boys got to work…

Massimo brought some dough pre-made so the boys would have enough time to bake up their pizzas in our short time together. They love working with dough…

A few of them got busy with the toppings…

Then they topped their pizzas…

While they were baking in the oven, the boys learned how to make the dough from scratch (also, some Italian as Massimo taught then “basta” – “enough” as he was instructing them how much flour to add… They were fascinated with both learning how to make the dough and the Italian words!

After that, things got a little busy – they boys each got a couple of balls of dough to work with so they could bring them home. They did a wonderful job rolling them into even-sized pieces and I could literally see them expanding as they left in little Ziploc bags!  A few of the boys made pizzas for their families that night – SO impressive!

I’m going to guess not many Petits Chefs parents saw this:

(those would be the finished pizzas that I am sure never made it home!)

We’re so grateful to chefs like Massimo for taking the time out of their busy schedules to come and work with the boys. They were already asking what he’d make next time 🙂 Thank you for showing them how easy a homemade pizza is and how much tastier they are too. We’re all about REAL FOOD!

Massimo’s recently launched his very own app – Product of Italy!

The result of  years of learning about and cooking the dishes of Italian regional cuisine, the app is Massimo’s way of sharing tips and secrets he’s learned from many years working in restaurants, hosting his Supper Club and talking his way into the kitchens of Italian mammas and nonnas – all to help you easily make the most authentic italian food.

Massimo’s sharing recipes from his Italian Supper Club menus in regional packs to start with, with plans to continue adding new dishes and videos in the future.

One of my favourite parts of teaching the boys to cook is when their parents email me photos and videos of them cooking at home. I’m so pleased and proud to see them putting into practice what we’ve learned!  One mum even stopped me on my way home the other night to show me a quick video of her son working with Massimo’s pizza dough then raved about how great it tasted 🙂

The other night I was tickled pink to receive this:

That’s right – remember the chocolate ravioli we made last week with Chef Dave Arseneau? One Petit Chef made the entire dish from scratch – pasta, filling and raspberry crème anglaise sauce – for his family. I think he did an amazing job, don’t you?

 

Let’s ALL get kids excited about food on May 16th 2014 – Food Revolution Day! Check out all the details on how you can participate here.

 

 

 

Canadians – win a Nespresso VertuoLine coffee machine. Closes May 10th 6pm EST. Details here.