“Not now,” she said. “We have to cook.”
He nodded, but she knew he wasn’t going to let it go for long.
“HELLO EVERYONE,I’M Fatima Langrene and I will be the host for the show. Each week we will start with a Quick Cook challenge,” she said as they’d all been wired for sound and had their make-up done.
Fatima had mocha-colored skin and almond shaped eyes. He noted she also had a pretty smile and as she outlined the rules for this phase of the game, he knew he should pay better attention and did with one part of his mind.
But another part wanted to get some closure to what had happened with Staci. He needed to know that he hadn’t hurt her. And that despite the timing, he wanted to see more of her.
“Our guest judge this week is Marcel Roubin, food critic from theLA Times. Mercedes is sponsoring this challenge so the winner will receive the keys to a brand-new M Class sedan. I’ll let Marcel explain this challenge.”
Marcel was skinny and wore all black clothing from the tips of his shining dress shoes to the color of his black dress shirt. His skin was pale in spite of the bright California sun.
“I knew it,” Dan said under his breath, “He’s a vampire.”
Remy smiled.
“We all know you can cook with fresh ingredients and a well-stocked pantry but many in America are forced to create dishes for their family with only packaged and processed foods. Many families need new ideas to create somethinghealthy and filling for their families from these ingredients,” Marcel said, Taking the cover off a table that was laden with bags of frozen meats and vegetables.
“I mentioned Mercedes is sponsoring this Quick Cook challenge and they will be making a donation in the winner’s name to the local food bank in your home town. You will have thirty minutes to create a main meal from these ingredients. Your time starts now.”
Remy hadn’t cooked with frozen ingredients ever but held hope there’d be some shrimp he could create a dish from. When he got to the table he saw that most of it was breaded or coated in seasoning already. He tried to think how to turn these mundane ingredients into a winning dish.
“My grandma used to make these fish sticks once a week,” Staci said.
“Mine, too,” Vivian added. “I don’t know how I’m going to make them taste different but I’m starting there.”
Staci smiled as she grabbed her choices and then, when she caught him staring at her, she winked. “Better get a move on, southern man. I’m planning to beat you today.”
“Challenge accepted, cupcake girl,” he said. He liked that they could still banter in the kitchen. That was how it should be. The personal stuff would have to wait for now. He grabbed some frozen shrimp and scallops, as well as a bag of frozen ravioli and went back to his station. The pantry was open but the shelves almost bare, except for dried herbs, butter, milk, and eggs. There were no fresh veggies so his idea for a Florentine pasta dish started to fade until he remembered there was frozen spinach. He grabbed what he needed and then ran back to pick up the spinach.
Ten minutes had already gone by and he hadn’t even started removing the breading from the frozen seafood. He saw the other chefs around him similarly struggling, but a few of them were already cooking. Including Staci. He thought ofher background, how she’d talked about cooking with her grandmother and realized that the key to this challenge was in something he’d never experienced before. He’d cooked from fresh and local ingredients because they were the best sources for good food. Staci had done that because they’d been the quickest and likely the cheapest.
He threw away everything he’d learned in the kitchen and carefully considered the ingredients before him. He needed to make something simple, healthy, yet tasty. A Florentine dish was still his goal but he needed to streamline it. He changed his main plan and discarded the fish, opting for a single dish lasagna instead. He heated up the prepared tomato sauce, which tasted too bland so he went back to the pantry to get more spices until the seasoning tasted as he wanted it. He layered the heated sauce into the pan with the ravioli and the spinach and then crumbled some cheese on top and put it under the broiler to heat through and brown.
He pulled the dish out with two minutes left on the clock. He sampled it and realized the dried spices and processed cheese had yielded something that was very tasty. He had never felt so free in the kitchen. This wasn’t something his grandfather, father or uncles had ever done and as the timer sounded and he glanced at the other stations he felt a certain confidence in both himself and in his dish.
Marcel and Fatima started three stations down from him and he glanced around the room, noting some interesting takes on the frozen food challenge. The sense of pride he felt didn’t wane. He knew his skills and the dish he’d put together met the challenge requirements.
Marcel didn’t like the dish that Max, who was at the station next to him, had prepared. “This shows little imagination. It’s like you dumped the package on a cooking tray and prepared them per the instructions. I expected better from you.”
“Everything is well cooked and I really liked the spices you added to the potatoes,” Fatima said.
Now they were at Remy’s station, staring at his dish. “What have you prepared?”
“A Florentine style lasagna, using prepared tomato sauce and ravioli.”
Marcel didn’t look like he was expecting much and Fatima just smiled at him. Remy realized that this was his first big cooking challenge all on his own. The world wouldn’t end if he screwed this up, but then he’d never be more than the sum of his family. He’d never?—
“Delicious,” Fatima said. “What did you add to the sauce?”
“Spices and garlic,” he said.
“It really is good,” Marcel agreed. “I see you have seafood on your station why didn’t you use it?”
“I was going to take the breading off and then I thought if I’ve worked all day and have hungry kids to feed, the last thing I’m going to want to do is take the bread off of some frozen shrimp. I want to feed the kids quickly and nutritiously. I would have wanted fresh spinach, but the frozen does still offer lots of nutrients,” Remy said.
“Yes, it does.” Marcel nodded.
