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A few weeks ago, I made a bittersweet last trip (for awhile, anyway) back to New York to meet with the team at Eat Well.  While I was there, EW new media guru Karen Kanan Correa and I trekked down to Tribeca to visit Cate Bruce-Low, aka Tribeca Yummy Mummy.  A former chef and present yoga teacher, Cate teaches toddlers (aka “yummies”), including her own daughter Mira (son Liev is a bit young still), to cook with fresh local ingredients from her Tribeca apartment.

Here is a video of the class we taped.  Only one of Mira’ s friends was able to attend that day but as you’ll see, the two of them were enough for a festive atmosphere.  Ben, Mira’s fellow culinary student, has aspirations to one day own a restaurant.

In many ways, Cate is part of a movement toward teaching children to eat well through hands-on experiences, and can count among her contemporaries first lady Michelle Obama, who points out that fresh, local food tastes better and that children are more likely to eat healthy food if they are involved in its production, whether in the garden or in the kitchen.

My own parents never cooked much, and I never really cooked with fresh herbs myself until I was in my 20s and set out to learn to cook on my own.  At 3 years old, Mira and Ben, thanks to Cate, are already light years ahead of where I was in my teens!

If you can manage to avoid getting completely overwhelmed by the adorableness of Mira and Ben as they sniff herbs and toss “hair,” note Cate’s amazing unflappability (I don’t know how she manages on the days when more students come) and the way that she takes every opportunity to impart precious knowledge about the ingredients.  For those yummy mummies out there who would like to recreate this experience at home, here is Cate’s recipe, complete with her brilliant advice on how to include your “yummy” in the process.

Herb Pasta with Meyer Lemon

*1 3/4-2 1/2 c. fresh herbs***
*1 large clove of garlic, peeled
*1/2 of a sweet or “salad” onion (shallots, scallions, green onions also work well)***
*1/2 c. Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
*1/4 c. good olive oil
*1/2 t. sea salt + more for the pasta water
*black pepper, to taste
* 1 lb. of fresh angel hair or fettuccine pasta
*the juice of 1/2 of a Meyer lemon (a regular lemon is very good but not quite as tasty)

With your mini-chef, fill a large stockpot with water.  Sprinkle in enough salt to make the water taste like “acqua di mare,” (sea water), and cover the pot.  Have your mini-chef stand well away from the stove as your light the flame and bring the salt water to a boil.

Now wash your herbs together and place them on a clean kitchen towel to dry off.  Next, show your Yummy how to strip the leaves of the herbs from the stems.  We like to have one bowl for the leaves and another discard bowl for all the stems and woody bits.  This will be a long process if you have a little chef.  No worries.  Just keep plugging along nicely and realize that you are teaching your Yummy a skill set, and that takes time.  You’ll most likely end up doing quite a lot of this yourself.

Once you have gathered your herbs, throw them into the bowl of an unplugged food processor along with the olive oil, parmesan, salt and pepper, garlic, and the onion.  Secure the top, plug the processor in, and have your mini-chef press the “on” button.  Talk about what is happening in there.  Are things getting bigger or smaller?  Are things getting darker or lighter?  When you have a paste, turn off the food processor, unplug it from the wall, and open it up.

Big Person: Meanwhile, with the water in the pasta pot boiling, add your pasta, stir once, and then boil for one minute.  Lift the pasta out of the water with tongs and place it into a large serving bowl.  Scrape the herb paste on top of the pasta for your mini-chef so that they don’t come near the blade of the food processor.

Together Again: Squeeze the lemon over the pasta and toss using tongs.  Serve warm or chilled.  This is an incredible leftover.

***We always use a lot of mint, basil, thyme, and flat leaf parsley and fill in other herbs around those central flavors: e.g., tarragon, oregano.