Ten-year-old wins First Lady’s lunchtime challenge

Published 10:14 am Wednesday, June 29, 2016

This little chef is going to Washington.

Lukas “Luke” Anderson of Bainbridge Island is one of 56 winners of the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge, a nationwide recipe contest designed by First Lady Michelle Obama to get kids ages 8 to 12 cooking and eating nutritious meals. On July 14, the Bainbridge 10-year-old will attend a kids’ “State Dinner” at the White House with his mom and other winners, followed by a visit to the White House Kitchen Garden.

“I feel very overwhelmed,” Luke said about his upcoming travel plans. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

“It’s very exciting for us,” Luke’s mom, Melissa McCulloch, added. “We’re very big Obama fans. And Michelle Obama, I think is such a beautiful, graceful, strong woman.”

Anderson found out about the challenge through a postcard dropped in with the family’s Blue Apron subscription.

Luke said he was reluctant to compete at first due to shyness.

“I thought, ‘What if we lose? Everybody will know we lost!’ But when we won, all those feelings were thrown away with happiness and excitement.”

In a way, Luke had been prepping for this moment since the second grade, when he discovered crepes.

“Do you know what crepes are?” Luke checks. “I think that’s kind of when I started wanting to do cooking.”

He was at a French immersion school in Virginia and madame had just demo’ed the pancake for his second-grade class.

“It was kind of fun to work in the kitchen, to handle a knife for the first time, to peel a potato for the first time,” he added.

Luke’s lessons continued under the tutelage of his grandfather, a retired hospital food service director, when he moved to Washington a year later.

They perfected triple layer coconut cake and hacked barbecued ribs in the pressure cooker.

Eventually, Luke was helming the stove all on his own, cooking dinner for four or more on a regular basis.

“We just give him the recipe and the ingredients and he does it,” McCulloch explained. “He really follows the instructions.”

For the lunchtime challenge, Luke decided he wanted to try an Indian-inspired dish. He loves exotic spices.

His mom wasn’t so sure.

“I went, ‘Indian?! We’ve never cooked Indian.’”

The compromise was kedgeree, an Anglo-Indian dish the family had discovered in Richmond.

“It’s kind of an interesting blend of cultures, so we liked that,” McCulloch said. “The best of our country is blending cultures together and welcoming immigrants.”

Kedgeree is one of those dishes that everybody does slightly differently, McCulloch explained. Traditionally, it’s made with rice, Indian spices, green peas and smoked haddock.

To give it a Pacific Northwest flair, they subbed in smoked salmon, mushrooms and kale, all available in abundance locally.

Two trials is all it took to get the family’s endorsement.

“It was really good,” Luke said.

And miraculously, it passed the Arwen test: Luke’s younger sister, resident picky eater, approved.

The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge, now in its fifth year, is a partnership with First Lady Michelle Obama, PBS flagship station WGBH, the U.S. Department of Education, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with additional support provided by Newman’s Own Foundation.

A free printable e-cookbook of this year’s Healthy Lunchtime Challenge winning recipes will be available starting July 14 on the contest site at www.PBS.org/lunchtimechallenge.

Each winner and a parent or guardian will be flown to Washington, D.C. courtesy of United Airlines. Accommodations in Washington are provided by the Westin Georgetown.

In addition, at the Kids’ “State Dinner,” winners will have the opportunity to learn from culinary celebrity Rachael Ray, whose Yum-o! organization has joined to support this year’s Healthy Lunchtime Challenge.

The winners were chosen by a panel of judges that included Debra Eschmeyer, Executive Director of Let’s Move! and Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition; Lauren Purcell, Editor-in-Chief of Rachael Ray Every Day Magazine; Jackie Haven, MS, RD, Deputy Director, USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion; Stephenie Fu, Senior Policy Advisor, USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion; and previous Healthy Lunchtime winners.

Salish Sea Kedgeree

INGREDIENTS

6 cups water

2 cups basmati rice

2 eggs

2 teaspoons butter

½ yellow onion, peeled and diced

3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1 teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cardamom

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus additional

¼ teaspoon clove

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Salt (as desired)

2 teaspoons mustard seeds

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 bunch asparagus, tough ends removed, cut into bite-sized pieces

6 ounces crimini mushrooms, quartered

1 bunch kale, stems removed, roughly chopped

Juice of 1 fresh lemon

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 ounces smoked wild salmon

Garnish: Green onions, chopped (optional)

PREPARATION

1. In a large saucepan, bring salted water to a boil over medium-high heat.

Add rice, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes. Meantime, in a medium saucepan, cover the eggs with cold water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, for 12 minutes, or until cooked through and hard boiled.

When cooled, peel eggs and quarter.

2. In a nonstick skillet, melt butter on medium-high heat. Add the onion, cook for 2 minutes, then add garlic. Cook 1 minute more, then add all of the spices.

Stir and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the asparagus, mushrooms, and kale. Season with the lemon juice, and cook about 5 minutes more, or until asparagus and kale are tender. Transfer to bowl.

3. In the same pan, warm the olive oil over medium heat and add the salmon.

Cook until cooked through, about 3 minutes per side (if there is skin, remove and discard). Flake the salmon into bite-sized pieces. Add the cooked rice and the vegetables, and mix well. Divide into 4 bowls and top each bowl with 2 egg quarters.

Garnish with scallions, if desired. Enjoy!