Recipe For Fun
By Alexandra Rockey Fleming

Ellen Gray's experienced hand helps Catle Catacallos, 6, grate cheese during a cooking class at Bulthaup, a kitchen design showroom where Gray and husband Todd, a chef at Equinox restaurant, offer classes for adults and children.

THE ADULTS gathered in this Georgetown kitchen are here to learn a new trick or two and maybe glean some nugget of culinary inspiration to bring home to the table. They've joined the hands-on class, hosted by Todd and Ellen Gray of the Equinox restaurant, to learn to cook better and have some fun while they're at it.

The three children in attendance have the same idea, with the accent on fun.

"Great attitude," enthuses Ellen, a self-published cookbook author and for mer gourmet-food sales manager who's also the mother of a preschooler.

"Cooking is a wonderful process - it's about survival for yourself in a healthful way," she says. "We take it seriously because cooking is serious. But there has to be an element of fun."

The Washington area boasts a number of cooking schools and classes with offerings for children, such as Asian cuisine courses, pasta workshops and Mother's Day-feast preps. In Equinox classes, children can learn to cook alongside their parents and other adults in an environment that's child-friendly but decidedly not child-specific.

The Grays have been teaching together for eight years, and they have it down. Todd, an executive chef who cooked in Washington venues such as La Colline and Galileo before opening Equinox four years ago, instructs the adults, calling upon them by name to complete tasks as he alternately demonstrates and lectures. Ellen handles the children at the other end of the workspace. She coaxes, jokes, instructs and cajoles like a pro - slipping treats to her charges, making them giggle.

At class on this chilly mid-March day, the menu centers on hearty casseroles and gratins. Participants are warmly welcomed into the sunny classroom and asked to wash up and don sleek black aprons.

"This is a great celebration of spring," begins Todd to his eager audience. "The transition from the winter season can be a challenge."

But the session's children are only half-listening. Their challenge lies in the responsibilities they've been assigned. Jared Kassoff, 10, of Chevy Chase gets busy grating a large lump of Parmesan cheese; the other two - Catie Catacalos, 6, of Hyattsville, and my daughter Natalie, 8 - begin slowly picking through containers of raspberries, looking for the ripest and plumpest to use in almond Florentine, the dessert of the day.

While Todd demonstrates an onion-chopping technique to the adults, the children move on to harvest rosemary and thyme. "We're teaching the children how to cook things from their original state," Ellen says. "And we encourage licking the fingers and trying the batter and other things," she informs the children. "We're all about that.

Cooking reflects so many elements of life, she says - all valuable lessons for children. "It opens up huge avenues, from understanding a process to reading a recipe. There's so much math involved in cooking - it's about math, it's about science. It has elements of creativity. Children learn patience, and they learn to follow directions."

After each course is prepared, members of the class are invited to sit together to enjoy the fruits of their labor. The children serve the adults and then join them in tasting and discussing. ("You don't have to like it, but you just have to try it," Ellen reminds the children.)

Stacy Brooks of Lanham has accompanied Catie, her niece. "She's quite the accomplished little cook," said Brooks, a public relations specialist for the American Physiological Society. "She's been to a lot of these classes. And even though Todd is a top chef, you feel like you're in someone's kitchen."

"Cooking is the most important thing you'll do in your whole life," Ellen says. "Your diet affects everything. Cooking helps to develop a passion, and kids who have hobbies and passions in things turn out to be well-rounded adults. When you get kids interested in cooking, it opens up worlds to them."

IN THE KITCHEN EQUINOX RESTAURANT - Offers hands-on classes monthly at Bulthaup (a kitchen-design showroom equipped for cooking) in Cady's Alley in Georgetown, 3316 M St. NW. On April 10 from 11:30 to 1:30, the Grays offer "Cooking en Cruite," working with basic tart doughs to create One-pot meals. Each class includes lunch and wine pairings. $70 per adult (plus 18 percent gratuity and 10 percent sales tax). One child is free with paying adult. Children should be 6 or older. Preregistration is required. Call 202-331-8118 or visit www.equinoxrestaurant.com.