Craving for creativity

Hockey sticks, baseball bats and fry pans are equally at home in 15-year-old Ryan Reifenberg's hands.

It's not such an unlikely combination. The Barrington High School honors student inherited Greek and Italian genes from his mother and the all-American boy's love of sports from his father.

This summer Ryan channeled his competitive energy into a third-place win during his first cooking contest, a stir-fry challenge sponsored by Flat Top Grill and Kendall College in Chicago.

The cook-off marked the finale of Kendall's annual summer camp where high school students learn hands-on skills from professional chefs.

A first-time camper and one of the youngest participants, Ryan was one of nine finalists from a field of 171 students enrolled in basic, advanced and specialty cooking classes.

"They had a buffet of ingredients -- vegetables, meats, rice, noodles -- and nine different sauces," says Ryan. "You picked out what you wanted and added any combination of sauces.

"Other kids were doing regular stir-fry so I decided to do mu shu."

That could have been the winning strategy. One of the judges, Christopher Koetke, dean of the culinary program at Kendall, said he was impressed by the quality of all the entries, and specifically noted: "When I was that age, I certainly wasn't making mu shu wraps."

Most likely the dean wasn't preparing gnocchi at the age of 5 either, but Ryan was. One of his earliest cooking memories is of well-orchestrated gnocchi-making sessions at Christmas "with the whole family, uncles, aunts, grandparents, my dad and brothers. We were all in a line, doing our separate jobs."

His mother, Laura, a from-scratch cook, introduced all her sons to the kitchen when they were young, but Ryan took to it like Bobby Flay to a grill.

"A lot of kids like to be in the kitchen, stirring stuff," says Laura. "Ryan wanted to create and experiment. A lot of times he'll go the fridge, see five things in there and make dinner with it. That's fun for him."

Culinary camp only fed that craving for creativity. Though many students complained about the eight-hour days in a hot kitchen, Ryan didn't sweat the small stuff.

"I had a great time," he says. "I liked the hands-on experience. If I'm sitting around, I'm bored."

He learned to bone chicken and fish, how to make chicken Provencal and sushi, all from scratch.

Next semester he will learn more during a high school cooking class, and next summer he hopes to study at Kendall again.

At home, he cooks as often as he can, finding ways to add fresh herbs to his dishes.

"I usually cook breakfast for everyone on weekends, and sometimes dinner on Friday night," he says.

Among his breakfast specialties are eggs Benedict and crepes filled with cream cheese and fruit preserves. Dinners might be sushi, burritos or vodka sauce for pasta.

Sometimes he recreates his winning mu shu recipe, which he shares this week. If you can't find the mu shu wrappers just serve it as stir-fry on rice.

Easier yet, try his brats in beer-based onion gravy, or the family's much-loved recipe for gnocchi. It just might inspire you the way it did Ryan.

Brats with Onion Gravy

1¼ pounds (5 links) uncooked brats

1 tablespoon butter

1 onion, sliced

1 bottle (12 ounces) beer

3 tablespoons Wondra

Grill your favorite kind of raw brats until grill marks show.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pan and cook the onions until tender, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add brats to pan, pour in beer and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until brats cooked through, about 8-10 minutes. Wrap brats in foil to keep warm.

Add Wondra to pan and simmer until mixture thickens. Place brats in buns and serve with onion gravy.

Serves five.

Nutrition values per serving: 360 calories, 27 g fat (10 g saturated), 11 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 13 g protein, 70 mg cholesterol, 720 mg sodium.

Crispy Chicken and Shrimp Stir-fry

1 tablespoon oil

1 pound chicken breast, cubed

1 cup red cabbage, shredded

1 cup celery, sliced

1 cup onion, chopped

1 cup carrot, shredded

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 pound small cooked shrimp, tail removed

8 ounces crushed pineapple, drained

6 ounces roughly chopped baby spinach

¼ cup cilantro, freshly chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tablespoon spicy kung pao sauce

3 tablespoon teriyaki sauce

Chow mein noodles, for garnish

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large pan. Add chicken and cook through, 1 to 2 minutes. Add cabbage, celery, onion and carrot, cook until tender crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper.

Add shrimp, pineapple, spinach, cilantro and garlic. Stir in kung pao sauce and teriyaki sauce; cook until heated through.

Serve over white rice; garnish with chow mein noodles. Alternately, use filling for mu shu (Chinese pancakes).

Serves four to six.

Nutrition values per serving: 220 calories, 5 g fat (1 g saturated), 16 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 29 g protein, 155 mg cholesterol, 470 mg sodium.

Gnocchi

5 large Idaho potatoes

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

2 cups flour

Peel potatoes and cut into quarters.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add the salt. Cook potatoes until tender, 8-10 minutes. Drain, mash and let cool a bit.

Blend in the egg; add flour slowly until potato dough is no longer sticky. Divide into 4 balls. On a floured surface, roll one ball into a 1-inch thick rope; cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces. Press your thumb or a fork into the center of each piece to create a slight "c" shape. Repeat with remaining balls of dough.

When ready to cook, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add gnocchi and cook until they float to the top. Drain and top with your favorite pasta sauce.

Serves 12 to 15.

Nutrition values per serving: 190 calories, 0.5 g fat (0 saturated), 41 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 5 g protein, 15 mg cholesterol, 170 mg sodium.