Urban Roots goes “Top Chef”: Roots for the Home Team Salad Creations

Last Saturday (3/5/16) Urban Roots youth interns got out of bed early to celebrate their salad creations with Twin Cities chefs and Roots for the Home Team. Roots for the Home Team is a made-fresh urban-grown salad stand at Target Field, that partners with youth programs, including Urban Roots, Youth Farm, Appetite for Change, and Dream of Wild Health. Founder Sue Moore organized Saturday’s event to prepare for this year’s baseball season.

Youth arrived at St. Paul College’s culinary arts kitchen and scattered to their cooking stations, prepped with chopping knives, cutting boards, bowls and grocery bags filled with ingredients. Before the event, students researched and created salad recipes to test. After introductions, the youth were given an hour and a half to create, plate, name and be ready to share their salad.

Each team was privileged to work with an experienced Twin Cities chef. Our students said they learned some great tips from the chefs like, “if you dip a spoon in olive oil before you fill it with honey, the honey comes right off!” The salad creating began. Students showed off their expert chopping skills and honed taste buds, as they sampled salad dressings and made critical decisions, such as “this needs a little more spice, I taste too much peanut butter.”

By mornings end seven gorgeous salads were created with names like the “Spiced Curry Puckett,” “French Roasted,” and the “Spicy Thai Breaker.” The students presented the salads and the tasting began! This summer the salads will be made with vegetables grown by our youth and served over greens. Come out and support us and Roots for the Home Team at TargetField this baseball season!