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WILKES-BARRE — When Aidan McFarlane visited relatives in Ohio earlier this month, the 12-year-old Wilkes-Barre boy cooked lamb chops seasoned with garlic, mint, rosemary and olive oil.
He kept his energy up on a recent bike ride through his Wilkes-Barre neighborhood by munching one of his homemade zucchini fritters.
And, if only his friend, Patrick, had been able to spend more time at Aidan’s house the other day, he would have shown his buddy how to make New Orleans-style po’ boy sandwiches with breaded shrimp and oysters.
It’s easy to see Aidan’s cooking projects are, well, a bit more complicated than peanut butter and jelly, but the young veteran of the Food Network’s “Chopped Junior” knows how to make simpler fare as well.
When the Times Leader recently asked him to demonstrate the preparation of some tasty, nutritious lunch-box option, he quickly whipped up chicken salad and tuna salad wraps.
Using 10 ounces of canned chicken in the one salad, and 15 ounces of tuna in the other, he added grated carrots and celery to each and mixed them in with a spoonful of mayonnaise.
“You could use radishes, too,” he said. “Or olives, or peppers.”
He would have picked some of the peppers he’s growing in his backyard garden but said they weren’t ripe enough.
Aidan likes to include vegetables or fruit in every meal because they’re good for you. But he doesn’t base every food decision solely on nutrition.
“Whole wheat is better for you,” he said. “But white bread tastes better.”
During his recent sandwich demonstration, he used wraps, tomato slices and lettuce, from which he had carefully trimmed the ribs. Not every cook does that, but he likes to. He also suggests that, if you really don’t want a sandwich to become soggy, you might pack your chicken salad or tuna salad in a little thermos or plastic sandwich container, carry the bread separately and assemble your sandwich at school.
He said he sometimes assembles his own sandwich that way at Wilkes-Barre Academy, where he starts seventh grade this year. That may sound like something a grown-up gourmet would do, but the kid in Aidan emerged when he showed he hasn’t forgotten desserts that might accompany a sandwich to school.
Already on the counter in the family kitchen? Oreos with lemon filling.
