Last week we had the wonderful opportunity of having Rosco from Sam and Rosco’s Restaurant here in Douglasville to be a guest speaker in my classes. I am not exaggerating at all when I tell you that I had more administrators, teachers, and students than ever before stopping by my room to see what was being prepared. The aroma of garlic, peppers, and onions was everywhere. You can just imagine how the best Italian restaurant smells when you walk in and that’s what was permeating the entire back hall. It was amazingly good. My students were in awe of Rosco’s expertise in cooking and his life story of how he ended up in the restaurant business. He came here from the Northern part of Iran and graduated from Southern Tech as an engineer. In college he worked at many great restaurants in Atlanta such as Pano and Paul’s and The Fish Market. After graduating he taught college for a few years. As he was offered a Doctorial Program his life took a different turn and he and his college friend Sam decided to open an Italian restaurant that was named Aldo’s. That restaurant grew from one to several others in the Atlanta area. Being in the restaurant business is hard work with long hours. When both Sam and Rosco wanted to spend more time with their families all the Aldo restaurants were sold. Now they operate the one and only Sam and Rosco’s.
Rosco opened it for my students to ask questions. As a teacher I am never surprised at what they ask. This list will give you an idea of how teens are thinking.
- Do you eat out a lot?
- Where do you eat out?
- What do you like to cook at home?
- How did you learn to cook?
- How can I get a job in your restaurant?
- Will you come and take Mrs. Lupo’s place and cook for us every day?
Rosco put me to shame cooking in more ways than one! When I give a demo I make the recipe just as it is which usually makes 4-6 servings. This means for everyone to get a taste it is divided 28 ways. The students complain that I make this delicious food and serve them just morsels which is a form of slow torture. Rosco on the other hand served a generous serving and more if they wanted it. They were in heaven. It was a delicious meat sauce served over penne pasta. The garlic bread was heavenly. I am telling you that I could not wait to get the recipe and make it at home. It is so simple yet different from any meat sauce that I have had. As I am writing this now I can smell the sauce. Delicious!
As a home cook with no restaurant experience here are a few of my observations as I watched Rosco prepare the food for my class.
- He was very calm and did everything with such ease.
- He talked a lot about food safety and how important it is to be safe and clean in the kitchen. I preach that to my students all the time.
- And another thing that I stress and he did also is to clean as you go. I loved it!
- He used a dish towel to take the bread out of the oven just like every food show I have ever watched. I was taught to use a pot holder.
- He stressed that you should be creative with food. Open the refrigerator and pantry and see what you can come up with.
- Eat healthy.
It has been a week since Rosco spoke to my classes and the students are still talking about what they learned and that it was a fantastic cooking experience. So here are the recipes that brought down the house. Now you can turn your kitchen into a great Italian restaurant.
Meat Sauce from Roozebeh Sayyar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 cup diced yellow, red, and orange peppers ( May use green if desired)
- 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 cup diced fresh tomatoes
- 2 1/2 lb. ground beef or turkey
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 4 cups water
- 1/4 cup fresh basil chopped
- 1 cup Parmigiana cheese grated
- 1 cup Mozzarella cheese shredded
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 lb. penne pasta
- In a large Dutch oven heat olive oil over medium high heat.
- Saute onions, peppers, and garlic until onions are opaque.
- Add salt and pepper and tomatoes. Cook for another few minutes.
- Add ground beef and cook until it is no longer pink.
- Add sliced mushrooms, tomato paste, and water.
- Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer until most of the water has evaporated. * Rosco cooked it for only 30 minutes but he stated he cooks it much longer when there is time.
- Cook pasta according to directions on the box.
- Add the fresh basil and cook a few minutes.
- In a large bowl or the pan used to cook the pasta mix pasta, cheese , and sauce together.
- Serve and enjoy!
*Some side notes here. Half of the recipe will feed 5 to 6 . I made the entire sauce recipe and cooked only 1 box of penne pasta. We had 5 servings with leftovers. I did not add fresh basil to the entire sauce and froze the remaining sauce for future use. I really think that the recipe will feed 12 – 15 people easily.
Here is the bread before and after baking.
Garlic Bread by Roozebeh Sayyar
- Cut french bread into 1 inch slices.
- Rub one side with olive oil.
- Spread minced garlic on the bread.
- Top with Parmigiana cheese.
- Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 5 minutes. We then turned the broiler on until the cheese started to change colors. Watch carefully.
I am really enjoying this food!
Thanks to Rosco!
Happy Cooking,
The Teacher Cooks
The Teacher Cooks 
I learned that the meat sauce is quick and easy to make and it taste delicious
1
In this meat sauce he added alot of color and fresh ingredients. It was very good with the fresh vegetables. I learned instead of using tomato sauce you can substitute that with tomato paste.
What a fantastic experience for everyone involved! I’m so glad he was able to do this for the students. Thank you for sharing!
I really enjoyed Rosco coming and cooking delicious food for us! I felt like I was at Sam & Rosco’s! I learned how to make delicious meat sauce and easy quick garlic bread!
I’m so happy he came, the food was delicious. I understand that now you don’t have to make the meat sauce red just for it to be “normal” or “taste good” he didn’t use much tomato paste at all and it was still wonderful.
I really enjoyed Rosco coming and cooking for us. The food was very delicious and all the ingredients made the flavor come out and pop on your tastebuds. I really enjoyed him coming and hope he will come again.
i learned that making meat sauce you can put alot of ingredience in it and it will taste great. also you can substitute tomato sauce for tomato paste.
Even though i was absent that day i learned from reading this that you should always be creavtive with your food and i also learned how to make garlic bread.
I learned how to make meat sauce quick and easily. I enjoyed learning to make something for my family that i know i cant mess up. My parents love garlic bread aswell, so hopefully they will enjoy the quick garlic bread i learned how to make! (:
I learned ; where i wanna go for my birthday dinner 😉
and that the longer you let all the ingedients cook together , the better it taste !
The way it taste only cooking for maybe 30-45 mins , id LOVE to see how it taste cooking for a hour or so ! (:
I learned how easy it is to make meat sauce. Almost all of it is preference for the foods you like. His food was amazing!! I am really glad he could come.
I learned that mr. roscoe is a good cook and that you can make garlic bread right at home
I learned that instead of using tomato sauce you can use tomato paste, and add some water. The sauce was delicious and fresh!
I loved how the food came out and the stories Roscoe told while he cooked !
I very much enjoyed having Mr. Rosco cook yummy pasta sauce for us! I learned how to make easy delicous garlic bread, and i learned that you dont have to put all the veggie in your sauce if you dont like them or add as much as you want
i learned how to make meat sauce!
His visit was intersting fun and yummy 🙂 . hope he comes back to cook another fine dish!!!!!!
I learned that you can use can use tomato paste instead of tomato sauce !
It was really good : )
This experience was great ! What Rosco made was absolutely amazing ! I loved it so much ! Thank you Ms. Lupo for inviting him to cook for everybody ! 🙂
I enjoyed Rosco coming and sharing his delicious pasta recipe with us and hope he will come back soon 🙂
Mr. Roscoe was awesome. He taught us how to make an amazing spaghetti sauce and he also shared his history and upbringing with us in the process. I am going to try and duplicate his recipe this sunday. Wish me luck! Thank you Mr. Roscoe.
I enjoyed his advice about the restaurant business and how he got his start in hios career path
Wow! I can’t believe you got this recipe! Sam & Rosco’s is such a treasure!
I learned that you can use tomato paste instead of tomato sauce.
the food was wonderful…. i learned how to make garlic
bread.
I learned that garlic is spicy! But, this was a really great meal. I also learned that mushrooms aren’t that bad, and that meat sauce isn’t hard to make .
Mr. Roscoe was really fun to watch cook. I learned that you can basically add anything you want into sauce.
Mr.Roscoe did an amazing job cooking! i learned that you can make garlic bread easily at home (:
I loved when he was here! He taught us so much! and It was a great experience. The food was AMAZING also. The only down side, is my breath smelled like garlic.
but It was deffinately worth it! (:
i learned that you can substitute tomato sauce for a tomato paste. i also learn that i will eat mushrooms i have never like mushrooms but i liked them in the sauce
I learned how to make some awesome garlic bread!! Best day ever!
I learned that the sauce can be made to your favorites vegetables. Like from mushrooms to others kinds of peppers.
I learned about how to get a job in the restaurant business.
i learned that colors of peppers doesn’t change the taste, you pick which ones you want to make the dish look more appealing
making his meat sauce was all about putting what he liked so when you cook, try new things by putting in some of your favorite ingredients
the pasta was divine and i learned how to make the sauce! i tried it recently without the meat and mushrooms and it was pretty darn good! and i never knew the bread was so easy to make
this food was extremly yummy i loved it so much:)
I learned that you do notsaute the mushrooms with the rest of the vegetables, to keep their shape.
I never knew there such a thing called tomatoe paste, but the presentation was fabulous.
What a great post, Wanda. I was fascinated. I liked the kids’ questions and I bet they learned a lot that day.
I have always wondered why many chefs use dishtowels as pot holders. (I notice Giada uses HUGE hand pot holders which I find ridiculous as it takes so much time to put them on) I assume it’s convenient and time saving.
I really enjoyed Mr. Rosco coming to cook for us because he showed us a quick and easy way to make good food! I learned instead of using tomato sauce you can substitute that with tomato paste to make the sauce redder. And that you don’t have to sauté the mushrooms before adding them to the sauce.
I had such a good time with the students in both classes. I appreciate the attention, courtesy and great questions that kept it entertaining and fun. I am also happy to read that some have already tried or going to duplicate the meal at home. I look forward to being able to come back and do something different. Thank you to everyone and especially to Ms. Lupo for all her hospitality and help. Happy spring break to you all.
I learned that you can add whatever you want to the sauce to make it your own it just depends what you like and dislike ! I also learned that my dad taught for 3 years as a professor !
Wow! Sounds like a great time was had by all!
Popped in to say hi! I LOVE a good homemade meat sauce. My favorite thing is to put it on toasted bread with cheese…oh yum!
Wow! It’s great to read this story. I enjoyed every bit of how a real chef behaves in the kitchen like using a kitchen towel instead of a pot holder etc. The recipe sounds very tempting and I will give it a try
I learned that you can add your favorite vegetables into the sauce to make it taste great!!!
I learned how to make a nice good good meal in short time. I also learned that a little of this and that can go along way. I’m very grateful he came to our class and showed us how to make ths wonderful food.