We all know the theory: Families who dine together have kids with better grades and healthier outlooks. But we also know the guilty reality. Getting those overbooked kids and overextended parents to the dinner table takes the scheduling skills of an airport control tower these days — and you can forget what’s on the plate.That’s where we’re going wrong, says Lucinda Scala Quinn, Martha Stewart’s food guru and author of “Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys.” If the aromas emerging from the kitchen smell amazing, there’s no power on Earth that will keep a hungry teen away.Quinn is in good company. Hers is one of three recent cookbooks urging a return to the family dinner table and — more important — offering tips on how to achieve that Rockwellian vision without going nuts.Adding their voices to the chorus are Mark Peel, executive chef of Los Angeles’ celebrated Campanile and recent guest judge on “Top Chef Las Vegas,” and Stockton, Calif., chefs Rima Barkett and Claudia Pruett, whose “Cooking Dinner: Simple Italian Family Recipes Everyone Can Make” is aimed at novice cooks of both the grown-up and young variety.What’s needed, they say, is not only a slew of delicious, reliable and eminently doable recipes, but a strategic approach to food preparation.“The return to the dinner table is not so much about cooking as carving out the time, and that’s the hard part,” says Peel, by phone from his Los Angeles home. “People don’t have — if they ever did — the Ozzie and Harriet schedule any more. I work a lot of nights, but Tuesday nights, I cook at home.”The Campanile chef and father of five bases those meals — and his new cookbook, “New Classic Family Dinners” — on the family-style dinners his famous restaurant began offering 15 years ago. Some were Spanish-themed, others Greek, but the foods he kept coming back to were classic Americana — and some were much maligned. So Peel, a Chez Panisse alum, set out to discover why the Chicken a la King, tuna noodle casseroles and chicken pot pies of his youth had gotten such a bad rap.

Ban the can“My mother can make about 10 things, and two are tuna noodle casserole and macaroni and cheese,” he says. “But it wasn’t out of a package and it wasn’t mushroom soup.”When chicken pot pie is made from scratch —with shredded, cooked chicken, barely cooked vegetables, a light, broth-based sauce and a puff pastry crown — it’s sublime.As for mac and cheese, says Peel, “It’s not mush folded with goop. It’s a great casserole with texture: the soft unctuous cheesy center, the crispy edges, the crunchy top with the breadcrumbs.”And it’s a favorite in the Peel household.“My daughter, 4 years old, could she be any more finicky? She’ll eat the tops of the broccoli, but not the stems,” Peel says. “But there’s nobody who doesn’t like macaroni and cheese. Adding dried mushrooms and fresh mushrooms, that’s gilding the lily.But why not?”The convenience of fast food and supermarket rotissery chickens has affected home kitchens in a major way.“To a certain extent, a lot of cooking skills have been lost over the last 50 years,” says Peel.“And people are intimidated by watching the food-cooking shows. (They think) ‘Oh that’s fascinating, but I could never do that.’ It’s not true. It’s just as easy to cook well as to cook badly.”All it takes, he says, are some good recipes and a sense of adventure — and no Padma Lakshmi from “Top Chef” telling you “Time’s up! Utensils down!”

Shop, chop, sautéOf course, it takes more than good intentions to cook well. Having grown up in cultures where children learned to cook by helping in the kitchen, the Italian-born Barkett and Pruett — who grew up in Saratoga, Calif., but whose family hails from Italy — are hoping to convert Californians too, one kid-assisted pasta dish at a time.Don’t be overprotective, say the authors of “Cooking Dinner.” Teach your child to use a knife, to handle an oven mitt and make their own focaccia bread.“To eat together, you have to cook. It’s a life skill,” says Pruett. “And it’s easy, when you work (together) to learn things that have happened during the day.”But if the first time you think about tonight’s dinner is while driving someone to soccer practice, chances are you’ll be dining on takeout. Or frozen waffles.And, says Quinn, the editorial director of food and entertaining for Martha Stewart Omnimedia, if the people you’re cooking for include teenagers, planning is key.“Once you have more than one hungry male, you have an emergency,” says Quinn. “Plan strategically. Know what the next meal is going to be. If you’re not prepared, you’re going to be broke.”Do the grocery shopping a week at a time — Quinn always gave her sons, now ages 15-22, separate shopping lists so they could help. Get them into the kitchen, even if it’s just tag-teaming dinner: You do the prep work in the morning, they pop the casserole into the oven and get a salad ready. Teach them to make their favorite things, whether it’s spatchcocked chicken — a simple butterflied chicken, flattened and cooked to crispy golden perfection in a cast iron pan — or cheesy, herb-flecked Italian fries.Even the surliest teen, says Quinn, is helpless to resist that aroma.

CHICKEN POT PIE—Yield: 4-6 servings

2 1/2 cups chicken stockKosher salt, to taste2 cups thinly sliced carrots1 1/3 cups cooked fresh or thawed frozen peas8 stalks asparagus, steamed 5 minutes and cut into 1-inch pieces1 cup pearl onions, blanched 10 minutes, peeled3/4 pound cooked chicken breast, shredded or cut into 1-inch piecesFreshly ground black pepper, to taste2 tablespoons unsalted butter2 tablespoons flour4 fresh sage leaves, cut into long, thin strips1/4 cup crème fraîche1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed1 large egg1 teaspoon waterProcedure:1. Season chicken stock with salt and bring to boil. Add carrots and simmer 4 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon (reserve stock) and transfer to bowl with peas, asparagus and pearl onions. Add chicken; stir and season with salt and pepper.2. For sauce, melt butter in heavy, medium-size saucepan over medium-low heat. Add flour and cook, stirring with wooden spoon, until roux is just beginning to color, about 3 minutes.3. Remove from heat and whisk in chicken stock all at once. Return to heat and bring to a simmer, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to low and cook 15 minutes, stirring often to prevent scorching, until mixture thickens. Remove from heat, season to taste, stir in sage and let steep 5 minutes. Then whisk in crême fraîche.4. Butter four 1 1/2-cup ramekins (or a 2-quart casserole). Scrape sauce into chicken mixture and mix thoroughly. Fill ramekins with mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until ready.5. Roll out puff pastry into thin rectangle; cut into 4 equal pieces that can be draped over ramekins. Whisk egg and water together, then brush ramekin rims. Set pastry on top with dough draped over sides. Press around sides to seal, and pinch an attractive lip around edges. Pierce top with a paring knife, and set in freezer for 20 minutes.6. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place ramekins on cookie sheet. Brush tops with egg wash and bake until golden brown and bubbling, about 20 minutes (or 30 minutes for a casserole). Serve hot.Source: “New Classic Family Dinners” by Campanile executive chef Mark Peel

FLAT-ROASTED SPATCHCOCKED CHICKEN—Yield: 4-6 servings

1 whole chickenCoarse salt and ground black pepper, to taste1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided3 tablespoons lemon juice, divided1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeledPinch saltProcedure:1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using kitchen shears, cut along both sides of chicken’s backbone to remove. Open chicken’s legs and spread bird flat, skin side up. Press down firmly on breastbone to flatten it. Pat dry with paper towels, then salt and pepper both sides generously.2. Heat a large, ovenproof skillet, such as cast iron, over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon each oil and butter. Immediately add chicken, skin side down. Let brown, without moving, 3 minutes. Turn chicken over, being careful not to break skin, and transfer to oven.3. Chicken is done when golden brown and cooked through, 40-45 minutes (an instant-read thermometer should register 165 degrees). Let chicken rest 10 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice and remaining tablespoon butter to pan drippings and swirl around.4. Meanwhile, whisk together remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, red pepper flakes, garlic and pinch of salt. Cut chicken into pieces, drizzle with lemon sauce and pan sauce, and serve immediately.

Source: “Mad Hungry: Feeding Men & Boys” by Lucinda Scala Quinn

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