5.29.2008

The Long Hard Road

Life goes on. When personal disaster strikes, it always seems to me that everyone should stand still and reckon with it until it is resolved. But they never do. Jobs, children, homes, spouses all require attention. And then at some point, the individual is left to deal with it themselves for awhile. People move on, people move away, people move to other restaurants. Losing touch happens, even if it wasn't purposeful or intended. It's hard.

It's even harder when you are reunited with a person through news of further strife. The restaurant manager whom I wrote about in Wedding Triumphs and Disasters has certainly had her share of both celebrations and concerns. Divorce. Remission of her cancer! New husband! BABY! More cancer. Successful bone marrow transplant! Family! Kidney dialysis. Tracheotomy. Friends! Feeding tube. Respirator. Hope!

Today was a day to reunite in person, on phone, and via email with some old restaurant co-workers, staff, and friends. So great to talk to everyone! Jermaine, Kim, Nikki, Mark, Rich, Bernadette, Gloria, Manny, Maynard, and on and on and on. So hard to be talking about this. Restaurant people are one big family. We always seem to pull back together, to find one another, to reconnect, to support one another when the need is greatest.

Positive thoughts and prayers are called for on this long hard road.

Edited: June 1st, 2008, Heather Barrineau, Rest In Peace

Death is nothing at all I have only slipped away into the next room I am I and you are you Whatever we were to each other That we are still Call me by my old familiar name Speak to me in the easy way you always used Put no difference into your tone Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow Laugh as we always laughed At the little jokes we always enjoyed together Play, smile, think of me, pray for me Let my name be ever the household word that it always was Let it be spoken without effort Without the ghost of a shadow in it Life means all that it ever meant It is the same as it ever was There is absolute unbroken continuity What is death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind Because I am out of sight? I am waiting for you for an interval Somewhere very near Just around the corner All is well. Nothing is past; nothing is lost One brief moment and all will be as it was before How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again! ~Canon Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918

5.26.2008

Kitchen Shoes

My clogs
remind me
of Handel's
'Messiah'.

For years, I wore soft leather shoes at work, $40 a pair, throw them out after the cleaning solvents and grease embedded in the kitchen floor had eaten through the sole, get another pair. About once every two to three months, depending on if my toes were actually sticking out of the shoe yet, or if there was any duct tape available....come on now, you know you've duct taped your work shoes when you were only making $8/hour. You would look at your boss like they were crazy every time they hung up those Shoes For Crews pamphlets on the employee bulletin board. Well, me too.

Then one day, just last year, after 18 years in the business....a revelation. Okay, yes, this is late breaking news for most of you...I'm a little slow. My chef bought a $120 pair of Dansko Professional clogs and didn't like them. I tried them, and can I just say the angels broke out with "Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallel-u-jah."

Here's the thing with Dansko Professionals. They are stapled clogs that are hand machined. Therefore, no pair, no single shoe for that matter is going to be exactly alike. The reason my chef didn't like them, is he had gone to a shoe store and said, "I'd like these in a size 8", paid for them and walked away. That will cause blisters or ill fitting shoes.

It's highly recommended that you do not buy them online or in a store that doesn't know about Dansko. If you walk into a shoe dept and ask for a size 10, the salesperson, if they are knowledgeable, will bring you out no less than 3 pair of size 10s. Try them all on. Mix and match the pairs. Find ones that are snug but not uncomfortable in the toes, and slightly lose in the heel. The leather will stretch in the toe area. And they need to be lose in the heel for the rocker style sole to work properly. Your foot should shift forward slightly when you walk, putting proper pressure on your feet as you step.

These will be the most comfortable shoes you wear to work, home, gardening, hanging out, etc. And like Uggs, they are paintable, if you desire to create your own unique style of clog with some acrylics and shoe wax.

5.22.2008

You Don't Bring Me Flowers, Anymore.


Two different reactions to not being employed here.

Back in February, I interviewed a 30 year old Chef who was applying to be Sous Chef at my restaurant, and was interested in working towards further promotion. It quickly became apparent that his last restaurant had over promoted him. I asked him during his interview to tell me his food cost. He stated it was 14%. I asked him to think about it, and try again. He responded that it was 14%. Now, I'm pretty sure that even my busser knows that you can't run that food cost. Impossible. The industry average is 25-35%. I asked him how it was he managed to do that, exactly. And he responded that he always used everything up, never had any waste. YIKES! Um, hello? Shelf life? Bacteria? Food poisoning? Ever heard of it? So are you honestly bragging to me that you used two week old meat, fish, vegetables, and reheated soups until they were all gone? Apparently, that was what he was telling me.

(Quick mental note to myself: Do not eat at his former restaurant!)

I proceeded to tell him that I enjoyed speaking to him and I really liked certain things about him and his resume. I did not however think he was ready to be a Sous Chef at any restaurant that maintained standards, and that he may possibly have been over titled at his last job. The applicant stood up quickly, practically knocking his chair over, and yells "I've been offered a Chef job for $50,000/year!" I looked him in the eye and replied that if someone made him that offer, I would highly recommend he take it, as I don't pay my line cooks that much. He then stormed out and spent the next few days calling everybody he could get hold of to angrily tell them that I had recommended that he take a job for $50,000/yr.

At what part in that conversation, did me offering him $12 an hour to be a line cook, seem like the better deal? Am I missing something here?

Skip ahead two months later, I have a very polite, very young host, only his second job ever. He's had a hard life already. Family issues. Cops. You name it. Did a good job for me, with the exception of some tardiness issues. Received a warning that I work on the '3 strikes and you're out' system. My patience only goes so far. Today was his last strike. He walked in an hour and a half late for his shift, with an excuse about family strife. I pulled him aside and asked him to tell me what he thought I should do. His response? "I'm the one who filled out the application. I'm the one who asked for the job. You didn't call me for the job. If I can't be responsible, I can't have the job here." And then he apologized, clocked out, and left the building.

Huh! Ain't that something? Someone that actually got it!

5.21.2008

Deadliest Boat Tour














Your Next Vacation

Alaskan King Crab legs aren't something that I strive to eat. I know a lot of people who enjoy them. More power to them. And perhaps if I lived in Alaska, I'd enjoy them too.


I try to be a conscientious consumer who is aware of our influence and abuse of our environment, and that means paying attention to the concept of food miles. Food miles means the distance the food you eat traveled from the field/ocean/pasture to your plate. Eating locally grown, non-processed foods helps lower the mileage, supports farms/producers in my community, and is better for our environment. This means, I strive to purchase local whenever possible. Here in North Carolina that means Blue Crabs reign, if one were to need a tasty crab for dinner. And no fancy boats or 700 pound traps are required. A simple chicken neck, a piece of string, a net, a pail, and a comfortable perch near any body of saltwater should be able to produce a nice crab dinner for an entire family.

But there are some who can't resist Alaskan King Crab legs. This interest is most likely recently heightened by the past 3 seasons of Discovery Channel's The Deadliest Catch. Watching men risk their lives in the Bering Sea during freezing winter months, in ocean storms that could topple their vessels, or sweep a man out to sea and to his death, to bring in their share of crab isn't something that interests me. But there are rabid fans of the Captains and crews out there. And from a restaurant insider, I'm glad to see more and more consumers becoming aware of what exactly goes into producing the dinner on their plate. This show is one way to "enlighten" them, so of course, I can appreciate and respect it. Plus, you have to respect any job where a person risks their lives like that.

With that in mind, I recently heard that during the 2006-2007 season, the crabber, Aleutian Ballad, was in the shipyard for a major overhaul and retrofit. They acquired passenger seating on the main deck as well as seating on an observation deck, plus live tanks to showcase their haul to tourists, with crew interaction and narration from the ship's owner, captain, and crew. I wanted to post it here for a few friends who are glued to the Discovery Channel. If you care to check out what's probably the best up close and personal view of our US commercial fishing industry in action, and watch real fisherman pull in the bounty of the sea from a comfortable seat on board their ship, check out www.56degreesnorth.com.

5.16.2008

Why Servers Think You Are Rude


Please turn off portable electronic devices as the captain prepares for take off.

Beginning July 1st, 2008, it will be illegal to use a cell phone while driving your car in NC. There are several other states that have enacted this law, and more will surely follow. Even emergencies will not be tolerated as an excuse. All drivers must pull over and stop their vehicle before using a cell phone unless they have a wireless device usable without a headphone. Speakerphones are not excluded from this ruling.

Mind you, I don't find this to be a big deal, as I only use my cell phone in the car for convenience purposes. I actually prefer to drive safely, and make my calls when I am in a quiet safe place. But not everyone believes in that. In fact, a lot of people feel they can and should use their cell phones whenever and wherever they please.

Namely, inside restaurants.

New York Restaurant Reviewer, Steven Shaw, recently chimed into the 'anti-cell phone in restaurants' debate with these pro-cell phone comments:

'Hello? Just what do these people think cellular phones are for? Although I've seen the occasional person get loud on a cellular phone, and although I hate it when they ring (I think people should put their phones on silent/vibrate, as I do, when in a restaurant), I can't see any other rational argument against their use--it's nobody's business whether I talk to my dining companions, a person on the other end of a phone, my dog or my imaginary friend Billy. When I receive a call, I generally excuse myself and talk in an out-of-the-way location, but I don't demand that anybody else follow that procedure. If you keep your voice down, you're okay by me. I should also point out that, having dined in many other countries, I can state with authority that cell-phone use in American restaurants is extremely low by the standards of the industrialized world.

Opposition to customers who make a lot of noise (be it via use of a cell-phone or through being loud in some other way) is perfectly legitimate. But an objection to cell-phones used at normal conversational volume levels just seems petty. It says more to me about the opponents' inflated sense of self-importance (as though a restaurant meal is too sacred to be interrupted by petty business concerns) than it does about cell-phone users.

Plus, who do these rabid anti-cellular-phone restaurateurs think is keeping them in business? People with cellular phones, specifically business people, that's who. Take me, for example. As a small businessman with a solo law practice and no secretary, I find the cellular phone to be an essential liberating tool. Having the cellular phone allows me to go out (dine out, take a walk, drive my car, whatever) at times when I otherwise would have to sit by my phone all day and wait for a call from a judge's chambers, client or opposing counsel. I can see it now: "Gee, Phil, sorry you had to spend the night in jail, but my hero Danny Meyer said I had to shut off my phone." And it's not just the professional crowd. What about expectant fathers or people with sick loved-ones? Heck, what about people who just want their friends to be able to reach them? Is that so horrible?

If I can't bring my phone to a restaurant, I won't eat there at all.'


His argument was followed by a well thought out response from Rivers Janssen, Editor, Fresh Cup Magazine:

'I'm not really involved in the restaurant industry, other than as a frequent patron. But I do have an opinion on cell phones in restaurants (or in virtually any other arena). I don't like them. Pure and simple.

It's not so much about people talking, although I don't appreciate sitting through a meal while having to listen to one end of an inane conversation. It's more a slight variation on Steven Shaw's argument. He says, toward the end of his piece, that people who dislike cell phones in restaurants have an inflated sense of self because they believe the restaurant meal is somehow sacred. I don't have any such expectation of restaurant food. I do, however, believe 95 percent of chronic cell phone users have extremely high opinions of THEIR self worths, otherwise they wouldn't take it out at such inopportune moments (i.e. at the gym, in a hotel shuttle, during dessert, etc.). I have heard more ridiculous cell phone conversations on the floor of the gym than I care to recount. Not a single one of them couldn't have been delayed 45 minutes until he or she was safely within the confines of a car.

Are you that indispensable that you must be on-call at all times? If you are that important, then more power to you. And please do exactly what Mr. Shaw does and excuse yourself from the dining area. If you're not that important--and most of us are not, but think we are--then you must be like the rest of cell phone civilization. You must believe that by pulling out your cell phone in public, you are somehow impressing upon the rest of the population that you are ESSENTIAL to your business.

There's a reason that much of America looks amused when watching a businessman drive by in a convertible BMW while talking on a cell phone. It's because we understand that this person has lost touch with who he is, and thinks he must regain it by purchasing pretty toys and using them in public.

I know I'm probably in the minority in this one, and I know I digressed from the original argument, but it's hard for me to take this whole thing seriously just because I think cell phones are so ridiculous. I value my free moments, and I love the fact that I can't be reached much of the time. Mind you, I do believe cell phones are useful in certain situations, particularly emergencies.

I don't think cell phones should be banned from restaurants; that seems a little restrictive. I just wish people would take a step back and look at cell phones with a critical eye. When our biggest concern is that we'll lose the right to look like a self-important buffoon in front of a restaurant full of diners, it's clear our priorities are out of whack.'

Mr. Janssen's response is the appropriate response to this debate. It isn't the restauranteurs who feel their establishment is too good for cell phone use. Or that their food is somehow demeaned by their patrons using the cell phone while eating. The argument from the restaurant industry that I most frequently hear, is the rudeness of the so-called self inflated customers, who are using their cell phones. Does this mean they are probably also rude when they don't have a cell phone stuck to their ear? Yes. Truthfully, that's more than likely. But adding a cell phone to the situation just somehow makes it even worst.

Not a day goes by that I don't hear a two-fold complaint from a server about a guest, 1.) who won't look them in the eye and 2.) who is having an inane one way conversation at a table, and can't have the decency to recognize that the server at their table is patiently waiting for them to take a break from their conversation, a quick breath, anything, which will allow the server to start and complete their steps of service which would include things like, welcoming them to our restaurant, asking for a beverage order, confirming a dinner order, and offering dessert, at the very least. Nevermind the other customers who are patiently waiting for the same server to get to their table to provide them with prompt, excellent service. Which they will probably not be getting, because their server is standing at Mr. Cell Phone Man's table, trying to think of a way to politely interrupt, or catch the customer's attention, without appearing to be rude and inconsiderate.

The same thing happens daily to toll booth operators, baristas, retail salespeople, the folks at the DMV counter, grocery store cashiers, front desk clerks, airline ticket agents, and in general, anyone who's job entails dealing face to face with the public every day.

How 'bout doing us all a favor so we can end this debate? When approaching someone for a service, have the consideration to PUT YOUR CELL PHONE DOWN until the service is concluded. Regardless of where you're at.

We would all sincerely appreciate it.


Wedding Triumphs and Disasters












Wedding Planning

Several years ago, a young restaurant manager I worked with, had a horrible cough. For months. After much persuasion she went to a doctor who told her she had allergies, possibly asthma, and gave her a prescription for Advair. Another few weeks go by, still no relief. After more persuasion from friends and co-workers, she asks for a chest x-ray. And is immediately rushed to the hospital, due to a large tumor found wrapped around her lungs.

This young lady was engaged to be married to a local police officer in October. It was only spring when she received the diagnosis. With the upcoming chemo treatsments, hair falling out, radiation burns and such, it seemed improbable to her that she would make the beautiful bride she always imagined she would be, come October.

So what's a girl to do?

Let her restaurant co-workers plan a wedding for her at the NC beach, of course!

The management and staff of our restaurant made phone calls, organized, planned and schemed for 2 weeks. The wait staff donated their tips for a week so we could pay for a beach side bed and breakfast for the honeymoon. A phone call to a local natural grocery store for a small wedding cake. Another call to a florist who would help us out with a discount for the bouquet and flowers for the cake. The father of one of our waitresses, volunteering to perform the ceremony, as he was a preacher. A bartender volunteering to be the photographer. The staff all driving a couple hours to the beach to be the couple's attendants and witnesses. And more donations for the film to be developed, albums made, and photos for the couple's family, some of whom were not able to attend.

Overall, a lovely affair, made with the love and friendship of a lot of people.

But not all weddings go like that. Some in fact are quite hilarious or even disasterous. We've all seen them on the internet and tv. Brides sitting on the cake, the champagne tower falling over, a bird flocking at the best man's head, wedding guests falling on the dance floor.

As if wedding mishaps didn't happen enough if real life, PlayFirst has come out with Wedding Dash 2, a sequel to it's original spin off from the Diner Dash series. In this game, an assortment of wedding planners have been asked to participate and compete in a reality contest to see which is the most professional, who can plan the best weddings, and keep the strange disasters at bay. We help seat and feed a myraid of guests while our wedding planner Quinn does her best to make sure nothing ruins the bride and groom's big day. Mr. Wright is available to capture those wedding memories on film, and the band, well, they are like most wedding singers.... unpredictable and sometimes out of control. And oh, the food! Where'd they hire that chef? I'd love to try the Chili Rubbed Lobster, Crab Bisque, Steak Au Poirve, and Baked Ham with Pineapple. Let's hope we don't have to throw any out!

My favorite wedding guest is Uncle Charles. He's an extremely suave gentleman, and popular with the ladies. A very dapper dresser also, might I add. But don't let him get distracted while he's chewing or Quinn may need to run over and help him to stop choking! Or don't send her over, cuz that's funny too! Especially when his face turns red.

And poor ol' Norbert. He's deaf. And he keeps forgetting that he needs to order his food if he wants to finish dinner on time and get out on the dance floor with his version of Kylie Minogue's 'Locomotion'.

Let's not forget Chloe, the beautiful and popular blond from the original Wedding Dash. She's back this time with her cry baby, Kathleen. But don't stare at Kathleen too long because that child really got hit with a whole lot of ugly when she was born!

For another wedding disaster story, check out:
http://www.playfirst.com/blog/192

5.15.2008

For The Love Of Chocolate Milk

Organic. Pasture raised. Bovine growth hormone free. Sounds delicious, doesn't it? Well, truthfully, it isn't all delicious. It isn't all organic or pasture raised or hormone free. In the dairy industry, there are various certifications and specifications and available loop holes to being labeled organic. Horizon brand hit a snafu when some people questioned whether they were stretching the loop holes a bit, awhile back. I've had their milk, it's fine. But it isn't delicious in my opinion. It's thin and weak as milk goes. Tastes like I'm drinking the old style grocery store skim milk that always had a blueish hue to it, back in the 70's and 80's.

When our restaurant wanted to start using organic dairy products in our cooking, we tested several options in the local and nationally available market. Quality was the highest priority, followed by cost, delivery options, and shelf life. None satisfied us on every count. Plus, I really wanted to support a local farm here in NC. So we kept looking and came upon Bowman Dairy in Julian, NC. Their milk is sold under the brand name Homeland Creamery. They couldn't have chosen a more perfect product name. Their farm reminds me of America's homeland, thru and thru. An idealic setting, with cows feeding in the pasture, tractors, milking facilities, silos, and a few goats, dogs, and other farm animals roaming around. And talk about creamy. Their product arrives daily with a thick head at the top of each bottle, just like when Irvin Weaver used to deliver to the milk box on my grandfather's back porch in Pennsylvania. They deliver butter, cream, half and half, buttermilk, whole milk, skim, eggnog, and ice cream. They also carry other products like free range chicken eggs, Tennessee cheeses, local sausage, and soap to clean up with afterwards.

But it's their chocolate milk that is to die for. Literally. Go make yourself a milkshake with thick creamy ice cream, milk, and chocolate sauce. Go ahead. I'll wait. ....... Okay, now that's what Homeland Creamery's chocolate milk tastes like naturally. It is the thickest, richest chocolate milk I have ever tasted. And tasted. And tasted. We don't serve chocolate milk in our restaurant. However, the good folks at Homeland Creamery know how much my staff enjoys their chocolate milk, and occassionally, a quart or so will show up in our service cooler. The first staff member to find it, gleefully breaks out cups and pours for everyone else. Aaaaaaaaah!

If you're ever passing thru North Carolina, it would be worth the side trip to Julian. The dairy offers tours an hour and a half tour at 10 am for $6 per person, Monday thru Saturday, March thru mid-November. The tour consists of a hay ride, visits thru the pastures, to the bottle fed baby calves, to the milking parlor, and ending at the creamery for samples of some ice cream. The tour is geared toward children with an emphasis on the fact that 'food is a product of a farm, and is not just a product of a local grocery store.' A corn maze is added in the fall. Phone ahead for tour reservations. http://www.homelandcreamery.com/dairy-farm-tours.html

Directions from Greensboro:(From I-40 E) - Take 421 South exit (Sanford), also called Martin Luther King Hwy -Go about 14 miles on Hwy 421 South-Take Hwy 62 N. Exit (High Point/ Burlington)-Turn left at end of exit ramp onto 62 North-Go 1/2 mile to stop sign-Turn right (which is still Hwy 62 N. ( which merges with Liberty Rd for 1/2 mile)-Go only 1/2 mile and turn left onto Hwy 62 again (follow signs)(people have missed this turn before)- Go about 4-5 miles and Bowman Dairy Rd. is on the left-Turn left (Homeland Creamery sign) onto Bowman Dairy Rd.

Directions from Winston Salem:(From I –40 West)- Take I-40 E towards Greensboro- Take 421 South exit (Sanford) also called Martin Luther King Hwy (turn right at end of ramp away from downtown)-Go about 14 miles on Hwy 421 South-Take Hwy 62 Exit (High Point/ Burlington)-Turn left at end of exit ramp (62 North)-Go 1/2 mile to stop sign-Turn right (which is still Hwy 62 North which merges with Liberty Rd for 1/2 mile)-Go only 1/2 mile and turn left onto Hwy 62 again (follow signs)(people have missed this turn before)- Go about 4 miles and Bowman Dairy Rd. is on the left-Turn left at Homeland Creamery sign onto Bowman Dairy Rd


5.13.2008

Soup Rotation


My mother and father both worked outside of the home when I was growing up. So I was what is typically called a "latch key" kid, in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Get myself up, dressed, and out to the school bus on time without breakfast because I always procrastinated on the getting up part. Attend school. Let myself back in the house and fix myself a snack after school. Typically a sandwich or a condensed can of Campbell's soup, or both. Then off to play until it was time to cook dinner, with instructions left by Mom, and have it all ready and the table set by the time my parents walked in the door after work.

During day's off from school like parent teacher conference's, snow days, holiday breaks, etc. I was okay to stay by myself all day. But once summer vacation started, there was no way my mother wanted me hanging out at the house for 3 months by myself, with no brothers or sisters to watch me.

So my 'Summer Shuffle' with relatives began. First stop, my grandfather's house, where I would stay for a few weeks of running around his big yard, helping to water his enormous garden, picking worms from the farm for 50 cents any time the fisherman knocked on the front door for a pint, and refusing to wash my dirt crusted feet before I crawled into the nice fresh bed linens at night after saying my prayers.

During our summers together, we created so many wonderful memories. In a cape cod house that my grandfather had built himself, on a hill top overlooking the beautiful Pennsylvania Allegheny Mountains. His neighbor acrossed the alley way was the local milkman Irvin, who still made daily early morning deliveries to the milk boxes outside everyone's back porches. Running over to knock on Irvin and Virginia's kitchen door and ask for an ice cream popsicle with the 50 cents I just earned, was one highlight of my summer days.

Another highlight was preparing lunch, or dinner as it's known in those parts, for my grandfather. He made breakfast and supper, but dinner was all my responsibility. A quick trip out to the garden, which produced fresh lettuces, spring onions, bell peppers, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, broccoli, rhubarb, potatoes, cabbage, zucchini, squash, pumpkin, and even bing cherries and concord grapes. Then a jaunt down into the cool basement to look thru the pantry for canned beets, homemade minestrone that had been put up the winter before, or a good old reliable can of Campbell's soup. Simple fresh green leaf lettuce sandwiches with mayonaisse, salt, and pepper, on Roman Meal and canned soup was a normal dinner for us, because I was little, it was easy for me to make, and used up what we had. Important in a frugal home. More importantly, my grandfather never complained. I still love simple lettuce sandwiches to this day, although I tend to more often order a BLT in public, no toast, extra lettuce please.

Now, in my restaurants, I am naturally drawn towards wanting to make the soups each day. It's crazy to spend my time on these items which cost $4.95 a cup, but I have a certain instinct for soup. I get upset if someone doesn't make them well or uses scraps or doesn't dignify the soup. Am I crazy? Probably. Do I know how to make a kick ass soup? Definitely! Do I recognize when someone else's soup is excellent? Of course.

Here are a couple of recipes from my current soup rotation. Recipes are in paragraph form to save space.

Chester County Mushroom Soup
(recipe courtesy of The Terrace Restaurant, Kennett Square, PA)

1 carrot, 1/2 onion, 2 stalks celery, 1 tablespoon butter, plus 2 tablespoons melted butter, 2 lbs. washed button mushrooms, 1/2 lb. washed shiitake mushrooms, 1/2 lb. washed oyster mushrooms, 1 tbsp fresh chopped tarragon, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp white pepper, 3 pints chicken stock, 1 pint heavy cream, 2 tbsp flour.

Mince carrots, onions, and celery in a food processor and saute in heavy pot with oil. Mince mushrooms in a food processor, add to pot along with tarragon, salt, and pepper. Cook for about 15 minutes. Do not burn. Add stock and cream and bring to a boil. Mix melted butter and flour until smooth and whip into soup. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until all of the flour and butter mixture is incorporated and the soup is thickened. Simmer for 30 minutes and serve. Adjust salt and pepper, to taste.

********************
Senegal Peanut Soup
(a tradional recipe)

3/4 lb. sweet potatoes, baked, skinned, and chopped; 3 tbsp peanut oil; 8 Roma tomatoes chopped and deseeded; 1 tbsp curry powder; 1 cup onions julienned; 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic; 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper; 1 qt. chicken stock; 1/2 cup peanut butter; 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk; 1 3/4 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp fresh ground white pepper; 1 1/2 lbs. cooked pulled chicken breast; 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro; 2 tbsp chopped roasted peanuts.

On medium, heat a 1 gallon stockpot and add 2 tablespoons of peanut oil. Add the curry powder to the pot and toast for about 30 to 45 seconds, stirring constantly. Add the onions and saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the minced garlic to the pot and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the cayenne pepper and chicken stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Add the roasted sweet potatoes and tomatoes to the soup. Add the peanut butter and coconut milk to the pot and stir to blend. Let simmer for 10 minutes, and then blend with an immersion blender or in batches in a bar blender until smooth. Season with 3/4 teaspoon of the salt and, if necessary, more pepper to taste. Add the chicken to soup. Garnish with a cilantro leaf and chopped peanuts.

More soup recipes down the road.....

5.12.2008

Gable's Grumblings

I often find myself in the position of talking about food. I work around it daily. I talk to vendors in the morning when they arrive with fresh product. I talk to the prep cooks who break down the product into our various prep, sauces, chutneys, desserts, and soups. I talk to the line cooks who use the prepared sauces to create delicious entrees. I talk to our servers about how to best describe our new dishes. And I talk to our guests when they tell me how much they enjoyed it. Or didn't. With all that talking, you'd think I'd be quiet once I got home. But you'd be wrong. I then proceed to chat about food with anyone interested in the subject or even uninterested for that matter. In leiu of driving any more friends crazy with food chat, I'm putting some recipes I've used in various restaurants, here on this blog. Only ones that I know are delicious. And if you disagree or make a mistake or can't get it to come out correctly, you can always leave me a comment to let me know.

Toasted Coconut Bread Pudding

  • 1 Lb. loaf of challah/brioche bread, cut in 1 inch cubes
  • 1/3 Cup dried apricots, small dice
  • 1/2 Cup sweetened shredded coconut
  • 30 Oz. Coco Lopez cream of coconut
  • 2 Cups milk
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 1/2 Cups sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons sweetened shredded coconut, toasted for garnish if desired


Preheat oven to 350°F.

Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 10" X 13" X 3" pan.

In a large bowl, toss the bread, apricots, and the shredded coconut together.

In a sauce pan, heat milk, coconut cream, vanilla and granulated sugar until the sugar completely dissolves and the milk is tepid but not hot. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat.

In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggs, then temper them by slowly adding 1 cup of warm milk mixture while whisking quickly. Slowly pour the egg/milk mixture back in the warm milk and stir until well incorporated.

Ladle the egg mixture over the bread mixture. Toss with your hands, making sure all the bread gets moist. Let sit 5 minutes and toss again, making sure all liquid at the bottom of the bowl has been absorbed evenly by the bread. Place the bread in the loaf pan.

Cover with foil and place in a water bath: use a sheet pan if necessary, fill it with an inch of hot water AFTER placing it in the oven with loaf pan sitting on top. Bake for 1 hour. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden.

Use a sharp edged spatula to cut into squares if you plan on eating immediately. Or I prefer letting it chill in refrigerator, to set back up a bit, then inverting it onto kitchen counter, cutting it into triangles, and reheating a piece in the oven for 8 minutes or until warmed through out to 120 degrees.

Sprinkle bread pudding with powdered sugar. Serve warm with a scoop of french vanilla or coconut ice cream on one side and whipped cream on the other. Finish with toasted coconut on the ice cream or around plate.