Every Sunday morning, once I get back from the dog park, I take out my ceramic canister of sourdough starter and let it come to room temperature. Then I empty out about two ounces and feed it equal parts flour and water–two ounces each (which is call 100 percent hydration). It’s my weekend ritual. We all have them–and, yes, this one’s kind of unusual.
Even if you’re not a bread baker, keeping a sourdough started can be hugely useful. It can add moisture and flavor not just to chocolate cakes and banana bread, but also crackers and pretzels–and even granola. Weird, huh? I had to admit it wasn’t an idea original to me but something I had found online and since I enjoy granola and had the main ingredients in my pantry and freezer I thought I’d try it out. And I’m sharing it with you because it would make a great client gift or a surprise treat when you’re catering brunch.
What does the sourdough starter add to granola? Think of it as a tangy binder. Once it’s added and then baked you can’t see it. But, thanks to its subtle flavor, you’ll know it’s there.
Now while you can use the spent starter you will want to refresh it a bit. So the first thing to do is mix it with a little water, a little flour, and some brown sugar. Then, let it sit on the counter for three or four hours. It’ll get a little bubbly. This releases more flavor than it would straight out of the fridge and the flavor is what you’re after here.
Once your starter is ready, preheat your oven and start mixing the other ingredients. The dry ones obviously go together first. And you can be flexible with the type, amount, and proportion of nuts and seeds you use.
Add your honey or maple syrup to the starter mixture, along with vanilla and oil, then whisk it together and pour over the dry ingredients. Stir it all up and spread it onto a half sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Off into the oven it goes. After it’s baked, let it cool before breaking it up into little pieces and adding dried fruit, cocoa nibs, or whatever strikes your fancy. I had lots of different packages of dried fruit, some chocolate-covered cocoa nibs, and dried coconut flakes that I added.
The result is a great mix for cocktail parties–or in a bowl with milk. It’s sweet and savory and very crunchy. And it’s a versatile foundation for creating a snack based on your specific tastes or needs. You can add more brown sugar or honey/maple syrup for a sweeter flavor–or add mini chocolate chips or other sweets as well as cinnamon or cardamom. Alternately, you can minimize the sweetness and create a savory granola with more seeds and the addition of dried herbs. Even as is I sprinkled a handful into a bowl of my Roasted Red Kuri Squash Soup and the sweetness really complemented the sweet spicy soup and gave that thick texture some crunch.
Sourdough Oats and Nuts Granola
Ingredients
4 ounces sourdough starter (100 percent hydration–meaning equal parts flour and water)
1 ounce room temperature water
2 ounces brown sugar (light or dark)
1 ounce flour (AP, white whole wheat, or whole wheat)
½ teaspoon sea salt
5 ½ ounces rolled oats
2 ½ ounces lightly toasted nuts
2 ounces mixed seeds
2 ounces honey or maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ ounces neutral oil, like grapeseed
Dried fruit, cacao nibs, crystallized ginger, coconut flakes, or other add ins
Directions
Mix first 4 ingredients and let sit at room temperature to ferment for 4 hours.
Pre-heat oven to 300 F.
Combine salt, rolled oats, nuts, and seeds in a large bowl.
Whisk honey/maple syrup, vanilla, and oil into the starter mixture, then pour wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Spread in a thin layer on a silicone- or parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake for about 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Check in between to make sure your granola isn’t getting too brown. Remove from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes. Then break the granola into pieces and add dried fruit, etc. once completely cool. Store in airtight container.
Do you make granola? What are your favorite ingredients to include?
Not an APPCA member? Now’s the perfect time to join! Go to personalchef.com to learn about all the benefits that come with membership.
And if you are a member and have a special talent to share on this blog, let us know so we can feature you!
Every year our friends in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Chapter (MARC) of APPCA gathers in the spring to share stories, business insights, and a cooking demo followed by a potluck lunch. This year, the meeting was held on April 13 at Lettie Lavallee’s home near Annapolis, Maryland, and attended by Keith Steury, April Lee, Katie Enterline, Mary Stewart, Laura Knight, Lettie Lavallee, Shelbie Wassel, and Iva Barrera-Oro.
The meeting first addressed old business–reviewing the Treasurer’s report and member dues) and then nominated chapter officers for a tw0-year term. Keith Steury will hand over the presidential reins to Lettie Lavallee. Treasurer Laura Knight nominated Mary Stewart for her job, which was accepted. And Secretary Katie Enterline accepted a second term.
April Lee let the attendees know about a new Zavor (formerly Fagor) equipment promotion she helped organize for APPCA members. (Note: we’ll have all the info about this great discount for equipment in an upcoming post.)
Next, the group spent some time discussing Personal Chef Kits. Photos were provided by many of the chefs to demonstrate the items and equipment that they take with them to a typical cook date. The discussion provided the participants with some useful tips for improving efficiency when packing materials in support of their cook dates for clients.
The next portion of the meeting was reserved for the very robust topic of “Maximizing Profits,” including alternative income streams and tips for increasing overall business efficiency. This section of the meeting included a wide range of topics, such as:
- Executing “Pop-Up” Demo Dinners
- Transitioning to a commercial kitchen space
- Tips for how to differentiate ourselves from the glut of meal delivery service providers now active in the marketplace
- Exploring less traditional methods for marketing/extending our services:
- Cozymeal
- TryHungry
- Publishing regular newsletters to provide useful content to clients/potential clients about our services (e.g., ConstantContact, MailChimp, etc.)
- Considering “partnerships” between chefs to accommodate and support larger jobs or client requests that we might not consider if working alone.
- Increasing community involvement to help generate goodwill for your business and get your name out to a broader group of people.
- Exploring summer camp and/or summer course meal preparation and/or cooking class opportunities for school-aged children
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A discussion of recipe management software options to help improve product consistency and efficiency of service, including:
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Bigoven
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Mastercook
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Modern Meal
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Iva Barrera-Oro
The meeting continued with a demonstration of a Vegan/Plant-Based recipe by Iva Barrera-Oro of Chef Iva’s Kitchen. Iva prepared a delicious Indian-Style Mung Bean Soup for the group. The chefs exchanged their own plant-based recipes for the benefit of the group. The demo was followed by a delicious sit-down pot-luck lunch prepared by the members of the chapter.
At the conclusion of the meeting, several of the participants extended their stay and traveled to Great Frogs Winery for a wine tasting before breaking for the day.
The next meeting, which will be hosted by member Laura Knight, has been tentatively scheduled for October 19, 2019.
Now, you may ask, why get a group of personal chefs together–let alone organize a chapter? I asked Keith Steury and he responded, “For me the MARC group provides a networking opportunity with fellow chefs who understand the unique challenges of running their own businesses. It is an opportunity to see what others are doing. What is working for them, as well as what is not. All of the members are very open, supportive, and willing to share both their successes and failures with the group. This exchange helps to make us all better business owners, because being a personal chef is about so much more than being a good cook. We have to wear many hats in order to make our businesses successful and keep them that way. Since I started my business back in 2007, this has become an increasingly more difficult task. Many of us work alone or rarely with other chefs, so this time together helps to recharge or batteries and re-focus our efforts on the tasks and activities that are likely to yield the best results for us moving forward. I always come away with at least one great idea for my business – typically many more. This is why I look forward to our meetings and so value the benefits that the chapter provides to me and my business.”
April Lee
Member April Lee, who founded the chapter, explained,”When I decided to create MARC eight years ago, the idea was to form a network of local personal chefs to get together a couple times a year to share ideas. What I didn’t know then is that I would meet not only talented chefs from this area, but we would form friendships that have lasted and grown over the years. I have been to every meeting (of course) since MARC’s inception and, even though I am one of the more veteran personal chefs in the area, I still come away from every meeting with at least one new idea, inspired and revitalized by the other members. There is nothing like the bonding and spontaneous brain-storming that goes on during our face-to-face gatherings, every member contributing with their experience and ideas to help support their colleagues. I suspect that even when I hang up my apron and retire as a personal chef, I will still want to be part of MARC just to be inspired by the creativity and enthusiasm of my fellow PCs whom I am proud to call my friends.”
Katie Enterline
And for member Katie Enterline,”It is such a pleasure to get to meet with all the wonderful chefs in our area. I learn so much every time. It makes a mostly solo profession feel less lonely.”
If you would like to launch a chapter in your region, get in touch with our Executive Director Candy Wallace. She’d be happy to give you some tips on how best to get organized.
Chefs, are you interested in gathering fellow personal chefs into a local chapter?
Not an APPCA member? Now’s the perfect time to join! Go to personalchef.com to learn about all the benefits that come with membership.
And if you are a member and have a special talent to share on this blog, let us know so we can feature you!
When you have friends who are chefs you–okay, I–get the benefit of an astounding variety of interesting recipes. And as far as I’m concerned, the more components the better because then you can mix and match them with other dishes.
Take, for instance, this Moroccan Meatball Sandwich. It’s the signature dish of Moto Deli, an ambitious motorcycle-themed sandwich shop/deli in San Diego’s North County community of Leucadia. Chef Andy Halvorsen made me his meatball sandwich. I loved the play on the concept, which takes it from Italian American to Moroccan in a heartbeat. The meatball is made with ground lamb and veal, panko crumbs, and spices that include cumin, coriander, and smoked paprika. An extra bite of spice comes from chopped pickled chiles. They nestle into a toasted hoagie roll, surrounded by a unique harissa marinara, then topped with a couple of slices of melted muenster cheese and–get this–sprinkled with pieces of preserved lemon. It’s a marvelous mouthful, rich and spicy-and accompanied by their fab house-made potato chips (they’re lucky I didn’t walk off with the tall container filled with them) and spicy sweet house-made pickles.
I thought I’d share it with you because it’s a perfect dish for those of you who cater lunches around sports events or casual holidays like Memorial Day, the 4th of July, or Labor Day. And perhaps you can riff on it to create your own unusual sandwich.
Halvorson emphasized that the cornerstone of a good sandwich is the bread. Got a big juicy sandwich like this in mind? Be sure, he said, to toast the bread so that it won’t fall apart once you add sauce.
“What’s fun about sandwiches is that you can do what you want,” he said. “You can sneak all sorts of good things in them that may be unexpected or unconventional but really work.”
Moto Deli Moroccan Meatball Sandwich
Recipe from Andrew Halvorsen of Moto Deli
Yield: 5 sandwiches
For each sandwich:
1 6- to 8-inch French or hoagie roll
3 meatballs
1/4 cup harissa marina sauce (can vary amount depending on your preference)
2 slices muenster cheese
1 teaspoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped preserved lemon (optional)
Moroccan Lamb Meatballs
From Andrew Halvorsen of Moto Deli
Yield: 16 meatballs
Ingredients
1 pound ground lamb
1 pound Ground Veal
¾ cup panko bread crumbs
¾ cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon toasted, ground cumin
1 tablespoon toasted, ground coriander
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne
¼ cup chopped, pickled chilies
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Soak bread crumbs with milk for at least 20 minutes. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Form 2-inch meatballs and place on a well-oiled baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until browned and cooked through.
Harissa Marinara
From Andrew Halvorsen of Moto Deli
Yield: 6 cups
Ingredients
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
About 5 medium red peppers, roasted, peeled and seeded (or 1, 16-ounce jar)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup garlic, minced
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cumin, ground
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon coriander, ground
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon caraway seed, ground
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon Salt
¼ cup parsley, chopped
Directions
Place roasted peppers in a blender and puree. Add ¼ cup of water if necessary to help blending. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, over medium/high heat, add oil and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently for about 2 minutes or until garlic is aromatic and just begins to brown.
Add dry spices and cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes until fragrant.
Add tomatoes, peppers and parsley. Mix well and ensure that there aren’t any spices or garlic stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Lower heat and simmer on low for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
To make sandwich:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Halve the meatballs and warm them in the sauce.
Lightly toast a sliced roll. Fill the roll with warmed meatballs and sauce. Top with the muenster cheese. Place in oven until cheese is melted. Sprinkle the top of the sandwich with chopped parsley and chopped preserved lemon.
Chefs, do you have a special, sandwich–unique to you–that you make for clients?
Not an APPCA member? Now’s the perfect time to join! Go to personalchef.com to learn about all the benefits that come with membership.
And if you are a member and have a special talent to share on this blog, let us know so we can feature you!
Getting ready for Easter catering gigs? Need some inspiration? Who better to call on for a delicious recipe and stunning photos than our Carol Borchardt? She’s given us her twist on Deviled Eggs + a primer for successfully hard-boiling the eggs. Your clients will swoon and you’ll have a foolproof method for a technique many struggle with.
Deviled eggs are essential for any Easter brunch. However, this Easter favorite has a downside—peeling lots of hard-boiled eggs.
Peeling hard-boiled eggs used to be a real chore and I tried every tip and trick. Nothing worked well until I began using a method from Cook’s Illustrated and now it’s my go-to method:
- Get a saucepan full of water to a good, gentle boil over medium-high heat.
- Prepare an ice bath.
- Carefully lower cold eggs just out of the refrigerator into the water with a slotted spoon. Cook 10 minutes maintaining the gentle boil.
- Transfer the eggs to the ice bath and let cool 5 minutes. Do not let the eggs sit in the water or they’ll become hard to peel.
- Gently crack the eggs all over. Peel the eggs starting at the wide end where there’s an air pocket. Refrigerate if not using right away.
Cook’s Illustrated explains that when the cold eggs hit the boiling water, the thin membrane between the white and the shell separates from the white and adheres to the shell.
Once you have perfectly peeled hard-cooked eggs, there are myriad ways to fill them. These Southern-style Jalapeno Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs are my new favorite and will be on my Easter table!
Before moving to the South from Wisconsin almost 24 years ago, I had not experienced Southern food at all. Where I lived, food was about brats, fish fries and cheese curds.
One of the first Southern specialties I experienced was pimento cheese. The combination of cheddar cheese, mayonnaise and diced pimentos is a Southern staple and every Southern cook worth their grits has their own version.
To make the jalapeno pimento cheese, start with a good prepared pimento cheese then simply kick it up with fresh jalapeno. If you want to make your own pimento cheese, here’s my basic recipe:
BASIC PIMENTO CHEESE
1 ½ cups mayonnaise
1 jar (4-ounce) diced pimentos, drained
1 tablespoon finely grated yellow onion
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 block (8-ounce) yellow extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, finely shredded
1 block (8-ounce) yellow sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
Combine mayonnaise, pimentos, onion, Worcestershire and cayenne in a bowl. Stir in cheese. Store up to one week in refrigerator.
JALAPEÑO PIMENTO CHEESE DEVILED EGGS
24 servings
1 dozen eggs, cooked, peeled and halved
3/4 cup prepared pimento cheese
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon or yellow mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded if desired, finely chopped
Jalapeno slices, for garnish
Remove yolks to a bowl and mash. Add pimento cheese, mayonnaise, mustard and salt and black pepper and stir until well blended. Alternately, combine in a food processor and process until smooth.
Stir in chopped jalapeno.
Refill eggs with pimento cheese combination. Garnish with jalapeno slices.
SERVING SUGGESTION: Because every guest may not like the intense heat of fresh jalapeno slices, garnish every other egg and leave some slices off to the side.
Chefs, what are your favorite (or your clients’) Easter dishes? How do you make deviled eggs?
Not an APPCA member? Now’s the perfect time to join! Go to personalchef.com to learn about all the benefits that come with membership.
And if you are a member and have a special talent to share on this blog, let us know so we can feature you!
Photos by Carol Borchardt
Shelbie Wassel
As Passover is a sentimental holiday in many regards, my family and clients seem to navigate towards traditional recipes. I think the most requested recipe this time of the year, is the coffee brisket. I found this recipe many, many years ago published in the Baltimore Jewish Times. The “JT”, as we locals call it, is a weekly magazine that provides local, national and international news pertaining to the Jewish community. One edition had locals submit their favorite brisket recipe and Mrs. Ribakoff”s recipe for coffee brisket was the editors choice. I’ve tweaked it a bit over the years, but I still love the veggie gravy that is created in a blender after cooking. As with any first cut brisket, the trick is to leave a good layer of fat on its bottom side during cooking. After it’s cooked, the fat can be easily removed and sliced cross wise into ( my preference) thin slices.
I have concocted a homemade recipe that is less time consuming and less labor intensive than what our grandmothers made. I have also been able to reduce the cost of the fresh fish by shopping at H Mart, the Korean grocery store. Otherwise, the fresh fish can cost a mortgage payment.
Mrs. Ribakow’s Brisket
Serves 6
Ingredients
3 ½ – 4 pounds brisket, first cut
2 medium onions cut into chunks
1 bunch of celery, leafy tops only, sliced
1 large bay leaf
1/3-cup ketchup
½ cup black coffee
Salt and pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the bottom of a roasting pan. Place brisket in the pan and sprinkle top of brisket lightly with more salt and pepper.
Arrange onions and celery around and on top of the brisket.
Drizzle with the ketchup.
Roast meat, uncovered, for 15 minutes to sear.
Reduce heat to 350 degrees.
Add the bay leaf, coffee, and cover tightly with foil.
Continue cooking for approx 2 ½ hours longer. Meat should feel tender when fork is inserted in the thickest part.
Cool before slicing. Refrigerate gravy and veggies. Skim off fat.
To serve: Puree gravy and veggies in a blender. Pour over sliced brisket and heat through.
Yield: 12 to 13 pieces
Ingredients
4 pounds, non-oily white fish fillets…let’s mix a few (snapper, haddock, cod) preferably on sale.
2 cartons fish stock, available next to the boxed chicken stock
3 large carrots, plus 2 additional large carrots, cut into diagonal slices for garnish
A bunch of celery
One large onion
3 large eggs, beaten
¼ cup matzo meal
Several cups of water
A little bit of bland veggie oil
About 1 ½ – 2T salt
Freshly ground pepper
1T sugar, optional
Directions
In a large stockpot, empty the contents of both cartons of fish stock. Add 1 roughly chopped carrot, a stick of celery, and ¼ of the onion. Bring to a gentle simmer while preparing the fish mixture.
Shelbie’s Passover Profiteroles (Dairy)
Yield: At least one dozen
Choux Pastry
Ingredients
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or margarine
1-cup water
1cup matzo cake meal
Pinch of kosher salt
4 large eggs
Directions
Place butter, water and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the matzo cake meal all at once and stir vigorously.
Cook, until mixture forma a ball. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
Using a large spoon, drop about 2 T of batter, roughly 2 inches apart. With wet fingers, lightly create a rounded mound.
Bake 15 minutes at 450 degrees, then reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for 15 minutes longer or until lightly browned.
Remove with spatula and allow cooling on racks.
Pastry Cream
Ingredients
1/3-cup sugar
3-½ T potato starch
6 lightly beaten egg yolks
2 cups milk or unsweetened almond milk
1 t vanilla
Directions
Mix sugar, potato starch and egg yolks in a saucepan. In another saucepan, heat the milk until bubbles form along the edges. Cool the milk for a minute or so. Slowly, pour the milk over the egg yolk mixture, stirring rapidly with a whisk.
Cook over low heat, stirring until mixture is thick and smooth. Cool and add vanilla. Chill in refrigerator until very cold.
Chocolate Glaze
Ingredients
1-cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2T unsalted butter or margarine
2-3 T milk or almond milk
1 t vanilla or 1 T instant coffee granules
Directions
Combine in small saucepan over double boiler. Mix gently until combined.
Cut cooled pastry in half. Fill with cream and drizzle chocolate on top.
Chefs, do you have favorite Passover recipes you create for clients?
Not an APPCA member? Now’s the perfect time to join! Go to personalchef.com to learn about all the benefits that come with membership.
And if you are a member and have a special talent to share on this blog, let us know so we can feature you!
Chefs, how do you transport recipes to your cook dates? Do you bring a cookbook/notebook with your recipes? Do you keep them on a digital device or in the cloud to download to a device and bring that with you? Or are they all in your head (to which I say you are amazing)?
I asked our members on our Facebook APPCA group page about this. Here’s what I posted: How many of you use paper/book recipes at client cook dates? How many of you use a laptop/pad/cell phone? If the latter, how do you protect the device and more specifically the screens? How do you feel about hearing voice directions via Alexa or Siri?
I got some interesting responses I thought you’d find helpful:
Christina Hamilton Snow: “I make a binder to keep at my clients house and one at mine. If it’s a new recipe I’m trying I’m usually getting it on my phone. If the client likes the recipe I add it to each binder. That way my clients can review recipes and decide what they want me to cook.”
Javier Fuertes: “When I first started I had a binder I would carry with me. Each printed sheet was laminated.
That was 16 years ago. Today….. I cook from the top of my head. I know the recipes or basically….the ingredients, and just cook with passion PER customer. Remember, we customize. Whenever its a new recipe or so…. I literally will just print out for the day and bring it with me. I’m ok with it getting dirty. I’ll just toss out when I’m done. If its on digital form, I make sure to have the links on my phone ready to go. Basically…. I don’t fret over this anymore like I used to.”
Carol Borchardt: “I’ve tried techie ways of doing it but stick with Mastercook and print out the recipes for each cookdate on paper. 9 times out of 10 I never even look at the recipe and just cook on the fly. However, if I want to make a change to the recipe, all I need to do is jot it down and make the change in Mastercook. I like to keep my recipes up-to-date in the event I want to put it on my blog. Also, with Mastercook, they have an app now where you can sync recipes on all your devices so you always have them. If you do use a tablet and want to protect it, a big Ziploc bag will work.”
Suzy Dannette Hegglin-Brown: “I do both but mainly now I switched to That Clean Life. I just log on and it’s there you go.”
For those of you who would like to bring a tablet or laptop but need a connection to get online (and don’t want to ask your client for their WiFi password), a couple of people noted that you can use your cell phone as a hotspot. As Carol Borchardt helpfully explained, “If you have an iPhone, click on Settings and look for “Personal Hotspot.” You’ll need to enter that password on your tablet just like you would a wifi password. Doing that, however, will drain the battery on your phone very quickly.”
Chefs, how do you transport recipes to a cook date? Paper? Device? Something else?
Not an APPCA member? Now’s the perfect time to join! Go to personalchef.com to learn about all the benefits that come with membership.
And if you are a member and have a special talent to share on this blog, let us know so we can feature you!
Throughout each phase of your career you no doubt will need advice, someone to bounce ideas off of, a role model, and inspiration. We think of mentors as older, experienced people who help young professionals with their wisdom and advice. But take a look at this definition by Oxford Dictionary of a mentor: “an experienced and trusted advisor.” It’s that simple.
If you’re just starting out as a personal chef, no doubt you could use a mentor to guide you through starting this kind of business and career. Advising you on how to get clients, how much to charge, how to market yourself, how to deal with cranky clients or those who don’t communicate well with you.
But it’s possible that even an experienced personal chef could use a mentor. Times change—and change quickly. If you’ve been in business for 20 years maybe you want to shift what you do and how you do it. Perhaps you want to add catering or food writing or food styling to your personal chef umbrella but don’t know how to get started. Or you’re happy with your business but think you could do more. You may need advice in how to market yourself in 2019 compared to what you did in 1999.
So, what should you look for in a mentor? What should you expect?
First, pinpoint what you need. Are you a newbie and need overall help in figuring out how to get started? Do you need coaching in marketing yourself? Do you need coaching in branching out into another aspect of being a culinary professional?
Now before you seek a mentor, consider what options you already have in gaining the information and coaching you need. If you belong to APPCA you have a leg up. You have Executive Director Candy Wallace to turn to, who is the queen of expertise in this industry. You have this blog, which we fill with helpful posts on a wide spectrum of business-related issues for personal chefs. And you have both our Personal Chef Forum and our Facebook Group.
Still need a mentor? Then consider what you’re looking for in that person. According to Forbes, it’s not about finding a mentor with the most years of experience or the biggest title or profile. It’s about finding someone with the knowledge and experience you need—someone who has been in a similar situation to you and has worked their way through it.
- You want to find someone you can trust—since that person will be privy to what you share about your business. And you need to be just as trustworthy.
- You want someone who will challenge you to improve, who may ask tough questions of you and will provide honest feedback.
- You want someone who has the time to talk with you. Maybe it’s weekly or maybe it’s monthly. Or something else. Do you get together in person or by phone?
Now what should you expect? A mentor won’t solve your problems. That’s on you. A mentor is there for guidance and ideas, for reassurance and critique. Perhaps he or she could make introductions or referrals. Let’s say you want to do some public speaking or chef demos and this person is a pro at these skills. Perhaps that person can do a little instruction (not cooking) in social media or photography or public speaking. Make sure you aren’t too needy or demand too much time, recognizing that this person is bound to be quite busy. But if they put you off repeatedly you probably need to move on to someone else.
Then comes the most crucial part: how do you find the person?
Again, APPCA can be a great resource. There are so many talented people who are members. You no doubt could find someone through your membership. Post a request on our forum. Ask Candy for a suggestion and referral for someone in your area or even outside who has the expertise you’re looking for.
Scroll through our Facebook business and group pages or our Twitter feed to identify individuals who are addressing what you need and reach out to them with a note introducing yourself and your situation with a concise explanation of what you’re looking for. Ask if you can set up a call or meeting to discuss a mentor relationship. Try to come up with at least a couple of people and don’t be discouraged if they tell you they don’t have the time to help. It’s all about finding the right person.
And, remember to pay it forward. Once you push your way through your brick wall, bring someone else along who could benefit from your knowledge and experience.
Have you had experience with a mentor or as a mentor?
Not an APPCA member? Now’s the perfect time to join! Go to personalchef.com to learn about all the benefits that come with membership.
And if you are a member and have a special talent to share on this blog, let us know so we can feature you!
I have biscuits on my mind. My friend Matt Gordon just closed his two restaurants in San Diego. Among the many pleasures of dining there my guess is that for most of Matt’s devotees, it will be his biscuits that are missed the most. I say that because at the closing meal last week, which was packed, almost everyone seemed to have ordered the biscuits.
Now you may think you’ve got the best biscuit recipe ever. Maybe it came to you from your grandma or your mom or great auntie. I’m sure it’s divine but why wouldn’t you want another one that is so good that people were standing at the bar several people deep drinking cocktails and scarfing down biscuits. Yeah, they’re that good–and your clients deserve the best.
So, what do you know about biscuits? We may think of biscuits as an almost scone-like pastry, but in fact the word biscuit covers a range of flour-based edibles. According to The Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davidson, they are generally small in size, thin, and have a crisp texture. But that mostly refers to the British context, where biscuit can equal cookie or cracker. It didn’t account for North America’s meaning that is more like a scone. The actual name biscuit is derived from the Latin panis biscoctus, meaning “bread twice cooked.” Think hard, crumbly rusks or biscotti. The idea was to create a long-lasting product.
Today, you’ll find all sorts of baked goods under the biscuit umbrella, from snickerdoodles and sable cookies to British digestives and Garibaldis to Spanish tostadas. Our North American biscuits remain most closely related to soft, quickly baked, leavened British scones. Yet we use the biscuit name.
Matt alternately uses cream and buttermilk as the liquid. You can interchange them, but if you play to make the dough in advance, you should use cream. Matt says he found that the buttermilk version of the dough will turn a bit gray. It won’t affect the taste, but it’s not very attractive.
Now if you’re actually a biscuit-making novice, no worries. Biscuit recipes are very forgiving so long as you get the basics right. One of the first rules you must follow is to keep the butter cold and work the dough as little as possible to keep the butter from melting.
Cut the butter into small pieces to make sure it’s evenly dispersed and, as the mixture comes together, can form small, pea-sized pieces. And don’t use a food processor for this. Either mix it by hand or use a stand mixer on the lowest speed.
Another tip is to slowly add the liquid to the dry ingredients mixture. Start with the smaller amount. If you’re using a stand mixer, it’s okay to stop while you still have some dry ingredients at the bottom of the mixing bowl. You’ll keep from over mixing and can better judge how much more liquid to add by finishing by hand.
You should still have pieces of butter visible in the dough, like you do when making pie. That’s what creates the layers. But, unlike pie dough, biscuit dough doesn’t need to rest. Just keep it cold and roll it out. You can use a rolling pin, but Matt pats it down and shapes it by hand with his fingertips. And, because restaurants are all about preventing waste, he cuts his biscuits into squares. Another tip he has is to brush the formed dough with an egg wash before separating the biscuits.
Say, you’re catering a party and want to get some of your dishes prepped in advance. Like Matt’s now former staff you can prep all the dry ingredients except the herbs for a batch and bag it, keeping the mix chilled until you’re ready to bake. Then add the herbs and liquid to mix, shape, and bake. You can also make a batch of biscuits ahead of serving them and then reheat them.
Cheese and Chive Biscuits
From Matt Gordon
Yield: About 15 biscuits
1 ½ cups pastry flour
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¾ tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 ½ cups loosely packed white cheddar, grated
¾ cup loosely packed fontina cheese, grated
1/8 cup minced chives
1 ¼ to 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
Egg white from 1 egg (optional)
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add butter, chives, and cheeses, and mix with a pastry knife or the paddle attachment of a mixer on low speed for 2 to 3 minutes to incorporate the butter. There should still be small pea-size chunks of butter; this will make the biscuit flaky. At this point you can store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for a day or two if necessary.
Slowly add the buttermilk, starting with 1 ¼ cups and fold together for about 10 seconds. Move the ingredients around by hand and pour the remaining ½ cup of buttermilk into the bottom of the bowl to make sure the moisture gets there. Mix again for just a few seconds. Add slightly more buttermilk if the dough hasn’t pulled together. Do not over mix dough.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 2 or 3 times only. Handle the dough as sparingly as possible to keep the butter from melting. Using your fingertips, flatten dough out to about ¾ -inch thick and brush the top with egg whites (optional). Cut in desired shape. Brush the top with egg whites (optional).
Line a heavy baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake at 425 degrees in the middle of the oven for 17 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. (If you have a convection oven bake at 400 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes.) You can crack a biscuit open to make sure it is cooked inside. If it is not, lower heat to 250 and check again in a couple of minutes. You can bake these ahead of when you plan to serve them and reheat before serving.
Orange Honey Butter
½ pound unsalted butter
¾ teaspoon grated orange zest
½ tablespoon honey
¼ tablespoon kosher salt
¼ tablespoon garlic, chopped
Whip butter in mixer for 10 minutes until light and airy. Add remaining ingredients and whip for another 3 minutes. Use immediately. Store in refrigerator but let it warm up slightly before using.
Do you ever make biscuits for clients? What do you serve with them?
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This year Norooz, the Persian New Year, begins on March 21. Celebrating Norooz, which means “new day,” is a very old celebration that has nothing to do with religion. It marks the transition from winter to spring and is filled with feasting.
In fact, the holiday, celebrating the vernal equinox, has been a part of the culture of the people of Iran and Mesopotamia since antiquity and is deeply rooted in the rituals and traditions of the Zoroastrian, the religion of ancient Persia before Islam. Weeks before, people will put seeds of grass or lentils or wheat or mung beans in water in a decorative pot so that they will sprout by the first day of Norooz—bringing to life the concept of growth and the arrival of spring. Then the house gets a thorough spring cleaning.
Norooz is celebrated for 12 days, but my friend Mahin Mofazeli, who owns a Persian restaurant in San Diego called Soltan Banoo, explained that on the 13th day, Sizdeh Bedar is celebrated. In Iran, she said, the tradition was to leave the city and go for a picnic to “get rid of the thirteenth.” They’d bring the sabzeh that had grown tall in the pot and tie knots in the young growth, then make wishes on the knots. Then they’d leave them behind, throwing them in the river, before returning to the city because after that, having the sabzeh would be bad luck.
So, what foods are made for the new years?
The first thing to know about Persian food is that everything starts with basmati rice. Know how to make this well and you have the foundation for numerous dishes. The rice requires rinsing a couple of times to remove the starch and then soaking to reduce cooking time. When you’re ready to cook it, you’ll drain the water and transfer the rice to a large pot of boiling water containing a little olive oil where it will cook, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes.
Perhaps the most traditional Norooz dish is Sabzi Polo, or Rice with Fresh Herbs. The herbs usually include cilantro and parsley, but could also include dill weed and fenugreek. At the bottom of the pot is really the best part—the tahdig, a crunchy layer formed by rice or bread or sliced potatoes, or even tortillas. Mofazeli prefers potatoes. She slices russets with the skin on and makes a single layer on the bottom of the pot, which already has a little olive oil and saffron water (she always has a mixture of that in her kitchen), then starts layering with rice, then herbs, then more rice, then more herbs until she’s used all the ingredients. She’ll add a little saffron water, then put it on the stovetop over fairly high heat to cook uncovered for about five minutes. Then she puts on the lid, lowers the heat, and lets it cook for about 30 minutes. The dish is traditionally served with Mahi, or fish, since it represents abundance. In Persia, it’s white fish from the Caspian Sea.
For a true feast,Sabzi Polo can be accompanied by dolmehs, or stuffed grape leaves; kookoo sabzi, an herbaceous omelet-like dish; Baghali Ghatogh, lima beans with egg and dill; and pastries like honey-soaked baklavah.
Norooz Pirooz! Wishing you a prosperous New Year!
Sabzi Polo (Rice with Fresh Herbs)
Serves 6
Ingredients:
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ cups water
½ teaspoon ground saffron dissolved in 4 tablespoons hot water
1 large russet potato, sliced
3 cups cooked basmati rice, prepared using the four steps
1 large bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
1 bunch scallions, chopped
3 whole cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
3 whole cloves garlic or green garlic
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
- Whisk together 4 tablespoons oil, ½ cup water and 1 tablespoon saffron water. Spread the mixture on the bottom of a large non-stick pot. Place a layer of sliced potatoes on the bottom of the pot.
- Cover potatoes with a layer of rice. Combine the herbs and then add a layer of the herbs and the crushed and whole garlic over the rice. Repeat the layering of the rice and herbs, adding a sprinkling of cinnamon between the layers.
- Pour a mixture of 4 tablespoons oil and 1 cup of water over the top of the rice and add the remaining saffron water.
- Place pot on medium high heat for five minutes, uncovered. Then cover the pot, reduce the heat and cook for 30 minutes.
- To serve, spoon out the rice onto a platter. Garnish with the potato tahdig and serve with fish.
Do you celebrate Norooz? Have you ever made any Persian dishes?
Not an APPCA member? Now’s the perfect time to join! Go to personalchef.com to learn about all the benefits that come with membership.
And if you are a member and have a special talent to share on this blog, let us know so we can feature you!
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been air fryer curious for awhile. What’s prevented me from buying one when I scoped them out at Target awhile back was their sheer size. They’re huge and can take up a lot of counter real estate.
But I came across this article in The Kitchn and both it revived my desire and helped me focus on some options. Now there was no way I was going to spend $350 on one so I’d have to go for second best for about $100. This was the NuWave Brio 6-Quart Healthy Digital Air Fryer.
I always go big since even though I live alone, I want to have the flexibility to cook for a crowd. But my fears panned out. I couldn’t put it on my counter. It had to go on my glass-top stove. And I didn’t like it at all. It was hard for me to figure out how to use it, took way too long for the food–sweet potato fries (of course) and a chicken thigh–to cook separately. But I’d have put in more time to figure it out had my entire house not reeked of burning plastic.
I returned it.
But I couldn’t let go and a month or so later I went back to The Kitchn article and thought I’d scale down and give this much smaller Dash air fryer a try. Dash has the fryers in multiple cool coolers with a small compact footprint, and both manual and digital displays.
Here’s mine (and no, I don’t get any payment from either Dash or Amazon):
I used it for the first time on, what else, the shishito peppers. Normally, I would toss them in a little oil and let them blister in a hot cast iron skillet. It’s not a big undertaking, unless the temperature is soaring in the summer. But cooking them up in the air fryer–essentially using convection heat–was even better because I didn’t have to hover over the skillet and deal with peppers so twisted they wouldn’t stay where you turned them.
With the air fryer all I had to do was toss them in a little vegetable oil and place them in a single layer in the crisper basket, which rests in the crisper drawer. The downside? Because it’s a small unit I had to do two batches, but it wasn’t a big deal since the cooking time is a mere five minutes. This particular air fryer is very intuitive so you press the power button and it immediately shows the temperature, which I turned up from its default 360° to 390° with the + button.
Then you press the timer/temperature button, which displays the default time of 10 minutes and move it to 5 minutes using the – button. Press the start arrow button and it takes care of the rest. In fact, the temperature and timer alternate on the display so you know exactly what is going on as it counts down. And once it hits the one-minute mark, it counts down in seconds.
Midway, pull out the basket and shake, then put it back into the machine. When the timer beeper goes off, check and make sure your shishitos are sufficiently blistered. If so, pull out the basket and use tongs to pull out the shishitos (excess oil may have collected in the bottom of the crisper drawer below the basket so you don’t want to risk burning yourself by flipping it over).
Now how do you season your shishitos? If you’re like most people you salt the shishitos, then squeeze lemon juice over them. And that’s perfectly wonderful. I’m fond of ponzu sauce on them as well. But with this batch I sprinkled coarse sea salt and shichimi togarashi, which is a traditional Japanese seasoning mix.
It has a bite, thanks to chili pepper and szechuan pepper. But it also contains black and white sesame seeds, orange peel, and dried basil. So it offers plenty of zesty flavor, too, and pairs beautifully with the blistered shishitos.
Now do I think you’ll use an air fryer for clients? I don’t know. But if you can think of it as a mobile convection oven you might think of some uses for it when cooking for clients who only have a conventional oven. I’ve made chicken thighs with this little one and they cook up nicely and faster than if I put them in the oven. You can create “fried” foods for clients who can’t have all that oil. In other words, it’s another tool to add to your cooking arsenal. And, hey, it’s something to have at home to get a meal for yourself made with less hassle.
Have you tried using an air fryer yet? What do you think?
Not an APPCA member? Now’s the perfect time to join! Go to personalchef.com to learn about all the benefits that come with membership.
And if you are a member and have a special talent to share on this blog, let us know so we can feature you!
American Personal & Private Chef Association