Article: So You Want to be a Personal Chef?

My personal advice to those considering a personal chef business:

1. Get certified. Get Educated.

If you want to be taken seriously by not only your customers, but your peers – get certified and educated.

Part I: A (personal service or catering) business license, appropriate (catering or personal chef) insurance, your local food safety management certification through the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation and then of course, following the regulations and local city or county laws.

Educate yourself on local liquor laws, food transportation issues, etc. I would never hire or take seriously a caterer/personal chef that doesn’t carry insurance or tells me how they deliver their meals out of a cooler in their Pathfinders trunk. True stories!

Part II: If you don’t have a culinary degree or business experience, get some through your local community collegue, culinary school, culinary class outlet, local foodie clubs, associations and non-profits.

Listening to others experiences, gaining basic knowledge about accounting, business management or even cooking techniques. These gain you experience ‘in the field’ without even doing an actual ‘cook date’. They also help you build collegue references and give you an opportunity to ask all the questions you need answered about the ‘logistics’ of being the food business.

I will also insert into this section that it is probably important to join a personal chef association only if you have no idea how a daily personal chef business works. Most personal chef associations make you pay a horrible fee to be a member that allows you to get introductory information about the business and a listing on their website list of members. You need to decide for yourself if having an outline of what a day in the life of a personal chef is like is worth $500-$1500 for the first year and $150-$350 per year after that.

(Contine reading So You Wanna Be a Personal Chef?)

2. Figuring out ‘What you do’.

A good way to figure out what kind of cooking/service/product you want to provide is to first analyze your experience and then cross check that with what kind of client you want to cook for/service.

Middle-class, both parents work, with 2 or more kids? Fad dietiers? Young Professionals who want to eat in 2 minutes? Uber-rich busy people who don’t want a live-in private chef?

Everyone will say – of course – uber-rich people that will over pay me and I’ll be set for life! Be serious…99% of personal chefs across the nation serve the standard middle class, family of 4 with a bunch of freezer ready casseroles. I know one personal chef that makes 4 servings of 5 casseroles for $395, including groceries. Can you say – 90% profit!

This will help figure out not only your ‘service niche’, but your pricing, your demographics and that will lead to where you need to market – be it a local school board letter or just through your website.

3. Don’t quit your day job.

Sometimes it takes a while to build a client base, get your marketing going and just being ‘open for business’ with your website live and your phone on, just isn’t enough. For every person starting a new business there is a new path on how it happened or how it become to be a ‘full-time’ job.

One personal chef I know just starting cooking for a neighbor while they were recovering from chemo, the neighbor suggested they do this for a ‘job’ and through the clients referrals and the chemo-outpatient nurse, in 3 months they had a full time personal chef meal delivery service, niched for cancer treatment patients in out-patient. Another chef I know, after a year, never got more then 1 steady personal chef client. They tried to make ends meet by teaching cooking classes and barely a year after that they have flipped their business where 90% of it is teaching cooking classes and they will fill in a personal chef client when they have the time.

4. What are you willing to do to be famous?

It sounds like what a seedy holleywood studio manger would say to a young and beautiful, wanna-be starlet. Sadly, it is very translatable to the success of your personal business. And nothing is a guauntee.

Are you willing to work for next to nothing just to get your business name out there? Are you willing to negotiate your prices to keep that client? Are you willing to give discounts, donations to charities, etc.?

Some personal chefs I know are unwilling to do any of the above. Frankly, all of them are successful personal chefs that have been in the business for almost 10 years, as long as it has been around. I don’t truly think they understand what it takes to start a personal chef business today, now that there are over 300 personal chefs in my DC Metro area alone! You have to be competitive and sometimes, ‘discount’ yourself out.

When I started my personal chef business, I under priced everyone, trying to get any clients, even if they were cheap – and it was hard work. But I knew I had the focus and a product that would make this business successful. Therefore, as my business grew, so did my prices. In just a few years of service, I am making 3 times the amount I made when I started my business. And comparing myself others, my prices sit in the median-lower rang, so I still have room to grow – in fact, I can raise my prices at least 40% before I am in direct competition with some other expensive personal chefs in my area.

This is all up to you and how bad and hard you want to work to get your business started.

5. Marketing, marketing, marketing….marketing!

If you have ten clients a week or zero clients a week. Marketing needs to be a weekly shot into your business.

6. Do the basics:

Get a separate phone for your business. There is nothing worse then calling what you think is a business and there is some 3 year old on the answering machine saying ‘The Andy-sons ain’t home white now!” Would you leave a message? Then why would your customer. And with cheap cell phones, you can carry your business line with you all the time, ready to get that next client!

Get a website Be a million dollar site or a build it your self site for $10 with just your name, phone and email. I get 99% of my new business from my website and people always say “You have the best website” – “Your food on your website looked so good, I had to call you” – “Your menus are exactly what we want for our party”. The more information you provide on your website to your ‘niche’ (pictures, menus, faq’s) customer, the more you will weed out those that you don’t want to serve. My personal website advice – Don’t put your picture on your website unless your hot. Many a marketing researcher knows, people subconsciencly do not relate to unattractive people. And frankly, just keep your picture off your website altogether - whether you are hot or not – it is probably NOT a good idea. You might be putting yourself in danger, since you work mostly by yourself, in a strangers home - a pervert might figure this is a good way to get you alone in the ‘comfort of their home’.

Get an email account: Some people looking for caterers/personal chef will email you when they have time, meaning, it may be 2am after they have spent time with their significant other, after putting the kids to bed, after making dinner for family, after working until 8pm….come up with ‘auto-responses’ describing the basics of your business and some things that ‘hook’ a client into your niche. And for petes sake, please don’t use a personal account – like ‘MrsRobinson@aol.com or Drinkmorethanyou@hotmail.com’ – then you are advertising more than you would probably like to a potential customer.

Online listings: Get on any and all local and national website, email and business listings you can. Your goal…When someone googles your business name – you are the first listing that shows up. You want people to be bombarded with your business – because when you see a business advertised everywhere – don’t you think they must be a respected, well-known business…

Tip: De-Seed a Pomegranate

Pomegrantes are the new 'haute' of cuisine, especially now that they are in season. You can easily drop $3 bucks on one of those snowman shapped juices and $8 bucks on the nuevo pomegranate molasses.

But can you get out those pretty little seeds without making a mess or loosing half the seeds to the juice on your cutting board gods?

Scaning over some pomegranate salad recipes for a client, I was horrified to learn that Nigella recommended cutting into your pomegranate with a knife, and just remove the seeds that weren't broken!?! That would be like cutting into an orange and then trying to remove the segments, without spilling any juice or wasting any segment?!? I started googling around found that most recommended this (even the site: http://www.pomegranate.org/nomess.html which I thought was a little funny).

Therefore I thought I would make the apparent top secret way to de-seed a pomegranate known.

I learned this trick from a persian chef who has probably been cooking with real pomegranates longer then I have known what a pomegranate even was.

1. First, using a sharp pairing knife, you want to cut a 'curly cue'. Like you are cutting away the peel and pith from an orange without getting the segments of juice - but all in one long curly cue line. from the top of the pomegranate to the bottom. You are only cutting in about an 1/8th inch, just through the pith, with the intention of not cutting into any seeds. Take your time, this is the most imporant part of the process and will decide if the rest of the process is 'juice free and easy' for you.
2. Carefully working around the pomegranate, loosen the cut you made, pulling the cut open about a 1/4 inch or so.
3. Now you can pull the pomegranate apart easily, into sections.
4. Take a section and hold it in one hand, you can run your thumb along the seeds, bending them back and forward gently to have them 'pop off' the pith.
5. If you run into a section that is covered with a lining of pith, just peel it away before popping off the seeds from that section.

Other tips:

• You want to remove all the pith, even the little dots of it that stick to some of the seeds. It tastes like eating orange pith.
• You don't need to wear gloves - you aren't going to make a mess right? And if you get a little juice on you, just wash your hands off and then return to pomegranate peeling bliss.

Recipe: Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Talk about easy...impressive...and everyone loves them.
You cannot fail at these at long as you use good quality chocolate (here is a great website that explains everything you would ever want to know about chocolate and more importantly, quality chocolate), don't burn it and fresh strawberries that aren't over ripe.
I will not go into the 'tempering' of chocolate - as that is a whole article in itself. I'll just say that tempering chocolate is esstentially breaking down the chemical compond of chocolate with a varied degree of temperature in order to produce (melted) chocolate that will eventually harden, therefore producing the chocolate in a new 'chemical state' for the baking purpose you desire. Yeah, I think most pastry chefs study this stuff for weeks - then putting it in practice is a whole different thing! Here is a quick an easy few paragraphs to read if you are interested about tempering. I googled around for a more serious description, but most were more generalized them what I mentioned above. So I guess that gives me something to write an article about later.

Recipe: Chocolate Covered Strawberries

• 11 oz. or more (is enough to double-dip 8 medium sized strawberries)
• 8 Medium Sized Strawberries

1. Wash and dry your strawberries.
2. Set them on a sheet tray, covered with wax or partchment paper.
3. Place a sieve inside a medium sized pot. Fill up the water in the pot so that the water line sits just below the sieve.
4. Place the pot on the stove and bring to a boil.
5. Meanwhile, chop up chocolate into very small pieces - no larger than a tablespoon.
6. Place the chocolate in a metal bowl (that will fit nicely in the sieve).
7. When the water is boiling, place the chocolate filled bowl into the sieve and let the chocolate melt.
8. After a minute or two, gently stir the chocolate, moving it around the bowl, scraping the edges, helping it melt and circulating it, so that it doesn't burn.
9. When 90% of it melted, remove the bowl from the sieve and quickly dip the strawberries into bowl, covering 80%. When you pull out the strawberry, give it a little shake to remove any excess chocolate, then lay on sheet tray. Continue with remaining strawberries.
10. Let the strawberries sit at room temperature (around 65-70 degrees) until you plan to serve them (within 6 hours).

You are welcome to double-dip the strawberries. Just wait about 15 minutes after the first dip - while the first layer of chocolate starts harden. Then heat your chocolate again over the boiling water and do the process over again (steps 7-9).

Recipe: Mascarpone Stuffed Dates

Recipe - Mascarpone Stuffed Dates
Ingredients:

• 6 Dates
• 6 Tablespoon of Mascarpone
• Salt and Pepper
• Chives, Chervil or even minced Candied Orange Peel for Garnish

1. Using a pairing knife, cut half way through the date, from tip to tip.
2. Pinch the ends of the date, so it opens up and you can easily remove the seed.
3. Prepare piping tip in bag and fill with mascarpone.
4. Fill dates from tip to tip with about 1 Tablespoon of Mascarpone per date.
5. Snip chives into ½ inch pieces.
6. Place chives on top of mascarpone, in an ‘X’ for garnish.

Refrigerate until about 1 hour before you plan to serve, then remove and let come to room temperature.

Other ideas for serving this?

• Use a piping tip to change the shape of the mascarpone in the date.
• De-seed dates, place in oven at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Remove and let cool enough for handling. Fill with mascarpone and serve slightly warm.
• Great as a petit four or on a cheese platter.

Recipe: Vanilla Bites

This recipe is an adaption from the Book Amuse Bouche by Rick Tramonto. It really is a great example of combining all tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salt) to form a perfectly flavored bite.
People either love it or hate it - and it is usually only loved at dinner parties where the eaters are adventurous - so you might want to take what can your guests are before serving this.
Recipe - Vanilla Bites:

• 1 ¼ cup crème
• 1 packet of gelatin
• 2 Tablespoons of Vanilla Paste
• 5 Medium Sized Mint Leaves
• 1 Teaspoon of Sea Salt
• 6 Larger Sized Purple Potato Chips (Plain or Ruffled)

1. Place large bowl on countertop, fill half way with ice, then fill a quarter of the way with water, creating an ice bath. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, place a kitchen towel in a circle on the countertop. Place a medium sized bowl in center of circle, pushing towel just under bowl to keep bowl from moving.
3. Place ¼ cup of crème into bowl. Add gelatin powder into bowl, whisk until gelatin is almost completely dissolved.
4. Meanwhile, place ¾ cup crème in a small pot and whisk in 2 Tablespoons of Vanilla. Turn heat to high and bring crème to a boil. Remove from heat as soon as crème starts to rise up the sides of the pot. Whisk vigoriously to circulate vanilla and cool crème.
5. Slowly pour vanilla-crème mixture into gelatin-crème mixture, while whisking, until completely combined and gelatin is dissolved.
6. Place a sieve of chinois in a metal, medium sized bowl and slowly pour mixture through.
   Immediately place strained liquid in the large bowl-ice bath, slowly and gently stirring until steam stops rising from the liquid. Immediately remove from ice bath, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to refrigerate at least 2 hour before service.
7. 45 minutes before you plan to enjoy the Vanilla Bites, remove the vanilla mixture from fridge, mashing with a whisk and gently stirring to break up the gelatin mixture into small pieces.
8. Drizzle in 1/8 cup crème, whisking until combined. Continue to drizzle remaining crème until vanilla mixture is a ‘fluffy’, ‘foamy’ mixture that is the consistency of ‘pudding’. Set aside.
9. Stack mint leaves on top of each other and roll up tightly together to slice off in ‘chiffonade’ pieces. Set aside.
10. Lay potato chips on cutting board and spoon out about 1 Tablespoon of vanilla foam mixture onto each chip, place chips on serving platter.
11. Sprinkle Sea Salt over bites and around edges of plate.
12. Sprinkle chiffonade of mint over bites and around edges of plate and serve.

Advice

A lot of people email me for recipes, jobs and even advice on how to be a chef or start their own Personal Chef business. So in the next few posts, I have put together some ideas on the matter.

Article: 10 Things Your Caterer Won't Tell You

I love this article. It is so funny - and unfortunetly sometimes true.

Not for me of course;)

10 Things Your Caterer Won't Tell You
Written by Nancy Nall Deerington

Recipe: Sweet Potato Bisque

This is a great fall style, sweet and holiday inspired soup that can be served with a dollop of marshmallow creme, honey sweetened yogurt or even mandarian oranges. This recipe serves 4-6.

• 3 Tablespoons of butter, unsalted
• 5 Sweet Potatoes, peeled and chopped into 2"x2" pieces
• 1 large Baking Potato, peeled and chopped into 2"x2" (to help with thickness)
• 5 cups low sodium chicken stock
• 3 cups of heavy creme
• a sprig of thyme
• a few bay leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Prep sweet potatoes.
2. Heat butter in large pot, add sweet potatoes, then chicken stock and herbs.
3. Boil potatoes on medium high heat until soft - about 30 minutes.
4. Restrain potatoes and robocoup until smooth. Add remaining heavy creme to help robocoup soup into a smooth, silky consistency.
   
5. Thin out soup to desired consistency with remaining heavy cream.
6. Re-heat in pot before serving.
7. Salt and Pepper to taste.

For some different sweentening ideas: Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of honey to sweeten or thin out soup with freshly squeezed orange juice.

Restaurant Review: 2941

Name: 2941
Chef: Jonathan Krinn
Location: Falls Church, VA
Cuisine: American-Mid Atlantic-French Contemporary
Stars: 4/5
Review: November 2005

Okay, I love 2941, so I am not going to say a lot about the details. If you haven't been, you must go. The food is exceptional and many believe that it is the best restaurant in DC, food wise, perhaps all of the DC area? The service is comfortable and helpful, not 'Inn at Washington Standards', but you'll never lack in water, clean silverware or a folded napkin at your seat after returning from the restroom.

The food is always perfectly seasoned and I have had several culinary school mates that have worked there, one told me that 5 people taste the food before it leaves the kitchen.

My husband and I eat here about every 3 months, once the entire menu changes over. The last time we were there, we ate outside, enjoying their spectacular deal and the view of Tapas on the Terrace. You can read that post here.

Here is our menu - we of course went for their 4 course for $87:

First Course: Duo of California Artisan Foie Gras, Saute & Torchon, Fall Veggies Confiture and Yuzu Flazed Figs

Second Course: Lobster Medallion and Mishima Beef Cheek Ravioli, Creamed Leeks, Red Wine Reduction and Main Lobster Emulsion - Seared Yellow Fin Tuna with Roasted Porcini Mushrooms, Fingerling Potatoes, Salsify and Porcini Sherry Emulsion

Third Course: New Zealand Venison Loin, Braised Red and White cabbage, Applewood Bacon, Chestnuts and Quince (pictured above)

Fourth Course:

Chocolate and Chocolate: Chestnus with Chocolate Chestnut Mousse, Cognac Sabayon, Chocolate Citrus Ganache and Chestnut Ice Cream

Chocolate Brownie Baked Alaska with Chocolate Chip Ice Cream & Chocolate Sauce

A few comments on the food, the Ravioli - AMAZING! Lobster emulsion...buttery goodness - one of the best dishes I have ever had! Duo of braised cabbage, so interested, each so different in taste, color...2941 has always had amazing desserts, the baked alaska tableside 'flambe' service was great and it was so good, I took several bites from my husband...although my chocolate and chocolate was disappointing...I got chocolate ice cream instead of chestnut, the sabayon had way too much cognac and overpowered the chestnut mousse, to where all I could taste was cognac and I had to stop eating it and drink some coffee for a while to get my taste back. The ganache didn't taste like anything but chocolate.

Although this is still one of my favorite restaurants of all time....we did have a few surprises about our experience last Friday...

First, they charged my credit card 130% of the bill, 10% higher then I left and signed for. Apparently they put a hold on that much and then after a few days, the actually amount will be charged to the card. When I called about, the operator/secretary (I assume) said this is standard. I asked why...she repeated, just because, it is standard. Weird. In all the times we have dined there, it has never been this way before?

Second, the price of the menu is about 20% higher then the last time we dined inside the restaurant (about 6 months) - this restaurant used to be the best food and the best value - now it is a little overpriced..the food is worth it, but the service is not. It is roughly the same as dining at Citronelle, including the 10% city of DC restaurant tax - which VA does not have....so it was a little disappointing.

Finally, Jonathan Krin was once known as the 'Duo' Man, serving 'Turf and Turf', 'Surf & Turf' and 'Surf & Surf' dishes on each menu - now it is all about the cotton candy....There was only 1 selection of Surf & Turf on the menu and the amount of cotton candy they gave us at the end of the meal was 4 times the amount we got 2 years ago when we dined there for the first time. I think they took the Washingtonian Article about being the "Cotton Can Man" a little too seriously.

I mean look at this, cotton candy for 2 people with petit fours? Look at this picture...the cotton candy is like 4 times taller then my coffee cup!

Recipe: White Veggie Salad with Castelmagno Cheese

Recipe: Castelmagno - White Veggie Salad with Castelmagno Cheese (serves 1)

• 2 oz. Castelmagno cheese, slightly crumbled
• 2 t. White Wine Vinegar
• 2 T. Italian Parsley, rustic chop
• 1 Medium Parsnip, julienned
• 1/2 bulb of Fennel, shaved
• 1 Endive, julienned, centers removed
• 1 large Turnip, brunoise or 2 small peeled & thinly sliced
• 1 Leek, white only, sliced into circles
• 2 T. brunoise Vidalia Onion

1. Combine White Wine Vinegar, salt, pepper, evoo and parsley, emulsify, set aside.
2. Blanch and shock parsnip and turnip and combine.
3. Combine parsnip/turnip mixture with remaining ingredients and drizzle over then fold in gently dressing mixture.

Recipe: Poached Pears

Simplicity is elegance when you serve poached pears with a cheese course or as a dessert. They are so easy to make and your guests/family will enjoy the sweet and fall spiced goodness.

• 4-6 bosc pears (this is my particular favorite pear, but you can use any pear you like)
• 1 cup white wine
• simple syrup (1 part sugar: 2 parts water)
• 3-4 star anise
• 1 cup. sugar
• 6-8 black peppercorns
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 10 cloves

1. Peel and cut about an 1/8 inch off the bottom, so they sit nicely in the pot and eventually, on the recipents plate.
2. Place remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.
3. Sit pears inside pot and turn down to a medium simmer.
4. Cover pot with a piece of foil or parchment paper and simmer for 20-30 minutes until pears are fully cooked through (test with pearing knife).

Serve hot (by microwaving for 2-3 minutes before you serve them if you made them earlier in the day) or chilled (straight from the fridge).
For an extra kick, strain the cooking liquid of the spices and return to medium high heat to simmer until reduced to a sauce consistency/very thick. You can drizzle the sauce over the pears before serving for extra sweetness.

Restaurant Review: Acadiana

Name: Acadiana
Chef/Management: Jeff Tunks/Management Company that owns TehnPenn, Ceiba & DC Coast
Location: Downtown DC - Mt. Vernon Square
Cuisine: Cajun-Creole French Contemporary
Stars: 2/5
Review: September 2005

Acadiana is a new venture from the DC Coast, TehnPenn, Ceiba people. Jeff Trunks is listed as the chef in charge now, but I don't know who really is the chef cooking in the back? Compared to its sister restaurants, I find the food to be the most detailed, best tasting and presented - yet they do it all in the same price range as the other restaurants - which is relatively low for a nice restaurant.

Decor: The restaurant is very modern, located on the corner of Mt. Vernon square, K Street and 9th street it is corner of a new building - so when you walk in - the restaurant itself is long with an open kitchen through the center. Cool greens, modern contemporary decor, bamboo'ish placemates, with the oh so now popular 'specific dishes for specific dishes' - meaning a set of three cups to serve the trio of soups, a glass plate with 3 indentions to hold eggs, which served the deviled eggs. You'd be surprised how many chefs/managers shop at crate and barrel like purchasing places. Our hostess and waitstaff were very nice, attentive and casual, making the evening relaxing - with a feeling of 'being taken care of'.

Menu:The menu was full of buttery, oyster, creole goodness (which can be viewed here on their website) and it was very difficult to decide what to eat. So what my husband and I do in this situation is order multiple courses of appetizers. That way we have the opportunity to experience a lot more the menu - without being filled up too much on just an appetizer, entree, dessert evening.
First Course: Trio of Soups: Classic Turtle Soup, Gumbo, Oyster Rockafeller($9) & Trio of Deviled Eggs: Crabmeat Ravigote, Shrimp Remoulade & Lauoisana Choupique Caviar($7)

Second Course: Jambalaya Risotto
Third Course: Duo of Pies: Natchitoches Meat Pie with Black Pepper Butterlik Dipping Sauce and Louisiana Crawfish Pies($9) & Baked Oyster & Fresh Artichoke Gratin with Cured Country Ham, Parmesan and Brioche crumbs($11)
The soups were good, but the Turtle Soup was amazing. I know that I will come back to just have that soup. The deviled eggs were great, but the dish they were served on made it difficult to 'delicately' enjoy the eggs. The jambalaya risotto is actually a side dish, but we asked for it as an appetizer and they were happy to accomidate. It wasn't all that great - with an over abundance of gumbo file - and little to no meat, all I had was a strip of chicken meat in mine. We were too crazy about the 'pies' which were just deep fried dough, with some veggie filling, all of which were creole in tasting, but none of which tasted all that different from the others. One tasted like bell peppers, like creole flavored tomatoes with some crabfish in it. I think the lack of 'meat' in the pies was probably due to the fact that the appetizer was only $9. The gratin style oysters was fabulous! It was so rich with buttery, parmesan and brioche - it was amazing. And so cheap for what you got!! We were actually so full from the appetizers we did not have dessert. A poor decision in my opinion - but I can eat twice the amount of my husband and he was probably right to skip it. They were quite generous in their appetizer portions and made our multiple appetizer meal quite pleasant.

Highlight Experience: When we went the city apparently has not given them permission to have their valet on the south side of the restaurant - a most likely and good spot, considering it is the easiest way to get to the restaurant without having to drive about the block, dealing with all the one ways and such with Mt. Vernon square or the funky intersection of L, K, 10th, 9th, Massachusettes and New York Avenue. After driving around each of these streets we finally figured out how to get to the one way street traveling west on the north side of the restaurant were the valet was - making us about 15 minutes late for our reservation.

This is not the weird part though...when we left the restaurant and turned our valet ticket in for our car to be retrieved about 10 minutes went by and I heard a loud 'running' sound - you know the one that a car makes when it is in reverse and traveling well over 20 mph...yes, if you haven't guessed it already - it was the valet, driving our car in reverse down the long, high-modernist block from 10th street to 9th street, in front of the valent station - all at about 20-25 mph. We were horrified...and all we could do was laugh. I guess he didn't want to take the 15 minutes to drive around the one-way streets either.

But as you can tell this is not necessarily a nice 'fancy' restaurant to be comparted to the Inn at Little Washington, but a clean, pleasant restaurant to enjoy some good food and enjoy it with a pretty cheap bill. It is also near tons of clubs and nighlife, so it would be a great date or start the evening off spot, because the inside and out looks so impressive. I look forward to going back and having some more of that Turtle Soup and the Oyster Gratin.

Recipe: Butternut Squash & Hazelnut Lasagne

Butternut Squash is in full swing as the 'it' ingredient for the fall. This lasagne is a great application of the fall gord with the added crunch of hazelnuts.

• Lasagne Sheets - about 12
• 1 smaller butternut squash
• 1 cup hazelnuts, pre-shelled and roasted (and I fine crushed about 1/4 cup of hazelnuts just to spread over the top, making a dusting)
• 2 cups of creme
• 2 Tablespoons of butter
• 2 Tablespoons of APF (All Purprose Flour)
• 1 cup Parmesan, thinly grated
• 1 cup Ricotta
• salt and pepper
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 package (about 2 cups) Part-Skim Mozzarella
• About 1/4 cup Fontina
• 1 sprig and about 2 Tablespoons picked thyme leaves
• 2 bay leaves

1. Preheat over to 400 degrees.
2. Boil Lasagne strips in 'sea' flavored water with about 3 Tablespoons of evoo.
3. Heat Butter and flour in medium sized pot, creating a roux. Slowly add creme, whisking in about 1/4 cup at a time, whisking until absorbed before adding the next 1/4 cup. Add 2 bay leaves, a sprig of time and turn heat to low to 'cook out' the flour flavor.
4. Peel butternut squash, cutting off the neck and discarding the rest. Slice squash into 1/4 inch thick pieces, about 2 inches wide and 4 inches long. Reserve about 3 of these slices to cut into brunoise for the topping.
5. Combine ricotta, salt, pepper, egg, 1/4 of the mozzarella, 1/8 of the parmesan and about 2 Tablespoons of picked thyme leaves.
6. Build lasagne. Make sure to spray with non-stick your lasagne pan before building. Start with 2 sheets of lasagne, the about 4 slices of butternut squash, sprinkled mozzarella, salt, pepper, then lasagne, and same order. After 3rd layer of lasagne, spread in ricotta mixture, about 1/4-1/2 inch thick (however you like), then lasagne, butternut, etc. another 2 times. Top off lasagne with remaining parmesan and brunoise of butternut squash - spreading all over lasagne.
7. Bake for about 20-30 minutes until butter knife slips through center of lasagne with little to no resistance.
8. Remove from oven and sprinkle hazelnuts and fontina over top of lasagne. Return to oven for another 10 minutes or so until fontina just starts to melt.

Event: James Beard Event in DC

Did Bill or Hillary ever invite you to the White House for dinner and you already had plans? Then Bush rolled in and your invitation got lost in the mail.

Thankfully for you, Mrs. Bush has recently 'changed' chefs (the new one being the first White House Women Chef Ever: Cristeta Comerford) and the old one (Walter Schieb, now with his own cookbook and business, dubbed The American Chef) is doing an event at the City Club on Saturday, November 17th.

For a description of the event, go online to The James Beard Foundation Website or for reservations, just call 202-347-0818.

So you wanna be a chef?

Many a young child emails me on how they want to a chef....sadly, most 'children' today, don't realize just how much work it is.....

So here are a bit of random thoughts of what I have tried to piece together for people. It's about the process of how to look into this restaurant or other restaurants, and make sure that it is the ‘right’ kitchen job.

(Contine reading extended entry)

• First, call the restaurant and ask for the chef, tell the chef that you are a student willing to work whenever doing whatever if they'll teach you about cooking. Ask them when you can come into work.
• Call everyday until you talk to the chef, and if you can't get through after 3 days, just show up at the restaurant, even if it is closed to knock on the door and ask to talk to the chef. Bring your resume and references, as most chefs don’t have you fill out a ‘formal application’ until you are hired.
• If you show up, always wear a chef jacket, chef pants and bring a good/sharp knife and a peeler, because there is an 80% chance that they will put you to work right then and there.
• Never call or show up on Monday-Friday during their lunch (11am-2pm) or dinner (4pm-11pm) services or on Saturdays or Sundays. These are their busiest times and it will look badly upon your application.
• Don't bother to talk to the restaurant manager or front of the house manager about seeking a job, good restaurants split their hiring decisions, front of the house manager hires waiters and hostesses, back of the house managers/chef hires cooks and dishwashers.
  
  Working in restaurants in general…

• Good restaurants will let you work or hire you for a few days to ‘check you out’. They want to make sure that you have the skills to fit into their needs. They will most likely make you do things like peel 100 lbs. of potatoes just to see if you crack or complain. After a few nights of work, they will tell you - you are ‘on the schedule’ permanently or they let you know that you are ‘not what they need right now’ - no worries, just find another restaurant and start the process over. If you really liked it there, just tell the chef, once you get some experience, you’ll come back and try out again.
• If you work hard, show up on time and listen to the chef and sous chef, always answer “Yes, Chef” to anything they say or tell you to do and ALWAYS make friends with the dishwasher – There is a 99% chance they will offer you a job, no matter what your cooking skills.
• Since you are just starting out ‘on the line’, which is what they call the stations each cook works in a kitchen, you will most likely start at the garde manger station (gar-mon-jay) were salads and cold items are prepared. As you learn about cooking and learn to execute the chefs preferences - you’ll ‘move up the line’, which may take months or even years. Frankly, if you are seriously considering a fine dining culinary education, I would not work at a restaurant that doesn’t call their salad station a ‘garde manger’ station.
  
  Finally, some comments that others probably won’t tell you….
• Restaurants can be ‘mentally tough’ places for you to work. Kitchens are usually a man’s place, and sexist comments and suggestions will fly without notice in many places. The most successful women chefs battle these injustices with their knives, pots and pans. Don’t get angry or frustrated, just show them in your cooking/hard work that you can not only keep up, but make them keep up with you and that will change the way people interact in the kitchen more than any complaint to the chef or manager will.
• Restaurants usually entail physically or mentally exhausting work with a combination of long hours (14+ hr days), extreme heat and pockets of rush and then mayhem. Be it a silent kitchen (where the chef doesn’t allow talking) or a yelling chef (where they yell or scream at you and laugh if you cry), as you learn and grow in your cooking, you’ll find that every kitchen will teach you something about cooking, that has nothing to do with food.

Recipe: Savory Veggie Bread Pudding

Getting on the fall dish wagon - the other day I made this amazing brioche bread pudding with sauteed veggies. It tasted so good, I came home from work and made it again for myself.

(Savory Veggie Bread Pudding)

• 2 tablespoons of evoo
• 1/4 cup spanish onion, brunoise
• 1 cup corn kernels
• 1/8 cup sliced green onions
• 2 Tablespoons of sliced sage
• 1 Tablespoon of picked thyme
• 2 Tablespoons of roughly chopped oregano
• 1 lb. spinach, rinsed, blanched and squeezed of any excess water
• 3 egg
• 1 1/2 cups of milk (I subsituted cream)
• A shake or two of tabasco
• salt and pepper
• 4 cups brioche, crust removed, diced
• 2 cups of white cheddar, shredded organic

1. Preheat over to 325.
2. Spray a 9x13 dish with non-stick spray.
3. Saute onions in evoo until translucent.
4. Add red peppers until soft.
5. Add corn until warmed through.
6. Remove from heat and combine with herbs, let cool.
7. Combine egg, cream and tabasco and whisk until fluffly.
8. Spread 1/2 bread into dish, then layer with half the spinach 1/3 sprinkle sauteed veggie mixture and 1/2 the cheese.
9. Top with 1/2 the bread, then veggies, spinach and cheese.
10. Slowly drizzle egg mixture over bread and veggies, making sure to start around the edges, move into the middle and running liquid over every piece of bread on top.
11. Press your fingers in a few spots of the pudding to make sure bread is moist all the way through - if so - place in oven and bake for about an hour.
    

Recipe: Peppery Egg Noodle, Farmer's Cheese & Cauliflower Gratin

I have recently added Fine Cooking magazine to my monthly magazine recipe research for my clients. I have been pleasantly surprised at range and use of ingredients throughout their recipes - case in point - Peppery Egg Noodle, Farmer's Cheese & Cauliflower Gratin.

Old school, French style casseroles are the best...but I do not do the Americanized, just add creme of mushroom soup casseroles. At least that is what I tell people when they call my service looking for the stuff your freezer full of casseroles style personal chefs.

But this recipe is a case in point (thought I did doctor it up a little), that sometimes there is nothing better than a creme and buttery crusted - so perfect for fall - goodness.

(Peppery Egg Noodle, Farmer's Cheese & Cauliflower Gratin)

• 12 oz. farmer's cheese (I couldn't find any - so I just substituted cottage)
• 3/4 cup of heavy cream
• 3 Tablespoons of butter
• 1/4 cup homemade breadcrumbs (I added some picked thyme and chopped sage)
• 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
• kosher salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1 small head of cauliflower (1 & 3/4 - 2 lbs.), trimmed and cut into 1 inch long florets
• 1 cup homemade or low-salt chicken or veggie broth
• 9 oz. fresh egg pasta

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil, add enough salt to make it taste like 'sea water'.
3. Butter a casserole dish about 9x13.
4. Pulse in food processor farmers cheese and cream.(I added 3 Tablespoons of picked thyme and 2 Tablespoons of chopped sage to this.)
5. Saute breadcrumbs with thyme and butter until golden brown.
6. Separately saute in butter the cauliflower until slightly brown and translucent. (I added White Wine here, about a cup or so - educing completely before removing the cauliflower from the heat.)
7. Cut fetticine with kitchen shears into 3-4 inch pieces.
8. Drop fetticine in boiling water, removing after just 1 minute.
9. Combine cream - cheese mixture, fetticine and cauliflower, until fully combined.
10. Spread into casserole dish. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over and grind some extra pepper on top.
11. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Recipe: Pea & Garrotxa Goat Cheese Salad

(1 serving)

• 2 Shallots, minced
• 1/2 c. Sugar snaps
• 1/2 c. Snow Peas
• 1/4 c. shelled peas
• 3 oz. Garrotxa, diced
• 2 T. Tarragon, chopped
• 2 t. Grainy Mustard
• 2 T. Evoo Salt and Pepper

1. Blanch and shock sugar snaps until al dente.
2. Combine grainy mustard, tarragon and evoo, emulsify and set aside.
3. Combine remaining ingredients and sugar snap peas, then drizzle and fold in mustard mixture.

Recipe: Garrotxa - Pea and Goat Cheese Salad