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Our love affair with food begins when we graduate to solid foods and we learn to appreciate the incredible taste, smell and appearance of food. Certainly, we need food for nutrition, but it’s placement during holidays and entertaining demonstrates how food is used for celebration, consolation and congratulation.
I watched seeds sown and plants harvested on the Iowa farm where I grew up, so from an early age I had the sense of where food comes from and the labor involved. Growing up I had always enjoyed cooking, but I decided I wanted to delve deeper and attended a culinary school in Minneapolis for two years. Minneapolis is a real haven for foodies: new, different, traditional and comfort foods abound.
The overall lifestyle today is so harried and schedules are so full that there’s little time to kick back, relax or enjoy some “me” time, much less prepare a meal; which is why I chose to become a personal chef: to provide affordable fine dining and healthy eating without my clients having to leave home. It sounds like a new concept, but the USPCA (United States Personal Chef Association) has been around for fifteen years, and I have been a member for the past ten. It’s a fresh service: you can go the refridgerator and select from five days’ worth of entrees and sides to heat up in just 20 minutes. Because I do the shopping and make up the menus, I can adjust when my clients have special dietary needs.
I love using fresh herbs when I cook. My cooking is simple: I utilize fresh ingredients, create flavorful combinations and keep it all from being terribly time consuming. Having lived on the East Coast and South Florida, I picked up ideas from the area and the people for whom I worked, capitalizing on the availability of fresh fish or wild game.
Before long, the holidays will be here and entertaining will bring us together and food will be the glue. Our fondest memories tend to center around food, and we all certainly have our favorites. I hope the creative process of producing a wonderful meal and the delight of spending time with family and friends makes the holidays all the more enjoyable for you. Let the entertaining begin!
Here are a few of my favorite holiday pleasers:
Prime Rib Roast with Mustard & Black Pepper
serves 6
4-5 lb Prime Rib of Beef
4 cloves of garlic, cut into slivers
1/4 C soy cause and 4 T coarsely ground pepper
Sauce:
1/4 C Dijon mustard
1 T soy sauce
1 C beef stock
1 T cracked pepper
To prepare the roast, cut incisions at even intervals in the surface of the meat and insert the slivers of garlic. Place the meat in the roasting pan. Combine the mustard and the soy sauce and spread mixture over the roast. Top with the pepper. Let the roast sit at room temperature for up to 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roast the meat until a meat thermometer inserted in the center of the roast reads 120 degrees F for rare, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove from the oven and let the roast rest on the carving board, covered with aluminum foil, for about 15 minutes.
To make the sauce, combine the mustard, soy sauce, beef stock and pepper in a small pan with a whisk and heat through. Or, pour the stock into the degreased drippings in the roasting pan and stir to free any browned bits. Whisk in the mustard, soy sauce and pepper.
Sweet & White Potato Gratin
serves 12
6 C heavy cream
6 cloves garlic, smashed with flat of a knife
sa lt, freshly ground pepper and ground nutmeg to taste
6 large russet potatoes
6 large yams
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a saucepan, bring the cream and garlic to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the garlic and season the cream with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. The mixture should be a little salty, as the potatoes are very bland and will absorb the cream and salt.
While the cream is simmering, peel and slice the potatoes and yams 1/4 inch thick. Layer the potatoes and the yams in overlapping rows in a deep baking dish or lasagna pan. Pour the warm cream over the potatoes and yams. The cream should just cover the potatoes; if not, add a little bit more. Bake until the potatoes and yams are tender, about 45 minutes.
Peach & Blackberry Galette
Serves 8
2 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
8 oz chilled butter
1/2 C ice water
1 1/2 lbs fresh or frozen peaches
1/2 lb fresh or frozen blackberries
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 C sugar, plus 2 tsp sugar
3 T flour
1 T heavy cream
1/2 C apricot jam, warmed
In the bowl of the food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse the flour and salt. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles course meal, about 15 seconds. With the machine running, add the water in a slow, steady stream: process until the dough just holds together. Turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap, and flatten into a disk; wrap well. Chill at least 1 hour in the refridgerator.
Place a baking sheet upside down on the center shelf in oven; preheat to 400 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Transfer to a 9” rectangular or square tart pan with removable bottom; press in bottom and up sides with a 2” overhang on the sides. In a large bowl, stir together the peaches, blackberries, lemon juice, 1/4 C sugar, flour and cinnamon. Transfer to tart shell and arrange fruit in an even layer. Fold the overhanging dough on top of the fruit. Brush dough with cream and sprinkle with the remaining 2T of sugar. Place pan on top of baking sheet in oven. Bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling, about 45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Brush filling with apricot jam.
