17 December 2014
While it is true, I am the Chef, I am still a very new one and have a lot to learn. I've been thinking about the statement, "You're the Chef" pretty seriously lately because there are so many things I still don't know, but feel like I should...
Recently I took on a last minute catering job for my church. They were in need of someone to provide a nice dinner for some generous folks who helped make our big Christmas concert happen. Enter me...the Chef.
I can tell you that I was a little freaked out because up until then I had only done menu planning/costing and portion sizing for school. Not for real people who were expecting a nice, professionally done, meal.
Yikes.
Well, after some extremely helpful input from my Sous Chef, Dawn (thanks Dawn!) I turned in my menu, got all the costs approved, and went shopping at Sam's.
Menu:
Pork Tenderloin with Mushroom Sauce
Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
Garlic Parmesan Roasted Potatoes
The one unfortunate element, and added difficulty, was that I was going to have to prep everything ahead of time since I was working at my vegan place on the day of the event. All the food was going to have to be re-heated (and not dry out), and most likely turned over to the wonderful volunteers who were going to plate and serve my food.
I feel my time in the Abbey Kitchen on Iona was helpful since we did all our cooking in the morning and reheated dinner in the evening AND the cook would leave directions (including every answer to every possible question the volunteers might have). I only hope I did the Abbey Cook proud with my meal.
As luck would have it, I was able to be at the church in time to take over from my Sous Chef and get the food in the ovens.
I was not super calm. I worried about everything...and thanks to my sanitation class I worried about a lot more than I would have prior to my training!
I don't know that I was that great at delegating. I must work on that...and I fear that I might have seemed short or impatient (I can get like that when I'm nervous). There were a lot of questions I wasn't prepared to answer and needed another take charge personality beside me. I was graced with a couple of these souls just when I needed them and I am grateful for their steadying presence.
The volunteers had to make me leave the kitchen in the end because I had to go change for singing in the choir! Yes...I was pulling triple duty that day/night.
All I could really tell from the food was that it made the church smell amazing and all the concert attendees kept commenting about it. I had to wait until I got home to try it out for myself, but it passed muster.
One tiny (or huge) issue was the sauce I originally made. I read the measurement for chili flakes wrong and let my nerves over-ride my intuition...resulting in a crazy spicy pot of sauce that I tried to fix by adding milk, yogurt, oil, wine...you name it. Then I ended up with a HUGE pot of spicy sauce. In the end I took it home and made a new, and different, sauce that did not have any chili flakes in it. I was not going to go down that road again. Some very happy choir member got doggy bags of the original "Amazing, Crazy Spicy Mushroom Sauce." I'm actually eating some pasta with it right now...yum-o.
Everything turned out pretty good in the end and I have a catering job under my belt. The bonus was that I was able to cook for a big group of people that I care about a whole bunch. That's why I wanted to be The Chef...
XO
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