No going back now the menus are written, recipes formulated and I’ve met the necessary dietary requirement for the kids; what a Rollercoaster. I was approached about four months ago to see whether I was up for the challenge of being the “Jamie Oliver” for Chatham County. One thing led to another and we agreed on the three chefs and set some deadlines. The Chatham County Chef Challenge was on.
Relatively easy so far, I thought. Then I began to think what was really involved in the Challenge that I had agreed to do without batting an eye lid. Like initiating any project, you go straight for that reference point or accrued experience that you rely on, but not this time. A few things I do know is that what we practice at the restaurant is you feed the kids as fast as possible so they are entertained, no hot plates, ketchup in close proximity and under NO circumstance use “posh” herbs that we like to call micro greens! Pretty much all I can take from this is feed the kids as fast as possible. I will go out on a limb and say that those little people have an extremely strong opinion on what they will eat and what they will not.
So the million dollar question is what do I cook for the kids now that the arsenal of ingredients that I am so accustomed to using - butter, beef tenderloin, lobster, duck fat, salt and heavy cream - are completely out of the equation. Well lets be honest, I can’t reinvent the wheel but I can try and put a couple of creative ideas to hide, disguise and lose everything that might resemble a vegetable.
Having no children myself this is quite a difficult task - so I thought, what did I used to eat? Well the motto in my house growing up was, if I did not eat what was put in front of me then I did not eat at all. Clearly that worked, as I began to enjoy liver and onions with brussel sprouts very quickly - actually roasted brussel sprouts with pancetta is one of my favorite vegetables now.
I began to spread the word on what I was doing, and suddenly I had lots of parents willing to offer their kids as guinea pigs for my little project which in turn would ease their nightly regime. Within hours of the food leaving the kitchen, I was nervously waiting for a response from them, as going back to the drawing board now was not an option.
After many decompression drives home and running on the treadmill I came up with a direction and a plan. This is not something I could push out quickly; otherwise I would not be happy with my ideas – this is exactly the same way I go about the menu process at the restaurant, just without 90% of the ingredients I would normally use and now low in sugar. All the parents know where I work and the last thing I would want to do is send the kids home when it was my menu day and they are bouncing off the walls with too much sugar.
After a few mistakes, recipe disasters and the kids’ input, I based the food ideas off of some dishes we have done here in the past - and when I say disaster I mean disaster! Straight out of the oven, do not pass go and straight into the rubbish bin!
The menu which I submitted was Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Chicken, Pepperoni and Tomato Sauce as a main course. Then for dessert I did low fat chocolate cake with Strawberry compote.
Oh yeah and my third bullet point which was used every night at the dinner table as I was growing up by one smart lady across the pond was if “you want dessert then you eat your dinner” - yes mum!!! One last thing - don’t forget the motto about vegetables: hide, disguise and lose…