Recently I had another opportunity to cook for chefs, or rather one guy was a chef and another was a farmer/food advocate. Cooking for chefs and industry people is always a crapshoot because you never know what kind of personality is going to show up at the table. In my experience most diners from our business are gracious and forgiving. Amongst chefs I’ve found there are usually two types; the chef who is grateful just to not to be cooking that night. This chef is usually the unpretentious, omnivorous type who’s just as happy snarfing down a plate of chili dogs as he would be nibbling on Ostrich ceviche with beet root dust. I count myself in this category with a few quirky variations like my habit of taking pictures of each plate set before me – a habit I picked up from my old friend and fellow neurotic, Tim England.

The second type of chef diner is the jaded cook who’s seen it all and either expects you to excite them with the sheer force of your food or they will just concentrate on everything else at the meal except the food. This sort of chef is easily distracted by shiny things like medals and money. I’ve rarely run into this category of chef diner and when I have it’s been local pros from local restaurants. My experiences with this type have not been awful in the soul crushing way that a bad break-up can be, but it hasn’t been a carnival of humor, either. In some ways, having the food you’ve worked hard to produce disdainfully ignored by people you’re trying to please and impress is worse than having one of them jump up and accuse you of being a no-talent clown. Which has happened to me, but at the time, I took exception to the criticism. I may be a clown, but I do possess more than just a little talent. So there.

Anyway, this last meal I prepared was for Chef Bryant Terry, a celebrity vegan chef whose niche is soul food, vegan style. He was on Hope’s campus as keynote speaker/presenter during a two day, all campus symposium focusing on food ethics in America. Another special guest from the industry was Joel Salatin, farmer, author and subject of the seminal book on sustainable food production, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan. Now, I’m not going to lie to you (well, maybe a little), but I literally had not heard of Chef Terry before this, so I had to do some quick research before I went ahead with my planned menu. I was, however, well aware of who Joel Salatin was; I had read the book and was impressed with what he was able to do on his farm. I was charged with composing a menu for and cooking the welcome dinner for these two guests of honor and a group of campus and community dignitaries. The one caveat was that the menu had to be completely Vegan and they wanted a buffet with at least four items. No worries. I set to work, all the while wondering what sort of diner these guests would be.

I composed the menu with a blend of American regional cooking and a few international items. I took a chance and put a recipe for southern style grilled sweet potatoes with pomegranate molasses glaze and balsamic sugared pecans garnish as a tip of the hat to Chef Terry. I just wanted to mess with the chef’s mind a little and do something that wasn’t in his cookbook, but was definitely in his wheelhouse. My homage to Joel Salatin was making sure that at least three quarters of the food came from within a 50 mile radius of my kitchen. Given the time of year and the abundance of agriculture in West Michigan, this was an easy task.

The dinner went smoothly and everyone was pleased with my cooking, but the real test in my mind was what the guests of honor had to say. Shortly after I finished my little talk to the crowd and they were released to go to the buffet, Bryant Terry came to me and asked to have a little bit of everything put in a to-go container as he didn’t have time to eat before his presentation. Not a good sign and I immediately thought that here was a chef who might be a category two: not interested in eating or cooking, but more interested in the politics and money making aspect of food. But my fears were quickly dispelled when he told me he’d had a little taste of the sweet potatoes and the paella and really liked their authentic flavor. He said he looked forward to eating his take away dinner later, even if it might be lukewarm. He made a joke about chefs being used to eating cold food standing up in the kitchen after all the guests had been served. This was good news and score one for me. I didn’t get a chance to see how Mr. Salatin liked his meal but I heard later that he enjoyed it very much. So, in my mind, the meal was now truly a success after having pleased the one chef at the dinner and as a bonus, pleasing an agricultural expert and icon. Later on, as always, I did my own personal post mortem on the event, I gave myself a little pat on the back, then moved on to the next thing. I am so ingrained with the transient nature of our business and the phenomenon of never resting on your laurels that when it came to remembering the details of this event, including the menu itself, I had to dig into our billing archives just to refresh my memory even though it was barely a month ago. But that’s a subject for the next blog post. Until then, kanpai!

The Menu
Spinach Salad with Sirache Carrot Slaw and Thai cilantro vinaigrette
Korean BBQ Portobello Fingers
Grilled Sweet potatoes with pomegranate molasses
Balsamic glazed pecans
Cuban Paella
Pan seared string beans with preserved lemon
Vegan Brownie with espresso glace

Recipe
Korean BBQ Portobello Strips

Serving Size : 4

Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
16 Ounces Portobello Mushrooms — stemmed, and gills removed
1/4 Cup Tamari Soy Sauce
1/4 Cup Canola Oil
1 Teaspoon White Pepper

For the Sauce:
1/4 Cup Canola Oil
1/4 Cup Toasted Sesame Oil
1/4 Cup Red Chili Bean Paste (kochujang)
1 Teaspoon White Pepper
2 Tablespoons Ginger — skinned and grated
1/4 Cup Black Garlic — minced
2 Tablespoons Sugar
Water — as needed

Whisk together the marinade ingredients and cover the mushrooms for at least 1 hour but preferably over night.

Preheat gas or charcoal broiler to high. A salamander may be used for this also.

In a blender, combine the sauce ingredients until smooth. It should be a milkshake consistency – if too thick add water. Transfer to a pan and heat until warm but not bubbling.

Grill each side of the mushroom for 2 to 3 minutes on high. Be careful not to let it char too much.

Once flipped, brush the top of the mushroom with the sauce, turn over and do the same on the under side. Remove from the broiler and cut into strips.

Toss with any remaining sauce and serve immediately.

Mushrooms can be served over a bed of stir fried bok choy or jasmine rice. Also may be served with a traditional Korean noodle dish called Chop Chae.

+ kochujang and black garlic can be found at Korean or Asian groceries.