Chez Nous, Culinary Plans and Catch-all Casserole

Classes at Le Cordon Bleu – Austin are finally over and done for me! Hooray!!! I loved my time spent there, but this is one tired culinary student. Between the 40 hours a week that I work at the Austin Hyatt Regency and the 35 hours a week I would spend at school, i was getting about 4 hours of sleep a night. It was not safe, to say the least. I burned or cut myself more times in the past six weeks than I have through out the rest of the program.

To celebrate the end of class and to talk about our next step Whitney, Molly, and I went to dinner at Chez Nous Saturday night then out for a few drinks. Chez Nous was fantastic! For those who may not know Chez Nous is a casual french bistro on Neches St. It was opened in 1982 by three friends from Paris, France. I had the Soupe du Jour, which was wild mushroom cream soup, Pork Medalions with caramelized onions and apples from their prix fixe menu and the Creme Caramel for dessert. We shared a little bite from each of our dishes. Everything was delicious, I highly recommend this restaurant for any occasion.

During dinner we shared a bottle of wine and talked about our plans for the future. The three of us have similar goals and interests and past experiences. I think we each agree that there is so much more that we can do with our educations than just working through the ranks and becoming a chef. There’s nothing wrong with that career path, but I want more. In fact I want about a hundred different careers.

In my last post, “Can a Culinary Arts Certificate Lead to Career in Culinary Media,” I was struggling with this idea of doing more than just becoming a chef. I now know what I want to do with my life, and if I’m going to do it I have to make it happen on my own. I’ve decided to start my own culinary magazine that will provide good food, information and direction for average people as well as cooks and chefs, especially those interested in local, healthy, delicious products.

Starting a magazine sounds like an overwhelming feat, but Molly and Whitney are both interested in the venture and between the three of us we can certainly make this happen. I think we all see this as a medium for culinary catharsis; through which we can educate and share our knowledge. To us it will provide more satisfaction and challenge us more than working our asses off in a kitchen and getting yelled every day until we’ve put in enough time and effort to be able to yell at someone else who’s working their ass off.

We plan to begin our magazine online because we have the means to get it started immediately, well almost immediately. Eventually we want to create a quarterly print version, but we’ll need to build up advertising in order to do that. I’m very excited about as are Whitney and Molly. People have told us it won’t work, but on paper we have everything we need. Hopefully our excitement, passion and desire to create a useful product will shine through and will propel the magazine forward.

I believe we’ve decided on a name, but I will wait to divulge that information at a more opportune time. In the meantime, our first articles will be about the Austin Farmer’s Market at Triangle Park. We plan to have an adventure there on Wednesday, so today I’m cleaning out my refrigerator! I made Catch All Casserole today. This recipe is different every time I make it which allows me to be quite creative. Casseroles are a great way to experiment with unique and different flavors. This particular casserole has delicious sweet yet savory flavors. I want you to try this recipe, but I want you to also stray from it if you don’t have every ingredient I use. Substitute things, throw in additions, change it up and make it your own, and have fun with it!

Catch-all Casserole

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
• 1 C. rice
• 1 C. water
• 1/2 onion diced
• 2 celery stalks diced
• 1/2 bag frozen veggies
• 1 can chick peas
• 1 C. golden raisins
• 2 tbs apple sauce
• 1tsp dijon mustard
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp worchestershire sauce
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp dried basil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbs butter diced
• 1 C. shredded sharp cheddar

Note: Yes I used frozen veggies because I had them and I was cleaning out the freezer. If you have fresh veggies please feel free to use them.

You will need aluminum foil to cover so the rice will cook properly. CHECK YOUR CABINET FIRST! Don’t do what I did and have to stop half way through to go buy aluminum foil. I used an 8X8 glass casserole, any size should work.

1. Preheat oven to 425°. Combine all ingredients except the butter and cheese in a mixing bowl, mix together well.
2. pour into casserole dish; top with diced butter and a handful of more raisins. cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake 45 min to 1 hour or until rice is cooked.
3. When rice is just done uncover add cheese and cook under the broiler until a gratan appears. allow to cool slightly before serving.