Jorge and I

The collaborative exchange of ideas I have shared with the many chefs who have worked for me over the years has had an incredibly significant influence on my culinary journey.  While I enjoy the serendipitous ways in which I search for and find recipes on my own (the focus of my previous post “Mixing it Up”), I also love discovering and creating new dishes alongside the professional chefs who work in my kitchens.

Since I opened my first Convito 41 years ago, I have worked with over 25 different chefs.  They each had their own style, their own depth of talent and their own background.  Some were with the company for longer periods of time, making more lasting contributions than others.  But for the most part, they have been happy, productive, and collaborative relationships.

When I collaborate with trained chefs my process generally follows an established pattern.   The collaboration starts when I bring a recipe or idea to them: something I found in a cookbook, saw in a food shop, or often from my own imagination.  Then we either make the dish together in the restaurant kitchen or the chef works independently with his team to develop it and then presents me with their first draft.  We then discuss the merits of their version, give it a thumbs up or thumbs down, and decide whether it needs small alterations or a wholesale rethink.  If we’re pleased, we almost always find a place for it on our menu either as an everyday item on the menu or a special.

Changes to our menu occur twice a year, both in the cafe and the market.  It is rarely a wholesale change, but I always seek to offer new dishes in all categories of our menus, from appetizers to desserts.  Innovative dishes allow the kitchen to evolve with current tastes and to take advantage of changing local ingredients.  It also reminds our customers that we are constantly thinking about ways to improve their dining experience.

Collaboration with my chefs is at its height during this period.  The first step in this process is an extensive testing period where we try new dishes – ones we believe will both fit the season and compliment the other dishes on the menu.  Since the chef still has a daily schedule to follow – cooking both lunch and dinner and attending to the operations of his kitchen – our testing is sporadic since it has to fit into his or her hectic day.

Rob Warner at work

Once we are finished with that part of the process, we schedule a final testing day where the chef presents each of the dishes. We critique each for taste, presentation, and balance relative to the overall menu.  Recently, our panel of critics consists of the chef, me, and my daughter and partner, Candace Barocci Warner.  Always hovering nearby is food photographer Rob Warner who also happens to be Candace’s husband.  He shoots each dish as it is delivered to the table as we wait impatiently for him to give us the thumbs up that he got the shot, which Candace will eventually use on our website or social media.

Candace and I

I have always left the creation of nightly specials up to the chef’s discretion.  This is pretty standard operating procedure within the industry, but I also do it because I believe that after our extensive vetting process, the chefs we hire must understand the language of our restaurants and I trust that that their specials will fit into our theme and focus.  Occasionally some have strayed from our principals, which is always a red flag for me.  The most memorable “deviation” was the infamous Banana Soup special at Convito Italiano’s Gold Coast location downtown Chicago.  I wasn’t in the restaurant the night it appeared, but I heard about it the next morning from my restaurant manager.  “Um, Nancy…is banana soup with cilantro and queso-fresco…um…Italian?” he asked.  Yikes!  I immediately found the chef and asked the same question.  “No”, he replied “but it’s so good.”  “Pad Thai, Jambalaya and bottomless margaritas are also good”, I pointed out “but this is an Italian restaurant and the specials need be at their core Italian.”

Fortunately, I didn’t have many chefs that were so clueless and that particular one didn’t last very long.  I don’t remember if he left on his own or had to be “escorted out” but after our Banana Soup discussion, I kept close tabs on his specials and eventually showed him the door.

Violet Calderelli

Violet Caldarelli

My very first chef, Violet Caldarelli was the chef who had the biggest impact on Convito food.  She not only contributed many of her own recipes (Violet’s Tuna, Pollo Impressivo “My Three Mentors”) but later as Convito’s catering director, she had an impact on every chef that followed in her footsteps.  She was invaluable to the development of Convito’s reputation for high quality food.  Her irascible but humorous personality never failed to (eventually) win over every chef that came through the Convito kitchen.  They all loved her spirit and more importantly, respected her experience and instincts. To this day, whenever I run into anyone who worked with Violet, they always speak highly of her mentorship and love to reminisce about their own “Violet stories”.  She had absolutely no compunction about speaking the unvarnished truth and her comments were often not just funny, but outrageous and imminently colorful.  “I said gently fold the dressing into the salad”, she reprimanded one sous-chef.  “You’re not folding, you’re in a battle with the ingredients and you’re bruising them. Stop!”

Edmund & Violet

Convito was lucky to have Violet for almost 30 years.  She was with us until she turned 94 – still slicing prosciutto, still bossing me around and still the best salesperson to ever grace Convito’s market.  She could sell you anything.  Customers who came in just for a pint of her tuna salad, left with a bottle of wine, a loaf of bread, dessert, and often much more. “We just got in a new blackberry jam”, she would point out. “You must try it!”  And they always did.

Violet passed away a few years ago at age 103, but she will always be a part of the Convito spirit.  Even though the chefs Violet worked with knew she always had their back and that she would pitch in to help them whenever she was needed in the kitchen, they also knew that – God forbid – if they sent a dish out to the market that did not meet her high standards, back it went to the kitchen accompanied by a tongue lashing from Violet herself.

One classic Convito recipe that Violet was indirectly responsible for is Vegetale Fresca, among the first salads Convito sold out of our deli case. I hastily invented it one morning a few months after Convito opened.  I had arrived early to find Violet already in our tiny kitchen and immediately berating me about some expiring produce in our refrigerator.  Violet was brought up in an era where waste was considered unacceptable – even evil.  She had owned a school supply store that also sold lunches to the high school kids, so she was intimately familiar with what waste could do to the bottom line.  I could hardly get my coat off before she led me to her shameful discovery in the refrigerator.  “If this produce is not used today, you’re going to have to throw it all away!” she barked at me.   Rattled, I took it all out, placed it on the counter behind our deli, (In our first store, we had no kitchen), momentarily took stock of what was in front of me and quickly started chopping and julienning these “on edge” cucumbers, peapods, tomatoes and red onions, and came up with a salad that we still sell every day at Convito.   When I stepped back to appreciate what Violet had driven me to invent, I realized how beautiful it turned out!  I decided to dress it with a simple vinaigrette, adding dried oregano to make it more Italian. Vegetale Fresca was complete!

This dish falls into the “accidental” or “by chance” category like my partner Paolo’s Pollo Paesana sauce recipe which I wrote about in my previous blog.    And like Pollo Paesana, it is a real winner, especially because it can be made a day before we sell it and still maintain its delicious, crunchy quality.  It is always sold out by the end of every day.

© rob warner photography 2022

Vegetale Fresca

Ingredients
2 cups julienned carrots (2 inches long)
2 cups julienned zucchini
1 cup peapods, trimmed
1 cup peeled, seeded, julienned cucumber
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Vinaigrette
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine the vegetables and parsley in a large bowl.
Combine the vinaigrette ingredients and whisk well.
Pour over the vegetables and mix well.

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Edmund Beberdick

Naturally, other Convito and Betisé chefs would add to our ever-growing list of recipes. Though some brought their own ideas, more often than not new dishes came out of a need I saw in our menu and that I would challenge the chefs to address.  Edmund Beberdick worked as a chef at Trattoria Convito (downtown Chicago), Convito Italiano (Wilmette) and Bêtise (Wilmette) and this was primarily the way he and I worked together.  One afternoon I asked him to make a potato pizza.  I had just returned from Milan where I had a delicious one and though I didn’t have a recipe (pizza making occupies and entire sub-genre of Italian cooking and was one of my blind spots at the time) I thought it would be a natural fit for out menu.  I described to him the toppings which consisted of paper-thin slices of potatoes, mozzarella, parmesan, and rosemary and asked him to give it a shot.  That very day, he produced a divine potato pizza with a thin, crunchy crust, which we happily added to our list of specials and even sold it in the market from time to time.  Potato pizza remains one of my favorite pizzas and I credit Edmund for really nailing our version.

Our collaboration for the potato pizza recipe was featured in Restaurants & Institutions magazine, a trade publication in the foodservice industry.

Edmund and I in Restaurants & Institutions

During Edmund’s time in the Chestnut Convito location, he met a very pretty waitress – Elizabeth McShane -who later became a Convito restaurant manager and then catering director.  Their meeting resulted in the very first Convito marriage.  The second was my daughter, Candace and her husband, Rob Warner who met as co-workers while serving tables at Convito Cafe in 1990.  Rob is a self-employed photographer (www.warnerfoto.com) who today is no longer a server, but is in charge of all food photography for Convito.  Amore was in the air!

Violet, Elizabeth & Edmund

Another one of Edmund’s contributions to Convito is something we eventually named Beberdick’s Breadsticks.  They are simply breadsticks wrapped in bacon and served warm, but are divine (given they feature bacon there was no way they could be anything but delicious!).  But since it is a recipe best served immediately after preparation, we couldn’t sell them in our market. Instead we featured them as a catering item, but even then it was tricky.  They worked well when part of a very large order where the chef travelled with the food.  Then he could bake the breadsticks on site.  When that happened, the customer was always delighted and inevitably wished they had ordered more!  But the circumstances where a chef accompanies the food are infrequent, so we no longer offer them as a catering item, though I still personally make them for my own private entertaining. They’re addictive!

© rob warner photography 2022

Beberdick’s Breadsticks
(makes 60)

60 breadsticks
60 slices of bacon
1 ½ cups brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Lay the breadstick in the bacon slice lengthwise.
Wrap the bacon around the breadstick sealing by pressing down lightly and place on a cookie sheet.
Bake the breadsticks for approximately 10 minutes until the bacon is beginning to crisp.
While breadsticks are baking, mix the brown sugar and dry mustard in a small bowl
Remove from the oven and spread the sugar-mustard mixture over each breadstick, then return to the oven for approximately 5 minutes or until the bacon is crisp.
Allow to cool.  (They will be very soft when first removed but will crisp and get firm as they cool)

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Kent Buell and Shawn McClain

Kent Buell was the first chef at Bêtise, my French Bistro.  He and his sous-chef Shawn McClain left their mark on Betise (and me) by cooking fresh and sophisticated-but-homey bistro fare with an emphasis on classic French bistro dishes, as well as a nod to contemporary American cuisine.  Kent had previously been the chef of a smaller restaurant in a neighboring Chicago suburb and Shawn came from a high-end hotel in Chicago.  Over the course of a few weeks before opening, we tested many different dishes and developed a menu that we were all very proud of.  But best of all, our testing sessions became an incredibly fun and collaborative experience that I believe made all three of us better cooks.  One dish I was committed to putting on our menu was inspired by my late friend, Leslee Reis and her renowned restaurant Café Provencal.  We recreated her classic French Onion Soup.  Another delicious dish was an item we named Hors d’Oeuvres Columbe d’Or  which was an impressive platter of salads and relishes for two in honor of one of my very favorite restaurants in St. Paul de Vence, France the Columbe d’Or.  I also wanted us to come up with our own version of Salade Lyonnaise, which I had recently tasted in Lyon, France and was the signature dish of the city.  The salad we created was very true to the classic version – friseé tossed in a dijon vinaigrette with with crispy bacon and croutons and a poached egg on top – but with our own twist. We added herring, anchovies and Gruyere cheese and nestled each ingredient to the side of the salad to be mixed in as the customer wished.  We described it as a regional French salad for your own mixing.

Kent Buell at a staff party with his baby & me

Kent and Shawn’s contributions were many, but one I am still particularly fond of is Salade Verte Bêtise, a salad of mixed greens tossed in a roasted garlic vinaigrette, garnished with crispy sweet onions and encased in a thinly sliced cucumber round holding the salad together like an edible cake ring.  Today Convito Cafe still has that salad on our menu, but we call it simply Bêtise Salad.

Kent eventually moved to Michigan where he opened a restaurant and Shawn is currently a James Beard Award winner and outstanding restauranteur owning some six renowned restaurants in Chicago and Las Vegas.  I loved our time together and have been delighted with their continued success in this very tough business.

Chris Nugent

Chris Nugent

In the early 2000’s a very young, very talented chef came to Bêtise.  According to our current chef, Jorge Plata, that young man, Chris Nugent, was hands down the most creative and hardest working chef of the ten-plus Convito and Bêtise chefs that Jorge ever worked with.  Working as a prep cook and a line cook under Chris, Jorge recalls that during Chris’ 3 ½ year stint at Bêtise, Chris taught him everything from ordering product, managing food costs (a wildly underrated art), food presentation, and – most importantly – the best techniques for cooking and capturing the flavors of everything from green beans to salmon to pastries.  Chris was not only talented, but very generous with his experience and skills.

Our repertoire of excellent recipes was substantially amplified during Chris’s years.  I always looked forward to the days when he would call me to Bêtise to present the new dishes he proposed we add to the menu.  Each one had its own Chris Nugent signature while remaining true to the restaurant’s identity.  Our Caesar Salad was not just an ordinary Caesar Salad, but was Chris’ reinvention where the greens were encased in a crisp Parmesan cup he had baked earlier in the day.  His beet salad was one made with roasted beets paired with arugula and tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette.  It was not only delicious, but spectacular to look at.  The glistening red and yellow vegetables were fanned out across the plate and then tucked under the arugula.  It was artistic but simple.  And most importantly…delicious.

Chris’s incredible work ethic was never more evident than in the Thanksgiving combo meals he put together for that holiday’s take-out menu.  Bêtise was not open on Thanksgiving Day, nor did it specialize in take-out like its sister restaurant Convito Italiano.  But as the business grew, Chris wanted to offer our loyal customers some sort of Thanksgiving take-out.  Once we decided to go for it, he furiously went to work.  Being the professional that he is, Chris didn’t just start cooking, but instead sketched out a preliminary menu and then tried to figure out whether he and his staff could actually execute making, organizing and storing those meals all while attending to keeping the restaurant running without compromise.

For six days before Thanksgiving, Chris and his staff worked around the clock, ovens going 24 hours a day.  Our “Combo Dinners” included butternut squash soup, a whole roasted turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, a green vegetable (I can’t recall exactly what though!) and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.  Once the word got around, orders flooded in. Customers knew that if Chris was cooking it, the meal would be outstanding.  Days after announcing the project we had already reached our limit and had to cut the orders off at fifty since we didn’t have room to store any more than that.  Chris offered these combo meals for the three Thanksgivings he was chef at Bêtise and though the entire staff was exhausted by end of that week, they also remember how thrilled our customers were and what a distinctive take-out experience he had created.  To this day customers who were lucky enough to get one of those meals remain disappointed that we no longer offer them, but Chris was one-of-a-kind, and no other chef has been bold (or foolhardy?) enough to undertake the task since then.

Chris’s seasonal specials were also fantastic.  He made sure to develop good relationships with local farmers even before it was hip to do so, and was always on the look-out for the latest and best produce of the season.  One of my favorites was his autumnal mushroom risotto.  Abby Mandel, cookbook author and food columnist, ordered that particular special on one of her many visits to Betise and later asked Chris if he would be willing to share the recipe for inclusion in her Sunday Chicago Tribune column.   As Abby wrote, “I agree with Bêtise Chef Christ Nugent – wild mushrooms are a compensation for the end of summer.  It feels good in cooler weather to segue into the earthy, robust cooking that mushrooms celebrate.”  I agree whole heartedly.

© rob warner photography 2022

Bêtise Risotto
(6 appetizer or 4 entree servings)

Mushrooms
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup each: chanterelle, shiitake and oyster mushrooms, halved, or 1/4 cup dried chanterelle, shiitake and oyster mushrooms reconstituted in warm water
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Risotto
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup shallots, finely chopped
1 pound Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
8 cups hot chicken or vegetable stock, or 1 large can (49.5 ounces) and 1 small can (14.5 ounces) low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 teaspoons dried herbs de Provence
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated, plus more for serving
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Mushrooms
Heat olive oil and butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; cook, stirring often, just until mushrooms begin to lightly caramelize, about 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; transfer mushrooms to bowl. Set aside.

Risotto
Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots; cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add rice; cook, stirring constantly, until rice turns milky opaque white, 5 to 7 minutes. Add wine; cook until almost completely absorbed, about 3 minutes. Add 1 cup of hot stock to rice, stirring often. Add another cup, stirring, until liquid is absorbed. Repeat process until there is only 1 cup left, about 20 minutes. Stir in final cup of stock, mushrooms, remaining 3 tablespoons of butter, herbs de Provence and Parmesan cheese. Cook 2 minutes; remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon risotto into 4 large warmed shallow soup bowls. Pass more Parmesan cheese.

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Chris currently owns his own Michelin Star restaurant in Chicago’s Lincoln Park Square area named Goosefoot.  The food is innovative American fare and as anyone who has had the pleasure to eat it will attest, it is out of this world.

Bêtise Chris Nugent with Convito chef Cory Grupe at Green City Market

These seasonal recipes were typical of Chris’ style.  He made it a priority to make weekly visits to Chicago’s expanding list of farmer’s markets which were becoming more and more popular in the U.S, especially in the Midwest where our growing season is limited due to out longer winters.  Seasonality and sustainability would become buzzwords in the restaurant business and would eventually play a big role in nightly specials in restaurants all over America.  In 1998 my close friend Abby Mandel who had lived and worked in many French restaurants over the years, became determined to open in Chicago the same kind of farmer’s market she had visited while working in France. In Europe the idea of eating local and fresh has never gone out of style and she was inspired to create the Green City Market.  It is her legacy and continues to thrive in both Lincoln Park and the West Loop.  I was lucky enough to accompany her during one of her visits to Provence, France and witnessed her passion firsthand.  Abby was already a celebrated cook and author, but the promotion of products from local farmers became her mission.  That passion has had a lasting influence on chefs throughout the city, mine included. 

I was also lucky to visit many of Italy’s incredible food markets.  My favorites were those in Venice, Bologna and Rome where the sight of glistening fish, colorful vegetables and a huge assortment of other food products like sauces and breads, cheeses, salamis and sweets inspired me to think about all the dishes that one could cook with each of those products.  I have one recipe in particular that is a market-inspired pasta dish in one of my regional blogs (Umbria “The Girls”). During a visit to a market in Orvieto with my sister Karen we collaborated on a meal to celebrate her birthday.  After our market visit, we came back to our farmhouse villa just outside of Todi loaded with all the good things we had seen at the market – fresh pasta, tomatoes, bread, etc.  We cooked a delicious pasta dish I named “Sister Karen’s Umbrian Birthday Pasta”

me at Farmer’s Market

Not only does shopping at local farmer’s markets allow one to create dishes infused with fresh flavors and to support sustainability, but for me it is also an incredible way to generate new ideas.  Inspiration evolves with every change of the season.  Leafy greens and slender stalks of asparagus always inspire me during the spring season, whereas multi-colored heirloom tomatoes never fail to catch my imagination in the summer.  I am first and foremost a tomato kind of gal and the best time for tomatoes – at least in the Midwest – is near the end of summer and I always try to buy as many tomatoes as possible during that short season.  I make salads and sauces while they are available and make a simple tomato sauce which I freeze and enjoy during the winter.

In recent years, autumn has also produced many new vegetable surprises – especially in the squash family.  Butternut and acorn squash are now not the only kids on the block.  They have been joined by squashes and gourds that are striped, oddly shaped and weirdly named.  Being a big fan, I have tried many of them prepared in countless ways.  But I have still not found anything better than when they are simply baked with a dab of butter or a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to bring out their earthy sweetness.

Paul, Janet, Candace and I after our Market Dinner

Two of my favorite “market-shopping-partners” were my friends Janet and Paul Alms.  During the market season we would meet on Saturday at the Evanston Farmer’s Market to gather produce for the dinners we would make back at my townhouse that evening.  Paul was always given the dessert assignment since he made one of the best pie crusts I have ever eaten.  While he headed towards the fresh fruit section to select plump blueberries or newly-ripened peaches for his pie filling, Janet and I perused the many vegetable booths trying to decide which bright shiny vegetables would be our choice for the dishes we would make that night.  Janet focused on the salad course which in the middle of summer most often included juicy red tomatoes, basil and whatever other ingredients caught her fancy.  Sometimes she also bought fresh mozzarella at the cheese booth to make a Caprese salad or would head toward the Kinnikinnick Farms booth to buy their bright shiny green arugula.  Kinnikinnick farms is located in Caledonia, Illinois and was one of our favorite farm stands.

Paul’s drawing of Farmer’s Market

After splitting up, we would then put our heads together to decide the meat that Paul would grill for our main course.  We loved brats, steak, pork tenderloin or even just plain hamburgers.

My role was usually to create the side dish.  Often, I did something with potatoes (my other favorite vegetable, second only to tomatoes).   During the market season I have created several market-inspired potato salads, some of which eventually found their way into Convito’s market salad selection.   The recipe below I called Potato Pepit-alicious.  It is delicious autumn-season potato salad.

© rob warner photography 2022

Potato Pepit-alicious

2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes cut into cubes, roasted in the oven with olive oil and salt and pepper
1 cup crispy prosciutto
1 cup roasted pumpkin seeds
1 cup scallions sliced on diagonal
¼ cup minced fresh dill
2 cups arugula, chopped

½ cup olive oil
¼ cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Mix together and serve room temperature

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Jorge Plata

Our current Convito Cafe & Market Chef is Jorge Plata.  Jorge came to Convito in 1997 and has moved through many positions at both Convito and Bêtise.  He started as a dish washer, graduated to prep cook, then line cook and eventually sous-chef.  He has worked under 10 different chefs and in 2017 became Executive Chef at Convito Cafe & Market.  No chef knows Convito better than he does and I am very lucky to have him running our kitchen.

His calm manner, intuitive cooking skills and hard work ethic has endeared him to the whole staff.  His kitchen is a happy kitchen and is one that works as a team.  They are serious about their work, but also have fun.  I know that when I come into the kitchen to test a new recipe, I will always have a good time because laughter is an integral part of our testing routine.

Sergio Palafox with vegetale fresca

One of my other key testing partners is another long-time Convito veteran, salad chef Sergio Palafox.  His infectious laugh and big smile make testing salads with him a delight (the fact that he is also a singer and front-man for a part band called Tenacidad is further proof of his joyous spirit).  Sergio has overseen Convito’s Market Salads for 13 years and he – like Jorge and most all the guys and gals in the kitchen – is incredibly fast.  While we are testing, I always make the comment that if I chopped vegetables at his rate of speed, blood would be an ingredient in our vinaigrette. That always get a big laugh.

Not too many chefs that I can remember have a great working relationship with the front of the house staff, but our waiters and the market staff all respect and love Jorge.  Sarka Timkovic, our restaurant manager, has been with Convito for 13 years and has worked with at least 5 different chefs during her time with us and she gives Jorge a gold star.  “Never do I have to worry about telling him if there is a problem.  He simply listens then handles it.”  She claims she has never worked with a chef who is so pleasant and talented and that is a big part of why she loves coming to work.

Jorge & I

All those many wonderful qualities that Jorge possesses are important to the success of a chef, but most important is the food.  And night after night, the meals that comes out of his kitchen are first class.  One of the many dishes he has perfected over the years is a popular lunch item in our café – quiche.  His is among the best I have ever had, and no one can replicate it.  When he was on leave we actually had to take it off the menu because, it wasn’t quite the same.  Once he returned we immediately put it back on the menu much to the relief of many of our customers.

© rob warner photography 2022

Jorge’s Quiche
Asparagus, Spinach, Sun-dried Tomatoes & Goat Cheese
(Serves 8)

15 eggs
1-quart heavy cream
½ cup flour
¾ tablespoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

1 sheet puff pastry – 16” x 12” – defrosted
Flour

2 cups asparagus cut into ¼ inch pieces
2 cups baby spinach, chopped
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
½ cup of goat cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Grease a 12” x 3” round baking pan with 2 tablespoons butter
Mix eggs, cream, ½ cup flour, salt and pepper until well blended.
Strains this mixture through a colander making sure it is totally smooth.

Place pastry sheet on a floured board, sprinkle with flour and roll to make it wider approximately 16” x 14”
Transfer the pastry into the pan and level the pastry with your hands into the bottom and sides of the pan (the crust should hang over the sides.  Jorge leaves it like this and cuts it after baking.)
Place the pan on a cookie sheet

Mix asparagus, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese together.
Place mixture in pan with pasty sheet
Pour in egg mixture.
Bake for 1 ½ hours in a 300-degree oven.
Remove from oven to cool slightly
Slice into 8 wedges*
Serve at room temperature†

*Jorge cuts additional crusts off edges of quiche then puts in into refrigerator
†When serving slices that have ben refrigerated, Jorge warms each quiche slice in the microwave for approximately 2 minutes.

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Searching for new recipes is both the best and hardest part of my job.  As much as I love the contemplative part of this journey – sitting by myself, thinking of ideas while sipping on a glass of wine or paging through magazine or cookbooks – I also cherish the time I spend working with the many chefs that have graced the kitchens of Convito and Bêtise.  I have learned so much from them – sometimes a new technique, sometimes a new twist on an old recipe, sometimes an unexpected combination of ingredients – but what is the best part of that association, that collaboration, is getting to know them, their style and their personality.   They have made my recipe-searching adventure immeasurably more interesting and unquestionably more fruitful.  The food we create together is the fuel with which my restaurants flourish and their sprits continually enrich my life.