Getting Out of the Kitchen D A P H N E H AY S ’ 8 1
Daphne Hays’ Favorite Meatloaf (serves 8) 1⁄ 2
pound ground beef (85 percent lean) pound ground veal 1⁄ 2 pound ground pork 1⁄ 2 pound sweet Italian pork sausage 3 slices white bread, crust cut off 1⁄ 2
1⁄ 2
cup whole milk 1 medium onion, finely chopped 4–6 cloves garlic, minced 3 large eggs, lightly beaten 1 tablespoon herbs de Provence 1⁄ 2
cup Heinz 57 chili sauce 6 sprigs fresh parsley, finely chopped generous pinch kosher salt and black pepper Sauce: 8 ounces tomato sauce 8 ounces chicken stock 1⁄ 2
cup Dijon mustard cup sherry vinegar 1⁄ 2 cup light brown sugar 1⁄ 2
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13 x 9 Pyrex baking dish with parchment paper. Combine sauce ingredients in a pot and place over medium heat, reducing by 1⁄ 3 while making meatloaf. Saute the onion in 2 T. olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes until soft; add garlic and sauté for another 3 minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic. Set aside to cool while you place the bread and milk in a bowl and soak for 15 minutes, until most of the milk is absorbed. In a large bowl combine the ground meats and sausage (removed from its casing). With very clean hands (or wearing gloves), break up the softened bread and add with any remaining milk to the meat, along with the cooled onions, eggs, herbs, chili sauce, parsley, salt, and pepper. Combine well and place meatloaf in the baking dish, forming it into a long loaf. Bake for approximately one hour, until a meat thermometer reads 155 degrees. Coat with spoonfuls of sauce every 15 minutes while baking. Allow meatloaf to rest for 10 minutes before serving with some of the sauce.
APHNE HAYS ’81 knows what it’s like to work a fourteen-hour day for a finicky bride, and how to smile and agree when a client adds fifty people to the guest list a day before an event. She also knows that she doesn’t want to spend all day in the kitchen the way she once did. Hays has been a personal chef and has run her own dessert business. She has baked countless wedding cakes and held the executive chef position at two Boston-area catering companies. She even spent a year baking for Sally Ann’s in Concord. But now she limits her catering jobs to weekends, and runs a dog-walking business during the week. “I’d been in the food business more than twenty years,” she said. “I’d had enough of spending all my time in the kitchen. It wears on you after a while.” Hays can rattle off a litany of annoying lessons she has learned through her catering career. At Boston’s Wang Center, for instance, she learned that you can’t use the ovens at the same time as the coffeepots or the electrical fuses might blow. She discovered that many wellknown party spots have no kitchens, and that caterers work from rented commercial ovens set up outside. She found out, too, that the hosts with the nicest kitchens often don’t let caterers use them; guests like to gather in the showpiece rooms. More than once, Hays has helped set up a makeshift kitchen in a home’s garage. “If you’re working in somebody’s garage, you’re setting up tables and you’re renting equipment. You’re hoping their electricity is
Creative Thinking — and Eating
C O N C O R D A C A D E M Y M A G A Z I N E S P R I N G 2 0 11
CA students are as creative at mealtime as they are in the classroom. They stir-fry colorful concoctions on the grill, line ice cream cones with Nutella, and pour every juice available into one glass. One student softens brownies by rolling them in a wet napkin then microwaving; another routinely tops Tabasco with pasta, meat sauce, and potato chips. Some might eat a turkey sandwich or PB&J. But not one student, who routinely grills capricola, provolone, lo mein, honey mustard, and Worcestershire sauce on bread.
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Pasta with meat sauce, hot sauce, and chips
A “Quimbsicle” made of vanilla ice cream and orangeguava-passionfruit juice, named after its inventor, Paul Quimby ’08
Grilled tomato, mozzarella, spinach, and balsamic vinegar on Vienna bread