Chef of the Year 2014 Andy McLeish shares the joys of a staff favourite at Chapter One
Long gone are the days when you hear dreadful stories of kitchen staff eating the chicken wings that were used to make stock and using boiling fish heads to make staff soup.
Thankfully, staff meals have come a long way since then, so much so that a few years ago authors Christine Carroll and Jody Eddy wrote the book Come In We’re Closed: An Invitation to Staff Meals at the World’s Best Restaurants.
I’m a firm believer in feeding my staff well – a good staff meal can truly motivate both the kitchen and waiting staff.
It’s important to me that my team look forward to their meals because they work so hard throughout the day.
In our kitchen, my chefs share the responsibility of preparing the staff lunches, it’s also a good opportunity for them to showcase their talent by creating tasty, substantial dishes on a budget that the team will love. At meal times the service staff all eat together and the chefs join them when they can, to gather our thoughts and refuel for the next service. Time is always limited so whatever we serve must be good to keep morale high.
That doesn’t mean it has to be expensive at all. Some of our best British dishes have come from humble beginnings.
Staff meal favourites at Chapter One include: lentil and pancetta soup; braised pork with dumplings and a freshly baked bread and butter pudding.
This month’s recipe is that very same bread and butter pudding, which always goes down a treat with the team.
We often have spare brioche, eggs and cream, so it’s easy to throw these ingredients together with some sultanas and sugar and bake it.
It’s great served straight from the oven, or if there is any left, we’ll serve it cold the next day.
RECIPE
Bread and butter pudding.
Ingredients
25g butter (plus extra for greasing)
10 medium slices of brioche (white bread will also be ok)
50g sultanas
2 tsp cinnamon powder
250ml milk
200ml double cream
3 free-range eggs
50g Demerara sugar
Nutmeg (grated to taste)
Method
Grease a 1 litre/2 pint pie dish with butter. Cut the crusts off the brioche. Spread each slice with butter on one side, then cut into triangles.
Arrange a layer of bread, buttered-side up, in the bottom of the dish, then add a layer of sultanas.
Sprinkle with a little cinnamon, then repeat the layers of bread and sultanas, sprinkling with cinnamon, until you have used up all of the bread.
Finish with a layer of bread, then set aside.
Gently warm the milk and cream in a pan over a low heat to scalding point. Don’t let it boil.
Crack the eggs into a bowl, add three quarters of the sugar and lightly whisk until pale.
Add the warm milk and cream mixture and stir well, then strain the custard into a bowl.
Pour the custard over the prepared bread layers and sprinkle with nutmeg and the remaining sugar and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas 4.
Place the dish into the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the custard has set and the top is golden brown.
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