MEET OUR AMAZING OFFICE MANAGER… KATH!
This series highlights our amazing team members at The Seasoned Chef and The Gourmet Spoon. In this series, each member will also highlight their favorite recipe, along with the story of how it became important in their lives. The heart of the home is always in the kitchen.
MEET KATH D’SOUZA!
Kath is the Office Manager here at TSC, and takes care of customer service and the administrative side of the business. Originally from London, England, she’s now been in the States for 20 years, and has three teenage children. She keeps The Seasoned Chef and The Gourmet Spoon running smoothly and we are so grateful that she’s a part of the team!
Keep reading to learn more about Kath and her favorite recipe that she brought over from England. (It’s delicious!)
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO JOIN THE SEASONED CHEF AND HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A PART OF THE BUSINESS?
I have been with the company for 5 years. I am a total foodie, and have always loved cooking – in fact my first job when we first moved to the United States was in a cooking school in NYC, so when I returned to the workplace after having my kids, this job was a perfect fit.
WHAT ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR AT THE SEASONED CHEF? WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
My job is to keep things ticking along behind the scenes. Every day is a little different, depending on what events and classes we have going on, but I take care of both day-to-day office duties and the big picture needs – from on-going customer service, recipe formatting, and managing the website, to marketing, research, and creating new classes for our calendar throughout the year.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF WORKING AT THE SEASONED CHEF?
Everyone involved with the company will tell you that their favorite part of working at The Seasoned Chef is the team of staff that we have built up! Chef Dan has worked incredibly hard to create a strong, cohesive team that works really well together, with everyone knowing their clearly defined roles and working hard to do their job and provide the best experience possible for our students and clients alike.
My favorite time of the year is the summer when we hold our Young Chef classes. It is pretty inspiring to see so many kids come and hang out with us and learn the basics – they bring a completely different energy to the school and a whole new sense of fun in the kitchen! I love the fact that we see so many familiar faces coming back each year, which just reinforces the fact that our cooking classes are really beneficial and are a productive, yet entertaining, way for kids to spend their summers. All my children have taken classes here and when I see them using the skills that Dan has taught them every day, it warms my heart!
TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE RECIPE
Of course I had to pick a British recipe!
This is a quintessential summer dessert that I grew up with – ridiculously simple, but utterly delicious! Serve it with cream or, better still, crème fraiche.
SUMMER PUDDING
INGREDIENTS
1 3/4 lbs. mixed berries – raspberries, blueberries, blackberries work best
6 oz. sugar
7 slices of white bread, crusts cut off
DIRECTIONS
Rinse the fruit and place in a large pan together with the sugar. Cook over a medium heat for 3–5 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the juices begin to run (be careful not to overcook and lose the fresh flavor of the fruit), then remove the pan from the heat.
Butter a 1-liter glass bowl. Trim one slice of bread to fit the base of the pudding basin, and cut 4 slices in half to line the side of the basin, overlapping them at the straight edge with the rounded side down, and sealing well by pressing the edges together. Fill any gaps with small pieces of bread, so no juice can get through when you add the fruit.
Pour the fruit and juice in – except for about 1 cup – then cover the pudding with the remaining bread and place a small plate (one that will fit exactly inside the rim of the bowl) on top. Place a weight – or some other heavy object – on top of the plate and leave in the fridge overnight.
Just before serving, loosen the pudding all around using a palette knife, and turn it out onto a large serving dish, then spoon the remaining fruit and juice all over, to soak any bits of bread that still look white (a pastry brush is useful here). Serve cut into wedges, with cream or crème fraiche.
DID YOU KNOW…
Our Young Chefs kids classes are coming up soon! First up, we’re taking the kiddos on a tour of Italy, where we’ll teach them to create delicious dishes such as sun-dried tomato bruschetta, chicken parmigiana, potato gnocchi, and sizziling tuscan steak.