Home Cooking Spices Up Dinner

December 4, 2007

Students enjoying the "Recipes from Home" dinner last week

The wait is over! Home cooking made its way to the dining halls last week, thanks to recipes contributed by PEA families and the hard work of the school's dining services.

Exeter’s first "Recipes from Home" dinner was a global extravaganza: Harvest Soup, Crunchy Coleslaw, Cannellini Bean Sauce with Pasta, Shrimp with Thai Coconut Green Curry, World's Best Pesto with Grilled Chicken Breast, and Czech-style Apple Strudel.

Anticipation was both fun and a bit nerve-wracking for the students. Corey '10 wasn't sure how her family's Harvest Soup would turn out at the dining hall. "I'm sort of nervous to see whether the dining hall staff will be able to make it the way my mom does; but I'm sure that they'll do fine."

Dining services assembled a menu from the many submitted recipes, paying particular attention to seasonal ingredients, such as the apples for the strudel. According to Simona, mother of Tomi '08, who provided the strudel recipe, "This dessert was enjoyed the most during fall harvest celebrations in Prague, when plenty of delicious apples were available."

Of course, a recipe suitable for a family requires scaling up when served to 1,000 students. Melinda Leonard, general manager of dining operations, converted the recipes working with executive chef, Patrick Brideau. "The biggest challenge when extending recipes is proper conversion of your ingredients," explains Leonard, "and 'knowing' the ingredients you are working with." Imagine getting the seasoning right for the 40 pounds of Crunchy Cole Slaw. Or plucking 20 pounds of fresh basil leaves from their stems a day in advance for the pesto sauce.

Lane '09 enjoyed his mom's Pesto with Grilled Chicken Breast. "I think this meal was a great idea. It's pretty cool that everyone is going to eat my mom's recipe. I think that dining services should do it more often!"

"I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was!" said Thomas '11 of the dining hall's version of his mom's Cannellini Bean Sauce with Pasta. "Thanks to the dining hall staff for making it so well!"

Bayly '10, whose mom contributed the Crunchy Cole Slaw recipe, agrees with Lane. "The slaw was great and a lot of people told me they liked it. I really liked the other recipes. I would love to have another dinner like it."

Leonard believes that all the dining services' work paid off in the satisfied smiles of the students. "Our hope is that we did our best to maintain the integrity of the dishes that the families shared."

Corey was reminded of her home's kitchen when she tasted her mother's Harvest Soup last week. "It's also the family atmosphere that goes with making the soup that I enjoy. We all pitch in, cutting up different vegetables while listening to music together." Everyone can identify with Thomas when he says, "I do miss my mom's cooking. She's a great cook and I miss all my favorite recipes."

Special dining hall events scheduled this month are the Holiday Dinner with Gingerbread Decorating on December 7, and December birthday celebrations on December 11.

Dining Services plans to have a Recipes from Home meal each term. Send in your recipes using the online form…

Interested in learning more?

Check out the week's menus to see healthy, varied choices of entrees and desserts, including a vegetarian choice for every meal…