Hail to the Chef

Just about everybody knows by now that a coalition of the country’s most important chefs, rallied by Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, has sent the President-elect a letter urging him to lead the nation fearlessly into an era of good food. They want him to stop eating junk food and start eating good food, which they define as being “about seasonality, ripeness and simplicity.”

The chefs are asking that Clinton appoint a White House chef who embraces their own philosophy. And they’d like him or her to be American. Let’s overlook, for the moment, a few small details such as the fact that the White House chef is not normally appointed by the incoming administration, or that the current chef, Pierre Chambrin, buys eggs when they are only three hours old. Let’s forget that Chambrin is enthusiastic about just about everything organic, and so excited by the idea of seasonality that the White House has taken to serving turnips at this time of the year. Let’s imagine that the President-elect were to choose a new chef: What would the Clintons end up eating? We’ve rounded up a few of the usual suspects.

Mark Miller

If Mark Miller were appointed White House chef, he wouldn’t have far to go--his Red Sage Restaurant is just down the street. Miller has spent most of his working life grumbling about how little respect Third World food gets in America; one of his aims in opening the Coyote Cafe in Sante Fe was to bring spice into our lives. He’d certainly use the White House kitchen as a place to proselytize about the foods of the Americas.

Clinton could surely count on Miller to make him some really fresh mango ice cream, and his enchiladas would be extraordinary (although Clinton would have to forgo those canned chiles). “Americans still respect only things from Europe on the table,” Miller once said--and he’d surely jump at the chance to change that.

Alice Waters

Alice Waters would be the perfect chef for that “great salad eater,” Hillary Clinton. Waters is the guru of salad--there was a time, not so long ago, when she personally washed each leaf of lettuce at Chez Panisse. When a Midwestern hotel chain named a salad after her, Waters considered it a great compliment.

In a Waters regime, the White House refrigerator would be filled with fresh local vegetables; if she couldn’t find farmers to grow them, she’d probably clear some of the bushes out of the Rose Garden and plant her own vegetable plot. She, after all, is the person who once said: “I’ve always wanted to have a restaurant where you just led people into this wonderful garden, gave them some great bread and good olive oil and said, ‘There it is, help yourselves.’ ”

Paul Prudhomme

If anybody could keep the whole family happy it’s the man from Louisiana. He’s one cook who has no qualms about opening up a can every now and then--and he makes a mean enchilada. (I’m sure he’d be happy to change his famous recipe from crawfish to chicken to please the President.) And just imagine what he’d do to a pot of macaroni and cheese!

For Mrs. Clinton, Prudhomme would be a mixed blessing. He’s not much on salads--you’d be hard-pressed to find anything green in his New Orleans restaurant--but he’d certainly cater to her taste for spicy foods. His motto is “Totally hot!” This is what he has to say about his food: “When you chew, it has to really pop at you. You wait a moment, and you’ll have this sort of itch, this hot, urgent glow in your mouth and at first you say, ‘It hurts me’--and then all of a sudden you say, ‘I want that feeling again. It was wonderful.’ ”

State dinners might never recover.

Larry Forgione

Who’s going to make apple cobbler for Bill Clinton? How about Larry Forgione, the man who was so concerned about the quality of American food that in the ‘70s, long before it became fashionable, he named his New York restaurant “An American Place.” Forgione was the first to go looking for regional American products, the first to make them his mission. He found farmers in Michigan whose cows gave cream so rich you had only to give it a shake before it turned into whipped cream. He’d undoubtedly make his cobbler out of heirloom apples--he’d probably even make them out of apples favored by former Presidents.

And Forgione might be the one to try to talk the President into making those steak tenders out of buffalo meat. After all, buffalo is not only low in fat and ecologically correct--it’s also a true-blue native American.

Brad Ogden

We know that the Clintons care about breakfast. We can see them sitting on stools in the White House kitchen, gobbling up their oatmeal and toasting each other with their orange juice. Who’s stirring the oatmeal? Bradley Ogden, of course, the San Francisco chef who put breakfast back on the map when everybody said we weren’t eating it anymore. Ogden makes the world’s greatest oatmeal (topped with real American maple syrup and cream), and once Chelsea gets a taste of his extraordinary hot chocolate, she’ll never go back to Hershey’s.

Ogden, who was raised on a farm in Michigan, might make the perfect White House chef. He didn’t even go to Europe until he was 30, and he goes around saying things like, “I really like it when we use the word American .”

PAUL PRUDHOMME’S CRAWFISH ENCHILADAS 1 cup unsalted butter 1 cup finely chopped onions 1 cup canned green chiles, drained and chopped 3/4 cup finely chopped green pepper 2 3/4 teaspoons salt 2 3/4 teaspoons white pepper 1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne or other hot red pepper 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic 3 cups heavy whipping cream 1 cup sour cream 8 cups shredded Jack cheese or other white (non-processed) cheese 2 pounds peeled crawfish tails 2/3 cup very finely chopped green onions 1/2 cup oil 20 (6-inch) corn tortillas

Melt 1/2 cup butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, green chiles, green pepper, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, 3/4 teaspoon white pepper, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/4 teaspoon oregano and garlic. Saute 10 minutes, stirring often. Stir in whipping cream and bring mixture to rapid boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Add sour cream, whisking continuously until sour cream is dissolved, about 3 minutes. Add 3 cups Jack cheese and stir until melted. Remove from heat and set aside.

Melt remaining 1/2 cup butter in 4-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add crawfish, green onions and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons white pepper, 1 teaspoon cayenne and 1/2 teaspoon oregano. Saute about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cheese sauce to crawfish mixture and stir well. Simmer until flavors are well blended, about 6 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Heat oil to 325 degrees in small skillet. Holding tortillas 1 at time with metal tongs, dip each into hot oil just long enough to soften, about 1 second on each side. Drain on paper towels. Spoon about 1/3 cup crawfish sauce on each tortilla and roll up tortilla.

For prettiest presentation, broil enchiladas: Place filled tortillas, seam side down, in heatproof baking dish (or place 2 on each individual heatproof serving plate). Cover each enchilada from end to end with generous amount additional crawfish sauce, then sprinkle each with 1/4 cup cheese. Place baking dish (or 2 or 3 individual plates at time) few inches under broiler until cheese melts and begins to brown, about 2 minutes. Or bake enchiladas at 350 degrees until cheese melts, about 5 to 8 minutes. Serve immediately. Makes 10 servings.

BRADLEY OGDEN’S RICH HOT CHOCOLATE 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate 2 ounces semisweet chocolate 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed 2 cups milk 2 cups heavy whipping cream 1 teaspoon vanilla Bitter Chocolate Cream Semisweet chocolate shavings

Melt bittersweet and semisweet chocolate in top of double boiler over simmering water. Stir in brown sugar, cook until dissolved. Slowly whisk in milk and whipping cream. Heat until steaming and frothy. Add vanilla and keep hot until ready to serve. (If cooled and refrigerated for later use, reheat in double boiler, being careful not to scald chocolate.)

To serve, pour hot chocolate into mugs. Top with Bitter Chocolate Cream and garnish with chocolate shavings. Makes 4 servings.

Bitter Chocolate Cream 1 ounce bittersweet chocolate 1 tablespoon corn syrup 1 teaspoon superfine sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Melt chocolate in top of double boiler. Add corn syrup, sugar, vanilla and 2 tablespoons whipping cream. When sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth, remove from heat and let cool slightly, but keep warm.

Whip remaining 1/3 cup whipping cream lightly and fold into chocolate sauce. If sauce is too thick, thin with little cream. Refrigerate, if not using immediately.

ALICE WATERS’ GARDEN SALAD 4 large handfuls mixed garden lettuce and herbs (preferably equal amounts red leaf lettuce and oak leaf lettuce, plus arugula and chervil) 2 to 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1/2 cup virgin olive oil Salt, pepper

Wash and dry lettuces and salad herbs. Mix 2 to 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar and virgin olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss salad with enough vinaigrette to lightly coat. Makes 4 servings.