Management is, above all, a
practice where art,
science, and craft meet”
Henry Mintzberg
It was very wow.
On a few special occasions, our three children and I took that cheery red hut up on it's lunch invitation, and you know what?
It changed my life.
It at least changed my vocabulary, and that's pretty much the same thing.
It was the manager's special that did it.
Standing there, looking through the sneeze guard at a pizza with a few pieces of pepperoni, three or four mushrooms, some pineapple, a little sausage, Canadian bacon, a half sprinkling of bell peppers, the realization dawned:
 |
| "Oh. Manager's Special". That's a pizza topped with all the little bits of leftover stuff that weren't quite enough for a whole pizza." |
Once you think it, you can't unthink it, and you'll end up thinking it about more than just pizza.
Let's say you're taking an autumn afternoon stroll around a zoo. I can almost guarantee that you'll see one or two animals that look as if they'd been stuck together from the random sweepings of the creation room floor:
 |
| Just try to look at an okapi or platypus and not think "manager's special". I think it every time. Of course, I don't see them too often. Thus is my sanity saved. |
It eventually became what we in our family call those meals that happen when all the leftovers dish themselves out of the fridge for one last hurrah before they go quietly into whatever place the souls of dead dinners go to.
Manger's Special nights around here can look like this:
 |
| a bowl of soup, a slice of pizza, one or two servings of curry, a few broccoli bits, a half tray of sushi, an almost wilted Greek salad... sometimes our taste buds have a hard time figuring out exactly where we are. |
The phrase that I've so long associated with the flotsam and jetsam of a creative kitchen got a welcome re-framing a few weeks ago, when the home audience brought home a photocopied recipe for his co-worker's famous brisket.
It made me think.
What if 'manager's special' could also mean the dishes that are the very best a cook has to offer? The things you love to cook for the people you love? The guaranteed winners you put on the table for a new audience? What if 'manager's special' could stand in for the phrase 'specialty of the house'?
 |
| It certainly puts a different spin on those walks around the zoo. |
With that thought in mind, I thought some more. About the specialties of this house. About the specialties of the house of other houses I know, and then I got hungry, and wanted some dinner.
Here then is what I'll be cooking- a week of specialties from other kitchen managers:
Wednesday: Spiced Chicken Breast with squash and apples
My friend Rachael reminded me not long ago of this autumn winner that we've shared several times at her table.
The recipe calls for butternut squash, which is a great choice. However, there's a stack of winter squash in our dining room just waiting to be investigated, so I'll use one of those, and cook a little extra chicken for tomorrow night.
Two other things-
1.Any flavorful apple, granny smith for instance, will work. It's a mystery why this recipe specifies Gala.
2. Let the candles take the night off. Your house is going to smell wonderful without them.
Remember a decade or so ago, when spaghetti squash became the new darling of the produce aisle? My father-in-law was quite smitten, and was kind enough to share his new-found affection with the rest of the family. I've found a new hybrid called a stripetti squash- a cross between spaghetti squash and delicata, that I'm eager to try. The stripetti with play with last's night's leftover chicken, while Saturday's dinner will use the more familiar spaghetti squash.
Friday: Crock Pot Barbecued Brisket and Baked Potatoes
This is the recipe that that home audience brought from work, and it's been waiting for far too long for its dinner. The link above is the closest thing available on the internet, but we'll be using Steve's genuine specialty of the house recipe- here it is in real life, if your screen will oblige, you may want to use it too:
and the hilarious recipe for the sauce:
Ps. I'll be baking about 3 or 4 extra potatoes for soup on Sunday.
Saturday: Spaghetti Squash with Sausage and Greens
Here's another one-dish wonder brought to you by spaghetti squash, though I think both this recipe and and the Chicken and Mushroom recipe would be amazing on real spaghetti. The high-carb low-nutrition gluten-packed sort of spagetti. Sausage is a favorite of mine, and a frequent specialty of this house. This recipe calls for Italian sausage, but there are many other varieties that would taste just as good. Look for the uncooked sort though, unless slices of cooked link type sausage sounds more appealing.
By the way. Am I the only one who, upon sharing spaghetti squash with others, and listening to them rave, thinks
 |
| "This is lovely, but what exactly are you drinking, my dear, that makes you think it tastes just like pasta? And would you mind sharing, please? because I've got a carrot here that I wish tasted like a cookie." |
Sunday: Potato Soup and Brisket Sandwiches.
Cheers to an easy Sunday lunch or dinner. The potatoes turn into soup, and the leftover brisket gets sliced or shredded onto a warm bun, with or without barbecue sauce (or melted cheese, or slaw, or pickles...). Simple and sustaining. Because you have better things to do with these glorious fall weekends that spend them in the kitchen, or waiting for your food in a noisy restaurant. Leeks are pretty interesting to me at the moment, but onions or green onions are a perfectly fine (and much less expensive) substitute.
Of course, I'm curious beyond words about the specialties of your own house, and the specialties of the house of your childhood. I'd love to hear those stories, and read those recipes.
But for now,
I hope you'll remember
how much power you hold.
Even if (and when) you feel weak and uncertain.
I hope you remember the truth-
that you have, in your mind and soul and hands
the power to bring art and science and craftsmanship together.
And I hope you know
that with all that power,
I'm certain that you'll manage, somehow,
to take yourself and your crew to destinations
 |
| that are very special indeed. |
.
No comments:
Post a Comment