The State of the Union

The following is a letter from one of our owners, Robert Jacobi. He talks about Main Course California - past, present and future. Take a listen.

The idea for Main Course California started back in April of 2008. Back then Rachel Main and I often hired one another as staff for our respective companies. The economy was still holding steady and there was clearly enough business to go around, so we started Main Course. Back then our space had a walk in refrigerator, storage space and a prep-kitchen, and we knew that over time we could build the space out according to our own specifications.

Sure enough, as time went by and our customer base grew, our customers told us what they wanted and we complied. We added an outside seating area and I moved my office into the back warehouse. That is where Rachel now works alongside me as the Catering Director.

Due to the economic decline in the winter of 2009 and the slow climb that occurred afterward, we decided to expand on our services. Some things worked out well for us while others just didn’t quite make sense after a while. We tried to have a presence at the farmers market in Ojai. But that ended up costing us more money than we would take in. We provided dinner for a while. That too didn’t work out.

Already franchised operations and big companies are still our primary challenge as we are trying to break into a market that is still peppered with heavily subsidized industry foods. I’m talking about the great big established catering companies who source most of their food from other and sometimes developing countries just to sell a hormone, sulfate, sodium and sugar rich product. They can outbid us anytime because they have sourced their industry food cheaply. We as human beings are creatures of habit and we will eat cheap industry food if it is cheap enough. Just add some ketchup and you’ll be fine…at least that is what I used to do….

Wedded Bliss

Bridal bouquet, originally uploaded by michelenicolephoto.

We can't get enough of the beautiful ways in which talented photographers capture the essence of an event. In this series, photographer Michele Nicole captures the simplicity, grace, and natural feel of a wedding we catered in August at Taft Gardens in Ojai. Enjoy!

Knife Wielding Dominion

This summer we've been focusing on knife skills in our cooking classes, trying to offer students knife wielding dominion in the kitchen. Our August class focused on basic knife skills, where students learned how to cut, chop, julienne, chiffonade, and brunoise with the best of them. Each recipe built on a skill we learned in the previous recipe….we made roasted potatoes, chicken picatta, ratatouille, a chopped salad, then made strawberry fans to go with our frozen caramel-vanilla bean whipped cream dessert.

Below is Rachel's recipe for the ultimate chopped salad - not only does it taste delicious and look pretty, but it's also the ultimate way to practice all your knife skills. As for the dessert recipe...when you don’t have an ice cream freezer or churner, have no fear! You can whip cream and then freeze it, as we are doing in this recipe. It is delicious when it is icy cold but not quite set. Serve it with fruit, or strawberry fans if you fancy. And if you missed our August class, there's still time to sign up for our September 14th class, where our chefs will show you the art and science of home meat butchery. Give us a call at 658-8900 to sign up.

Chiffonade & Chopped Salad

Serves 10

6 hand fulls of romaine lettuce, chiffonade

½ of an onion or red onion, finely sliced (fine julienne)

3 large tomatoes, diamond cut

4 green onions, bias cut

3 avocados, cut in quarters and fan cut

1/2 cup kalamata olives, finely sliced

1 handful of basil, chiffonade

2 red bell peppers, fillet and then brunoise

1 large carrot, fine julienne

1 cup croutons

¼ cup preserved meyer lemon vinaigrette

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients, toss to coat in dressing. Enjoy!

Frozen Caramel-Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream

Serves about 10

½ cup sugar

1 vanilla bean

3 cups heavy whipping cream

¾ cup caramel sauce, thin

5 cups strawberries, washed and dried

Cut the vanilla bean in half length-wise, and using the back of your knife or the back of your fingernail, scrape the vanilla seeds into the sugar. Squeeze the vanilla beans into the sugar, being sure to evenly distribute the seeds throughout the sugar.

Put the vanilla sugar and the heavy cream into the bowl of an electric mixer, and beat on medium-high speed until the cream is as soft peaks.

Add the caramel sauce in a thin stream, and continue to beat the cream until it reaches stiff peaks. Transfer to a freezer, safe bowl (or keep it in that one), and freeze for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, brunoise half of the strawberries, and the other strawberries make into fans (or just slice them if you like). To serve, scoop ice cream into 10 bowls, sprinkle with the brunoise strawberries, and place a strawberry fan on top of each scoop of cream.