In a world where most jobs have us as “cogs in a wheel” working for low wages, without sight of a final goal for the company or ourselves.
Instead, as a Personal Chef I speak to people about what food means to eeds that would determine the choices of foods we will preparethem. Is it simply for nourishment? Must it be a work of art for them to enjoy it? Are there specific dietary n
I just started with a new client last week, nice guy. I found him through a dietitian I had met at least a year or two ago. When we met I suggested meeting and seeing if we could work together at least as a referral source for each other. I tried following up but she did not seem interested.
A few weeks ago I noticed she was a friend of a friend on Facebook. I “friended” her. Fortunately she remembered me “Aren’t you the Personal Chef that does Kosher?” She asked. yes, that’s me. She told me that she specializes in a specific diet plan and has clients with specific dietary plans. I told her as long as I know what the client can eat (and can not eat) , how much, and want they don’t like or want and any other specifics to their diet I can make delicious food for them.
Of course, it worked. Ten meals with sides as well as freshly made brown rice rice, quinoa and hummus and a special salad dressing and happy as a clam. I asked yesterday and the only problem was that I gave him more hummus than he needed….
Good news. the dietitian told me that if things worked with the first client more to follow. Happy dance!
In a world where most jobs have us as “cogs in a wheel” working for low wages, without sight of a final goal for the company or ourselves, as a Personal Chef I do everything soup to nets for each client. I find out what
Instead, as a Personal Chef I speak to people about what food means to them that would determine the choices of foods we will prepare for them. Is it simply for nourishment? Must it be a work of art for them to enjoy it? Are there specific dietary needs such as diabetic diet or salt free diet for clients that have been through heat failure or similar issues. Vegetarian or vegan is easy for me since I keep kosher I am very conscious of any indication meat, dairy and shellfish ingredients that would make a dish non-kosher or trayf.
Within the limitations of these health related issues, I find the dishes they most enjoy (or won’t go near). I am able to prepare some of my client’s favorites (and mine) with minor adjustments.
Two weeks ago I prepared one of my signature salmon dishes that normally is marinated in lime, ginger, garlic.oil and soy sauce for a salt free client. I removed the soy sauce for the recipe (I may try the liquid aminos in the future). It was delicious. The husband and wife said they never had such delicious food. I will be back in their kitchen this week to refill their fridge with the foods they most enjoy.
My most requested dishes include roast chicken, beef stew, chicken picata, baked marinated salmon. Roast vegetables, brownies, chicken matzoh ball soup, lentil soup. peanut butter cookies .and meat loaf.
People want healthy well prepared home-style dishes. They can’t believe how good this food tastes. When they tell me this, it is SOOO satisfying. Of course, making money doing what you love is pretty cool too!!
I can use the knowledge I acquired in college studying nutrition as well as the latest trending diet programs to tweak recipes and food choices to an individuals needs.
Call me, tell me what you need, or want. Chef Helen can put together weekly meals, dinners for 2, dinner parties, and of course baking. Always open to new ideas.
Call me at 561-676-2078 or email chefhelen@helenshomecooking.com so I can talk about helping you.
As a Personal Chef I talk to people about food. Most importantly I speak with my current and future clients about how food makes them feel. Food is emotionally charged. Some people had bad experiences, being forced to eat poorly prepared vegetables growing up that made them forever avoid healthy choices and add to their poor nutrition and poor health.
My goal is to turn that around for people. I talk to the potential client , preferably in their home. I find out what they eat and WHY. I am no therapist but giving people roast cauliflower or roast beets that are good enough to snack on has been the beginning of changing people’s lives.
I learn about their cultural food choices. while with my background as an Ashkenazic Jew, brisket and Pflaumen kuchen top my list as do my mother’s spritz cookies (recipes another time) for an Italian it my be meatballs and spaghetti or Lasagna. I find your comfort foods, your dietary needs (are you allergic to a specific food? are you kosher (my specialty!!) supposed to lower your fat or salt or do you just HATE peanut butter like I do?) .
I figure out the menu with your help. I shop for all ingredients on the way to your home and cook everything there.
Since my focus is kosher clients, by using the clients equipment I don’t have questions about anything getting mixed up.
561-676-2078 helen@helenshomecooking.com
Chef Helen Gottesman
Personal chef Helen Gottesman of Helen’s Home Cooking prepares a kosher holiday meal. (Bruce R. Bennett/The Palm Beach Post)
Before Helen Gottesman looks into the depths of the new year, she glances back to remember the sweetest, most flavorful dishes of her childhood.
The most vivid culinary memory of Rosh Hashanas past: Pflaumenkuchen, her Czech-German grandmother’s special plum tart.
“I remember the smell of the plums. My mother made a couple of dishes wonderfully, and one of them was my grandmother’s plum tart. She would use Italian prune plums. They came into season shortly before Rosh Hashana – and it was a short season,” recalls Gottesman, a New York native who works as a personal chef in Boynton Beach.
This is the great motif of Gottesman’s home cooking – comfort foods that pay homage to family memories. And as the Jewish New Year begins at sunset tonight, ushering in 10 days of reflection and repentance, she will greet it with prayer, introspection and kosher dishes reminiscent of her younger years in the Kew Gardens Hills neighborhood of Queens.
“We would always have the matzo ball soup and, typically, challah,” says Gottesman, 55, who now bakes eight loaves of traditional challah bread at a time.
Helen Gottesman prepares her plum tart (or pflaumen kuchen). (Bruce R. Bennett/The Palm Beach Post)
And because Rosh Hashana exalts the sweetest of foods – as in honey-dipped apples to beckon happiness – there was always a piece of that fragrant, open-face plum tart, a culinary prayer for a sweet life.
Today, in accordance with her Orthodox Jewish faith, Gottesman keeps a kosher kitchen. But “kitchen” is a movable notion for a woman who turned a love of cooking Shabbat dinner for friends – and a knowledge of nutrition and kosher standards – into a small enterprise she calls Helen’s Home Cooking ( helenshomecooking.com).
Usually, she cooks in other people’s kitchens.
“Because I focus on kosher cooking and I keep kosher myself, I’m aware that people are particular about anything that comes into their house,” says Gottesman, who shares her home with husband. Robert, an educator, and 16-year-old son, Adir.
So when she cooked an early Rosh Hashana dinner at a friend’s home on a recent weeknight, Gottesman worked with fresh ingredients her friend had shopped for and brought only the items her friend was missing. While other mobile chefs may carry their own knives and trusty spice kits, she used her friend’s cooking vessels and kitchen utensils.
On the menu that day: one soul-warming comfort dish after another. She roasted a chicken with sweet potatoes, white potatoes and carrots, a sweet noodle kugel with sugar and apples, a batch of almond-flecked green beans, a steaming pot of matzo ball soup and her grandmother’s plum tart.
It’s the kind of cooking that stirs easy conversation with friends and clients.
“If I’m in their kitchen, I hear their food stories, what they like and what they don’t, what their idea of comfort food is. For some, it’s lasagna. You never know. It all depends where and how they grew up,” says Gottesman.
She says a lot of her clients are seniors who don’t cook for themselves anymore. “And they don’t like the takeout places. Typically, what they want is the comfort foods they grew up with,” says the chef.
She dreams of opening a healthy kosher café one day, “a place of coffee, homemade breads and vegetarian items.” But for now she cooks wherever a kitchen welcomes her.
“I love cooking,” says Gottesman. “When I start cooking, I can get a little carried away and my husband tells me, ‘Don’t you realize there are only three of us in this house?'”
PFLAUMENKUCHEN (PLUM TART) WITH MUERBETEIG DOUGH CRUST
TO MAKE THE CRUST:
1 cup margarine
3 cups flour
2 egg yolks
1 lemon
1/4 cup sugar
Cream margarine and sugar, add flour then egg yolks along with grated rind of lemon along with the juice. Chill dough for at least half an hour and then pat into large pie tin with fingers.
TO MAKE THE PLUM TART:
Muerbeteig dough
6-9 Italian prune plums
1 teaspoon sugar
Cut plums into eighths and place them skin side down in the pie pan starting with the outside going halfway up the side. When all of the space is covered, sprinkle with sugar and bake for about 30 minutes at 350º. Tart is done when crust is lightly browned. Allow to cool completely before serving.
ROAST CHICKEN WITH VEGETABLES
Serve with vegetables on the side.
1 chicken cut into eighths or serving size pieces
1 large sweet potato or 2 medium, peeled and cut into chunks
2 white potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 large onion sliced or cut into chunks
1 zucchini, sliced
Garlic, a few cloves
1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced or diced
Salt and pepper, to taste
Paprika, to taste
In a roasting pan place bed of vegetables and mix them up and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then, top with chicken pieces skin side up. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and paprika.
Place in preheated 350º oven. After 30 minutes, turn chicken pieces over and sprinkle salt and pepper and paprika on the chicken if you have not already done so. When this is done (it will be browned) turn chicken pieces back to skin side up and cook for another 30 minutes. (Cooking time is about 1 hour, 15 minutes to 11/2 hours.)
STRING BEANS ALMONDINE
1 to 11/2 pounds string beans
1 tablespoon margarine
1/4 cup almonds, slivered or sliced
1/4 red pepper, slivered
Salt and pepper, to taste
Cut tips off string beans. Either leave beans whole or slice into 1 to 2 inch pieces. Place into boiling salted water until they are tender, but still bright green in color.
Drain the string beans. In the same pot, melt margarine and lightly sauté almonds. Add red pepper and cook to soften slightly. Then add the string beans to heat through.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon, and serve.
Recipes by Helen Gottesman, http://www.helenshomecooking.com
Sautée onion , garlic, carrots, celery. Add cumin, cinnamon, and pepper . Add 8 ounces soaked garbanzo beans and sweet potato along with 4 cups broth or water . Bring to boil, cover and simmer for one hour. Add 2/4 cup of tomato sauce and salt. serve with brown rice
I wanted to be more specific with this recipe which I made again. I had gotten part of the recipe on the package of dried beans and adapted some of the additions based on what I had in my pantry.
Soak half a pound of dried garbanzo beans/chick peas for an hour or more and drain. In a Dutch oven add a Tbsp. of olive oil or other vegetable oil to a pan, Add 1 large onion (sliced or diced), 2 to 4 cloves garlic, a few sliced carrots and celery ribs and saute on medium . As it cooks add 2 tsp. cumin, 1tsp cinnamon, black pepper, and add 4 cups of broth or water (By the way, don’t add the salt until the beans are soft). Cook for about one hour until the beans are soft . Add salt to taste. Add one peeled and diced sweet potato. when the potatoes are cooked through enjoy!
Vegan unless you used chicken broth.
Let me know when you try it.
Helen
One of my standard dairy appetizers for parties is these mini cheese quiches. I use about 3 to 4 dozen of the mini muffin cups (in the freezer section from Wal-mart or another store. I dice up about 6 ounces of Cabot Pepper Jack cheese (Cheddar ma ybe used if you don’t like spice) and put it in the muffin cups. Saute 1 finely diced or grated zucchini in 1 T.oil until slightly browned. Divide evenly between muffin cups, Mix 1/4 cup milk and 2 egg yolks and a dash of nutmeg and pour over the vegetables and cheese filling to near the to. Bake about 20 minutes at 350 degrees until browned on top Serve while hot
Let me know how you like it.
Really easy for beginner cook!
This is my go-to dish for Friday night. Cheap, easy and it can simmer an extra hour if dinner is delayed.
Mom’s Chicken Fricasee
1 chicken cut into eighths
1 lb. ground beef or turkey 1 onion, diced
1 jar tomato sauce oil spray.
Saute onion in oil and brown chicken pieces on both sides. Add in the tomato sauce. when sauce is simmering, (medium flame) add walnut-sized meatballs to sauce and cover. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes. Add a small … Read More
via Chefhelen’s Blog
Pflaumenkuchen, a popular German pie (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Muerbe teig/ Pflaumenkuchen was a traditional recipe for the Rosh HaShanah holiday season was my mother, Ilse Dobrin. check out my pictures etc along with the recipe.
After a networking meeting this morning, someone told me that I have not been including my pricing for my Personal Chef Services in my description of what I do.
First of all, pricing is dependent on the amount of time and challenge involved. The most requested way I have done my cheffing is called a “five by four” . This includes five main dishes, four portions each with appropriate side dishes. I can price these as inclusive of groceries for $395.00 (additional if you need some exotic ingredients or specialty items). As part of my service, I do all of the shopping for the ingredients, after we choose the menu together.
I have also been running an introductory special for new clients to get them to appreciate my service. for just $219.00 I can prepare three main dishes with sides, four portions each inclusive of groceries.
This special will continue until June 29,2012
Also, I do food demos, cooking lessons in your home (for 1 to 8 or so people) at $40 to $50 an hour (depending on the dishes involved) plus groceries with a 3 hour minimum.
I have partnered with a wonderful local Massage therapist, Fabien de Guffroy on a Dinner and Massage for two. Fabien will give each of you a massage while I prepare your exquisite, delicious dinner and have your wine bottle ready. Everything will be served by your own Personal chef . You will be relaxed, with a clean kitchen and dessert when I leave.
For more information, call 561-676-2078 , email helen@helenshomecooking.com or take a look at my website, www.helenshomecooking.com .
matzo ball soup (Photo credit: derek7272)
Fill a small stock pot with water and add a bit of salt. While this comes to a boil add chicken necks and backs (if you like not wasting the chicken) or some chicken thighs, Once it comes to a boil, add 3 to 4 peeled and roughly chopped carrots, 2 turnips and 2 parssnips (also peeled and roughly chopped along with 2 ribs of celery. a large onion and few cloves of garlic. allow to simmer for at lest two hours (covered or not).
The recipe on the package of matzoh meal lists 3 eggs, e/4 cup of matzoh meal and 1/4 tsp salt, my rercipe is just a bit different. Beat up the eggs in a small bowl, add the salt, water (1/2 an eggshell full for every 2 eggs) and some fresh chopped dill and or parsly. Then add the matzoh meal. When it is mixed, chill it in the fridge for an hour or more and the matzoh meal wuill have a chance to absorb the liquids. At that time, with wet hands, make mrble walnut sized matzoh balls in your hands and drop them into the slowly boiling soup. (If the soup is not boiling, the matzoh balls fall apart in the soup….yuck) Cover the soup and let it cook for another hour . then serve with matzoh balls…
Tov Ta’am…yummy
For more details. call Chef Helen at 561-676-2078 or http://www.helenshomecooking.com helen@helenshomecooking.com
As my friend Jeff Popper answered when asked what a Matzoh Ball was, he answered, the only edible part of the matzoh
The Jewish expression of “making a Tzimmes out of something” means making a mountain out of a molehill. Making this dish is not as big a deal as most people think it is. In fact I made it twice already during Pesach/Passover.
The best part of a dish like this is that it is adaptable. a liitle more of this, a little less of that and it will be fine,
2 Medium Sweet Potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 -3 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 apples, peeled and chopped (any type)
handful of dried fruit such as prunes, apricots, apples)
water to cover in saucepan
pich of salt
1 to 2 Tbsp honey
potato starch as needed, less than a Tablespoon
2 tsp cinnamon.
Place potatoes etc in saucepan and simmer for about 45 minutes. As it simmers, add a tsp or two of potato starch to thicken. Taste for sweetness and add more honey as necessary. Since the dish is pareve/vegetarian it can be served with any meal. It is traditionally served with brisket or other holiday meal. This serves about 4 people. It can be made for many more, just multiply the amounts of ingredients for many more.
Need more info? call Chef Helen at 561-676-2078 or email at helen@helenshomecooking.com
Delicious at any price!
via Chefhelen’s Blog
Image via Wikipedia
Check out the deals! the menus! cooked in your house or mine! From $35/person. dinners for 8
Call 561-676-2078 today! <!– MainHead:End –><!– 3 –>
For more information, call Helen <span class=”hiddenSpellError” pre=”Helen “>Gottesman</span>, 561-676-2078 in Palm Beach County, Florida and surrounding area. Schedule now or email for more info at helen@helenshomecooking.com
Beef Brisket braised with loads of onions and a tomato base.
Roast Chickens whole or in eighths , prepared with fresh herbs
Bread Stuffing
Noodle Kugel with Fruit
Potato Kugel
Roast Root Vegetables
Sweet carrots
String Beans Amondine
Dessert
Brownies Plain or with Raspberries swirled through.
Muerbe Teib/ Pflaumenkuchen
Featured in article in Palm Beach Post last year, Coookie diugh type crust with plum slices and a sweet topping.
Fruit Crisp
Apples , Peaches or other season fruit with crispy oatmeal laced topping
Call 561-676-2078 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 561-676-2078 end_of_the_skype_highlighting today!
For more information, call Helen Gottesman, 561-676-2078 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 561-676-2078 end_of_the_skype_highlighting in Palm Beach County, Florida and surrounding area. Schedule now or email for more info at helen@helenshomecooking.com
Beef Brisket braised with loads of onions and a tomato base.
Roast Chickens whole or in eighths , prepared with fresh herbs
Bread Stuffing
Noodle Kugel with Fruit
Potato Kugel
Roast Root Vegetables
Sweet carrots
String Beans Amondine
Dessert
Brownies Plain or with Raspberries swirled through.
Muerbe Teib/ Pflaumenkuchen
Featured in article in Palm Beach Post last year, Coookie diugh type crust with plum slices and a sweet topping.
Fruit Crisp
Apples , Peaches or other season fruit with crispy oatmeal laced topping
Image via Wikipedia
I will be included in an article in the next few weeks in the Accent Section. Watch for it.
http://www.pbpulse.com/dining/2010/09/07/boynton-beach-kosher-chef-draws-on-childhood-for-..
Image via Wikipedia
For those of you that are on a gluten-free diet, get all you can of the potato starch and cake meal for Passover/Pesach on sale. It is naturally gluten free! Just look up the recipes on my website or on the net.
Sponge Cake
Potato kugel
zucchini kugel
Pesach cookies made with potato statch, ground nuts or cake meal (from the cakes made with potato starch).
Yum.
Rob is packing up 90% of the pots and pans while I make the last of our pasta and tomato sauce for dinner. I also popped the last of the popcorn in the micro so he some thing to nosh on later. Realizing how small the kitchen is and how much I have to do!
Today I plan on finalizing and printing all recipes. Vegetables and fruits will be purchased following our Free Networking International meeting. I have a long list for making the seder and all of the quick meal that are vegetable oriented and chametz free during the week. We also stay away from the convenience meals during the holiday due to prices and unacceptable quality. (A typical cake mix during the year is under $2.00, during Passover, they are $6.89 in Publix. So, I bake a lot. Fortunately it is something I really love to do. Most of the cakes involve beating egg whites….time consuming. So < I use my stanby brownie recipe. Cheaper easier and better than year round. Nuts are optional. Recipe to post later
By the way, I love feedback and would appreciate if you would LIKE my posts…..
Salmon with Ginger, Soy Sauce and Lime
4 Salmon Steaks or Fillets
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 Tbsp. Lime Juice (freshly squeezed)
2 Tbsp. Freshly grated Ginger
2 Tbsp. Light Soy Sauce (Gluten Free preferred)
Add all ingredients (except salmon) into a glass dish and lay salmon in marinade, (turning at least once) for about 2 hours in refrigerator. Bake in preheated oven for about 10 to 12 minutes at 375 degrees (or until fish flakes with fork). Delicious served over greens such as braised kale.
Boynton beach, FloridaFeedback is appreciated!
Helen Gottesman is a Personal Chef in Boynton Beach Florida
Helen uses natural ingredients, basing her recipes on fresh meats, fish, dairy and lot and lots of vegetables. The dishes use fresh herbs and less salt and no fillers . MSG is not in her repetoire nor is dried soup stock. Instead she starts off her cook dates by making fresh chicken or beef stock if it is needed in her dishes.
Noiw doesn’t that sound delicious!!
