Executive Chef Talks Mentoring the Next Generation of Cooks

The Restaurant at the Norton’s Quiche Recipe

In this episode of Chef AF, I chat with Executive Chef Jair Solis Mendoza from The Restaurant at the Norton Museum of Art about his twenty years of experience, influences on his menu and mentoring the next generation of young cooks. 

Chef Mendoza born in Lima, Peru, was introduced to food early on by his family's pickling business and in the kitchen. As a young boy, Chef spent time over summer break making meals for the staff and began learning the restaurant business. 

Over his career, Mendoza has held positions at Troquet on South in Boston, NIOS at the Muse Hotel in New York City, Area 31 in Miami and The Breakers in West Palm Beach. Chef infuses a global approach to his culinary point of view. 

Chef talks about the importance of mentorship and about mentoring young cooks today. He says, “to me cooking is what keeps people together and you can learn from each other and you get to experiment.”  Adding, “I try to pass that along to the new newbies too and for them to understand that if you don't make mistakes you will not learn. There's no such thing as a perfect recipe. You know you need to be able to judge less, try more.” Mendoza says focus is important in the kitchen, he says, “I guess it all depends on the individual, I treat every single one of my cooks as individuals and you know everyone deserves the opportunity to get better,” 

I asked Mendoza about industry challenges he has faced in day-to-day business, he says, “I guess the most obvious one is just staffing, to be able to find people that are willing to work and willing to do the type of work that we do. I mean after a pandemic, we've gotten a lot of people that just never been in the industry before.” 

To hear about special events at The Restaurant at the Norton Museum, how an exhibition can influence the menu and get the Norton’s Quiche recipe, check out this episode of Chef AF “It’s All Food” or you can listen at Spotify!

RECIPE

The Restaurant at the Norton’s Quiche Recipe

Ingredients | Unit

• Egg | 1500 gr

• Cream | 908 gr

• Spinach | 250 gr

• Feta | 200 gr

• Sundried tomato | 200 gr

• Chives | 50 gr

• Pie Dough | 300 gr

• Salt | 20 gr

Procedure:

1. Slightly Stretch your pie dough to a ½ inch thickness. Place in a springform pan.

2. Use parchment paper and weight in dough with dry rice or beans or a combination of both to prevent dough from rising. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

3. Cook down spinach with sundried tomatoes. Remove excess liquid and cool down.

4. Mix cream, eggs and salt.

5. Once pie dough is cool, place Feta in the bottom of the pie, then spinach and tomato mixture.

6. Top springform pan with egg mixture and add chives.

7. Cook at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for 3 hours.