The Importance of Providing High-touch, Personal Service
The Importance of Providing High-touch, Personal Service
Mofongo & Matzoh Ball Soup
In this episode of Chef AF, I chat with Trisha Pérez Kennealy, owner and culinary educator at the Inn at Hastings Park in Lexington, Massachusetts about growing up in Puerto Rico, earning her MBA from Harvard Business School and her passion for hospitality and community.
Pérez Kennealy is the owner of the Inn at Hastings Park, a chef and culinary educator and a proud Puerto Rican, Jewish woman. After earning her MBA from Harvard Business School and a lucrative career in finance, she earned her Diplôme de Cuisine and Diplôme de Pâtisserie at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in London. In 2014, Pérez Kennealy opened the Inn at Hastings Park after realizing that her hometown did not have one. The Inn is the only Boston-area Relais & Châteaux hotel.
I ask Pérez Kennealy about her journey to hospitality, she says, “Well, it actually does go back to Puerto Rico and how it was that my family ended up in Massachusetts, my father has always worked in a very traditional accounting firm, and then left and started his own company. So he's been an entrepreneur since that point and he was always my inspiration. I always knew that I wanted to have my own business.”
We talk about the Inn being a center for food and community with high-touch hospitality plus things the team at the Inn does that is high-touch. Pérez Kennealy was able to provide culinary education to her guests and community during the pandemic, with the launch of Monthly Immersive Culinary Weekends and Monthly weekday Supper Club.
To hear more about the Inn’s high-touch hospitality, her takeaway from competing on the show Beat Bobby Flay and Pérez Kennealy’s recipe for Mofongo & Matzoh Ball Soup, check out this episode of Chef AF “It’s All Food.” You can listen to this episode and more on Spotify!
RECIPE
Mofongo & Matzoh Ball Soup
Recipe Courtesy of Inn at Hastings Park Owner & Culinary Educator Trisha Pérez Kennealy
Mofongo
4 green plantains
4 bone-in chicken thighs, deboned, and cut into bite sized chunks
8 cloves of garlic, divided
3/4 cup of white vinegar
1/2 cup of olive oil, divided
6 cups vegetable oil
Combine 4 cloves of garlic, 1/4 of olive oil and vinegar in a blender and pour over chicken to marinade for at least thirty minutes
Heat up vegetable oil on medium high heat in large pot to fry the plantains and the chicken
Make a paste of remaining garlic cloves and salt.
Heat remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil and pour over garlic and salt.
Peel plantains and cut into 1 1/2 inch rounds.
Test oil to check that it is between 350-375 degrees.
Add plantains and chicken chunks in batches to the oil and cook for 7-9 minutes.
Drain plantains and chicken and add to a large mortar and pestle to ground up. Add a tablespoon of garlic, oil and salt mixture and a tablespoon of lime juice to help bring the mofongo together.
Use an ice cream scoop to form the mofongo mixture into balls with little pieces of chicken incorporated in the ball.
Matzoh Balls
For the stock:
1 4 to 6-pound chicken, preferably kosher, chicken bones, chicken backs, necks
3 carrots, cut into 2-inch chunks
2 carrots cut into 1/4-1/2 dice
3 onions, unpeeled cut into quarters
2 onions cut into 1/4-1/2 dice
3 celery stalks cut into 2-inch chunks (I often use the inner ones and include the leaves)
2 celery stalks cut into 1/4-1/2 dice
3 leeks cut into 2-inch chunks
1 leek cut into 1/4-1/2 dice
Bouquet Garni (Use a celery stalk cut in half and kitchen twine to make a bundle of parsley, thyme and bay leaves)
For the matzoh balls:
4 large eggs, beaten
1 cup Matzoh meal
1/3 cup rendered chicken fat either purchased or from chicken being used to make soup
1/2 cup seltzer
Salt and pepper to taste
For the soup:
8 cups of chicken stock
2 carrots cut into 1/4-1/2 dice
2 onions cut into 1/4-1/2 dice
2 celery stalks cut into 1/4-1/2 dice
Cilantro
Shredded chicken from making stock
Lime wedges
For the stock:
Place chicken and/or bones in a large stockpot. Cover with cold water. Water should be 1 inch over the chicken and bones.
Bring water to a boil, frequently skimming white and gray scum rising to the service. The more diligent you are about skimming the clearer your stock will be. Once water comes to boil, reduce heat to maintain a simmer, which is gentler than a boil and looks like small bubbles barely moving on the surface. This gentle method of cooking also prevents stock from becoming cloudy.
Once you have skimmed the surface (around 30-40 minutes depending how well chicken was cleaned prior to cooking) and there appears to be less scum coming to service, add carrots, onions, celery and your bouquet garni for an additional 2 hours. About 45 minutes into the cooking process, I tend to take my whole chicken out and remove all of the meat from the bones and return the stock for the remaining time. I like to use the poached chicken to serve in the soup as well as salads.
Strain stock through a fine strainer or line a colander with cheesecloth to produce a clear stock.
At this stage, stock can be cooled and chilled to facilitate removing the fat once it has solidified. Stock can be portioned and frozen for future use. Fat can also be used to make the matzoh balls.
For the matzoh balls:
Beat eggs in a large bowl.
Add seltzer, chicken fat (make sure chicken fat is warm not hot as it will cook eggs if too hot), salt and pepper to the beaten eggs.
Add matzoh meal and stir being careful not to overmix. I taste the mix even though it has raw eggs to test for seasoning as I am aware of the risks associated with eating raw eggs. You can also cook of a small ball in boiling wall to taste for seasoning.
Refrigerate for at least one hour. (can use blast chiller to accelerate)
Use an ice cream scoop the size of the matzoh balls you desire to portion the balls. 6. Drop into a pot of simmering stock. Placing the matzoh balls in the stock will reduce the temperature of the broth.
Allow stock to simmer again and cook covered for 25-30 minutes.
For the soup:
Sauté vegetables in olive oil and a little salt on medium low heat till cooked to your liking. I prefer my vegetables al dente or on the crunchy side, which usually takes about 10-15 minutes given the quantity of vegetables.
Heat chicken stock to desired temp—my father likes his soup blistering hot. Remember to season your stock at this point as you have not added any seasoning. Kosher chickens are brined in salt water so they flavor the stock more than a non-kosher chicken.
Arrange bowls with cooked vegetables, poached chicken, matzoh balls and mofongo ladle hot soup over all of it. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.