Table Talk: Leave the cooking (and cleanup!) to him

By CLAIRE HOPLEY

Published on July 27, 2007

Most of us assume that having a chef whose job is simply to cook family meals is a luxury reserved for the rich and famous. But having a personal chef is not quite so out of reach as it may seem.

For the last six years Bill Collins has worked as a personal chef in the Boston area, and since January he has been transferring his base to Pelham, where he and his wife Karen Dzendolet are living in the house formerly owned by her parents.

Collins did not begin his working life as a personal chef, nor did he start out in food.

"I was working in high tech," he said. "I worked for Digital and Hewlett Packard. But after 10 years of it I was finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning."

With boredom taking its toll, he went to cooking school, then worked at the Ritz Carlton in Boston, before moving to Harbor Sweets in Beverly. "They do terrific chocolates - all hand-made," he said. I loved the company, but I was just itching to get back in the kitchen."

The personal chef idea came to him from his sister, who had read about the concept in a magazine. "When she described it to me, the light went on," he said. "I said 'That's just what I want to do!'"

Six years ago he was asked to do a romantic dinner, and he was on his way. Currently, he offers three services. One he describes as "the classic personal chef service." The way it works is that he spends time with clients talking about their food likes and dislikes, as well as any relevant medical or health issues, such as diabetes or high cholesterol.

With that information he creates a menu, then comes into the client's kitchen and makes five entrees and five side dishes. "There are four servings of each, so it's weeknight meals for four, or if it's just for two people they have 10 meals," he explained.

Some of these meals are then frozen for later days. "Everything is labeled and dated, with thawing instructions - for example, thaw in fridge not on the countertop - and directions for everything they need to know about how to prepare it," he said.

Some clients choose to eat to eat his meals throughout a week, while others use them as standbys for evenings when they don't want to cook.

Collins calls his second service "Be a Guest in Your Own Home" because it enables clients to entertain without the work and distraction of having to cook. He comes in and prepares a dinner for up to 10 people, including setting the table, serving and cleaning up. "One of my clients called it a one-night restaurant' because it's like a restaurant opens and closes all in one night," he said.

Sometimes when he is doing a dinner party, the kitchen fills up with clients and guests who want to chat, and decide to abandon the formal dining room and set the kitchen table instead, so they can see what he is doing, thus getting an impromptu cooking lesson.

That's fine with Collins. He likes the company. But he also provides a third service: a cooking lesson party. "They're really fun," he says. "The classes are for as many people as you can cram into the kitchen. Generally folks have a glass of wine, and there's a real range of people, some hanging on to every word, others tuning in and out."

The class could be all appetizers, or just seafood, or whatever the client wants. "I've had people come up to me in the street two or three years later, and say, 'We're still talking about that evening; it was so much fun,'" he said.

Collins said the term "personal chef" describes his work perfectly. "It's very personal," he said. "I'm in their homes cooking exactly what they want. I have a number of clients with health needs. For example, I have one client who literally uses no salt, so when I cook chili for him I don't use canned beans - they're loaded with sodium - I cook dry beans from scratch."

Collins is alert to health concerns because he has to watch his own cholesterol, and while he is comfortable cooking within the many cuisines, he said, "I have to admit that I would find it hard to come up with a main dish loaded with cream and butter. I prefer olive oil. And I like that whole Mediterranean emphasis on vegetables, fruits and fresh ingredients that are in season."

Talking earlier this month, he said, "I just did a strawberry cobbler and strawberry shortcake because it's strawberry season. But strawberries are almost gone, and soon the peaches will be in, so I'll be doing peach desserts instead of strawberries." With the joys of seasonal produce on his mind he says, "It's such a bonus being out in Valley; you can't drive anywhere without hitting a farm stand."

Collins takes real pleasure in meeting the people he cooks for, as opposed to working in a restaurant. "Even if a customer [in a restaurant] compliments your food, half the time the waitstaff don't get the message to you because they have so much else going on," he said. "But as a personal chef I see people eat what I have prepared and I get to know them."

One of his North Shore clients is Michael Palmer, a best-selling author of medical mysteries. "He's from Longmeadow originally," Collins said, "just the nicest guy. He'll chat while I'm cooking. Sometimes he'll bounce around ideas he's working on."

Collins has also cooked for NBA star Antoine Walker and other well-known people. But he's equally proud of all his customers. "I've done romantic dinners that have led to four and a half proposals," he said. "I say 'a half' because in one case the guy was so nervous he couldn't wait and he proposed before I got there."

For more information about Collins' personal chef services, call him at (413) 230-3773. To sample some of his seasonal recipes, read on.

TOMATO SALSA

This is the perfect way to use local tomatoes for a summer dip or sauce.

10-12 plum tomatoes

¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

¼ medium red onion, minced

3 scallions, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 lime, zest only

salt and pepper to taste

2 dashes of Tabasco sauce (optional)

Cut the green stem-end off the tomatoes and discard. Chop the tomatoes into small pieces (whatever size you'd like your salsa to be). Combine all of the remaining ingredients with the tomatoes, and refrigerate for one hour. Adjust the flavor with salt, pepper, and Tabasco, if desired. Makes approximately 1 quart. Serve with tortilla chips.

BONELESS PORK SPARE RIBS

Here's a hearty but healthful pork dish you can make in the oven or on the grill. Serve bite-size pieces with drinks or use as a main dish.

For the rub:

¼ cup black pepper

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons cumin

2 tablespoons salt

3 pounds boneless, country-style pork ribs

For the sauce:

1/3 cup molasses

1 cup ketchup

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

2 limes, juice only

½ cup orange juice

2 tablespoons brown sugar, lightly packed

1½ tablespoons minced fresh ginger

1-plus tablespoons chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Combine the rub, and press onto the ribs. Bake in the oven for 1-plus hours, or until done. If you use a thermometer, the pork should have an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

Meanwhile, combine all of the sauce ingredients, and simmer for 15 minutes. When the ribs are done, remove from oven, and re-set the temperature to 375 degrees. Brush the ribs with some of the sauce, and bake for 5-7 minutes. Be careful not to burn the sauce on the ribs. You can also cook these on a grill, over an indirect heat. The cooking time will be approximately the same.

To serve: Cut into bite-sized pieces, and serve in sauce, as an appetizer or serve whole, with sauce on the side, as an entree. Makes 4-6 entree servings, or approximately 50 bite-sized pieces as an appetizer at a party.

FRESH FRUIT COBBLER

Bill Collins makes this dessert with whatever fruit is in season. He said, "I chose the name 'cobbler' because calling it a 'Betty,' which, technically, it more closely resembles, just caused confusion. I serve it this way because after a meal, often a large one, it's a great dessert that's not too filling. And the topping is enough to spread over the 9-inch pie plate. It a nice topping for a dessert that people really like."

He also notes that to get 4 cups of fruit, one combination is one large container of strawberries (1½ pints, or one pound) and 1 pint of blueberries. At this time of year raspberries are a perfect choice, or a mix of raspberries with blueberries or the soon-to-be-with-us peaches.

4 cups of fresh fruit (any combination of strawberries, blueberries, rhubarb, peaches, etc.)

2 tablespoons tapioca

2/3-plus cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

For the topping:

2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup sifted flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch round pie plate with butter or Pam spray. Combine the first four ingredients, and let rest in a bowl for 15 minutes.

Combine the butter, sugar and flour until the butter is broken into the size of peas. Sprinkle this over the fruit mixture.

Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until the fruit is cooked through, and the mixture is bubbling. Makes 4-6 servings.