Cooking Class

Spring comes in like a lamb at Sycamore

By Christina George • Photos by Jennifer Kettler

Memory is a strange thing. But I seem to recall that the first dinner my in-laws served me before I married my husband contained at least five foods that I hated, including lamb. Dear reader, I married him anyway. And I don’t hate lamb anymore.

I shared this experience at Columbia Home & Lifestyle’s recent cooking class at Sycamore Restaurant. Chef Mike Odette had a similar aversion to lamb early in life, but he has clearly moved forward as well — the class centered around preparing lamb and apple hash over polenta, which is currently featured on Sycamore’s dinner menu. Odette suggested that this is a perfect recipe for using the leftovers from a roast lamb — the browner parts that get trimmed off and not eaten. The class members largely said that they don’t prepare lamb frequently, maybe once or twice a year. Perhaps lamb aversion is a Midwestern thing, but I suspect a few more people will be converted when they try this recipe. As for the polenta base, Odette informed us that there is “no difference between polenta and grits. Polenta is nothing more than ground up corn. Traditionally, Italian polenta is very coarse. Most grits are finer.”

We donned aprons and gathered in the chef’s area. Odette, with a little prompting, told us that he is a semi-finalist for the James Beard Award, Best Chef: Midwest. According to the James Beard Web site, “The James Beard Foundation Awards are the country’s most coveted honor for chefs; food and beverage professionals; broadcast media, journalists, and authors working on food; and restaurant architects and designers. The 2009 JBF Award finalists will be announced on March 23 and will be available at www.jbfawards.com.” The five finalists will travel to New York for the awards ceremony in May. Odette is a genial, unpretentious man, and though it’s clear that he’s delighted by the nomination, he is also humbled.

His geniality and lack of pretension set the tone for the class, which was really more like a dinner party at a good friend’s house. The recipes, which follow, needed very little elaboration: some chopping, dicing and stirring were all that was required. His first step was to dice an onion, which sparked a question as to how to prevent the watering eyes associated with this task. Odette’s answer: “If you have sharp knives, you won’t tear up as bad because a dull knife bruises the cells, and it releases more of the chemicals that make your eyes tear up. The best thing you can do is do it fast, and get it over with.”

As Odette prepared the food, and his guests sipped wine, he led a discussion on Sycamore’s commitment to local, quality food. “People care about the provenance of food,” Odette remarked, and the class was in agreement. Sycamore’s dairy products come from a Mennonite dairy, Weiler Dairy, in Rutlege, Mo., and the eggs are from Graystone Farms in Fayette. Odette informed us that most supermarket eggs are already a month old by the time they reach the supermarket shelves. But he hastened to add, “Eggs keep a long, long time. They’re still wholesome.”

As an interesting side note, Odette said, “We save all our vegetable scraps, and our egg lady, Julie Walker, feeds them to her chickens.” The scraps can’t include eggs, as chickens develop a taste for their own eggs. They also don’t like citrus and okra. Graystone eggs are available at Hy-Vee, Clovers and the Root Cellar. Sycamore buys its produce locally whenever possible, and Odette hits the farmer’s market in the summer for lamb.

One of his most important tips for the home cook is to let meat, such as lamb, rest before cutting. The resting time allows the meat to finish cooking, and the juices are reabsorbed back into the meat fibers. This results in juicier meat. Another helpful tip: Buy spices in bulk, as it’s less expensive. Toast whole spices, and grind them yourself in a coffee grinder (one that you don’t use to grind coffee) for the fullest flavor. And grow your own herbs. It’s far more economical.

Tips for the home cook naturally led to the question: What techniques does Chef Mike take home with him? Does he cook for the family? With a smile, Odette said, “There’s nothing like cooking for my kids.” Elizabeth is two and a half and Harry is fifteen months. The main thing he takes home is tools: professional grade spoons, ladles and whisks, for example, are terrific for the home cook. We were all surprised and delighted to learn that Westlakes is a great source for kitchen utensils.

The questions from class members flew thick and fast: Can you make stock in a crock pot? Yes. What kind of salt should you use for daily cooking? Morton’s kosher salt. What’s the best way to buy chicken? The “only way,” according to Odette, is to buy chicken whole. It’s cheaper, and you can find many different uses for the whole bird, including using the carcass for stock. Where do you buy silicone, heat-proof spatulas? Ford Restaurant Supply or Sam’s Club.

And then the meal was done. With what appeared to be no effort at all, we were served plates of fragrant lamb on a deliciously creamy bed of polenta. 
Perfect.

Partners Mike Odette, Amy Barrett and Sanford and Jill Speake founded Sycamore in 2005. Sycamore is located at 800 E. Broadway in Columbia, Mo. (573) 874-8090. www.sycamorerestaurant.com.