The restaurant kitchen is an imposing workplace, gleaming with streamlined efficiency. And while many a homeowner has peeked through its swinging doors and sighed, “Stainless,” the professional chef likes to leave work at work.
After his standard 15-hour day at North Pond, Bruce Sherman, the restaurant’s high-minded, high-profile chef and partner, prefers to come home to homey.
Which is why his Evanston kitchen is painted farmhouse green. Has a single dishwasher. And honed granite countertops crammed with the quotidian: pop-up toaster to self-serve jar of orange plastic straws. He and his wife, Joan, an economist, dis-agreed on some details of their kitchen job. But they agreed on its objective: comfort.
The upper reaches show off curry pots from the couple’s years working in India, and copper cookware from their days studying in Paris. Knee-level shelves hold a couple hundred spare cookbooks, off-duty lightweights like “The Cambridge History of Food.”
The only concession to the commercial kitchen is the tornado-grade vent hood, mounted above a home-model Wolf range, rigged to burn extra hot.
The refrigerator is not, however, entirely functional, a side effect of applying the stainless-steel trim kit that rendered it non-stick. The problem was remedied last Christmas, when Bruce gave Joan a large sheet of galvanized steel, sort of a fridgeless fridge door, which they screwed into the kitchen’s back wall, finally free-ing grocery list and photograph alike from the oppressive grip of masking tape.
Mid-linoleum sits a speckled granite island big enough for the family to lounge along its shore. Here Joan prepares midweek pasta or chicken for Emma, 9, and Kate, 3. Here the family gathers for Sunday night takeout.
Here Sherman cooks the Monday-night meal that everyone craves: something that calls for minimal time at the stove, maxi-mum time at the table. And yet, in his style, offers a fresh mix of fresh ingredients. Something like pheasant in caramelized-apple pan sauce. And rosemary-infused carrots.
Here, with gratitude if not ceremony, Sherman finally brings his work home.
PAN-ROASTED PHEASANT
Serves four
4 boneless pheasant breasts (or chicken breasts), skin on, wing and tender removed
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
1 shallot, minced
1 1/2 cups peeled, diced apple (Russet or Golden Delicious)
2 tablespoons cognac or brandy
1 cup unfiltered apple cider
1 tablespoon flatleaf parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh chives, chopped
1. The pheasant: Salt and pepper both sides of the pheasant breasts. Heat oil in a heavy skillet just large enough to fit the pheasant. Wait until oil is very hot. Carefully add pheasant, skin side down. After 2-3 minutes, when skin turns golden brown, reduce heat and cook through (on skin side only), about 10-12 minutes more (chicken may need an additional 2 mintues). Remove pheasant from pan and let it rest in a warm spot (not the oven).
2. The sauce: Drain off fat from the pan, but leave the browned pheasant pieces sticking to the bottom. Return pan to the heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter, and then the shallot and apple. Add a touch of salt and pepper and cook 2-3 minutes until somewhat soft.
3. The drama: Slide the pan off the heat, add the cognac and care-fully light with a match. When the flames die down, add apple cider and scrape up the browned bits. Reduce liquid over medium-high heat until 2-3 tablespoons remain, about 8-10 minutes. Add any liquid that has accumulated around the resting breasts. Whisk in the remaining butter, cube by cube. Add salt, pepper and herbs.
4. The end: Return the pheasant breasts to the pan, skinless side down. Heat through over medium-low 2-3 mintues and serve.
ROSEMARY-INFUSED CARROTS: Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 teaspoon unsalted butter over medium-high in large nonstick skillet for 1 minute. Add one pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch ovals and 2 cloves garlic, gently crushed with the side of a knife. Let sit without shaking the pan for 3 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary and stir, turning carrots over. Cook undisturbed another 3 minutes. Carrots will be lightly browned on each side. Pick out a carrot and taste. If it’s not tender, cook an additional minute. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon flatleaf parsley, chopped.
–Adapted from Bruce Sherman
