Chef Ron Stoddard

Ron Stoddard Bio I was born and raised in Long Beach, California. The year round growing season and access to fresh seafood was a great influence on my cooking style. I like to think about cooking as farm to table, keeping in mind where the food comes from. I have fond memories of eating artichokes from the back garden and racing who could get to the heart fastest. The weekends were spent ocean fishing for Barracuda, Mackerel and many varieties of rockfish. I loved to eat growing up and remember times in the kitchen with my Father eating beef tongue, salami, pickled vegetables and cheeses. My family had a big influence on my passion for food, from my grandparent’s half-acre farm in Utah, to helping my Mom peel potatoes for mashing. I still love mashed potatoes and gravy. It is better than ice cream. At the age of eighteen I moved to Hollywood, California, and took my first job in the food business at Greenblatt’s Deli on Sunset Blvd. I toiled for awhile and remember one day just enjoying making food for people. This put into my mind that I wanted to be a chef. Next, how was I going to do this? Knowing that chefs put in a lot of hours, I took a second job with Ken Frank at the Foundation Room, House of Blues. I started off learning soups, stocks and the cooking of meat and fish. My first dish was salmon, baby vegetables and a beurre blanc. I was amazed how the dish was transformed with the white wine, shallot and butter sauce. From there, I landed at Les Deux Cafes, off of Hollywood Boulevard. This place was great, if we needed herbs and bay leaf for a dish we would go into the garden, which had tables for dining, and pick them. Our produce was hand-picked by the chef every Wednesday and Saturday at the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market. Nancy Silverton and Mark Peel would stop by the kitchen to say “hi”. It was immediately busy and we made dishes from ravioli with Swiss chard and goat cheese to Quenelles de Brochet. As a cook I realized I needed to keep moving and not stay in one place too long. A small bistro in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago, was my next destination. Soon, I landed the job as head chef. This was great, I got to create menus and run my staff with complete freedom. I heard of this restaurant, Carlos’, in the same neighborhood that was four stars, contemporary French with an award-winning wine list. My good friend arranged for an interview with Carlos and I was hired as the sous chef where I would spend the next four years involved with wine dinners, traveling and assisting on a cookbook. This experience catapulted me to a level of excellence in my career. A Brazilian steakhouse was my next career move in downtown Chicago. Like the best of coaches going from organization to organization looking for that good fit, this brings me to my current position as chef of Summit Executive Centre. Summit is a conference center located in an office building in downtown Chicago. I bring all my experiences to deliver an upscale, but fun atmosphere to conference dining. With my early memories of being close to the production of food, I have been passionate about our sustainability efforts. We use local produce and meat as available and make most of our dishes in house. I have been given the opportunity to travel and experience conference dining in Australia and United States.

Recipes by Chef Ron Stoddard

Lobster Profiteroles with Vanilla Beurre Blanc

Serves 6

Ingredients for profiteroles:

1 cup water

¾ stick butter

1 teaspoon salt

5 3/4 ounces flour; sifted

1 cup eggs, about 4 large eggs and 2 whites

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

Boil water, butter and salt

Add flour at once and remove from heat

Work mixture with wooden spoon and return to heat

Continues mixing until mix forms a ball and pulls from side

Transfer to standing mixer, using paddle add eggs slowly

Mixture should be smooth

Place in pastry bag and pipe into golf ball sized shapes on parchment lined sheet pans

Cook in oven for ten minutes and turn oven down to 350 degrees F and cook fifteen minutes

Profiteroles should be golden brown

Once they are removed from oven pierce with paring knife to release steam

 

Ingredients for lobster:

2 Maine lobsters; cooked, shelled and diced

½ tablespoon of chopped tarragon

1 tablespoon of chopped chives

1/4 cup of mayonnaise

1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard

A squeeze of lemon

Mix everything together and reserve

 

Ingredients of sauce:

½ bottle of dry white wine

1 medium size shallot; minced

1/3 pound of butter; diced and chilled

1 tablespoon of heavy cream

Vanilla pod

Procedure:

Cook shallots with white wine until reduced to 2 tablespoons

Add heavy cream and whisk in butter slowly until emulsified

Scrape vanilla pod and add to sauce

Season to taste

 

 

-Hinge cut profiteroles and add lobster

-Garnish with frisee and drizzle with sauce

-Enjoy!

Today's Featured Chef  ||  Today's Featured Chef Recipes  ||  Featured Chef Archive