Vincent Brady will be busy preparing brunch and dinner this Mother’s Day. It won’t be for his mother, but instead for the scores of mothers who will be dining at The Country Club in Pepper Pike, Ohio.
Yet the line cook isn’t complaining. “At the end of their meal, moms usually come and thank us for what we made for them. It’s nice to get that feedback and get appreciated for our work.”
Moreover, he says, he will still be able to spend some time with his mother in the morning before heading to work. He might even make her breakfast or her favorite dish, chicken paprikash with spaetzle.
His first taste of life in the kitchen came from his grandmother, Lucy Brady, who emigrated from Sicily. “She didn’t tell me much because she didn’t think boys should be in the kitchen. She was old-school.”
But she did share one piece of advice: “When you make anything with wine, have a glass to make sure it is of good quality,” she would joke.
Spaghetti sauce with meatballs was her signature dish. “Her recipe was never written down and it always was a dash of this or dash of that. She gave each family member a different recipe,” he says. “Hers was much better than mine even though I’m professionally trained.”
He decided to pursue an education in cooking after making potatoes in a home ec class in high school. His classmates loved what he did, and he was inspired. He enrolled at the Pittsburgh Art Institute and won a $15,000 scholarship that paid for his tuition. He will graduate in June.
In March, he won the S. Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Signature Dish award for his duck breast with braised duck ravioli and winter root vegetables in Napa, Calif. He battled chefs from the Southeast, Northeast, South and Northwest regions in a three-day competition.
Although he has the national award under his belt and has been cooking for seven years, he doesn’t give any culinary advice to his mother, Janice Brady.
“It’s hard to tell her anything as she has been cooking longer than I have been alive,” he says.
So is his mother his biggest critic?
“Yes and no,” he says. “But she has always been one of my biggest supporters.”
In the not-too-distant future, he hopes to work his way up to a sous chef or executive chef. He realizes that it might mean working every holiday, but says, “I don’t mind it because this is what I always wanted to do.”
Arthi Subramaniam: asubramaniam@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1494 or on Twitter @asub.
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Chicken Paprikash
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
3 tablespoons oil
4 chicken thighs
4 chicken legs
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup paprika
1/2 cup sour cream
Season chicken thighs and legs with salt and pepper.
Heat a large saute pan on medium-high, and add oil. Then add chicken thighs and legs and sear on all sides until golden brown. Remove chicken pieces and set aside.
Turn heat down to medium-low heat and add butter. Once butter melts, add onions and peppers. Saute vegetables until tender to the bite.
Then add flour and stir until flour turns golden brown.
Add chicken stock and paprika to the pan, and stir well.
Add chicken to flour-vegetable mixture, and bring mixture to a boil. Lower heat to simmer and cook the chicken for 5 to 7 minutes or until cooked. Remove chicken again.
Mix in sour cream to the mixture, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Once it’s well combined, add chicken and serve over spaetzle.
Serves 4 to 6.
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Spaetzle
6 eggs
5 ounces milk
8 ounces water
1 tablespoon salt, plus more if needed
1 teaspoon ground white pepper, plus more if needed
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons parsley, finely cut
1 pound all-purpose flour
4 ounces butter
Combine eggs, milk and water.
Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add parsley. Work in flour by hand or using wooden spoon beating until smooth. Allow the dough to rest for 1 hour.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil.
Reduce heat, and work the dough through a spaetzle marker or use a strainer with large pencil-thick holes into the simmering water.
When spaetzle comes to the top of the pot, let cook for 2 to 3 more minutes. Remove spaetzel from water and drain well.
In a large saute pan, saute butter over medium-high. Add spaetzle and saute until it turns golden brown. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
— Vincent Brady
First Published: May 4, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
