More than green beans

By Catherine McGarry Miller

Photos by Lynn Allen

Chef Partner Dustin Green
Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar
flemingssteakhouse.com

At 28, Flemings Chef Partner Dustin Green has mounted the corporate cookery ladder like a firefighter rescuing a baby. His love for cooking started at age 10 and lead to two college degrees in culinary arts and hospitality.

“The principles of Fleming’s make it the best company I’ve ever worked for,” he says. These values include excellence, hospitality and respect as well as fun, trust and balance. Hierarchy is eschewed in favor of an egalitarian system of associates instead of employees. The fun comes naturally, says Green. “Fun with the menus, using the best products money can buy – in a professional environment. This makes for a happier and more successful staff.”

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

6 cups diced baguette
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin
Five whole eggs
1 1/2 T corn syrup
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 t vanilla extract
1/2 t ground ginger
1 1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t salt
Room temperature butter as needed
Extra sugar as needed
Whipped cream, walnuts, mint sprig (optional)
Orange crème anglaise (below)

Dice baguette into ½” pieces and place on a sheet pan. Bake in a 250º oven for 8 minutes to dry out. Place cream in a saucepan and bring to a low simmer.

In a large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, eggs, corn syrup, sugar, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Whip to blend well. Slowly add warm cream and baguette; mix well. Allow to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes.

Spread butter inside five 12 oz. coffee cups, then coat with sugar. Evenly fill each cup with pudding mix, leaving ½” at the top. Place cups in a 2” deep baking pan and fill the pan with 1” of water. Bake in a 325º oven for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry. Let cool for 5 minutes, then invert the cup to remove the bread pudding.

Place 1 ½ oz. orange crème anglaise in the center of a 9” plate. Squirt caramel sauce in a spiral design in the anglaise. Using a toothpick, make a web design. Set the bread pudding on top of the sauce with the crusted side facing up and top with a dollop of whipped cream.

Serve with walnuts and a mint sprig, if you like.

Orange Crème Anglaise

1 qt heavy cream
1 vanilla bean
1 cup fresh egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2 cups pasteurized orange juice
2 T orange zest

In a saucepot over high heat, add cream. Slice vanilla bean in half lengthwise and add flesh and skin to cream. Heat cream for 10-15 minutes to let cream rise to the top of the saucepot, then turn off heat.

Separate eggs and place the yolks in a mixing bowl. Combine the sugar with the yolks and mix well. Temper the egg and sugar mixture by gradually pouring a little of the hot cream over eggs a little at a time.

Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepot on medium-high heat. Continue to mix with a rubber spatula until sauce coats the back of the spatula. Strain through chinoise or other fine strainer into a clean container. Place orange juice and orange zest in a saucepot and reduce by half. Cool down and add to the anglaise.

Ruth Lopez-Najera

Poet Ruth Lopez-Najera has been published in Free Verse Magazine and a chapbook produced by the Women’s Writers Circle of Milwaukee. She has read her works at Marquette, Schwartz Bookstores and Jitterz Cafe. She is also a board member for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Maple Sweet Potato Casserole

4 medium-sized sweet potatoes
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
Gentle dash ground cinnamon
Gentle dash ground cloves
Pinch salt

Boil potatoes until cooked but firm. When cool enough to handle, peel and slice them. Set aside. In a small saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Cook until it has a syrupy consistency, adding a small amount of water or orange juice to thin if needed.

In a buttered casserole dish, layer sweet potato slices, alternating with syrup. Bake in covered dish for approximately 35 to 45 minutes at 325º.

Sweet potatoes should be soft and syrupy, almost dry.

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