David Guas, pastry chef par excellence, may be defined by sugar, butter, and chocolate by day, but at home cooking dinner for his wife (a busy professional who loves food but doesn’t cook it) and their two young boys, he’s all about healthy savory dinners. And while they’re all ‘good eaters,’ he knows, to put it in restaurant lingo, exactly ‘what sells.’They don’t eat much red meat, and in fact, in this economy, he says he won’t buy the high-end cuts anyway. Turkey, however, is a family favorite, and shows up in everything from Turkey Meatballs (served in David’s homemade marinara over spaghetti) to Turkey Burgers (lots of Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, and onion powder) to Baked Ziti (in the same marinara softened with heavy cream, layered with no fewer than four cheeses, parboiled pasta, and topped with lightly oiled panko crumbs before baking.)
Turkey tacos are a Sunday night favorite, with everyone joining in to assemble the goods. David sweats a chopped onion then adds the ground turkey with cumin and a touch of chili powder: while one of his boys is starting to emulate Papi (as they call him) by getting into hot sauces – the other “freaks out over too much black pepper” –
Sometimes he’ll roast a chicken heavily seasoned inside and out with a dry rub of herbs and a little lemon zest. A butter massage under the breast skin helps create pockets of moisture (and can’t hurt the flavor, right?) He’ll start it in a 425˚ oven, then after about 20 minutes, lowers the temperature to 350; it’s done in roughly an hour, total.
On the side, the boys are big fans of green beans, which David boils and tosses with olive oil instead of butter. They also love his salad of blanched, chilled green beans tossed with sliced red onion, feta, almonds, and olive oil. Twice-baked potatoes, a childhood favorite of his own, are always a hit. After baking the Idaho potatoes, he mixes the contents with butter, buttermilk or sourcream, green onions, Monterey Jack and sharp cheddar before stuffing it back into the lightly salted jacket halves. “The boys could easily make a meal of those alone,” he’s convinced.
This summer, he’s been taking advantage of all the good local sweet corn, and serving it boiled and cut off the cob mixed with some sweet Vidalia onion, sweated ‘til translucent, and butter. Other nights he’ll make a (slightly) more elaborate corn salad with red onion and cilantro.
No, it’s not all puddings and pastries at the Guas house. In fact, dinner sounds like it might give dessert some stiff competition.
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