Outside One's Comfort Zone

“Urgent,” was the subject header of the email I received recently, from a company headed up in the UK. The company was organizing a global event for its colleagues and wanted to arrange for boxed lunches for a number of people located here in Tel Aviv. It was a set menu. Could our soul food kitchen do it?

I glanced over the menu, which at first glance seemed classic British fare: Roasted butternut squash for the starter, thinly sliced sirloin for the main, sticky salt caramel pudding for dessert. I was underwhelmed. And took a closer look.

Holy shit. Much more interesting than I thought. Especially the starter, which I am pretty damned sure is a riff on the famed Israeli-British chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s roasted butternut squash recipe. If you know this guy’s vegetarian chops (no pun intended), you’ll know there’s a lot going on in his dishes. This one I happened to know: a melange of roasted butternut squash, with tomatoes glazed in a blend of muscovado sugar/ginger/garlic/chili pepper, roasted pumpkin seeds, and a yoghurt lime sauce. Yowza. I went to work in my own test kitchen, playing with the dish. It’s amazing. The same could be said with the dessert, a pudding I typically shy away from. And the sirloin? Fillet of beef tagliata? Piece of cake.

What I most love about this moment is how we are given these unexpected opportunities to step outside of our routine, if only we take note of these chances. I was all set to say “no” to this urgent request, knowing it would be a trying (and unprofitable) detour from my norm. Boy was I wrong.

Of course, I’m still waiting for this “urgent’ request for proposal to be confirmed. No matter. I’ve already grown from the stretch.