Carlsbad woman runs personal chef service

By: GARY WARTH - Staff Writer

For Susan McCabe's clients, it's like coming home and finding that they have been visited by the food fairy.

McCabe owns Daily Dish, a personal-chef service she runs from her Carlsbad home, and most days of the week she can be found cooking in the kitchens of her customers, who find fully prepared meals in their refrigerators when they come home.  "This is not a service just for the wealthy or rich and famous," McCabe said. "This is for everybody, for people who are busy and want to make their life easier."

McCabe worked in corporate marketing for 20 years and opened Daily Dish about a year ago. While she wanted a career change that would involve her passion for cooking, McCabe said she could not see herself going into the restaurant business.

Instead, she found a way to follow her dream without the risks, overhead and time constraints of operating a restaurant. She can still cook for her customers, but without having to work nights and weekends.

With just 14 clients so far, McCabe is able to do all the shopping and cooking herself, but as her business grows, she said, she likely will hire helpers. A little more than half of her customers are couples, with the rest families and two who are single.

Customers generally are people who want home-cooked meals but don't have the time or experience to make meals themselves. Having balanced meals ready at home helps people eat right and is a way to bring people together, she said.  "It's a nice feeling for me to make a difference in somebody's life, whether it's to make them eat healthy or getting families around the dinner table again."

McCabe charges between $145 to $175 a week per person. Most of her clients are professionals with incomes starting at $70,000. On average, they spend about $130 a week on food, including trips to restaurants, so the expense of a personal chef is not that much higher than what they already are spending. "We spend a lot more on food than we realize," she said.

McCabe buys groceries on the way to her clients' homes and prepares meals in their kitchen. State health laws allow her to cook in her clients' kitchens, but if the meals were prepared anywhere else they would have to be cooked in a commercial kitchen that had been inspected, McCabe said.

Although most of her customers are in North County, McCabe said she has clients throughout the county and into southern Orange County. After cooking all day in someone's kitchen, the homeowner returns to find refrigerator shelves full of sealed containers that can be put in traditional or microwave ovens for heating. McCabe prepares about 20 meals at a time for her clients.

"I have a very detailed consultation and sit down with my clients and ask them questions," she said about deciding what type of food to prepare. While everybody has their favorite food, McCabe predicts she soon will be seeing one common request. "In the first of the year, I'm sure I'll be working with a lot more people who are diet-conscious," she said. McCabe said she often serves this dish at the holidays as a main course. It is reasonably lean, with no fat in the sauce, she said.

Her tip: Use good-quality red wine and fresh herbs (not dry) where noted. For people unfamiliar with maple extract, McCabe said it is sold near vanilla and baking ingredients in grocery stores. Arrowroot is found in the spice section.

Susan McCabe's Herb Roasted Beef Tenderloin With Red Wine Sauce

3 pounds trimmed beef tenderloin, center cut
2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix butter, salt, pepper and herbs. Tie tenderloin if necessary. Rub roast generously with herbed butter. Place in roasting pan in the center of the oven and roast until internal temperature from an instant-read thermometer placed diagonally into the center reaches 125 degrees for medium-rare. Place roast on a cutting board, cover with foil and let rest for 30 minutes before slicing into 1/2-inch thick pieces.

Sauce:

1 sprig fresh parsley
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 stalk of celery leaves
3 garlic cloves, split
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato sauce
1/8 teaspoon maple extract
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon dry red wine
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 tablespoons arrowroot

Make an herb pouch placing parsley, thyme, celery leaves, garlic, bay leaf and peppercorns in a square of cheesecloth and tie with a string. Combine beef stock, tomato sauce, maple extract, 1/2 cup wine, onion and herb pouch in a saucepan over medium heat. When sauce starts to simmer, turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove herb pouch and strain through a sieve or cheesecloth. Return strained broth mixture to pan. Dissolve arrowroot in 1 tablespoon of red wine. Using a whisk, add arrowroot and wine mixture into the sauce. Simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes.

Sauce can be made up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated. It freezes very well in a plastic container. Makes 6 servings.

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at gwarth@nctimes.com or (760) 740-5410.