With a couple of places to work, plus a family, this dad really cooks

Daily Press (Newport News, Va.) (MCT) - While many chefs rarely cook at home, Richard Carr enjoys time in his light-filled kitchen with his wife, Terry, and teenage daughters, Casey and Kelly. "I started a file in the computer called 'home cooking,' and as we make things, we put them in there," says Carr.

Carr whips up baked pastas and other easy-to-fix dinners at his James City County, Va., home before heading off to Berret's Seafood Restaurant and Taphouse Grill in Williamsburg, Va., where he serves as executive chef. He also oversees the kitchen at Tom Austin's other eatery, Riverwalk Restaurant, in Yorktown, Va.

Carr grew up in Detroit and came to the Richmond, Va., area at age 16, where he landed a job washing dishes. Eventually he trained in the apprenticeship program of the American Culinary Federation and started work at Berret's 23 years ago. The menu changes three times a year, but customer favorites such as the she-crab soup, crab cakes and seafood baked in parchment rarely rotate off.

Despite the long hours and responsibility, Carr is quick to say, "I just don't feel that stressed out at work. Every day is a great day."

Q: Favorite dishes to fix at home?

A: On days off I do a lot of grilling _ steaks, burg1ers, fish _ along with side dishes like roasted potatoes and sauteed corn with bacon. What I prepare for my family on work days are lots of pasta, such as tortellini or ravioli, string pastas and pasta bakes with marinara. Chicken in these dishes is very popular. Otherwise we have pretty typical cuisine, though we do love seafood, so crab cakes, escargot, shrimp and other shellfish are popular when I'm home.

Q: Favorite kitchen gadgets?

A: My favorite knife _ not just a chef's knife, but a small, serrated 6-inch paring knife _ my favorite cutting board, a small box grater and rubber spatulas, not just for getting every morsel but to aid in cleanup.

Q: Most expensive kitchen item you bought that you never use?

A: If I bought it, I use it. I do feel bad when our outside gas grill has to get disconnected for the winter. We have an inside Jenn Air grill, but the electric heat is just not the same.

Q: Three or more items that are always in your fridge?

A: Fresh pasta like tortellini, ravioli and angel hair, and second would be cheese and marinara sauces. Third would be chicken, usually fresh tenders for grilling, pan-frying or in pasta dishes. And garlic butter is always around, for coating steaks after grilling or for sauteing seafood.

Q: What are some of the home cook's biggest mistakes?

A: Don't get discouraged _ there seems to be help lines for everyone but the discouraged cook. And don't bite off more than you can chew with a recipe. There are certain reasons why some dishes are best received in a restaurant and not tried at home. Have fun, get help and recruit clean-up people at the end of the meal. This leads sometimes to the best conversations of the evening.

Q: Local food stores you frequent?

A: On a regular basis I am at the Fresh Market on Jamestown Road for my meats, seafood, fresh pasta and some unique grocery items. The farmers markets in Williamsburg and Yorktown provide some once-a-week, unique local and strictly Virginia products. If you can visit Day Springs Farms in Mathews or other local farms, that is really special.

Q: Favorite cookbooks you refer to often?

A: I refer to my own cookbook ("There Is Still Romance in Food," available at Berret's) not because I'm vain but for actual recipes that I use but cannot always remember. As a chef, the "Professional Chef Cookbook" by the Culinary Institute of America is a must, a kind of a Bible. Regional cookbooks are always great; my favorites are Southern, Low Country, Cajun and Colonial. We also have a great local chef-author, Marcel Desaulniers of The Trellis, and I am proud to have all of his cookbooks.

Q: What do you do to relax?

A: I watch a lot of sports. I love to walk with my wife and our dog, Missy. I also make Missy's food _ nothing store bought for our poodle. I always say she is my last customer of the day. And I love to spend time with my two girls.

Q: What's the "up" side about being a chef?

A: I love what I do, who I do it with, and in many ways do not feel that I have ever worked a day in my life. I eat the greatest food, learn from a passionate group of people who feel the same way I do, get to teach the aspiring culinarians of the future _ all this, and get paid to do it. It begins and ends with passion.

Q: The down side?

A: Anyone who goes into this profession must accept that you work when everyone else is off. On the flip side, how many dads can pick up their kid from school on a Monday and go practice their driving or take them shopping on a Tuesday during the summer. If there is a down side, I would say it is more for the spouses, who may be the only parent on weekends and must shoulder the load on school work and transporting the children. I work with many chefs who are divorced or married multiple times because of the hours, holiday and weekend work, and the stress it puts on the entire family. I am the lucky one and will be married 20 years in January to a woman who has endured those difficulties and has been there for me every step of the way.

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Carr provided these recipes:

MADELINE'S CHICKEN & BACON WITH CHEESE TORTELLINI

2 pounds fresh cheese tortellini

1 quart chicken stock

6 ounces margarine

6 ounces flour

4 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese

4 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese

˝ cup sour cream

2 cups half & half

Salt and pepper to taste

˝ pound bacon, diced

1 pound of fresh skinless chicken tenders, diced

Place about six quarts of lightly salted water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the tortellini and cook until tender. Strain tortellini and rinse in cold water. Set aside in a large bowl.

Place the quart of chicken stock in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. In a separate saucepan, melt the margarine and add the flour to make the roux. Cook the roux over low heat until very smooth, then add to the simmering stock. Stir constantly until the sauce begins to thicken, and at the first sign of a boil, add the grated Parmesan and cheddar cheeses and whip until the cheese is dissolved and the sauce is very thick. Turn off the heat and add the sour cream and the half & half, whip until thoroughly combined, smooth and thinned. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper to your taste, remembering that the bacon added later will also bring salt along.

Place the bacon in a large saute plan and cook over medium heat until all the fat is rendered. Remove the bacon. Add the diced chicken to the fat in the pan and cook for a minute or two until the chicken is thoroughly coated with the bacon fat. Add about half of the finished sauce to the sauteed chicken pan, reduce the heat to medium and let simmer until chicken is completely cooked.

To finish, pour the chicken and bacon in the sauce, as well as the remaining sauce, over the tortellini.

Mix and serve.

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CASEY'S MARINARA SAUCE

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

2 tablespoons chopped canned anchovy fillets

3 tablespoons Italian Seasonings (available in supermarket spice section)

˝ large yellow onion, diced (about 6˝ cup)

2 cans of crushed, peeled tomatoes (28-ounce cans)

2 cups of water

2 cans of tomato paste (6-ounce cans)

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

Place the olive oil, garlic, anchovy fillets and dried Italian herbs in a large saucepan and saute over medium heat until the garlic is brown. Add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the tomatoes, water and tomato paste, reduce heat to a simmer and stir constantly until the sauce is smooth. Add the salt and sugar and let simmer. Taste the sauce, and if bitter, add a little more sugar to even out the taste. Let the sauce simmer while cooking pasta, then turn off the heat and let the sauce rest a few minutes before serving. It is nice to let the sauce simmer longer but it really is not necessary.

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KELLY'S QUICHE

1 9-inch unbaked pie shell

3 slices bacon, diced

3 whole eggs

1 cup half & half

1 pinch nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

2 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese

2 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place the pie shell in the oven, making small slits in the bottom crust. Bake the crust for about eight minutes until partially cooked. Remove from oven and set aside.

While the pie crust is cooking, place the small pieces of bacon on a microwave-safe plate and cook in the microwave until crispy, about four minutes. Place the eggs, half & half, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl and whip until thoroughly combined.

To assemble the quiche, placed the cooked bacon pieces on the bottom of the pie shell, sprinkle the two cheeses on top, and then slowly pour the egg mixture over the contents of the pie shell. Place an aluminum foil collar around the outside crust of the quiche before placing in a 350-degree oven for about 45 minutes. Check after 30 minutes but the center should puff up and not be loose. Let rest for a couple of minutes before serving.

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NEWS TO USE

Richard Carr is executive chef at Berret's Seafood Restaurant and Taphouse Grill, 199 S. Boundary St., Williamsburg, and Riverwalk Restaurant, 323 Water St., Yorktown. He is the author of "There Is Still Romance in Food."

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© 2008, Daily Press (Newport News, Va.).