Spicing up grains

Members of the meat and potato crowd—still a solid majority throughout the country—are generally willing to vary their entrees with a selection of grains "on the side," especially those that are either made-to-order, exhibition-style, or well-seasoned with an appetizing array of spices and herbs, operators report. Many locations now offer menu grains as a daily feature of their salad bars and often include them in specialty recipes on a weekly basis.

The key is to keep it different and interesting, notes Robert McCabe, exec. chef at Altria, a Flik Intl. account in New York. Among the 750 daily lunchtime customers, a favorite dish includes mixed grains.

"Several grains are mixed together with vegetables. The key is fresh, high-quality vegetables roasted to bring out the best flavor, then combine it all with fresh herbs. We've been toasting a lot of grains before cooking to give them a different flavor. Then we add onions, garlic, herbs and sometimes saffron," McCabe explains.

At Altria, jasmine rice cakes, served with Japanese sesame seaweed salad, is a big seller as a vegetarian entree on the hot line. Customers can take another grain or vegetable side with it or take half an order as a side.

'Interesting' bamboo rice: McCabe, as well as his customers, find bamboo rice (a green rice from Indian Harvest) can also be the basis of an interesting dish. "We prepare it with bok choy cut into quarters, roasted a little, then add a bit of ginger. We saute the rice, add a little lemon grass broth (made from scratch) then add roasted bok choy. We also do wild rice and sun-dried cherries or cranberries, walnuts and chestnuts. All ingredients are steamed and tossed with raspberry vinaigrette," he says.

On a daily basis, McCabe's customers can choose couscous and tabbouleh from the salad bar where at least one composed salad includes a grain component. "Of our 750 lunchtime clients, approx. 80 to 100 order from the Nitty Gritty Bar and choose a grain dish. They're not necessarily vegetarians—in fact, only a very small percentage are."

The mid-western customer base served at 235-bed St. Louis (MO) Children's Hosp.—including approx. 4,200 customers daily in the Morrison Mgmt. Svcs.–operated cafeteria—are "relatively conservative" in their tastes, according to fsd Laura Ravenscraft.

'Popular' pilaf with Ebly: "But they're very willing to try these items. We have some kind of rice or grain menued daily. There's grits for breakfast, as well as oatmeal and Cream of Wheat. And we do quinoa, wheatberries and polenta especially for catering. However, we find basmati and Arborio rice are too sticky to work with. White, brown or wild rice pilaf prepared with chicken stock and sauteed vegetables is well-liked and our multi-grain pilaf with Ebly is especially popular now," she reports.

At St. Louis Children's, chef Jim Johnson prepares this pilaf of brown rice, couscous and pearl barley, in the same way as traditional pilaf but using all grains and onions, plus occasionally portabella or shiitake mushrooms. For a vegetarian dish, it's prepared with vegetable broth, otherwise a chicken broth is used as the base.

"We also do a five-grain medley salad incorporating Ebly, couscous, pearl barley, brown rice and wild rice. Like a pilaf, it's chilled off and served cold with a vinaigrette or Italian dressing," Johnson says.

One of the chef's specialties is grits seasoned with bacon and cheese. Couscous is also well received as a cold salad tossed with minced vegetables and a drizzle of vinaigrette that is often served as an accompaniment to wrap sandwiches.

The use of grains is based both on geographics and customer demographics in Sodexho's Campus Service accounts across the country, according to Matt Mantini, CEC, division exec. chef.

Quinoa's complete protein: "Special' or exotic grains tie in with two vegan programs. One is a vegan platform station dedicated to all-vegan foods. This 'Grain Toss' concept incorporates quinoa, kasha and kamute along with basic grains such as couscous. The second program is a vegan grill with grains in wrap sandwiches such as a quinoa wrap. Quinoa is toasted in olive oil, then cooked in vegetable stock and used as a filler in a wrap with roasted vegetables.

"Vegetarians are a vocal minority—less than 5% in 800 accounts—but many of our locations are looking for these vegetarian and vegan alternatives. I personally love cooking with quinoa. It's an ancient Aztec grain and almost a complete protein. That helps with meeting dietary needs of vegan and vegetarian customers," Mantini asserts.

Among the 750 students attending Warren Wilson College, a Sodexho account in Ashville, NC, the Vegetarian Cafe places the emphasis on locally grown and organic foods. Since approximately half of the students are vegetarians, grain-based dishes are readily available in the main cafeteria as well.

A wheatberry toss: "We offer a very popular wheatberry salad prepared with diced cranberries, nuts, fresh herbs, fresh parsley and cilantro, celery, carrots and scallions all tossed with cranberry vinaigrette. And our quinoa tabbouleh is a mix of fresh parsley, tomatoes, cucumbers, scallions, lemons, celery and quinoa. Craig Schulz, chef at the Vegetarian Cafe, prepares millet croquettes that are a big hit," g.m. Brian O'Loughlin reports.

"We prepare them with whole grain millet, cooked and mixed with sauteed vegetables, shaped into a croquette. We make a crust of roasted ground pumpkin seeds, press in the seeds and bake," Schulz explains.