Our cookbook of the week is Chuck’s Home Cooking by Montreal-based chef, TV host and restaurateur Chuck Hughes.
Jump to the recipes:savoury breakfast bread pudding, cauliflower salad with lemon and black pepper dressing, and lamb ragu with conchiglioni.
Chuck Hughes insists he’s no different from any other home cook. Though, he admits, “I do probably chop carrots faster.” Hughes has been co-owner and executive chef of Montreal restaurant Garde Manger since 2006. He was the youngest Canadian to win Iron Chef America in 2011, defeating Bobby Flay with his lobster poutine. No stranger to streaming, he’s hosted many TV shows, including Chuck and The First Peoples’ Kitchen.
Still, Hughes’s two children, Charlie and Henri, ages 10 and eight, go to school at 8 a.m. and are ready to eat dinner by 5:30 p.m. “There are things that I’m no different from anybody. It’s not like, ‘Oh, that’s what you do for a living.’”
Hughes tapped into his family’s favourite dishes for his third book, Chuck’s Home Cooking (Penguin Canada, 2024). While his first two cookbooks, Garde Manger (2012) and Chuck’s Day Off (2014), were about his restaurant and one of his TV shows, respectively, Chuck’s Home Cooking is about his life away from work. “It’s a book that’s really home.”
Chuck’s Home Cooking features 85 recipes organized mainly by course or main ingredient, with a chapter devoted to a Quebec tradition: sugar shack (cabane à sucre). Hughes grew up going to cabanes à sucre each spring and has carried on the tradition with his girlfriend, Sabrina Bronfen, and their sons. Hughes’s friend, fellow chef Cezin Nottaway from Kitigan Zibi First Nation, inspired him to make his own maple syrup. Now, he and his family tap 25 trees.
“When I became a dad, all these activities and things popped into my head. Like, ‘I need to teach them how to fish’ — and maple syrup was one of them,” says Hughes. “Even though it might be a litre in the end, because it’s a lot of hard work, there’s this accomplishment. Something that you did from A to Z.”
The recipes in Chuck’s Home Cooking range from the everyday to special occasions, such as the shrimp aspic his grandmother made for holidays and family gatherings. Others, such as breakfast mishkabibble (Hughes’s take on the corned beef hash or mishmash on Jewish deli menus) and matzoh ball soup with chicken meatballs (inspired by his regular order at Snowdon Deli), reflect Hughes’s life at home in Montreal. Some he learned from Bronfen’s family, such as her mom’s green borscht.
It’s been a decade since Hughes wrote his last cookbook. For the first nine years of Garde Manger, “that was my baby. And the last 10 years, I’ve had actual babies,” he says, laughing. “I went from never cooking at home to always cooking at home.”
Whether cooking at home or in a restaurant, Hughes underscores the importance of setting up your workspace. “You’re only as good as your mise en place, cleanliness and organizing — and your ability to bring everything to 90 per cent so that you can put everything together in two minutes or whatever. And so, I do like to bring that aspect into my world at home.”
He urges people to think ahead to make life easier and meals that much better. For example, if you have a spare moment in the morning, use it to floret and wash the broccoli for dinner, put it in the pot and leave it in the fridge. Or wash the lettuce and refrigerate it in the spinner. Hughes says it could take four minutes at 7:30 a.m., but four minutes becomes 20 minutes after school.
“It’s getting yourself set up so that you can make on-the-fly decisions to better your food and spend less time worrying and more time doing homework. Ugh. That’s the one thing I never planned on. At least Sabrina does most of the homework. Sorry, I’m the fun guy.”
Becoming a home cook gave Hughes a new respect for what it takes. At Garde Manger, he orders cases of chicken bones, and they make stock in huge vats. A home cook might get a litre of stock from one cooked chicken carcass. The smaller scale felt unimportant, but not anymore. “That’s the soup for the next day. That’s a broth for a stew or a sauce. Reduce it and add mustard, vinegar and some butter,” says Hughes. He used to suggest home cooks make stock from scratch in interviews, wondering if anyone would follow through. “I used to just say it. But now, it’s my life.”
Hughes is happy with the balance he’s struck. He often drops his sons off at school, picks them up, and is involved in their breakfasts and dinners. He says that in the past, it was commonplace for chefs to spend most of their time at work at the expense of family life. “It was like you made a deal with the devil, and you’re going to be stuck here, and it’s going to involve a whole bunch of different things that are probably unhealthy, but that’s what it is. You’re going down with the ship. And I’m not saying that spirit isn’t there, but it’s no longer the end game. I think the new generation is a big part of it, too. It’s not what it was — in a good way.”
Though Hughes is still at the restaurant, “washing dishes, maybe helping on a dish, probably speaking with clients, shucking an oyster,” he doesn’t cook 15 hours a day as he used to. He says he’s fortunate to have long-standing staff he can rely on. More time at home has allowed Hughes to cook for and with Charlie and Henri, to whom he dedicated the book. Like most kids, Hughes says they’ve gone through phases with their food choices. Today, they love to cook and want to discover.
“I’ve always pushed them to try new things, and now I have to pump the brakes a bit, especially when we go out. They say stuff like, ‘Everything’s better with lobster, right?’ And I’m like, ‘Uh, not necessarily. When you’re buying, maybe.’”
Whether as a job, hobby or to feed themselves, Hughes wants his children to be inspired by food and cooking. He believes cooking is a valuable skill that helps you make better choices — a lesson he learned from his mom, who encouraged him to start cooking “at a time when it wasn’t really cool.” Though cooking wasn’t a career option when he was growing up, being a chef always came up during evaluations. Hughes realized it was the right path immediately at his first restaurant job.
“I definitely want to inspire a will to cook and to start from scratch. That’s what’s important for me — to be a little bit adventurous and try new things, get involved and cook. So, I’m lucky. Right now, we’re in a good space.”
SAVOURY BREAKFAST BREAD PUDDING
Serves: 6 to 8
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
10 cups day-old bread torn into pieces
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 cup julienned smoked ham
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups + 2 tbsp milk (any type)
2/3 cup whipping cream (35 per cent)
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
2 tbsp salted butter, cut into small cubes
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Grease a 13×9-inch (33×23-cm) baking dish.
Step 2
Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring often, until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.
Step 3
Scrape the cooked onions into the prepared baking dish. Add the bread, cheddar and ham and mix together.
Step 4
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, thyme, salt and pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the bread mixture and gently mix everything together. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Step 5
Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, scatter the cubed butter over the bread pudding, and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, until the top is golden brown and crispy. Let the bread pudding cool for 5 minutes before serving.
CAULIFLOWER SALAD WITH LEMON AND BLACK PEPPER DRESSING
Serves: 4 to 6
Lemon and Black Pepper Dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup plain full-fat Greek yogurt
Zest of 2 lemons
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup cold water
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
Cauliflower Salad:
1 head cauliflower, leaves removed, quartered
1 head red endive
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp flaky sea salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
2 ripe Bartlett pears
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts
Step 1
Make the lemon and black pepper dressing: In a medium bowl, combine the mayonnaise, yogurt, lemon zest, lemon juice, cold water, garlic, kosher salt and pepper. Whisk until smooth. Set aside until ready to use or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Step 2
Make the cauliflower salad: Using a mandoline, carefully slice the cauliflower lengthwise about 1/8-inch thick. Place it in a large bowl.
Step 3
Trim away the root end of the endive and separate the leaves. When no more leaves come off, cut a bit more off the bottom and continue until all the leaves are separated. Add the leaves to the bowl with the cauliflower. Add the olive oil, flaky sea salt and pepper and toss together. Arrange on a platter.
Step 4
Working with one pear at a time, place a pear on a cutting board and use a paring knife to cut it in half lengthwise. Cut each half in half again lengthwise to create quarters. Cut out the core. Using a mandoline, thinly slice the pears lengthwise. Arrange the pear slices over the cauliflower and endive. Sprinkle with the toasted walnuts and drizzle the lemon and black pepper dressing over the salad. Serve immediately.
LAMB RAGU WITH CONCHIGLIONI
Serves: 4
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb (450 g) ground lamb
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
2 oz (55 g) pancetta, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, smashed and roughly chopped
1 sprig fresh rosemary
3 bay leaves
3 cans (5.5 oz/156 mL each) tomato paste
6 cups (1.5 L) water
1 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
18 oz (500 g) conchiglioni (large pasta shells)
Grated Grana Padano cheese, for serving
Step 1
Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the lamb, break it apart with a wooden spoon, and cook, stirring often, until browned. Using a slotted spoon, remove the lamb from the pot and transfer to a plate, leaving the fat in the pot. Reduce the heat to medium-low, toss in the onions and pancetta, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, rosemary and bay leaves and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 2 minutes.
Step 2
Return the browned lamb and any juices to the pot. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the water, salt and pepper and stir well to combine everything. Increase the heat to high and bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover with the lid slightly ajar, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 hours, until the sauce has thickened. Discard the rosemary sprig and bay leaves. (The sauce is even better the next day. You can completely cool the sauce and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.)
Step 3
When the sauce is done, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta, transfer to a large bowl, and mix with a ladleful of the sauce so it doesn’t stick together. Divide the pasta between bowls. Top with more sauce and the grated cheese.
Recipes and images excerpted from Chuck’s Home Cooking by Chuck Hughes. Copyright ©2024 Chuck Hughes. Photography by Marc-André Lavoie. Published by Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
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