Cafe’s pastry chef creates down-to-earth deliciousness

Perhaps her first baking inspiration came to her when she was just a kid, when she dreamed about a fanciful cake. “It was round, light green and with a giant Easter bunny,” she said. “It also had Easter bunny cookies on it covered with coconut shreds.”

That cake may have been the tipping point: As she got a little older, Reed realized that in order to cook and bake, she needed to learn what her relatives knew about cooking.

“[For instance], my grandmother’s chicken and noodles were all from scratch,” she said of this hearty family dinner. To treat her parents and siblings to a little reminiscence, Reed served the same nostalgia meal when they visited her during the holidays this past year.

“I made all the same dishes,” she said. “For breakfast, I prepared an egg bake, which is a standby at Cafe Saint-Ex.” A finished dish of scrambled eggs with ham, green onions and cheddar cheese sauce, and topped with bread crumbs, delighted her family. Oh, and as an afterthought, she served this with apple bread.

After high school, Reed enrolled in Kansas State University to study fashion marketing, but after one semester, she came home, trying to figure out her next move. The answer? Watching the Food Network did the trick. “I enrolled in the culinary program at the local community college,” she said. After one semester, Reed opted to find a pastry school where she could earn a degree.

“My brother lived in New York,” she said, “so I did a tour of local cooking schools in 2002. I applied to the Culinary Institute of America, but learned I needed six months of restaurant work,” which she fulfilled by working at the Lake Quivira & Country Club in Lake Quivira, Kan.

In the middle of the 22 months that she went to CIA, she did her externship at Farallon in San Francisco, where Emily Luchetti was her executive pastry chef from September 2003 to January 2004.

“I learned more there than I did at the CIA,” she said. She graduated from the institute in 2004.

With her degree, Reed then set about finding her pastry niche, looking at restaurants in Boston and Washington. Gaining experience in the kitchens of the now-closed IndeBleu in Penn Quarter and later at the now-closed Cafe Mozu at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, Reed got a tip that a pastry chef’s job was opening at Cafe Saint-Ex.

“I wanted to do my own baking,” she said, “family recipes that I’ve made my own.”

Eight years later, Reed bakes happily, putting her own spin on family favorites, much to the delight of her mom. Indeed, her whole family drops by often to visit, and to enjoy a piece of her carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, candied pecans and pineapple rum caramel for dessert.

Q&A with chef Alison Reed

What’s your comfort food?

Chicken and noodles from my grandmother. And mashed potatoes and the meatloaf I grew up on. I might have these only once a year. I don’t really have a sweet tooth, but I like salty anything.

What is your cooking philosophy?

To cook in season and to cook something [delicious] because I like to watch people enjoy it. A “thumbs up” makes my day.

Which is your favorite cuisine?

I have different phases, but really just French. Being from Kansas, I grew up on meat and potatoes.

What’s in your fridge?

Usually pickles, hummus, pita, ranch dressing, yogurt, pepperoni and always a mild cheddar, baby carrots.

Which are your favorite restaurants?

The Oval Room, Rasika and Coppi’s.

From the Chef’s Kitchen

Apple Crunch Pie

“Here is my family’s recipe for an amazing apple pie,” Reed says.

Serves 6

Bottom crust

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 Tbsp. cold milk

Sift together the flour, sugar, and salt into a glass pie plate. Stir together the dry ingredients with the oil and milk, and mold with your fingers into a pie crust.

Filling

6 to 7 apples

1 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 Tbsp. butter

Peel and slice the apples into 1/4-inch-thick slices, spread the apples out in the pie crust, and sprinkle the apples with the flour, cinnamon, and salt. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the apples and dot with butter

Crumb Topping

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

6 Tbsp. butter

Pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Combine the ingredients with a fork, and sprinkle over the filling. Bake for 30 minutes; reduce the temperature to 350 degrees for another 30 minutes. If unsure of doneness, test with a fork or knife to make sure apples are soft. Slice once it cools down, and serve with vanilla ice cream or a side of whipped cream.