Cooking for seniors can be a challenge

Published: Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Cooking for seniors can be a challenge

By MICHELLE COLLINS, Telegraph Correspondent

Assisted living facilities in the area aim to offer comfortable, caring living environments for their residents. However, when it comes to feeding the residents, the chefs of these facilities are facing challenges every day.

Restaurant & Pub in Tilton and served as a sous chef at several restaurants. He then went on to run his own convenience store, but realized that cooking was his passion and started at Nashua Crossings in December. Gerber oversees breakfast, lunch and dinner daily for about 60 residents.

At Nashua Crossings, Gerber finds that the three main diets he needs to accommodate daily are for diabetics, making purees for residents who cannot chew solid food and nut allergies. Gerber also does not cook with salt, though it is offered on the table.

Gerber said.

Gerber even made low-fat carbonara last week, substituting ham for bacon, skim milk for whole milk and lemon juice instead of parmesan cheese. However, Gerber admits that most of the residents have fairly simple palettes and still compare his cooking to the way their own mothers used to make the same dishes. Meatloaf, for instance, is a dish everyone had growing up.

Maurice Groulx, food service director at Courville.

Courville employs four cooks and one executive chef, and Groulx, who has been with Courville for about seven years now, also participates in some of the cooking. The main dietary restrictions Courville faces is gluten-free diets, lactose intolerance and diabetes, which Groulx calls

Groulx said.

To help accommodate the diabetic patients, Courville uses Splenda instead of sugar, especially in the desserts and Jell-O. For the gluten-free residents, the chefs have to make homemade chicken and beef broth and need to buy gluten-free products, such as breads and pastas. Groulx admits that their biggest challenge is not pleasing all of the residents

Groulx also says that, with the inflation rate, maintaining budget and still buying and making high-quality food without cutting costs is difficult.

Courville does maintain a flexible budget, however, which is one of the reasons Groulx has been with the company for so long. It provides the residents with luxuries such as clam bakes and lobster several times a year.

Valcourt said.

Like Nashua Crossings, Hunt Community does not cook with salt, and it uses a large amount of fresh herbs to enhance the flavors in the food. It also has residents fill out comment cards with each meal, to know which meals were successful and which not to make again.

Hunt also has several stations set up at each meal, including a full salad bar and soup, beverage and dessert stations, so there is something for everybody. Valcourt says the only challenge they face is

Spread over base.

Puree cottage cheese. Then spread over meat and sauce base.

Bake about 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees until firm. Remove and let stand 5 minutes.

Separate into desired portions; this will hold up and give a nice square portion and when serving. Top with a tomato sauce of your choice and top with some grated Parmesan cheese. It will look and taste like the real thing, and it should be smooth in texture for the residents

Place about one-quarter of the orzo on a cookie sheet, and toast it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes or until it turns a nutty brown color, then remove from the oven.

While the orzo is toasting, toss the chicken together with the salad dressing. Then, place the dressed chicken on a cookie sheet and in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Cook all orzo in boiling water until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving

Toss all vegetables, parmesan, black pepper, remaining herbs, the rest of the lemon juice, chicken stock and the zest of orange with the hot orzo.

Remove vinegar mixture from the heat, and whisk in the yogurt.

Slice the chicken, and serve it on a mound of orzo. Lightly drizzle the yogurt sauce over the chicken. Garnish with fresh mint leaves.

For a little variation, add a cup of toasted pine nuts to the vegetable orzo and charbroil the chicken instead of roasting it.

Serves 4.

(Recipe from Nashua Crossings)

MAPLE-ROASTED SALMON (HEART HEALTHY)

Juice from 3 large lemons (using a zester first will allow you to chop the zest for additional flavor and garnish)

N.H. maple syrup
5 pounds fresh Atlantic salmon, cut into 6-ounce pieces
2 sprigs of fresh dill weed, chopped
A few turns of fresh cracked black pepper

Mix the lemon juice, margarine and syrup together. Allow to cool to the touch.

Pour over the cut salmon filets, and garnish with the dill and lemon zest.

Cover with plastic wrap, and chill for 2 hours.

Place the fillets in a roasting pan, and cook at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.
Let rest for a few minutes, and serve.

Makes 12 servings.

(Recipe from Hunt Community)

SALMON NAPOLEON

4 thick (5-ounce) portions fresh Atlantic salmon fillet
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup red onion, thinly sliced
3 cups crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced
5 cloves fresh garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Slice each piece of salmon into three thin pieces of equal thickness, as if you were to butterfly the fillets.

Add olive oil to a hot pan, and saute the onions and mushrooms until they reduce by about 1/3 in volume and begin to get color.

Add garlic to the pan, and continue to saute for about 5 minutes, stirring the contents of the pan slowly.

Deglaze pan with the sherry.

Add cream, juice of a lemon and nutmeg, and bring to a boil.

Add spinach, and let wilt for 30 seconds.

Remove pan from the heat, and fold in the Swiss cheese, basil and tomatoes.

On a greased pan, place the 4 largest salmon slices (the bottoms) about an inch or two from each other. Spoon some of the vegetable mix on each piece of salmon.

Place the next 4 largest salmon slices (the middles) on the vegetable mix. Spoon more of the vegetable mix on each piece of salmon.

Place the last slices of salmon on each of the salmon towers. Top with the remaining vegetable mix, and sprinkle with crumbled blue cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 10-13 minutes.

Serves 4.

(Recipe from Nashua Crossings) Michelle Collins can be reached at michellepcollins@gmail.com

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