Washington State Chef's
Member Spotlight
Member Spotlight - February 2013
JENNIFER SOHONIE, CEC
Favorite Quote
“In all professions without doubt, but certainly in cooking one is a student all his life.”
Bio
Jennifer Sohonie has been teaching with Le Cordon Bleu for over 5 years, starting in Dallas. Jennifer moved to Seattle in 2010 where she took on the role as Executive Chef for Le Cordon Bleu.
Prior to teaching, Jennifer spent her culinary career working mainly within fine dining. Starting in Los Angeles, she worked with restaurants along the sunset strip such as Le Dome. Jennifer then moved to Scottsdale AZ where she had the benefit of working with the Hyatt Regency’s fine dining restaurant VU, in addition to experiencing the larger volume banquets division of the hotel. Jennifer started her catering business, which she successfully moved to Dallas, TX where she was able to continue working with fine dining restaurants such as Bijoux, Bolla and Local. In Dallas, teaching started out as a secondary job, but quickly became a new passion which Jennifer took on full time.
Jennifer earned an Associates in Culinary Arts from Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena. She also earned Bachelor’s degree from Duke University, a Masters Certificate in Hospitality from Cornell University and a Master’s in Education from the American Intercontinental University.
Favorite Recipe
PURÉE OF CHESTNUT SOUP
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients:
- 4 Tbs Butter
- ½ ea – Onion, small dice
- 1 ea – Celery
- 1 ea – Leek
- 1 clove Garlic
- ½ cup Red wine
- 1 btl peeled, cooked chestnuts, drained (24 oz bottle)
- 3 qt Chicken stock
- ¼ c Crème fraîche
- Salt and pepper
- Garnish chervil leaves
Procedure:
- Heat soup pan to medium. Add butter.
- Add onion, celery, leek and garlic and cook until translucent.
- Add chestnuts and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add red wine and reduce by half.
- Add enough stock to cover the chestnuts. Cook until chestnuts are tender. Add more stock if needed.
- Purée the soup.
- Finish with crème fraîche and chervil leaves.
