Angad Arts Hotel executive chef Lauren Anthony on fall flavors, memories, and inspiration

Chef Lauren Anthony is executive chef of the Angad Arts Hotel, where she heads the hotel’s culinary program, including its in-house restaurant, Commonwealth (634 N. Grand). A St. Louis native, Anthony began her culinary career at a young age, later attending culinary school and gaining experience in prominent kitchens across town, including Busch Stadium’s Perficient Red Jacket Club and J. Gilbert’s Wood-Fired Steaks & Seafood. Despite her impressive resume, the home cooking that inspired Anthony’s culinary journey remains central to everything she does. Refined comfort food is her passion, and she is especially focused on creating dishes that foster connection through shared meals, something she is confident you can do too, especially if you let the flavors of the season take the lead.

We all know that we should be thinking about seasonality when it comes to cooking, but what would you tell someone if they asked you why it’s so important? Cooking with seasonality is important because it helps create foods and recipes that are as natural and flavorful as possible. Utilizing in-season produce gives you the freshest and most prominent flavors, yielding a tasty and nutrient dense dish. When fruits and vegetables are harvested in season, they provide peak textures, flavors, and nutrients contributing to the taste and seasoning of a dish. When you’re cooking with foods that are not in-season, it’s easy to have a lackluster cooking experience as you are not working with the same palate that produce would normally have if it was in season. 

When you think of cooking in the fall, what sort of ingredients, dishes, or feelings come to mind? I think of foods that are warming and give you that cozy feeling. My favorite dishes and flavors are comforting but also just taste good! I love working with sweeter spices like vanilla, cinnamon, and allspice, with fruits such as apple, pears, and cranberries. On the savory end, I love sage, butternut squash, and root vegetables like sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and turnips. I find that fall seasonal ingredients and produce have a lot of depth to them, and you can easily diversify your cooking by utilizing both savory and sweet aspects in a dish.

Do you have a favorite fall food dish or memory? My favorite fall dish is a core part of my family’s Thanksgiving tradition, a homestyle sweet potato casserole. My family requests that I make it every year, so it’s been a vessel for many shared Thanksgiving memories throughout the years. It’s a recipe that I’ve experimented with and tweaked through each Thanksgiving and is now a tradition for our holiday celebration. The sweet potato casserole features whipped sweet potatoes, a spiced caramel custard, and is topped with a pecan oat streusel crumble and toasted marshmallows.

Where do you get your inspiration? I get my inspiration from memories of cooking at home with my family. I grew up in a household that loved to make memories through food. I was always encouraged to cook by my family, from buying me cookbooks to spending time together making a new dish. I’m also inspired by seasonal flavors; it’s one of the things I love most about cooking. Getting to create new dishes and flavor combinations with each season is invigorating. To a chef, there’s nothing quite like peak season produce and pairing flavors to create levels of depth for the meal as a whole.

What advice do you have for home cooks who want to embrace the flavors of this season? Think outside the box of traditional fall flavors, such as pumpkin spice. Don’t be afraid to experiment with combinations. Fuse traditional fall flavors and new food trends for a modern take on something beloved, like fig jam cinnamon rolls with walnuts. There’s always something new to try—it’s fun to be creative in the kitchen! And don’t be afraid to mess up: Cooking is about experimentation and finding the right pairings for your palate.

Photography by Vanessa Rudloff

Photography by Vanessa Rudloff

RECIPE

Chef Lauren Anthony’s Seared Sea Scallops with Sage Brown Butter Beurre Blanc and Apple Arugula Salad

Anthony loves the comfort food dishes and warm ingredients characteristic of fall’s cuisine. Her scallops dish, which is both refined and soul-warming, is the embodiment of autumn cooking.

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

Main scallop dish:

• 1 butternut squash (peeled, deseeded, and chopped)
• 6 fresh, large sea scallops (can use frozen if necessary)
• 3 sage leaves (chiffonade)
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. butter (cut into cubes and chilled)
• 1/4 cup of white wine
• 1/4 cup of heavy cream
• 1 tbsp of chopped shallots

Apple arugula salad:

• 2 cups of arugula
• ½ cup of sliced apples of choice
• Dried cranberries (to taste)
• Toasted walnuts (to taste)
• Shaved red onion (to taste)
• ¼ cup of fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp of Dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and white pepper (to taste)

Garnish:

• 4 prosciutto slices (cooked until crispy and crumbled on top of the dish as a garnish)
• 2 sage leaves (chiffonade)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Peel and cut the squash in half to remove the seeds. Rough chop squash, simmer on high in salted water until soft, strain water, and blend in a food processor. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside, and keep warm.
2. Pat scallops dry. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter over high heat in a sauté pan; avoid using non-stick. Once the butter melts and is beginning to brown slightly, add scallops. Do not move the scallops, and let sear for 3-4 minutes, then flip. Salt and pepper to taste, cook the other side for 3–4 minutes, then remove from the pan. Keep warm.
3. In the same sauté pan, add chopped shallots and white wine. Reduce until the wine has almost completely cooked off. Add heavy cream, and bring to a boil. Remove pan from heat, and begin to whisk in butter, one cube at a time until the sauce is thick and emulsified. Salt and pepper to taste, and stir in sage.
4. To make the salad, start by chopping your apples and onion, and set aside. Make the dressing by pouring lemon juice and dijon mustard into a mixing bowl. Mix to combine and slowly drizzle in extra virgin olive oil while whisking quickly to form a dressing. Season with salt and pepper. Combine the arugula, apples, onion, and dressing in a bowl, and top with walnuts and cranberries to taste. 
5. To plate, spoon the squash purée into the desired place, and position the scallops on top. Drizzle the scallops with the browned butter Beurre Blanc, and add the desired salad portion on the side. To garnish, crumble and sprinkle the crisp prosciutto and chiffonade sage on top of the dish.