INSIDE

Local chef offers in-home cuisine

By Meg Olson

Katarina Hutchinson loves food, and she loves Point Roberts. As she and her husband complete their long-awaited move from Seattle to the Point she is bringing a life of international travel and food to local kitchens as a personal chef and event planner.

“It’s about a gourmet experience made fresh in your house and ready when your guests arrive,” Katarina said.

The Polish-born chef said she brings a passion for food and flavors to every job. “All my life right now is about food,” she said, “It’s in my blood.” She credits moving to Italy with igniting her passion for flavor. “I started learning from the Mamas and that was the first light for me,” she said. As her travels took her to Paris, Berlin, Switzerland, Spain, Katarina said she found herself more and more with “people for whom food was everything. That was the click. It was on.”

After time in Northern California, Katarina moved to Seattle where most recently she managed the acclaimed Italian restaurant Baci. “I was always involved in the back,” she said. “On one side I’m very business and on the other I’m very artistic.”

As a personal chef Katarina said she can continue to travel and explore food and wine, and then bring it home for her clients. “I learn something and then I twist it to my way of cooking – lighter, nutritious food with taste. I love zest, citrus flavors, fresh herbs, spices.” She takes traditional European and Asian cooking techniques, combines them with local, fresh products, and puts an emphasis on succulent, healthy dishes.

Starting with shopping, or from ingredients the client provides, Katarina cooks the meal, prepares the table, serves the meal and slips away. She charges hourly and will customize her services to include or exclude shopping and clean-up. Katarina can also help bring together all the ingredients of a celebration at home. “I love to prepare a table,” she said. If the client doesn’t have the right tool, or dish, or vase, she said she has a collection to choose from.

The service Katarina provides to each client is different. “It’s catered to individual needs,” she said. Personal chefs are popular in California and on the east coast where they prepare meals in a client’s home to be frozen for a week’s worth of dinners, but Katarina said she would prefer to cook individual meals for special occasions, or for a weekly dinner at home for busy professionals. “It’s a restaurant experience in your home,” she said.

For more information or to book a consultation, call Katarina at 945-2070.