Thanksgiving is still three weeks away, but if you are already stressed contemplating the houseful of guests you will have to feed, take a deep breath, think about executive chef Rodney Timm and remember your dinner preparations are small potatoes by comparison.
Timm is associate director of dining services at La Posada, a nonprofit, continuing care retirement community in Green Valley. He and his kitchen staff of 50 will prepare a Thanksgiving feast for 700 residents and their guests, plus meals for firefighters at five firehouses in the area. It is one of the ways Timm and La Posada give back to the community. He and his staff also prepare food for Mobile Meals of Tucson and a senior lunch program at Casa Community Center in Green Valley.
Though The Continental fine-dining room at La Posada is for residents and their guests, the general public can sample Timm’s recipes at Posada Java, a café and coffee shop in Green Valley that serves fresh soups, sandwiches, salads and pastries daily.
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Timm has worked at La Posada on and off for 11 years. He and his staff run five kitchens that cater to six dining rooms, including The Continental, that serve an average of 1,100 meals each day.
How did you become a chef?
“It really wasn’t something I set out to do. It was something I was doing in high school and I enjoyed it and I realized I was OK at cooking. In 1984 I went to work at El Tovar at the Grand Canyon. The chef there, he was kind of a character and kind of inspired me and said this could be a career, not just something to do. Then, when I moved to Tucson, going to work at the Tack Room kind of inspired me a little bit more that this could be a career choice and it was kind of an evolution. I evolved into it.”
What is the first holiday meal you remember?
“Holiday dinners were not a huge thing, not really. We had a little, nontraditional family. Part of the family celebrated on Christmas Eve. The other part celebrated on Christmas Day. It was a little different. No really super-fond memories or anything like that.”
Do you have a favorite holiday dish?
“I really don’t have a favorite thing. Whatever we are going to cook, I want it to be as good as it can be. A prime rib or a fillet mignon or a grilled cheese sandwich, I want it to be as good as it can be. I’m here working for holidays. For chefs, we kind of celebrate holidays and special occasions whenever we can. By the holidays I am so tired of smelling turkey. That’s the last thing I want to eat.”
What do you make if you have company over?
“One of the favorite things I have done for groups of people is paella. That’s something everybody can participate in. You can do it in front of everybody and that’s kind of fun. Any kind of outdoor gathering, that you can involve people in, it makes it kind of fun.”
What suggestion do you have for people preparing holiday meals for their families?
“I like to have my work done so I can have time with people. Have people help make some appetizer type platter — cheese, olives. People can bring it, put it all on a platter and they can stand around and chat and snack on stuff. Keep things simple. There’s no reason to kill yourself because, really, it’s about getting together with your friends and family, not the meal in my opinion. No one gets stressed out over it if it’s simple.”
