Stew outside with a note for the instructor (5)
I believe the answer is:
swami
'the instructor' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'stew outside with a note' is the wordplay.
'outside' means to remove the middle letters.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'note' becomes 'mi' (as in 'do re mi').
'stew' with its centre removed is 'sw'.
'sw'+'a'+'mi'='SWAMI'
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for swami that I've seen before include "Term of respect to a Hindu teacher" , "Guru" , "Hindu holy man" , "Hindu religious instructor" , "Religious master" .)