Cooking Class
Michele Bruder
A week before Valentine’s Day ’08, the Rutgers Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Committee sponsored Young Alumni Cooking For Someone Special, a cooking class hosted by the Rutgers University Catering Service’s Chefs Sebastian and Pete. Brian Hammill, proprietor of Township Liquors (Piscataway, N.J.), provided a different wine for each course on the menu, as well as some great suggestions for pairing wine and foods. All 48 attendees were very impressed with this new event, especially when the fire lept to a height of 7 feet high on account of Chef Sebastian soaking berries with Brandy, in a pan on the stove.
The night began with Chef Pete preparing scallops carmelized with julienne vegetables in a blood orange Beurre Blanc, which was complemented with the intense citrus and tropical flavors of a Sauvignon Blanc (Riverside, New Zealand). After a few moments of wine education, given by Brian Hammill, Chef Pete began his preparations for the tasteful Chicken Breast Stuffed with Dried Strawberries Served with White Chocolate. The crowd gathered around the table at the front of the room to watch as Chef Sebastian groomed the strawberry mixture that would turn into the stuffing, then to cook it inside the split chicken breast, with the climax occurring similarly to a movie, when the berries were sautéed in the Brandy sauce and the fire escaped the pan, toward the ceiling for a split second. This delicious entrée was very well done, complimented well with the medium-bodied Porticina, consisting of equal parts of cabernet and merlot grapes.
As the desert was being prepared, Brian Hammill provided some wine education, such as the terrier that is appropriate for grapes to grow, and the derivation of the grapes that make up many popular wines. The strawberry ice cream inside a cooked pastry dough with confectionary sugar sprinkled atop it, went very well with the pear, guava and kiwi accents found inside the elegant and extra dry bubbly served (Domaine Ste. Michelle Extra Dry Champaign). All in all, the event was very tasty in education and mood.
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