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Because foodies get their thrills from tastes, textures and combinations of ingredients in the foods they eat, those in the area turn out in force to support the International Culinary Arts and Sciences Institute in Chester Township in its quest to provide scholarships for talented would-be chefs. Graduates of the college-level professional cooking school founded by Loretta Paganini have enriched Northeast Ohio’s dining scene immeasurably during the school’s two decades.
Top chefs in the area who have employed the school’s graduates also have stepped up to the plate to support scholarships for the notable chef-training program. In recent months, both Dante Boccuzzi, Northeast Ohio’s only Michelin-starred chef, and Sam Lesniak, executive chef at Cru Uncorked in Moreland Hills, have shared the proceeds of recent dinners they hosted in Chester Township as fundraisers for ICASI scholarships.
Both restaurants and their chefs are known for unusual, cutting-edge cuisine, along with dinner checks of $100 per person and more.
Current ICASI students and staff worked in the school’s teaching kitchens to prepare and serve the dishes emerging from the culinary brilliance of the notable chefs. Those paying to be there enjoyed four-course meals that largely defied easy description.
As Lesniak directed the student chefs and staff in the kitchen, his Cru Uncorked colleague Sommelier Janine Poleman told the gathering about the wines she had chosen to pair with each dish. She also told them about the restaurant, in a chateau-style building at Chagrin Boulevard and SOM Center Road.
Lesniak remained in the kitchen to oversee the dishes being served, checking each plate to assure its visual perfection.
“It was a wonderful opportunity for our students to work with chefs at this high level,” said chef Tim McCoy, the education director for ICASI. “The visual artistry of food is one of the most difficult things to teach, so seeing Sam’s visual forethought and planning for the arrangement of food on a plate was a true learning experience.”
Aptly illustrating what a feast for the eyes food can be, a pale-green chive soubise sauce united an onion slice with a charred rim encircling fresh green peas and a morel mushroom with a swirl of roast garlic butter on a plate with a browned chunk of pork belly. Connecting with the evening’s diners, Lesniak left the kitchen to carefully pour the soubise in just the right place on each plate.
Lesniak provided today’s recipe for the Chive Soubise sauce.
”It is glorious with roast chicken, drizzled over caramelized root vegetables or accompanying pork tenderloin,” Poleman said.
Boccuzzi brought with him pastry chef Kayla Palmisano Wiley, a 2014 graduate of ICASI, who has long worked for his Dante Restaurant Group. Her 2-by-3-foot photo has a prominent place on the school’s walls along with those of other graduates.
“It’s like they’re my own kids,” said McCoy. “I get a little choked up seeing those photos and realizing they were all my students.”
He’s been ICASI’s education director since the school’s beginning.
Boccuzzi, who debuted his “Cooking in Harmony” cookbook at a mid-March fundraiser, told diners about earning his Michelin star while serving as executive chef at Aureole in Manhattan, cooking in famous kitchens in France and Italy and serving as personal chef for actor Robert De Niro and his family. Diners devoured his words along with the dishes they were served.
They learned, for instance, that the Fluke Sashimi, Pina Colada, Jalapeno, Turmeric dish, with its flavors of pineapple and coconut, was inspired by a meal Boccuzzi created at Aureole in 2002.
“It’s a spin on everyone’s favorite drink, the pina colada,” he said.
Despite the cookbook’s metric measurements, its $50 pricetag and exotic ingredients such as the dried kelp seaweed called kombu powder, “Cooking in Harmony” sold briskly at the fundraising dinner.
“Metric measures are easy once you have a good kitchen scale,” McCoy said.
Weighing ingredients offers greater precision and consistency, especially when baking, he noted.
A favorite Boccuzzi dish that evening was the Maine Lobster and Green Apple Napoleon with candied lemon and tarragon.
“It became a signature dish in 1998 when I was chef de cuisine at Silks at the Mandarin (Oriental) in San Francisco, “ he said.
That hotel and its restaurant closed in 2006.
The Southern Barbecue Extravaganza, set for 2 to 6 p.m. Aug. 16, will benefit the scholarship fund for ICASI.
Menu: Pulled pork sliders, St. Louis style Pork Ribs, Spice-Rubbed Chicken Legs, Smoked Chicken Wings, Grilled Shrimp Skewers.
Beverages: Red Sangria, White Sangria, Watermelon Mojito, Kentucky Mule, Hard Lemonade, Assorted Beer, Sweet Iced Tea.
Sauces: Carolina Gold Barbecue Sauce, Kansas City Red Barbecue Sauce, Carolina Cider Vinegar Sauce.
Cold Sides: Honey Butter Cornbread, Creamy Veggie Slaw, Potato Salad, Green Bean Salad, Summer Stone Fruit Salad
Hot Sides: Corn on the Cob, grilled veggies, macaroni and cheese, Hush Puppies, Baked Beans
Desserts: Peach Cobbler, Strawberry Shortcake, Lemon Squares, Pecan Pie Squares
Ice Cream Social: Assorted Flavors and Toppings.
Fee: $125 per person.
Chive Soubise
(Makes about 1.5 cups of finished sauce)
Ingredients
6 onions
4 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 cup white wine
2 cups heavy cream
2.5 cups chives
Instructions
Thinly julienne the onions and lightly season them with salt in a bowl.
In a pot over low-medium heat, add 4 tablespoons of grape-seed oil and sweat out the onions, covering them with a cartouche (a parchment paper lid) until they become translucent and very tender.
Remove the cartouche and add the white wine, stirring to reduce it by half.
Add the heavy cream and continue to reduce until the mixture reaches a nappe consistency. (That’s a French term describing the ideal thickness of a sauce that allows it to coat the back of a spoon evenly.)
Carefully transfer the mixture to a blender and blend on high speed until completely smooth.
Cut the chives into matchstick-sized pieces and add them to the blended mixture.
Blend once more until smooth and then incorporate 3 tablespoons of cold butter.
Strain the soubise through a chinois (a fine mesh strainer) before serving.
— Courtesy of Sam Lesniak
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