College cooks try vegetarian experiment at Chef's Table
<p>From left, Michaella Irlbeck, Gabrielle Martin, Jessica Strickle, Melinda Kraemer prepare hors d'oeuvre at the first Chef's Table Vegetarian Night on Friday, April 19, at Flathead Valley Community College. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Chef Howard Karp speaks gives instructions to students at the first Chef's Table Vegetarian Night on Friday, April 19, at Flathead Valley Community College. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>As the intermezzo a liche sorbet topped with amaretto was served in colored, lighted swan ice sculptures topped with at the first Chef's Table Vegetarian Night on Friday, April 19, at Flathead Valley Community College. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Dessert for the evening was a flourless almond chocolate cakes and strawberry coulis at the first Chef's Table Vegetarian Night on Friday, April 19, at Flathead Valley Community College. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>White bean with lemon and fennel and avocado made for a tasty and colorful appetizer at the first Chef's Table Vegetarian Night on Friday, April 19, at Flathead Valley Community College. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Chef Howard Karp welcomes patrons to the first Chef's Table Vegetarian Night on Friday, April 19, at Flathead Valley Community College. Karp has been with the college since 2008. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Detail of the amuse-bouche course, a pencil green asparagus terrine, designed to awaken the palette. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>From left, Hallie Conlan, Michaella Irlbeck, Natasha Seiler, Jessica Strickle, Kami Wellman, Melinda Kraemer, Jacob Hausauer, and Darrian Haynie work on preparing the main course for 33 attendees at the first Chef's Table Vegetarian Night on Friday, April 19, at Flathead Valley Community College. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
For the first time since its inception in 2009, the Chef’s Table program at Flathead Valley Community College created a four-course vegetarian dinner.
The menu served April 19 included an appetizer, intermezzo, main course and dessert, but the reality of the dinner was much more than what appeared on the official menu.
As diners arrived at the college, they gathered in the student art gallery outside the kitchen for hors d’oeuvres. The students in FVCC’s Culinary Institute of Montana brought out trays laden with mint and pea green soup, a tomato with new-style oil, and a causa and tomato chalaquita.
When everything was ready, people were called into the kitchen by table number. There they found a row of elegantly set tables with menus and printed place cards beside the ovens — and beside the heat, noise and controlled chaos of the kitchens where the students worked right before the patrons’ eyes.
Dinner began with an amuse-bouche to wake up the palate. This was a green asparagus terrine served in a goat cheese sauce.
Next came the appetizer: white beans with lemon, fennel and avocado served family style.
After the appetizer, which could have been a meal by itself, the lights were dimmed for the presentation of the intermezzo, a liche sorbet with amaretto, presented in the carved, colored, lighted ice swans.
The main course was crunchy pappardelle with button mushrooms and broccolini, white asparagus, and a Caprese salad of tomatoes, mozzarella and fresh basil.
To wrap up the dinner, the students served a flourless almond chocolate cake and strawberry coulis. These were accompanied by the Culinary Institute of Montana’s signature chocolate-dipped strawberries and homemade cookies and coffee.
The meal was a treat for those who attended, but the ultimate beneficiaries of each Chef’s Table event are the students.
“The goal of the program is to give students a very high expectation of what kinds of opportunities are out there for them,” chef Howard Karp said. “This program allows them to dream.”
Karp said many Flathead Valley Community College culinary arts students have gone on to opportunities around the country. Chef’s Table opens their eyes and gives them the hands-on experience of the extreme quality and discipline this kind of dining requires.
“If my students are ever presented with a high-caliber opportunity, they will not be intimidated,” Karp said.
Karp said he was pleased with the response to the first Vegetarian Night. Thirty-three people attended the dinner; Karp is considering offering more vegetarian nights in the semesters to come.
The remaining dinners are North African night on May 3 and the final Winemaker Dinner May 10. The winemaker, which will have more than 70 guests, has been sold out for two months.
There are only a few more seats available at the May 3 dinner.
For tickets, visit www.fvcc.edu/chefstable.html or contact FVCC at 756-3632.
Photographer Brenda Ahearn may be reached at 758-4435 or at bahearn@dailyinterlake.com.