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Tuesday December 31, 2002

Culinary Students Cook with Class

Photos By Joe Gigli

By Jeanne Dikdan Gigli

DENVILLE – A mid-term exam usually means endless hours studying, reviewing class notes and textbooks and working with calculators and maybe even a spell checker device. Not for the culinary arts students at the Morris County School of Technology (MCST). They even had invited guests to grade them during their mid-term exam!

Fifteen seniors donned their familiar white culinary attire on Wednesday to cook up some delectable dishes that they were graded on as part of their mid-term exam and a senior class project. To make the day a bit more interesting, four chefs, two food critics, and a photographer participated in the grading/judging process.

On hand were Scott Walker of the Heritage Grill in Denville; Stephanie Restaino of A Pizza Cake Café in Parsippany; Tim Schafer of Tim Schafer's Cuisine in Morristown; Ehab Habashi of Rod's Steak & Seafood Grille in Convent Station; Beverly Mortenson and Barbara Seelig Brown, food critics; and Joe Gigli, managing editor/director of photography at NJ Morris County Online. Mr. Walker and Ms. Restaino are MCST culinary program alumni.

A sampling of what the students prepared included escargot with red peppers en croute, penne with pink vodka sauce, baby greens with pomegranates and raspberry walnut dressing, lobster tails with drawn butter, Black Forest cake and

raspberry short cake.

The culinary arts curriculum at MCST is a 2-year comprehensive program where students learn every aspect of the food service industry. They learn to prepare a variety of foods from soups and sauces to seafood, vegetables and bakery goods. Planning meals and banquets, purchasing supplies in quantity, proper serving techniques, and management skills are also an integral part of this fast-paced and exciting course.

(from the top) Rob Eckert, Edwin Vazquez, and Phil Deffina, get some pointers from Culinary Arts Instructor Steve Remillard. Phil Deffina mixes the ingredients for the potato pancakes. A lovely Chateaubriand. Beth Weibel, prepares the lemon wedges for the lobster tails. Lesley Riker, Johan Bjorken; and Miriam Srtuber, work hard at the stoves. (left) Chefs

(l-r) Stephanie Restaino, of "A Pizza Cake Cafe" in Parsippany; Scott Walker, of Heritage Grill, in

Denville; and Ehab Habashi, of Rod's Steak & Seafood Grille at the Madison Hotel, in Convent Station. (right) Asparagus wait their turn to be cooked. Justin McWilliams, takes
hors d'oeuvres from the oven. (Below left) Rich Burton, serves Chef Scott Walker. (below right) Jon Goordman

and Luis Ocampo, prepare the Penne with Pink Vodka Sauce.

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