New chef to ‘debut’ with Eden Dreams

Mr. Perrotti took particular delight in working up sample dishes for this year’s Eden Dreams gala

By: Pat Tanner

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STAFF PHOTO/MARK CZAJKOWSKI
Anthony Perrotti, the Hyatt Regency’s new executive chef, has come up with a menu that echoes the Southwest theme of Eden Dreams’ "Dreams of Kokopelli."


   Each year the committee of volunteers behind Eden Dreams, the white-tie gala that is the primary fund-raising event for the Eden Family of Services, gathers about a month in advance to set the gourmet menu for the multi-course dinner that is part of the evening’s festivities. That task was made especially difficult this year when they sampled the delicious possibilities presented by executive chef Anthony Perrotti of the Hyatt Regency Princeton, where Eden Dreams will take place on Saturday.
   The agonizing decisions started with a choice between two Champagne cocktails — one with kir, another with Chambord — and proceeded through appetizers, salads, main courses and, finally, dessert. Imagine their dilemma: Choose between (a) a delicate, handmade crepe filled with cinnamon-scented pastry cream alongside a wedge of flourless chocolate cake made with Tia Maria and coffee, and (b) a paradigmatic tart of fresh berries and fruit with a layer of lemon curd and a dollop of raspberry-Grand Marnier coulis, accompanied by a chocolate cookie exotically flavored with clove. (The dozen or so tasters opted for the latter, after repeated tasting and heated debate.)
   Chef Andrew Perrotti, the man behind the fiendish choices, is new to the Princeton hotel, having taken over the kitchen in October, but he is not new to the Hyatt chain or to central New Jersey. He has been with the company since 1982 and for 11 years was at the Hyatt in New Brunswick, until transferring in 1999 to the Cincinnati Hyatt.
   "But," Mr. Perrotti says, "it was time to move on again, especially since both I and my wife have family in Rhode Island and Connecticut, and moving back to New Jersey means our kids can see their grandparents and cousins more often."
   The Perrottis, who met when they both worked at the Hyatt in Washington, D.C., have three children.
   "My daughter is 16 and a junior in high school, so the move is hardest on her. But she and my older son, who is 14, have kept in contact with friends they made when we lived in North Brunswick and Highland Park," he said.
   The Perrottis’ younger son is in fifth grade and does not remember New Jersey, although the older children recall decorating the gingerbread houses at the Hyatt New Brunswick when they were little more than toddlers.
   Anthony Perrotti grew up in Newport, R.I., one of eight children. Both his parents were pharmacists.
   "From when I was 8 years old, I was working at the Rexall my parents owned. Every Friday night I would be there stocking shelves," he recalls.
   By high school, Mr. Perrotti knew he "wanted out of the drugstore." He got a job scrubbing pots at the local Hilton, which is, ironically, now a Hyatt. He enjoyed the kitchen atmosphere, so pursued the culinary program at his local vo-tech.
   "The chef-instructor there was a young graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, and was an inspiration to me," Mr. Perrotti says.
   While still a junior in high school the future chef was accepted into that prestigious Hyde Park school, which he attended upon graduation. He served his externship at the Capitol Hilton in Washington, D.C., where he worked under Walter Scheib, the current White House chef. Mr. Scheib eventually hired him on at the Hilton, and the two men worked together for a year and a half.
   Mr. Perrotti says he likes working as a hotel chef, as opposed to a stand-alone restaurant.
   "In the corporate environment you have a set of standards and business directives, and you’re working within a budget. With the intensities that the business environment entails, every day is different from the last." In fact, on the December day he uttered these words, he and his staff were elbows deep, making 100 loaves of Christmas stollen.
   Mr. Perrotti took particular delight in working up sample dishes for this year’s Eden Dreams gala because, he says, "It gives you a chance to be creative, and it emphasizes the teaching aspect of what I do, which I enjoy. We have to be mindful of the (attractiveness of the) presentation, and we have to develop a strategy and game plan for a group this large."
   The Eden Dreams gala will attract about 500 guests, as it does each year. The evening will start with cocktails and a high-end silent auction and continue on to dinner and dancing to the music of the Jerry Boyle Orchestra. All proceeds benefit the Eden Family of Services, based in Princeton, whose mission is to provide lifespan services for children and adults with autism.
   The theme of this year’s gala is "Dreams of Kokopelli." Kokopelli is a mythical figure of Native American tribes in the Southwest, to whom he is a symbol of replenishment, music, dance, and mischief. Chef Perrotti picked up on the Southwestern theme with the starter chosen by the Eden volunteer tasters. The recipe for his crab, avocado, and tomato timbale with roasted yellow pepper salsa follows.
   At the gala, the timbale will be followed by a salad featuring assorted greens with dried cranberries, yellow and red tomatoes, and Granny Smith apples in a sherry vinaigrette, and an "intermezzo" of lemon sorbet in a lime shell.
   Then will come the blockbuster main course: a two-part affair featuring a petit filet mignon with a crust of roasted shallot and mustard, paired with sliced breast of chicken stuffed with pecans and apples and drizzled with Bourbon sauce. Accompaniments include mushroom bread pudding and baby vegetables. All of which will be followed by that spectacular fruit tart and chocolate cookie.
CRAB, AVOCADO AND TOMATO
TIMBALE WITH
ROASTED YELLOW PEPPER SALSA
Anthony Perrotti, Executive Chef,
Hyatt Regency Princeton
   4 medium tomatoes, diced
   1 pound jumbo lump crab meat, picked over
   1 red onion, finely diced
   ½ bunch fresh cilantro, finely chopped
   2 tablespoons mayonnaise
   1 tablespoon lemon juice
   Salt and pepper to taste
   3 avocados, diced (and mixed with lemon juice to stop browning)
   1 pint snow pea shoots or alfalfa sprouts
   Roasted yellow pepper salsa (recipe follows)
Equipment: 10 6-ounce timbales
   1. Place diced tomato evenly in the bottom of the timbales.
   2. Mix the crab, diced onion, cilantro, mayonnaise and lemon juice in a bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper.
   3. Divide crab mixture among the timbales, on top of tomato, so that each timbale is three-quarters full.
   4. Place diced avocado on top of crab mixture in timbales so that each timbale is full.
   5. Place a small amount of snow pea shoots on a plate and place the timbale upside down on the ends of them. Remove the timbale, leaving the contents on the plate.
   6. Add roasted yellow pepper salsa and serve within 45 minutes.
Serves 10 as a first course.


Roasted Yellow Pepper Salsa
   4 yellow bell peppers
   Olive oil
   Salt and pepper to taste
   1 red onion, quartered
   1 small bunch parsley, finely chopped
   
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rub yellow peppers with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast peppers in the hot oven until well roasted or skin is peeling off. Allow the peppers to cool slowly for 10 minutes, and then peel off the skins.
   2. Remove the seeds and core from the peppers and place in a blender or food processor with the red onion. Blend to a coarse texture.
   3. Season to taste; add parsley. Allow to cool and serve.
Eden Dreams gala, "Dreams of Kokopelli," takes place on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Princeton in West Windsor. Tickets cost $300 (of which $175 is tax deductible). Proceeds benefit the Eden Family of Services. For tickets and information phone (609) 987-0099.
Pat Tanner can be heard each Saturday morning on "Dining Today with Pat Tanner" on MoneyTalk AM 1350 and over www.moneytalk1350.com from 9 to 10 a.m.