by FAITH BAHADURIAN Special Writer
It sounded like Mission Impossible: “You will have 15 minutes to conspire with your sous chef … and then another 1 hour and 15 minutes to cook and present the four plates. Points will be deducted for late presentation.”
But this was much, much more serious. Three area chefs convened at the Miele Princeton showroom recently for an “Iron Chef”-style contest to kick off an upcoming March of Dimes fundraiser. The competition was also a VIP reception for sponsors, which include Sovereign Bank, United Healthcare, Princeton Real Estate Consultants LLC, PNC Bank, and Educational Testing Service.
The main event, Signature Chefs Auction, is a gourmet tasting with many of the area’s finest restaurants participating. The event is on Oct. 27 at the Hyatt Regency Princeton, and includes a top-notch silent auction. Honorary Chair for the event is Dr. Nancy Snyderman, NBC News Chief Medical Editor and nationally recognized author and columnist.
For the competition, each chef started with the same groceries: quail and quail eggs donated by Griggstown Farm, and organic produce donated by Gravity Hill Farm. The chefs were also given basic pantry staples, and extras like bacon, goat cheese, puff pastry and pasta sheets.
The competitors were Hopewell’s Blue Bottle Café, Hannah & Mason’s in Cranbury, and Triumph Brewing of Princeton.
I was called at the last minute to pinch-hit for a judge who couldn’t make it and shared that honor with Nichelle Hill, from the state March Of Dimes office. Each chef prepared two dishes, using as many of the ingredients as possible.
Founded in 1938, the original mission of the March of Dimes was to defeat polio. Mission accomplished in 1955, with the Salk vaccine. In the late 1950s, the mission of the organization changed to improving the health of babies by preventing birth defects and infant mortality. Today they carry out this mission through programs of research, community services, education and advocacy.
While the chefs cooked, I enjoyed some of the delicious appetizers the Miele staff had prepared and chatted with some of the other attendees, including Patricia Van Abs, the March of Dimes New Jersey State Director. Ms. Van Abs and I quickly realized we had something in common. One of the faculty I work with at Princeton University (my “day job”) holds a March of Dimes grant that helps fund her research. That grant is funded by the New Jersey Chapter.
After discovering that happy coincidence, it was time for me to retire to the “judges’ chambers” with Nichelle, to be sure we had no hint of who had prepared what dish. The first round of dishes came out, to oohs and aahs.
That round included:
• Mille-feuille of goat cheese, roasted eggplant and heirloom tomato with spinach and herb salad, red wine and bacon vinaigrette.
• Fried quail egg on purple potato hash with spinach pesto and grilled scallion tops.
• Bacon-wrapped quail, heirloom tomatoes, roasted purple potatoes, and purple scallions with a red wine reduction.
The second round included:
• Maple and five-spice lacquered quail with tagliatelle, heirloom tomato, summer squash and garlic, corn and cumin puree.
• Polenta-dusted quail with braised late summer vegetables, roasted eggplant and goat cheese agnolotti, and natural quail jus.
• Goat cheese shitake mushroom ravioli with a roasted corn dill pepper cream.
In the end, one dish garnered a slight preference, the maple-lacquered quail. I had thought maybe that dish came from Chris Posner, chef-owner of Hannah & Mason’s, as he often uses sweet touches in his dishes. But it was actually from Aaron Philipson of Blue Bottle Café.
The dish of Chris’s that we were especially fond of was the fried quail egg on purple potato hash. Triumph Brewing chef, Anthony Johnson, wowed us with his bacon-wrapped quail, which made especially good use of the exquisite vegetables. But I would be very happy to have any of the six dishes I sampled served to me in a restaurant.
For the Signature Chefs Auction, Tony is preparing petite veal osso bucos, while Blue Bottle’s Aaron Philipson plans on dishing up seared sea scallop with white bean hazelnut puree and port wine reduction, and Hannah & Mason’s Chris Posner (at press time) was thinking along the lines of duck and squash.
The recipe below was prepared by Aaron Philipson at the cookoff, and demonstrates one reason we splurge on dinner in a fine restaurant — to enjoy complex dishes that we’re unlikely to make at home. I can’t praise our locally owned restaurants and their chefs enough for their hard work and vision. They truly love to feed us.
MILLE-FEUILLE of GOAT CHEESE,
ROASTED EGGPLANT and
HEIRLOOM TOMATO
with SPINACH and HERB SAL AD,
RED WINE and BACON VINAI GRETTE
For the Salad:
5 slices bacon, chopped and rendered, fat reserved
1 red pepper, sliced thin and sautéed, then cooled to room temp
1 red onion, sliced thin and sautéed, then cooled to room temp
3 cups fresh spinach
1 tablespoon dill fronds
1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley
4 quail eggs, steamed (Break over plastic wrap in small cup, twist plastic around before steaming.)
For the vinaigrette, mix:
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons bacon fat
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
For the mille-feuille:
4 2-inch diameter rounds of puff pastry, baked between parchment and sheet pans to prevent excessive rising 400 degrees till evenly golden brown
2 2-inch diameter slices of eggplant, lightly battered with egg and flour, pan fried
2 2-inch diameter slices heirloom tomato, lightly oiled, seasoned and roasted at 375
2 2-inch diameter slices patty pan squash, lightly oiled, seasoned and roasted at 375
Goat cheese spread:
2 ounces fresh goat cheese
1 teaspoon chopped parsley
1 teaspoon chopped basil
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Ingredients were layered similar to a sandwich (utilizing the puff pastry as the “bread”) and reheated prior to service.
Signature Chefs Auction takes place on Oct. 27, at the Princeton Hyatt. For more information, visit www.marchofdimes.com/ newjersey/7664_29467.asp or call 609-655-7400.
The list of participating restaurants as of Sept. 20 is Acacia, Alchemist & Barrister, Avanti, Blue Bottle Café, Blue Point Grill, Hannah & Mason’s, Hyatt Regency, Lawrenceville Inn, Marsha Brown Creole Kitchen, Matt’s Red Rooster Grill, Mediterra, Miele, Oliver A Bistro, One 53, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, The Bent Spoon, The Brothers Moon, The Mercer County Community College Culinary Program, Tiger’s Tale, Triumph Brewing Company, Vidalia “Cucina Con Passione”, Witherspoon Grill and Za.
Visit Faith Bahadurian’s blog at www.packetinsider.com/ blog/njspice/.

