Chef Forrest Pasternack of Bailey’s Backyard made an Asian-inspired almond-crusted red snapper for his Battle of the Chefs entrée to benefit Founders Hall. —Karen Rayda photo
Chef Matt Storch of Match Restaurant in Norwalk edged out competitors Forrest Pasternack of Bailey’s Backyard in Ridgefield and Jeff Taibe of The Whelk in Westport to win the Battle of the Chefs at Founders Hall.
During the battle, which was inspired by TV shows such as Iron Chef and Chopped, the three chefs had just 40 minutes to create a winning entrée from a basket of surprise ingredients. “My heart sank when I heard ‘Lemonheads’ and ‘black garlic’,” said Judge Denise Micklesen (Fine Cooking) of two of the more challenging surprise ingredients, which also included red snapper and collard greens. “And, fish is scary,” she noted. “It goes from raw to overdone in a flash.”
But the pros were up to the challenge, firing up their ovens and their imaginations to cook very different entrées while the audience cheered them on.
Ridgefield native Mr. Pasternack created an Asian-inspired almond-crusted red snapper with black garlic aioli in a Lemonhead and kale broth.
Mr. Taibe drew from his global cooking experiences to prepare a grilled snapper with tomato marmalade along with black garlic potato purée.
Mr. Storch wowed the judges with his Lemonhead and poppy seed-encrusted snapper.
“A shout-out to Matt,” said Judge Brendan Walsh (Culinary Institute of America) of the chef’s use of common penny candy with the fish. “I actually enjoyed it!” Walsh praised the other chefs, particularly Mr. Pasternack’s stock for its simplicity and freshness, and Mr. Taibe’s chiffonade of collard greens. “The food was really fabulous,” said Mr. Walsh. “I’m so impressed. We can all learn from them and what they can do in a small space in a short time.”
Mr. Walsh also praised sous chefs Jessica Shure, Jeff Spence and Jan Doernberger, whom he noted, “take a beating and keep on going.”
Appetizers
In addition to creating entrées, each of the chefs made appetizers using duck for all of the guests to eat and judge.
Mr. Storch’s duck banh-mi (a Vietnamese-style sandwich) won the popular vote, contributing to his overall win in the close contest.
Dessert
In addition to the chefs’ showdown, the battle featured a dessert competition among non-professional bakers, or as emcee Jane Stern (Roadfood) called them, “extremely talented civilians.”
Suzanne Berne won the dessert competition for her chocolate-vanilla-caramel mousse, which was judged for both taste and presentation by last year’s battle chefs Sarah Bouissou (Bernard’s, Sarah’s Wine Bar) and Art Michaelsen (Bartolo) along with referee Amy Kundrat (CTbites) and Ms. Stern. The four finalists’ desserts were auctioned off to raise money for Founders Hall.
Helping the hall
This year’s Battle of the Chefs raised more than $30,000 for Founders Hall, a donor-supported education and recreation center for people age 60 and older.
To see more pictures from Battle of the Chefs, go to Founders Hall Ridgefield on Facebook.