Modernist Dinner: Female Chefs

This very special dinner series, produced by second year students of The Culinary Institute of Montana at FVCC, celebrates chefs whose style, substance and influence are shaping American cuisine. Each dinner features different chef inspired menus. Our students study these chefs, write and cost a menu and then present this dinner in their honor to the public.

*Please note: Because students are writing their own menus as part of the curriculum, those menus are not posted until a week before each dinner.

Student menu inspired by these three female chefs:

Stephanie Izard

• Known as The Girl and the Goat after her flagship Chicago restaurant, Stephanie Izard was named the Best Chef Great Lakes by the James Beard Foundation. She now runs Little Goat and Duck Duck Goat with an emphasis on “nose-to-tail” cooking with a Mediterranean influence. She graduated from the Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Scottsdale. Chef Izard has gained recognition winning Top Chef Season 4 and has published two cookbooks, Girl in the Kitchen and Gather and Graze.

Susan Goin

• Susan Goin has won or been nominated for 11 James Beard Foundation Awards: California. Susan honed her craft in the kitchen of Alice Waters Chez Panisse, Todd English’s Olives and L’Orangerie, as well as at Michelin 3 Star Arpege in France before becoming Executive Chef at Mark Peel’s Campanile. She operates multiple restaurants in Los Angeles: Lucques, Tavern and A.O.C. in addition to a marketplace restaurant Four Larders. Her cookbooks, Sunday Suppers at Lucques and A.O.C. Cookbook demonstrate her true appreciation for ingredients, technique and an approachable attitude to food.

Gabrielle Hamilton

• Gabrielle Hamilton describes herself as a reluctant chef. She learned to cook with her French mother who appreciated fresh ingredients foraged around their home in Pennsylvania. She is a terrific chef and an inspired writer having earned her MFA in creative writing at the University of Michigan. Her East Village restaurant Prune was an instant success which was followed by her New York Times best selling memoir, Blood, Bones, and Butter which earned a James Beard Award for Best Chef New York City and Writing and Literature. Gabrielle’s attitude towards food and writing is whimsical and playful and always delicious.

Menu

Amuse Bouche
BACON WRAPPED MEDJOOL DATES
Parmigiano Reggiano

Appetizer
SAUTÉED BLACK TIGER PRAWNS
Squash Blossom Rangoon
Autumn Frost & Acorn Squash Purée, Cider Gastrique

Entrée
HANSEN FARMS BRAISED LAMB SHANK
Madras Curried Cauliflower
Red Grape Gremolata

Dessert
PEAR TARTE TATIN
Brown Sugar Ice Cream, Balsamic Swirl