Challenge 12: Olive It

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WNC Chefs Challenge 2011, Week 12

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Challenge 12: Olive It

By Kevin Schwartz

The final heat of the WNC Chefs Challenge quarterfinals was a close competition. Two incredible chefs, Nathan Allen of Knife and Fork in Spruce Pine and Stephen Sauer, and their teams pulled out the stops to showcase their culinary skills.With more than 100 people in attendance to taste and judge the dishes, the chefs were also challenged with producing, plating, and delivering their best to a full house at Cucina24.

As Bob Bowles, founder of the Asheville Wine & Food Festival, introduced the chefs, the guests were visibly excited about the competition. I saw many smiling faces and a lot of chatting from table to table about what was expected for the night.

Bowles also introduced the secret ingredients the chefs were given to incorporate into every dish: olives and olive oil. To be precise, it was a combination of black and green Greek, French, and Italian olives: kalamata, picholine, niçoise, castelvetrano. The olive oil was provided by Niko Theros of Theros Olive Oils in Asheville (www.therosoliveoil.com), who sourced the olives from his family’s farm in Greece.

THE MENU

Course #1 - Chef Allen

Crisp-skinned Australian barramundi

Ceviche with duck egg aioli and salsa verde

Course #2 - Chef Sauer

Octopus ceviche with castelvetrano olives and grilled pineapple

Grilled octopus with shaved radish and arugula salad, balsamic and extra virgin olive oil vinaigrette

Course #3 - Chef Allen

Seared and braised quail with olive brûlée

Parmesan niçoise olive crisps

Course #4 - Chef Sauer

Seared duck breast and moussaka frittata

Fennel and pea shoot salad

Pickled chard with toasted olive béchamel

Course #5 - Chef Allen

Picholine olive and Marcona almond croissant with olive pit custard

Almond honey with thyme blossoms

Deep-fried castelvetrano

Course #6 - Chef Sauer

Sweet mascarpone crepe

Candied olives

Rhubarb confit with olive oil

THE VOTES

The top four scoring courses were as follows.

1. Course #5 with 2,790 points - Picholine olive and marcona almond croissant
2. Course #2 with 2,486 points - Octopus ceviche and grilled octopus
3. Course #3 with 2,377 points - Quail with olive brûlée
4. Course #4 with 2,260 points - Duck breast and moussaka frittata

It was a tight vote, and the highest overall scoring so far in the 2011 WNC Chefs Challenge series. Chef Allen claimed the win with 7,453 points and Chef Sauer scored 6,767 with only 4.8 percent difference between the two.

THE TEAMS

Chef Nathan Allen of Knife & Fork

Team members: Gaelan Corazine and Brenda Poole

Chef Stephen Sauer

Team members: Steven Goff and Jacob Whitman

THE DETAILS

Let’s review the highest scoring course of the evening, Chef Allen’s picholine olive and Marcona almond croissant with olive pit custard, almond honey with thyme blossoms, and deep-fried castelvetrano olives.

This dish was an obvious standout. Although it lacked color, it more than made up for it by being delicious and innovative. The croissant was a bit heavy in texture, but still flaky and full of flavor. The rest of the dish was amazing, offering a variety of flavors that came together to make a heavenly dessert. 

The aspect of the dish that I continued to hear diners comment on was the deep-fried castelvetrano olives. These are large, bright green olives from the Sicilian region of Italy, and offer a lot of meat on the pit. They’re mild in flavor with a slight saltiness—they’re like butter.

The slightly salty olive paired with the sweetness of the honey and custard, combined with the Marcona almonds, croissant, and thyme blossoms was like a drama taking place on your palate. Sweet, salty, aromatic, crunchy, soft, buttery, and milky—the flavors and textures rolled over the taste buds, intriguing us with the varied, yet integrated, flavors.

After the competition, I heard that during the menu planning stage, Chef Allen claimed the dish was a Biblical dessert flowing with milk and honey. I love how his mind works; it seemed a very fitting description.

These two chefs and their teammates provided an incredible competition for us to observe and taste. Both are very talented, but you can only have one winner. Chef Allen moves forward to compete against Chef Jordan Arace, representing Posana Café, on June 6.

NEXT UP

The semi-final challenges begin on May 30, when Chef Michael Gonzalez of Bistro at Biltmore and Chef Jason Roy of Lexington Avenue Brewery compete. For tickets or more information, visit

www.wncmagazine.com/wineandfood/challenge.

I hope to see you there.

—Kevin Schwartz is the Asheville Foodie. Visit his blog at www.ashevillefoodie.blogspot.com