Brother Martin club has ‘recipes’ for success

Above: Members of Brother Martin High School’s Culinary Crusaders club gather twice a month before school in their dining hall kitchen to talk, cook and enjoy food. They typically share their delicious fare with large groups, but had to postpone some events this school year because of the pandemic. “I don’t know too many high school sophomores who are going to be able to serve at a white-linen restaurant; I don't know many kids who have ever been in a gumbo cook-off or a chili cook-off; I don’t know many kids who have ever served a five-star dinner,” said the club’s faculty moderator, Donnie Midkiff, of his young chefs. “This club is about creating those experiences. It’s the memories that we’re making for the kids that will hopefully last a lifetime.” (All photos and recipes courtesy of Brother Martin High School's Culinary Crusaders)

By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

The membership criteria for a unique club at Brother Martin High School is as “New Orleans” as it gets: a student need only have a passion for food and a willingness to learn how to cook and serve it to large numbers of their fellow foodies.

The more than 50 teenage chefs who make up Brother Martin’s “Culinary Crusaders” are carving out quite the local reputation for preparing tasty, restaurant-quality food – and lots of it – and serving it at venues that include fairs, festivals and other special events, such as elaborate dinners, alumni reunions and holiday home tours.

One week you might find the boys devising an original dirt cake recipe to serve at open house, and the next making spring rolls with peanut sauce for a lacrosse tournament.



“Ever since I started with this club, I’ve really noticed that I’ve wanted to cook more with my mom. Before, when she would ask me, I would say, ‘Nah,’” confessed freshman Culinary Crusader Adam Roevens, who recently went as far as to help cater a small gathering of his mother’s friends at his house.

“I’ve learned how to multi-task a lot better,” Adam said. “I cooked mac and cheese, green beans and other stuff, but there is always a lot more that goes into (cooking) than comes out – learning how to chop vegetables while watching something simmer on the stovetop.”

You gotta eat!

Although the pandemic has limited their public interactions since last March, gloved and face-masked Culinary Crusaders continue to meet before school twice a month in their dining hall kitchen to discuss menus, cook, learn recipes from visiting chefs and sample the fruits of their labors in-house.

A five-course, sit-down dinner for 160 people that club members pulled off before the pandemic hit is a reminder of how Culinary Crusaders learn much more than how to boil water. They prepared and served oyster patties, prosciutto-wrapped provolone and fried green tomatoes topped with shrimp remoulade, the latter a recipe developed by the students themselves (separate recipes for shrimp remoulade and fried green tomatoes are listed below).

The night’s main course of pork tenderloin, braised in a homemade stock and lavished with sautéed red and yellow bell peppers, was accompanied by potatoes and roasted asparagus with bacon bits. The meal concluded with the club’s trademark dessert: crème brûlée with a choice of red or gold sugar – a nod, like the red and yellow bell peppers, to Brother Martin’s school colors (see recipe below).

“They served a five star meal for 160 people! They cooked everything!” said the club’s founding moderator Donnie Midkiff, a Brother Martin alumnus and biology teacher.

An appreciation for food

The seeds of the program go back to 2014, when then-sophomore Daniel St. Etienne proposed the idea of a cooking club. It officially launched in 2016, making its public debut at Christian Brothers’ school fair.

“We must have cooked a couple of thousand chicken wings – we served them over two days,” Midkiff recalled. “We made our own seasoning rub and our own barbecue sauces – spicy chipotle and sweet honey mustard.”

When Midkiff learned, a year later, that incoming math teacher and Brother Martin alumnus Billy Rieger was a classically trained chef, he asked Rieger to be co-moderator.

“For the next three years, Chef Billy handled the ‘back of the house’. He worked with the kids hands-on, showing them different techniques – how to fix mistakes in the kitchen, how to handle the knives properly,” said Midkiff of Rieger, who recently left Brother Martin to open his own restaurant on the northshore.

Food distributors Sysco and Reinhart Foodservice have also mentored the club, the latter teaching the boys how “chuck meat” becomes “ground meat,” and then using it to make meatballs.

“I’ve always enjoyed cooking at home – from cooking eggs in the morning to making pizza from this stuff called Bisquick,” said senior Bryce Mipro, noting that his repertoire now includes roast and chicken marsala. “I’ve actually taught my mother how to cook something from the club – potato dauphinois,” said Bryce, referring to mandolin-sliced potatoes cooked in whipping cream, butter, garlic, salt and pepper.

Pre-COVID, the Culinary Crusaders ventured out into the community to cook for events such as a parish “date night” at St. Ann Church and Crimestoppers’ “Night of Blue” gala. A sausage-making class at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum was taken in honor of one of the club’s most popular dishes: smoked sausage sliders served with a choice of two tangy sauces.

“One of the things the kids realize very quickly when you’re grilling is how to prevent flare-ups,” Midkiff said. “Sausage can be oily, so if you’re not actively monitoring what’s going on, that oil falls down and you can get a good grease fire.”

Hands-on chefs

Earlier this year, club members’ execution of a four-course dinner for 100 at Ye Olde College Inn was postponed as a safety precaution. Since the club’s inception, College Inn has immersed the young chefs in the restaurant business by offering them tours of its herb and vegetable garden and opportunities to harvest those ingredients and incorporate them into dishes inside the restaurant’s kitchen.

“I wanted the kids to learn, ‘how does a seed planted in the ground go to your plate, either a restaurant or home?’” Midkiff said.

The club has spawned yet another opportunity: In the 2021-22 school year, Brother Martin seniors will be able to earn college credit by taking the science elective “Food Science 101” through a dual enrollment program with the University of Holy Cross.

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The Culinary Crusaders of Brother Martin High School shared the following meatless recipes with the Clarion Herald:


Shrimp Remoulade

Ingredients

1 bunch of green onions
3 small stalks celery
2 sprigs fresh parsley
3 tablespoons Creole mustard
5 teaspoons smoked paprika
1¼ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
6 tablespoons white wine vinegar
5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon dried basil
¾ cup olive oil
1 cup chopped romaine lettuce
1 pound fresh shrimp, tail on

Directions

Grind green onions, celery stalks and parsley sprigs in a food processor. Add mustard, paprika, salt, pepper, cayenne and blend.  Add vinegar, lemon juice and basil. Blend again.  Slowly add olive oil. Adjust seasoning to taste. Place remaining green onion stalks, celery hearts, salt and lemon juice in a large pot and bring water to a boil. Place shrimp in water and boil. When shrimp are cooked, take out and place in an ice bath to reduce temperature quickly.  When shrimp are chilled, add to remoulade, thoroughly mix and chill for 2-3 hours. Serve on a bed of fresh chopped lettuce and garnish with lemon wedge. Serves 4 (can be tripled). Enjoy! Pray!

Asian Salmon Bowl with Lime Drizzle

Ingredients

1 cup jasmine rice
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
6 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
6 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
4 salmon fillets (4 ounces each), skin removed
1 teaspoon canola oil
2 packages (5 ounces each) baby spinach
2 teaspoons black sesame seeds

Directions 

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cook rice as directed on the package. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Sauté garlic and pepper flakes until garlic is lightly golden, 1 minute. Add syrup, juice and soy sauce; cook until bubbling, 3 minutes. In a bowl, combine cornstarch and 1 teaspoon water; stir into garlic glaze. Cook until slightly thick, 1 minute. Arrange fillets on a foil-lined baking sheet. Spread 1 teaspoon of the glaze over each fillet. Roast until just cooked through, 12 minutes. In a medium skillet, warm oil over medium heat. Add one package spinach; sauté until just wilted. Remove from pan; set aside. Repeat with second package spinach. Divide rice among four bowls; top each with 1/4 spinach and one salmon fillet, broken into large pieces. Drizzle with remaining sauce; sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds. Serves 4.
 
Crimson and Gold Crème Brûlée

Ingredients

6 large egg yolks
6 tablespoons white sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract (you can substitute another extract to achieve a different flavor, e.g., almond)
2½ cups heavy cream
Red sugar and yellow sugar 
1 pint raspberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Fill a large, deep baking dish about ¼ of the way up with water to create a double boiler. Whisk together egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. In a saucepan, heat the cream to a low boil  and gradually add the egg mixture. Stir until well combined and set in ramekin dishes. Place ramekins in the baking dish. Place the baking dish with ramekins in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the refrigerator overnight. Before serving, sprinkle top of the crème brûlée with white sugar and use a kitchen torch to gently burn the sugar, creating a nice firm top. Then top with red or yellow sugar and fresh raspberries. Enjoy! Pray!

Fried Green Tomatoes

Ingredients

4 large green tomatoes
3 large eggs
½ cup whole milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup of cornmeal
½ cup panko bread crumbs
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 quart vegetable oil

Directions

Cut the tomatoes into ½- to ¾-inch thick slices. Pour flour onto a large plate for first batter. Hand-blend cornmeal and bread crumbs in a separate bowl. Whisk two full eggs and one egg yolk only in a medium bowl. In a large skillet (cast iron works best) heat oil to just under 400 degrees (Make sure oil temperature is around 400 degrees before dropping in each batch). Should be enough oil if there is ½- inch of oil in the pan. Dredge tomatoes in flour, then egg mixture, then bread crumb mixture to completely coat. Place tomatoes in oil and fry, watching closely for browning. Flip one time. Once cooked, remove from oil, remove loose oil and pat dry.  Season with salt to taste. Top with shrimp remoulade (see recipe above), if desired.
 
Trout Amandine

Ingredients

Fish

8-12 trout fillets (allow for ⅓ pound per person)
Milk to cover
2 teaspoons salt
4 drops Tabasco
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 stick butter
2 tablespoons oil

Sauce

2 sticks butter
½ cup sliced almonds (optional)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup chopped parsley

Directions

Soak fillets in a mixture of milk, one teaspoon salt and Tabasco for at least 30 minutes. Season flour with one teaspoon salt and white pepper. Remove fillets from milk, pat dry, coat lightly with seasoned flour, shaking off excess. In a saucepan, melt one stick of butter and add oil. In a large skillet, pour butter mixture to a depth of ⅛ inch. When grease is hot, fry fillets, a few at a time. Turn once. Cooking time will depend on the size of the fillets. Do not crowd fillets. Keep grease very hot and at proper depth by adding more, as necessary. Place cooked fillets on a warm platter and keep hot. When all are cooked, empty the skillet and wipe out any burned flour. Prepare sauce in the same skillet by melting two sticks of butter. Lightly brown almonds. Add lemon juice, Worcestershire, salt and parsley. Mix and heat well. Just before serving, pour some sauce over fillets and serve the remaining portion in a sauceboat. Serves 8.

(Trout Amandine recipe taken from “The Plantation Cookbook: Junior League of New Orleans”)