French Chef Raises Gateway Dough

Supporters of Gateway Community College got a taste of French cooking from Connecticut’s Shoreline past, in the interest of a good cause.

The tasting occurred Wednesday night at ​“Chefs of our Kitchen,” the sixth annual cooking benefit fundraiser for the Gateway Community College Foundation. The event took place at the downtown New Haven campus.

Among the presenters was Priscilla Martel, who with her husband Charles van Over opened Restaurant du Village in Chester, 39 years ago. In its day, their restaurant drew a loyal clientele among foodies far and wide, from Julia Child and Jacques Pepin to theater goers on the way to the Goodspeed Opera House. The place is now an antiques store.

Wednesday evening, with the help of Gateway culinary students, Martel cooked favorites from the restaurant’s heyday for a three-part meal. Benefit attendees enjoyed her engaging presentation about French cooking and her Saucisson a L’Ail with Lentilles du Puy, Roast Game Hen in Port Wine and Green Peppercorn Sauce with With Mushroom Risotto Cakes paired with Domaine Courtois Cotes du Rhône and finally Chocolate Rosemary Cream and Butter Cookies. The Saucisson, by the way, is paired with Lucien Albrecht Riesling.

Martel, author of the best-selling culinary textbooks On Cooking and On Baking, is a faculty member at Gateway. Wednesday night, she peppered her dishes with some spicy dishing about days gone by.,

“We don’t emphasize the sensuality of food at the college,” she said during Wednesday evening’s decidedly sensual presentation. ​“I can just hear the students now: ​‘That crazy lady talking about peeling grapes …”

There are 72 copper pans in her Chester house, Martel told the crowd at the event.

“How many pans do you really need?” Priscilla asked.

She answered her own question: ​“72.”

As for the night Child visited the restaurant, Martel dished, ​“Julia played footsie with Charley.”

Paul Newman made an appearance as well.

“We were told he needed privacy,” she recalled. ​“Every woman is looking at him. Even when he went to the bathroom. He really didn’t mind at all. He played to the crowd.”