It's all about the food

It’s all about the food!

This statement I repeat often in Fernan STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Academy’s meetings preparing for the second North Idaho Wild Game Feast.

Silent auction items ready with amazing packages to bid on: Check.

Live music to entertain the guests: Check.

Tickets and posters printed: Check.

Taxidermy game and a live fire greeting guests with mulled wine and great conversation: Check.

An intimate location at Avondale Golf Club in the mountains of North Idaho: Check.

Everything is in place for this year’s feast but the food. As I design the menu I attempt to cook things many have not sampled; simple food with a culinary touch and elegant food prepared culinarily correctly.

I search for items a bit peculiar like alligator and items particular to Idaho such as huckleberries and elk.

Elk is a staple in many Idaho homes, which is why elk is the focus of the night’s menu.

My goal is to offer the home cook options when preparing a meal for the family beyond grilled steak or chili with ground game burger.

Each item prepared contains an Idaho flora or fauna or a unique wild game found in another region of the world.

Last year’s dinner was amazing. We sold out in a few weeks and all who attended share their excitement for the second annual meal.

Last year’s menu included:

Appetizers

Caramelized elk sausage in sweet Guinness and lavender honey

Fried rattlesnake ravioli with chipotle yogurt aioli

Louisiana dry-rubbed wild boar shank carving station

Charcuterie of wild game, hunting cheeses and sweet-smoked king salmon

Soup

Idaho steelhead chowder with applewood-smoked mallard duck bacon topped with scallions and duck-fat-roasted croutons

Palate cleanser

Housemade huckleberry sorbet

Main Course

Venison Osso Buco with wild mushroom risotto, roasted winter vegetables topped with a microgreen wild-berry vinaigrette salad

Dessert

Huckleberry bread pudding with Wild Turkey sabayon topped with caramel butter

One might ask, “Why should one buy an expensive meal prepared by the principal of an elementary school?” Hopefully, my answer will entice you to support Fernan STEM Academy.

I started working in the food business at age 13 in my high school’s cafeteria.

My beautifully brilliant and lovingly kind grandmother was the supervisor of the cafeteria and to be close to my grandma, I volunteered to work every day washing dishes and cleaning tables.

During my four years spent in school, I fell in love with food service. Realizing that when one works around food, one will never go hungry, I volunteered for every event where food is served, realizing that my work would be rewarded with a nourished belly.

This thought stuck with me through my teens and early 20s.

At 17, I apply and am hired at a restaurant in Northern California as a dishwasher.

Working my way up the ranks under the tutelage of an amazing chef, I quickly learn the skills necessary to become the executive chef at some amazing restaurants in the local area.

Realizing my dream of becoming a skilled culinarian, I attend the Culinary Institute of America and learn the art of cooking.

After years of military service then college, North Idaho becomes my home. In Coeur d’Alene I again work at local restaurants as the sous chef and chef before becoming the Food Service Director at North Idaho College.

At NIC I learn to run a multimillion dollar operation and learn to deliver great food to a multitude of differing customer needs while focusing on customer service and profitability. I love working at the college.

While at NIC I create the NIC Wild Game Feast, with help from the alumni association, to create scholarships for students.

The NIC team is amazing and we continue the Wild Game Feast for 10 years.

The Feast eventually runs its course and becomes too much work for the benefit offered and ends an amazing 10-year run. Now the Wild Game Feast returns at Fernan STEM Academy.

This year's menu:

North Idaho’s 2016 Wild Game Feast

1st Course — Passed Appetizers

Elk Lollipops with Huckleberry Gastrique

Alligator Bites That Bite You Back

Blackened Marinated Alligator Sirloin served with a Chipotle Aioli

Sweet Cold-Smoked Idaho Steelhead Sushi Roll with Wasabi and Gari

Sweet Honey and Irish Guinness Mallard Duck Wings

Complimentary glass of Northwest wine or local microbrew

2nd Course — Soup

Asparagus and Wild Mushroom Soup with Caribou Stock and Duck Fat Croutons finished with blood orange extra virgin olive oil

3rd Course — Main

Chinese 5-spice Dry Rub Elk Short Ribs served with Idaho garlic smashed potatoes, roasted winter vegetables and wild game Demi-Glace

4th Course — Cheese and Charcuterie

Wild game sausage, smoke salmon and local cheeses served with honey mustard and fig compote

Final course

Godiva Chocolate Decadence on top of a Wild Turkey Sabayon topped with Huckleberry Jelly

This year’s meal is held at Avondale Golf Club and is reserved for the first 120 people who purchase tickets. Tickets are available by calling 208-664-2659 (Fernan STEM Academy) and are $75 each.

A live and silent auction will be held to include original artwork, baskets of play and leisure items donated by Fernan teachers and students and a meal in your home prepared by me.

I will cook anything you wish — really, anything!

Last year’s Game Feast funded a science lab, professional development, multiple greenhouses to study life-science and $500 for every STEM grade-level team at Fernan.

This event made a huge positive difference in the life of students at Fernan STEM Academy and will this year again benefit the learning of students in the Coeur d’Alene School District. Attending this event is an investment in the children in our community.

Please enjoy a night out with friends, support a local public school and sample amazing food.

This is a great Christmas gift! Please support Fernan STEM Academy by attending this amazing event and enjoy wonderful food, wine and friendship. Hope to see you there.