Sustainability Videos & Lecture Series

Jeff Klopatek: I’m teaching this semester with an emphasis on sustainability and food, and food is a common, obviously, a common denominator especially relative to plants. So Chef Jerome and I talked about well what can we serve—what can we serve the students that they would like, but also gets our point about sustainability and things that relate to sustainability such as biodiversity. We came up with this menu of heirloom tomatoes. Why? Well, because heirloom tomatoes are really in season right now.

What we wanted the students to come away with, we wanted them to come away with an appreciation of good food and good quality food. As Chef Jerome—what he didn’t say is he wants these students then to vote with their fork which is—

Jerome Fressinier: Oh yes.

Jeff Klopatek: – what we would like to see in the future. So they’re voting with their fork. They’re voting for good quality produce. Whether it’s organic or not, as long as it’s good quality and it’s better for them.

Jerome Fressinier: It’s really better for the campus because then by volume, it starts to have a weight and an effect, and it’s also better for the family around them because they are becoming, of course, vocal about what they like.

The three processes for the tomato soup, but just a little bit of oil, salt and pepper and then applied to heat with enough good olive oil, it starts to get all of its sugar stuck at the bottom. With the glaze of a little bit of lemon juice, and a splash of sauterne and then we’re good. We’re very good.

Jeff Klopatek: For the second course, then we decided again to stay with tomatoes, and so what we did is we just made some mozzarella. We made mozzarella yesterday afternoon, so we made the mozzarella, and we just have a fresh heirloom tomato, a little bit of basil or basil which is from ASU garden. So a slice of mozzarella and then some heirloom cherry tomatoes with a little bit of garnish of reduced balsamic and then a little bit of basil pesto.

Jerome Fressinier: Yeah.

Jeff Klopatek: So that was a second course, and then so for the third course we went into, not necessarily dessert, but we went into a tart, a savory tart. A savory tart is just a patisserie, which is a basic pastry dough. Then what we did is then we put on some ricotta cheese. Ricotta cheese with—

Jerome Fressinier: Again a pea stew.

Jeff Klopatek: Yeah a little bit of pea stew in it, and then we layered this with some oven roasted roma tomatoes, some heirloom and then some other heirloom tomatoes and then we put on a little bit of—

Jerome Fressinier: Pistachio.

Jeff Klopatek: Pistachio.

Jerome Fressinier: Crust.

Jeff Klopatek: Yeah crushed pistachios on top and then a little bit of garnish for an accompaniment.

We want to make sure that this good food is for all walks of life, so a lot of the poor people normally can’t afford to go and go to a farmer’s market and pay those products, or pay those prices. We’re trying to make sure that this type of food is available to everybody.

Jerome Fressinier: It is the representation of seasonal and, of course—

Jeff Klopatek: Local.

Jerome Fressinier: – local, and, of course, slowly cooked, not rushed. That is done for a clientele that would have been tempted maybe to go to a competitor chain, a franchise, because of its mass production is about to give a shorter price, so it’s an affordable plate.

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The above transcript provided by Landmark Associates.