PULLMAN, Wash. — The student catering team in Washington State University’s Hotel and Restaurant Administration is bringing back last year’s popular beverage-themed dinner just once this semester as a fund-raiser for victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The multicourse, gourmet dinner begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14, in Todd Hall’s Room 268. It will consist of specialty foods cooked various wines, says HRA senior from Wapato Greg Perrault, the team’s assistant kitchen manager. The wines for cooking as well as for sampling during the meal are from Moscow’s award-winning Camas Winery. Owner Sue Scott will attend the event as the evening’s wine expert.
Perrault says the menu for the evening will begin prosciutto-wrapped prawns with a duo of orange Lemberger reduction and lime vinaigrette served with fresh Brie and a Lemberger wine. The second course will be risotto-mushroom napoleons with a wild mushroom ragout and served with a Merlot, followed by an intermezzo of rosemary-infused cranberry sorbet. Next is a course of whole roast beef tenderloin served with a spinach-leek sauté and oven-roasted acorn squash accompanied by a rich Cabernet thyme sauce and served with a Cabernet Sauvignon. The salad course of mixed greens tossed in a spiced-wine vinaigrette and served with apple-candied walnuts and crumbled chevre is next. The meal ends with the dessert course of white chocolate bread pudding in a hazelnut tulipe cookie accompanied by raspberry fig sauce and served with a Star Garnet red wine.
“We felt staging this event will serve at least two purposes,” Perrault says. “It will give us experience as future hospitality professionals, and all profits from the meal will go to the victims of the Sept. 11 tragedy via the American Culinary Federation.”
The cost per person is $40, and reservations can be made by phoning 509/335-EATS (3287). Because of the meal’s wine content, only guests 21 and older can attend.
HRA catering team members are students in the WSU College of Business and Economics. All HRA students must complete 1,000 hours of internship time before graduation, and working on the catering team counts toward the requirement. HRA majors at WSU take a four-year business management curriculum with a specialization in hospitality. For 2001, WSU HRA graduates averaged 3.4 job offers following 5.8 interviews.
