Chef’s Corner: Montpelier culinarian Mark Molinaro

Montpelier – In this new feature we chat with a local chef. Correspondent Sylvia Fagin caught up with Chef Mark Molinaro at the end of a busy day.

Current position: Executive Chef, New England Culinary Institute, Montpelier.

Hometown: Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Training and experience: “I graduated from NECI in 1996. I cooked at Aujourd’hui restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston, and Ritz Carlton in Cleveland, before returning to NECI as an instructor five years ago. In January, I received the Certified Executive Chef certification from the American Culinary Federation.”

First culinary job: “Peeling shrimp all day in a restaurant in Cleveland, after hiking the Appalachian Trail for four months. On the trail I figured out that what I really wanted to do was cook, and I figured I better get a job to be sure. The chef gave me this job to test my mettle.”

Favorite dish: “Risotto has always been my favorite thing to cook. I majored in anthropology as an undergrad, and studied a lot about culture and food. Rice is a unifying cultural food — eighty percent of humans eat rice. My dad’s Italian, and risotto is the Italian version of a rice dish.”

Favorite local ingredient: “When I was a student we foraged for mushrooms. We’d go out and find morels and chanterelles. We’d bring a cassette burner and some whole butter, find a patch of mushrooms, wash them in the stream right there and cook them. … Eating the ingredients in the place where they came from was an enlightening experience. I had no idea about ingredients that fresh.”

Favorite kitchen tool: “The Y-peeler. It’s so fast. I race students with it, to get them excited about speed in the kitchen.”

Favorite cookbook: “‘The New Best Recipe,’ from the editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine.”

Favorite food Web site: “Foodlocker.com. If you have a craving for specialty foods from NYC, or anywhere, you can get it.”

Guilty pleasure: “Ritter Sport milk chocolate hazelnut bars from Germany. You can get them at Shaw’s.”

Earliest food memory: “My mom’s from Germany, and we go back every year to visit. As a child, we’d walk to the bakery to get these rolls that were crusty and salty on the outside and creamy white flour on the inside. We’d bring them home and break them open — the steam was still coming out — and put rich butter on top, and then Nutella and a little black currant jam. I was floored. I’ve been hooked ever since. My fix now is to do the same thing with the rosemary-lemon Bohemian Bread.”

If you could cook for anyone, who would it be, and what would you make? “I’d cook for my wife Christina, and I’d make lobster risotto with tarragon. We did our honeymoon in Bar Harbor, and we ate a lot of lobster.”

How are you involved locally? “I take students out to Wellspring Farm CSA in Marshfield to learn more about CSA and organic farming, and how they can make connections like that when they go on internship. Students cook for the annual Harvest Festival there, it’s a great experience for them to cook produce from the farm, at the farm.”

Favorite place to eat locally? “We can’t walk by American Flatbread without going in, either location.”

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be? “A music composer or director, I love music. I like to listen to opera while cooking risotto. Puccini, Verde … Wagner for a really hearty meal.”

Molinaro has already started his basil in indoor pots, and shared this favorite NECI pesto recipe.

NECI Pesto

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup pine nuts

1 cup parmesan cheese, grated

12 ounces olive oil

1 bunch fresh basil, picked over and washed

Combine garlic, salt, pine nuts, and parmesan in a food processor. Pulse until you obtain a coarse puree. Slowly add 3/4 of the oil, then add the basil. Scrape the bowl, and pulse until all basil is incorporated. Add remaining oil. Do not overwork the basil, as this will cause the pesto to turn brown.

Yield: 1 quart

Sylvia Fagin writes about local foods and food producers. Contact her at sylviafagin@yahoo.com.