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Chef du Jour: Naperville chef perfects pairing for Portuguese wine

Chef Eddie Sweeney, corporate chef to the Taste America restaurants (Catch 35, Lloyds and the North and Clark Café) was recently selected as one of 10 chefs across the country for the “10 Chefs/10 Wineries” culinary program sponsored by the Wines of Portugal. You can read more about the program on the website, 10 Chefs/10Wineries.com, and a collection of all 10 recipes will be published at the end of the year. Chef Sweeney is a southside Chicago native who trained in Chicago. Following graduation, Sweeney started at Catch 35 as the pastry chef, moved on as sous chef and eventually became the executive chef. Now, chef Sweeney oversees the menus for all Taste America restaurants. He lives in Lockport with his wife, Beth, and their two young sons.

Where did you receive your education and training? Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in Chicago and various restaurants.

What five ingredients should all pantries include? Butter, Champagne vinegar, tortillas, Irish oatmeal and coffee. Butter is my go-to fat for sautéing, cooking eggs, making hollandaise sauce, for any sort of sauce really. It's nice to finish a sauce with butter. Also cookies and cakes. I can go on and on. Champagne vinegar brightens up the vinaigrette real quick; it's also nice to use as an acid in many sauces. Coffee, personally I cannot live without coffee. Tortillas are nice for wrapping up leftover anything and they're also very necessary for making midnight chillequiles. Irish oatmeal makes a perfect breakfast for myself or my family.

What would we find in your refrigerator if we opened it today? Leftovers, liverwurst, beer, yogurt and five different hot sauces.

What is your family's favorite meal that you cook? Asian-style chicken cabbage rolls. It's very flavorful, light; it's sort of different from the norm.

Is there anything you've made that they didn't like? Sometimes I have a heavy hand with salt and spice. One time I made these chipotle double baked potatoes that were completely inedible. Way too spicy.

You have two sons. Do they like to cook? They do. They love helping: cracking eggs, mixing. But they are not really old enough to work with knives.

What trends do you see coming to restaurants? Are there any trends you would like to see go away? I like the trend of locally sourced vegetables. Cupcakes should go away. I think they are waaaay overdone with the amounts of trucks and shops around. Don't get me wrong; they are tasty, but I think it's time to move on.

How much does seafood sustainability influence your menu choices? It has a moderate influence on my menu choices, but for me, what my customers want on their plates is the main factor.

Tell us about the Wines of Portugal 10 Chefs/10 Wineries Program. It's an amazing opportunity to be a part of. I'm honored to have been chosen as one of America's top chefs. Basically 10 different chefs from across America were chosen to create a dish to pair with an amazing wine from Portugal. I chose Aveleda's Alvarinho to pair with my Crispy Chilean Sea Bass.

How did you come up with that recipe? I chose specific ingredients that complimented the wine nicely, then combined and balanced them with different textures. The acidity and minerality of the wine really pairs well with bacon and rich sea bass.

Crispy Chilean Sea Bass with Sweet Pea Risotto, Bacon Vinaigrette, Bottarga, Egg Yolk

  Chef Eddie Sweeney oversees the kitchen at Catch 35 in downtown Naperville and other eateries in the Taste America family of restaurants. Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
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