Geneva chef to visit ECC for dinner series

Geneva native Serena Perdue, executive chef at Niche restaurant in Geneva, is the final guest of the 2010-11 Distinguished Visiting Chef Dinner Series at Elgin Community College.

The dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 1, in the Culinary Arts Center’s Spartan Terrace Restaurant, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.

Perdue’s culinary passion was honed by her parents during her childhood, as she and her sister often helped their mother prepare meals in the kitchen. Her expertise in seasonal cooking grew from the enormous vegetable garden her family maintained in their back yard.

Perdue began her culinary career in Colorado, interning at The Little Nell in Aspen while attending the Culinary Institute of America. She held positions at kitchens in Seattle and New Orleans before returning to Chicago, where she was a sous chef at NoMi in the Park Hyatt hotel.

As part of the Visiting Chef Dinner Series, Perdue will spend the day lecturing and working with students of the college’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Program to prepare the evening’s meal.

The menu includes braised pork belly with fava beans, spring morels and watercress purée; duck confit with shrimp and sausage gumbo; and brioche halibut with barigoule. A brown butter almond financier completes the meal.

Tickets for the dinner, which will include wine, are $60 per person and can be purchased by calling the box office at (847) 622-0300. For details about culinary events at ECC, call (847) 214-7382 or visit elgin.edu/spartanterrace.