Garden Party
Guess who’s coming to dinner! Ramapo College’s first family breaks bread with celebrity chef Sara Moulton, and she serves up dishes made with ingredients straight from the backyard.
Some say the way to one’s heart is through good food. Whether you believe it or not, what’s fact is that the best way to care for your ticker is to eat fresh and nutritious meals. That’s the belief of Ramapo College President Peter Mercer and his wife, Jacqueline Ehlert-Mercer.
Twice a year, the Mercers host a dinner and lecture featuring a renowned chef who is known for cooking with fresh ingredients that not only taste good but are good for you too. The dinners are part of the Havemeyer Edible Garden speaker series at Mahwah’s Ramapo College. The garden, located at the Mercer residence on campus, is a center where fruits and vegetables grow and where the community learns about the benefits of healthful eating.
“We had Sara Moulton over earlier this year because she uses the same philosophy that we preach at the garden,” says Ehlert-Mercer, a registered dietitian who has lectured on nutrition throughout the state. “And Sara’s dishes are delicious and easy to make.”
Recipes from Moulton’s latest book, Home Cooking 101, inspired the dinner’s menu, which was prepared by members of the Ramapo College dining services. Several students also pitched in, helping greet guests and serve food and drinks. Approximately 60 people—from friends and family to community leaders and college dignitaries—enjoyed passed hors d’oeuvres and a main course that included cold Southwestern gazpacho soup, broccoli carpaccio with broccoli stalk salad and baked chicken thighs with pancetta, olives and cherry tomatoes.
“A lot of the ingredients used for the menu came from the edible garden,” Ehlert-Mercer notes. Some of the decor, such as the floral centerpieces on each table, also came straight from the garden.
In addition to dinner (and French apple tart for dessert!), guests had the chance to pepper Moulton with culinary questions and listen to her talk about her book and mentor, Julia Child. All attendees also received an autographed copy of Home Cooking 101 as well as gifts from the edible garden: fresh honey and lavender pillows and soap.
“The edible garden is a way that people in the community can come together and experience food being grown rather than buying it in stores,” explains Ehlert-Mercer. “Here, they can connect with freshness.”
What else is in the garden? Visitors will find many types of herbs, several varieties of apples and tomatoes, cherries, blackberries, raspberries and more. It’s also home to several honeybee hives, from which Ehlert-Mercer harvests fresh honey. The evening’s guests had the opportunity to tour the garden before and after dinner.
The Mercers host two dinners a year featuring a renowned chef who embraces the healthful-eating philosophy preached at the Havemeyer Edible Garden. Opposite, clockwise from top: members of the Ramapo College dining services prepare the dinner using recipes from Sara Moulton’s most recent book; BERGEN Editor in Chief Rita Guarna, Linda Dator, Jacqueline Ehlert-Mercer and Sara Moulton; chefs plated a menu that included deviled eggs, baked chicken thighs and cold Southwestern gazpacho soup.
