Local chef preparing for appetizer-challenge fundraiser

Deerfield Golf and Tennis Club’s Chef Paul O’Toole is confident he’ll be named the champion of canapés.

O’Toole is competing in the First Annual Cecil’s Cooking, a Union Hospital fundraiser of palette-pleasing proportions that pits four chefs against one another in a showdown of appetizers.

“I think there will be a real energy in the air,” O’Toole said. “It won’t be the normal cocktail reception fundraiser.”

The event, which will raise money to offset some ongoing costs of the Elkton, Md., Union Hospital’s new digital mammography machine, will challenge each chef to create three hors d’oeuvres for a panel of judges, each with a different key ingredient.

The chefs will flex their culinary muscles using puff pastry, cranberries and Portobello mushrooms, respectively, and the judges and attendees will vote on their favorite dish based on taste, use of the key ingredient and presentation.

The secret to success in this fast-paced competition – each appetizer must be plated and served in about 20 minutes – will be pre-preparation, O’Toole said.

He already has his three dishes planned and expects to impress the judges and guests by pairing ingredients that one wouldn’t necessarily assume go well together.

“But after you taste it, you’ll say they fit perfectly,” he said.

For example, O’Toole is planning a scallop and cranberry dish, using fresh cranberries, cranberry juice, cranberry tea and dried cranberries, to show off all the flavors of the fruit, he said, as well as a taste of something unique.

He’s also cooked up unique ideas for puff pastry and Portobello mushrooms – a goat cheese and duck breast tartlet and a mushroom/sun-dried tomato soup – that ought to exhibit his versatility in the kitchen, he said.

While his bread and butter is New American cuisine, O’Toole said he’s ready to work with the three ingredients in different ways. Cooking is about surprises, he said, and the best recipes are always those that are made with excitement, he said.

“I try to have as much passion making a hot dog as a rack of lamb,” he said.

The biggest challenge of the competition will likely be working quickly in a confined space, he said, since he’s accustomed to the two large kitchens at Deerfield.

And while he’s confident in his chances, O’Toole said he’s just as excited to raise money for a good cause. Each chef has committed to raising at least $2,000 and O’Toole expects to exceed that number.

All the proceeds will go to help fund the hospital’s digital mammography machine, which carried a price tag of more than $700,000 and was installed at the end of February, said Danielle Mackie, special events coordinator at the Union Hospital Foundation.

The machine produces enhanced digital mammogram images, she explained, which are easier to read and show doctors more details, helping with early detection of breast cancer.

“The Union Hospital is in the business of saving lives and early detection saves lives,” said Laurie Fitzgerald, nursing administrator for Union Hospital’s Breast Health Center.

Thanks to the popularity of the Food Network, which gave Mackie the idea for the fundraiser, she’s hoping for a full house on March 26.

As well as a sample of each hors d’oeuvre, guests can take home a recipe book so they can try their hand at making the dishes in their own kitchens, she said.

“It’s a really great way to contribute to our ongoing initiative of making health care in Cecil County better,” she said.