Dishin’ in the kitchen with the chefs at Palazzo 1837 Ristorante
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Sharing the role of executive chef at Palazzo 1837 Ristorante, Mary O’Leary and Margaret Stout have forged a symbiotic relationship that has yielded some innovative culinary creations at the fine dining venue housed in an early 19th-century mansion on historic Quail Acres Estate at the intersection of Route 19 and Racetrack Road in North Strabane Township. Stout, a pastry chef by trade, trained at Pennsylvania Culinary Institute in Pittsburgh. O’Leary has no formal culinary training, but does have 20 years’ cooking experience and a degree in political science, which, she jokes, doesn’t get used much in the kitchen. Add in Susanne Sager, who co-owns the restaurant with husband Matt, and you have the recipe for a successful dining experience.
Where do you go when you eat out?
Margaret: I like to eat Mexican food. There’s a place down at The Highlands. If they knew my name, they’d call me by name (laughs).
Ingredients
- Colossal lump crab meat
- Mixed field greens
- Roasted pistachios, shelled and crushed
- Chopped chives
- Red bell peppers, sliced
- Pistachio-Tarragon Vinaigrette
- 1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup honey or sugar to taste
- 1/2 large shallot, finely minced
- 1 ounce fresh tarragon, finely minced
To make vinaigrette: Blend all ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Toss vinaigrette with lump crab and portion over a bed of mixed field greens with Belgian endives. Garnish with crushed roasted pistachio nuts, chopped chives and red bell peppers. Serve chilled as a refreshing appetizer, salad or light entree.
Do you have a favorite dish that you order?
Margaret: Carnitas patron.
Mary: I don’t go to eat out much, but when I do, I try to stay around Washington and go to more independent businesses. I try to stay away from chains. There are just so few independent restaurants in Washington. It’s hard to find something different . . . I try to hit different places to see what’s out there, but I’m usually here cooking for other clients.
What’s your favorite dish to make at home?
Margaret: I like fast things, mostly because I really don’t have time. By the time I get home, I’m kind of tired of making food (laughs). I like to make sandwiches a lot. I like slow cooker meals; they’re easy. I like pulled pork.
Do you have a secret pulled pork recipe?
Margaret: I try a different recipe every time almost. I like it to be a little sweeter . . . I don’t really have a go-to recipe yet. I try to find different ones. That keeps it new, too.
Mary: I do like Indian food. I don’t really cook much, though, when I get home. I like cheese and crackers. I like something quick.
Susanne: Her sweet potato mac and cheese is so good!
Who or what inspired you to become a chef and why?
Margaret: My grandma. She was a cook for most of her life, mostly just like cafeteria, but she cooked all the time at home. She taught me how to cook. She taught me to make desserts. Every Sunday was dinner at her house, and she always let me help, even when I was a kid.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Palazzo 1837 Ristorante executive chefs Mary O’Leary, left, and Margaret Stout, right, with restaurant co-owner Susanne Sager in one of the dining rooms
Did she have a specialty?
Margaret: Nothing in particular. She made a breaded baked chicken dish. She also taught me how to make hard tack candy. Nothing like giving a 10-year-old sugar to play with (laughs)!
Mary: I would say all the women in my family. I took a lot from all of them. Every holiday we would go to a different house just for that holiday. You know certain things they make, just walking in to the different houses with the smells. You know when you smell something that would transport you back to a certain time. That’s really important to me. Food memories. Sometimes I walk in my mom’s house and I immediately know what she’s cooking. I get so excited. I hope there’s some left! Please let there be some left! I took a lot from the ladies in my family, from parties and holidays.
Anything in particular that sticks out in your mind, as far as a certain dish?
Mary: My aunt make a really good pineapple souffle. That’s always around at Thanksgiving time. That sticks out. And my mother’s garlic chicken. That’s delicious. There’s just so many, though.
What is your go-to ingredient?
Mary: For me, it’s rosemary.
Margaret: Taggiasca olives. We use them in everything here. Or garlic. I put garlic in everything here and at home.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Executive chefs Margaret Stout, left, and Mary O’Leary, in the kitchen of Palazzo 1837 Ristorante in North Strabane Township
What dish best represents you?
Margaret: Cheesecake.
Susanne: She makes a killer cheesecake. Every season we try to do a different cheesecake, and every one is delicious.
Mary: I don’t really know.
Susanne: Your mac and cheese. That’s fabulous. And polenta. She slays polenta. That’s her thing (laughs). We go through so much of it here.
Mary: It is good. I like the way we do it here – cheddar, nice butter content.
What is your guilty food pleasure?
Margaret: Anything bread. I could just eat a whole loaf of bread, pretty much.
Mary: Cheese. Cheese is a weakness, pretty much all cheese. I really don’t eat a lot of sweets, except for when you make it (turns to Margaret and laughs).