January 15, 2015 — Most of the recipes in Ben Pollinger’s debut cookbook, School of Fish, are what you’d expect from the executive chef at the Michelin-starred Manhattan restaurant Oceana: crisp-skinned striped bass with tomato-basil risotto; flounder barigoule with artichokes and potatoes; poached scallops with pea shoots, sugar snaps, walnuts, and orange vinaigrette.
But nestled among the instructions for fish fumet and soft-shell crab saltimbocca is a version of that mainstay comfort fare of family meals and potluck suppers of decades past—the tuna noodle casserole, Pollinger’s favorite food as a kid. “My mom was a ’70s-era cook who learned from recipes on the back of boxes and cans,” says Pollinger (CAS’95). “Almost all of her repertoire included a can of Campbell’s soup. This one was a staple—a box of elbow macaroni, two cans of tuna, two cans of cream of mushroom soup, and topped with crushed potato chips.”
Pollinger gave his mother’s recipe a reboot a few years ago, when he was asked to cook an iconic dish from childhood for a charity event. He whipped up a mushroom sauce from scratch (mushrooms, butter, onion, garlic, flour, milk) and used fresh, poached tuna steak. It was a hit, he says.