LFC Cooking Contest 2006

By offering educational opportunities to our clients, we aspire to improve their diets and health, and to help them understand the value of the high quality food they receive. For these reasons, the organization created a "Families Share Program" through which families earn points by participating in educational activities. With these points, our clients can purchase kitchenware and cookbooks. Among the program activities are farm visits, book and film reviews, and volunteer work. The most popular activity is to complete short quizzes which accompany LFC's unique "Food Facts Sheets" (FFS). FFS topics include individual produce items, herbs and oils, agricultural issues, and recipes. Every year our families express their pleasure with the educational opportunities we offer them, and ask for more! Our newest project to meet these requests was a "Local Foods Cooking Contest."

Through the cooking contest, our participating families were able to learn techniques for preparing meals made with local foods. Audience members observed two local chefs compete to fulfill the contest's challenges. This fall the competition involved the following educational theme: simple, fast meals made from items found in a CSA share box. Chef Kurt Friese of Devotay and Chef David Burt of The Red Avocado had 30 minutes to show the audience how to prepare an easy, homemade meal with as many ingredients from that week's CSA share as possible.

This dynamic, interactive contest engaged the audience for a longer period of time then a cookbook recipe could, and allowed the participants to meet other people interested in local foods and health. Participants learned about the many aspects involved in good cooking including, eating seasonally, which kitchen tools to use, safety in the kitchen, and quality ingredients. Children were invited to help the chefs stir ingredients in pots and bowls. We decided to capitalize on the popularity of shows such as Iron Chef to offer people an innovative way to learn about local foods.

Local Foods Connection awesome volunteers & donors who helped with this project:

Laura Dowd and Karla McGregor: idea and general design
Meghan McGonigal-Kenney: refinement of design, planning and implementation
Nikki Petsas Blodgett: event emcee
Lynn McGonigal & Kevin Kenney: behind the scenes during event
Ron Gleitman and Prairie Table of Iowa City: demonstration kitchen facilities
AeroRental of Iowa City: chairs and microphone

Chef Dave Burt won this year's challenge. Here are the recipes from both chefs:

Chef Dave Burt, The Red Avocado:

Spicy Root Vegetable Stew

2 - 3 lbs mixed vegetables (e.g. zucchini, potato, sweet potato, beet, butternut squash)
3 t whole cumin
6 T oil
3 cloves minced garlic
½ sqr moon onions
½ t cayenne
4 - 6 cups tomato
1-2 T salt
3 cups water

Scrub or peel the veggies and cut into 1 -2 inch cubes. heat oil in large pot, when hot, put in the seeds and let sizzle for 5 seconds, add garlic, fry until golden, add cayenne and stir. Add veggies, tomatoes, salt and water. Bring to a simmer, cover, turn heat low and simmer 20 minutes, take off lid, continue to simmer 10 to 30 minutes. Veggies should be easily pierced with a knife.

Chef Kurt Friese, Devotay:

Heirloom Tomatoes, Stuffed with Assorted Vegetables and Lentils,
with a Winter Squash Coulis

Ingredients for Stuffed Tomatoes
1 medium Kennebec or Yukon Gold potato, washed and diced small
2 small red beets, peeled and diced small
6 large (about baseball size), ripe heirloom tomatoes, such as Brandywine, hollowed-out (reserve both the insides & outsides - rinse away the seeds as much as possible).
1 medium red or yellow onion, peeled, cored and diced small
1 - 2 cloves (depending on size & taste) garlic, sliced paper thin
2 T olive oil, grapeseed oil, or Asoyia oil
12 - 15 (depending on size) green beans, trimmed off stems and sliced thin
1 bell pepper, seeded and diced small
1 hot pepper (if desired) seeded and minced
2 T fresh sage leaf, "Chiffonade" (see demo)
½ cup cooking sherry (or "Amontillado" Sherry, if you want to be fancy)
2 cups cooked yellow lentils
12 - 18 leaves "lettuce leaf" basil, or other large basil leaf

Salt and fresh-cracked pepper to taste.
2 T fresh grated Pecorino-Romano cheese, for garnish

Ingredients for Sauce
1 pound (approximately) winter squash, such as butternut, peeled and diced
½ medium yellow onion, diced
2 T molasses or maple syrup
1 sage leaf
salt and fresh-cracked black pepper to taste

Procedure
Boil the potatoes and the beets in separate small saucepans in enough lightly salted water to cover by about 2 inches. cook until tender, roughly 10 minutes. Shock to stop the cooking process by running cold water into pan, then drain and reserve the potatoes and beets.

For the sauce, which can be made well in advance if desired, combine the squash, onion, syrup and sage leaf in a saucepan, with enough water to cover by 1 inch. Boil over high heat until tender, about 15 minutes, adding more water if needed. When squash is tender, puree the whole lot until smooth, and then adjust flavor with salt and pepper. Reserve.

Meanwhile, core the tomatoes and hollow them out, reserving the meats from the inside, but rinsing away the seeds (or saving them for your garden!) Chop the meats thoroughly.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add oil (olive, grapeseed or Asoyia), and then add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently and adjusting heat as necessary to keep the onions and garlic from browning.

When the onions are tender and translucent (about 3 minutes), add the green beans, peppers (including hot, if desired), and sage. cook a further 4 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently, until beans and peppers are cooked but not mushy.

Deglaze by adding sherry (water can be substituted, but the dish will taste a little different), and toss in the lentils, potatoes, beets and tomato meats.

Once the entire mixture is heated through, season to taste with salt and pepper. Lightly salt each of the tomato cups, and then line each with 2-3 leaves of basil. Carefully scoop the vegetable mixture into the tomato cups, and garnish with a little Pecorino on top. Place on plates and spoon dollops of the sauce around the plate. Serve immediately.

Serves 4 to 6 people

Alternative method: follow all the steps above except: omit the sauce, prepare the stuffed tomatoes a day ahead, then refrigerate over night and serve cold, as a salad. OR: cut everything much smaller and use cherry tomatoes. Serve hot or cold as an appetizer.