Published: November 01, 2009 11:58 pm      

FOOD: Iron-willed chefs: My day at the cooking contest

I was the one who came up with the idea for the French toast dessert. The chef leading our team looked at me, nodded and said, “great idea!”

I hope you can imagine how exhilarating that felt.

The cooking contest had begun, styled in the manner of TV’s Iron Chef shows, with the chefs pulling a white cloth off of the trays of food items that we needed to include in our appetizer, main course and dessert.

My group huddled around our kitchen island in the glass enclosed classroom at the New York State Wine and Culinary Center and plotted our meal.

Our team included myself and my newspaper group’s ace advertising rep, Trisha Brzezinski, and Marietta Rotella, the reader who won the chance to compete with us in a regional cooking contest called Slice, Dice and Spice, sponsored by the Fingerlakes Visitors Connection.

The other members of our team included our leader, Chef Keith Dulak of Trattoria Aroma in Buffalo; Dave Jackson, a web designer from Rochester who won the WYSL Cook-Off, and a wonderful volunteer from the culinary center named Charlotte.

The contest was created to highlight the Fingerlakes locally produced food and wine and the whole Finger Lakes experience and my word, did it ever.

Trish and Marietta and I all spent a night at the Inn on the Lake, adjacent to the culinary center, complements of the visitor’s association. We had a lovely stay, in spotless, comfortable rooms overlooking Canandaigua Lake, and had delicious meals for dinner and breakfast in the inn’s restaurant. I had a really nice “Salmon Creme Brulee,” balanced on a little pile of spaghetti squash and creamy mashed sweet potatoes. It was delicious, spiced with the flavors of autumn.

The next morning, prior to the competition, Trisha and I did some shopping in the quaint little stores in downtown Canandaigua and then went over to the culinary center to meet up with our team.

After just a brief introduction we donned our aprons and headed to the cooking arena. There were three teams in our “heat,” and each team had a cooking island with stove and sinks, equipped with everything we might need.

When the surprise ingredients were revealed they included: a single thick pork chop, Nance’s Chicken Wing Sauce, Firefly Farms assorted beets, and Red Jacket Orchards apricots and plums. The center also provided a kitchen full of staples to support what ever we decided to create from our meals.

So, under Chef Keith’s capable support, we created an amazing trio of offerings. We started with the assorted beets which we peeled into multi-colored ribbon strips. We blanched those and then used them as a bruschetta style topping for some olive oil slathered, grilled, grainy bread rounds. On top, we drizzled fresh parsley pesto on top, made from a blended mixture of olive oil, garlic and two kinds of fresh parsely.

Here’s a tip: The fresh beets were amazing, in many different styles and colors, including white and yellow. With the pesto drizzled on top, they tasted amazing, even to those of us (not me!) who never before have enjoyed beets. For those working to get more healthy veggies into the family menu, the beets are definitely a “must try” at home.

Next, we turned our attention to the main course. We had just one thick pork chop to work with and our chef stuffed it with chopped apricots and tomatoes and then grilled it on top of the stove for a bit before tossing it into the oven. I had offered the suggestion that we deep fry it like a chicken wing and coat it in the Nance’s sauce, but he didn’t seem to like that idea. Probably best, as that could have been either a real success or a big, fat failure.

Besides, later, the judges seemed to really like the way Chef Keith cooked our chop. They said they approved that he resisted the idea of going too sweet with all the fruit at hand.

Speaking of fruit, we decided our dessert would use the fresh plums. Under the chef’s direction we poached the plums lightly in a white wine before reducing the wine down and adding fresh cream to make a drizzle. Then, we sliced a round of bread with dried fruit cut it about 3/4 inch thick and had soaked in the cream and cinnamon and eggs for a while we were doing other things, it had a really creamy center, almost like bread pudding.

I was pretty happy to have contributed the idea. And even happier that, not only did the team like the idea, but the judges did, sort of.

Just before the judges announced the winner of the heat, one said, “I was really excited when I heard you were going to make French toast. I just wish you would have made a savory French toast and used it in something other than the dessert.”

I didn’t’ know what he meant at the time, but when I thought about it later, I realized he hoped we would use the French toast in the main course or appetizer, with fresh herbs instead of cinnamon and sugar. That was such a good idea that I’m planning to use that somewhere soon in one of my meals. Probably for company. Like crispy little French toast triangles with shrimp pate on them as appetizers, or a turkey tenderloin slice sitting on top of a piece of French toast that has been seasoned with a bit of sage.

Then came the moment of judgement. A chef selected from the Rochester area and two foodies including the director of a food pantry and a Rochester area radio host tasted our offerings. Three team in our heat. We didn’t win. Another team led by the chef of a Clifton Springs eatery called Warfields Restaurant, got the nod to go on to the next round of competition.

So, we didn’t win. We didn’t place. Regardless, I got a huge charge out of participating in the Slice, Dice and Spice. First of all, let me hope that if there truly is a Heaven it will include a little spot like the Wine and Culinary Institute in Canandaigua with its gift shop, gourmet restaurant and cooking classes.

Second of all, my takeaway from this event will be more than a really cool apron. There were no measuring cups in sight, no recipes used. Everything was made “to taste,” as they say, meaning up to the mood of the creator. In this jumble of kitchen chaos, it really is an insight that with a little imagination, it doesn’t take much more than the love of good food and a little creativity to make a feast.