Category Archives: Recipes (Savory)

A Clucking Good Time at the Foster Farms Chicken Cooking Contest

Posted on by 17 comments

In gleaming chef’s whites last Friday at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, six amateur and professional cooks took to the stoves, battling one another to come up with a delicious, appealing and creative spin on a protein so commonplace in our diets that most of us eat it at least twice a week.

Of course, that would be chicken.

This was the first ever Foster Farms West Coast Chicken Cooking Contest. The grand prize? A cool $10,000, plus a year’s supply of Foster Farms fresh chickens.

More than 2,000 folks entered the contest, which was limited to entrants from California, Oregon and Washington. On Friday, two regional finalists from each state competed in the final cook-off, which was judged by yours truly, along with Lena Birnbaum, associate food editor of Bon Appetit magazine; Elaine Johnson, associate food editor of Sunset magazine; and Michele Kayal, a contributing writer for the Associated Press and creator of the Hyphenated Chef blog.

The contest is the successor to the long-running National Chicken Cooking Contest, which began in 1949, but ended last year because of economic issues. That was when West Coast-based Foster Farms, family-owned since 1939, stepped in to carry on the tradition with a contest of its own.

The contest was open to both professional and homecooks. Contestants were required to use Foster Farms chicken in their recipes, which were designed to serve four, as well as an abundance of fresh and local ingredients. The only caveat was that the recipes could not involve grilling, as Foster Farms reps wanted recipes that could be cooked year-round in any part of the country.

At 8:30 a.m., we judges gathered with forks and knives to taste chicken bright and early. The contestants, who would cook in the kitchen three at a time and have 90 minutes to complete their dish, were already hunched over cutting boards, slicing chicken, chopping garlic and carefully measuring sugar and oil.

Read more

Kickin’ with Kiwi

Posted on by 26 comments

Kiwi is the secret ingredient in this tasty flatbread wrap.

When life gives you kiwi, make kiwi raita, of course.

More precisely, when Zespri, the largest marketer of kiwifruit, sends yours truly a case of the brown furry fruit to try, that’s just what I get a hankering for.

Especially when this twist on a traditional Indian condiment comes from pioneering Florida chef, Norman Van Aken.

The easiest way to eat a kiwi? Cut in half, then scoop the flesh out with a spoon.

With kiwi in this cool, creamy yogurt sauce, you don’t get the crunch you would from using the traditional cucumber. What you get is a subtle sweetness instead, a counterpoint to the warm spices of cumin, coriander and black mustard seeds.

Read more

Mario Batali’s New Cookbook All About Veggies

Posted on by 19 comments

Yes, the man known for his love of pork and offal, has come out with a new cookbook that puts the spotlight on fresh, seasonal veggies.

“Molto Gusto” (Ecco) by Mario Batali is not a vegetarian cookbook per se. But the casual, easy dishes are all about using meat as an accent, while nudging vegetables to the forefront instead.

Read more

New Use For Bagels

Posted on by 43 comments

I’ve toasted them.

I’ve smeared them with cream cheese and jam.

I’ve piled slices of silky smoked salmon on them.

But until now, I had never stir-fried a bagel.

Yes, you read that right.

Of all the recipes in award-winning cookbook writer Grace Young’s new book, “Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge” (Simon & Schuster) that had me running to grab my wok — and there are many — the one that most intrigued me was this unusual one for “Stir-Fried Bagels with Cabbage and Bacon.”

Read more

The Long and Short of It

Posted on by 24 comments

These long beans, measuring about a half yard in length, are a staple for me in Chinese cooking.

Snipped into manageable lengths, they cook up quickly for all-manner of stir-fry dishes.

But after snagging a couple of bunches recently at my local farmers market, I decided to give them a more Mediterranean treatment.

Cut into about 2-inch lengths and briefly blanched in the microwave, I used them as the basis for a quick salad that also made good use of preserved lemons from my fridge, as well as lemon thyme and lemon verbena, both growing miraculously in my backyard, despite my oft-black thumb. Some chopped parsley, crumbled feta, a squirt of lemon juice, a glug of olive oil, and a grind of black pepper completed it.

The slender,  sturdy long beans have more crunch than regular ol’ slippery green beans on the palate. They also stand up well to the assertive flavors of the salty cheese and preserved lemon.

Read more

« Older Entries Recent Entries »