Wok Star Eleanor Hoh

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Culinary Events

GrowFest Chefs Cook Off

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Redlands GrowFest held annually at Fruit & Spice Park encourages you to grow, can and preserve your produce and vegetables!  The most popular event there is the Chefs Cookoff and I was honored to be invited again this year to judge with Christine Najac, publisher, author, sommelier and food and wine blogger of South Florida Food and Wine, Farmer Grabiel Marewski of Paradise Farm and Tim from Fruit and Spice Park.
The Chefs did an outstanding job as there were a lot of distractions!  Judges asking questions, snapping photos, not forgetting Edible South Florida’s publisher, Gretchen Schmidt, Farmer Margie from Bee Heaven Farm and Fruit & Spice Director, Tim Stribling were describing tropical fruits, spices and produce to the audience the whole time.
Here are some behind the scenes I captured of the Chefs Cook off. Each chef was given a “secret ingredient” and a box of mystery ingredients and allowed to pick anything from the ingredients table. Winner announced below!
Bring your family to the next one and make it a day’s visit cause it’s a drive!  There are food booths or bring a picnic, lots of areas to lay out.

Redlands Produce
Redlands Produce chefs could use any of these.
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Chef Carolina’s starfruit in honey
GrowFest Chefs Cookoff
GrowFest Chefs Cookoff
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Chefs furiously prepping! I caught Chef Venoy’s adorable little girl sneaking a peek!
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Chefs cooking at their stoves in wind and rain!
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Kudos to all the Chefs for coming up with these delish surprises in an hour! We ended choosing two winners because it was so tough and they were: top left: Chef Loren Pulitzer of Simply Sharon’s mash yucca cake and middle right, Chef Venoy representing Slow Food Miami with his black eyed peas hash and perfect duck egg. Bottom right: Chef Carolina of The Whisk Cafe & Bakery’s rice pudding which had chilies, a little kick there and Chef Johnson Teh of LAN, Yugo & Burrito San’s interesting use of taro leaves. We didn’t realize the leaves made your tongue tingle, oops.

GrowFest Chefs Cook Off

By Leave a Comment

Redlands GrowFest held annually at Fruit & Spice Park encourages you to grow, can and preserve your produce and vegetables!  The most popular event there is the Chefs Cookoff and I was honored to be invited again this year to judge with Christine Najac, publisher, author, sommelier and food and wine blogger of South Florida Food and Wine, Farmer Grabiel Marewski of Paradise Farm and Tim from Fruit and Spice Park.
The Chefs did an outstanding job as there were a lot of distractions!  Judges asking questions, snapping photos, not forgetting Edible South Florida’s publisher, Gretchen Schmidt, Farmer Margie from Bee Heaven Farm and Fruit & Spice Director, Tim Stribling were describing tropical fruits, spices and produce to the audience the whole time.
Here are some behind the scenes I captured of the Chefs Cook off. Each chef was given a “secret ingredient” and a box of mystery ingredients and allowed to pick anything from the ingredients table. Winner announced below!
Bring your family to the next one and make it a day’s visit cause it’s a drive!  There are food booths or bring a picnic, lots of areas to lay out.

Redlands Produce
Redlands Produce chefs could use any of these.
img_0902
Chef Carolina’s starfruit in honey
GrowFest Chefs Cookoff
GrowFest Chefs Cookoff
img_0991
Chefs furiously prepping! I caught Chef Venoy’s adorable little girl sneaking a peek!
img_1054
Chefs cooking at their stoves in wind and rain!
img_1055
Kudos to all the Chefs for coming up with these delish surprises in an hour! We ended choosing two winners because it was so tough and they were: top left: Chef Loren Pulitzer of Simply Sharon’s mash yucca cake and middle right, Chef Venoy representing Slow Food Miami with his black eyed peas hash and perfect duck egg. Bottom right: Chef Carolina of The Whisk Cafe & Bakery’s rice pudding which had chilies, a little kick there and Chef Johnson Teh of LAN, Yugo & Burrito San’s interesting use of taro leaves. We didn’t realize the leaves made your tongue tingle, oops.

South Florida’s Taste of the Nation Helps End Childhood Hunger with No Kid Hungry

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One of the most important culinary events to raise awareness about childhood hunger is South Florida’s Taste of the Nation for No Kid Hungry.  80 top chefs, sommeliers and mixologists showcase their talents and lured over 1,100 charity minded foodies to Wynwood’s Soho Studio recently.

NKH-collage1
clockwise top left: Chef Michael Pirolo, Macchialina’s caponata and zucchini salad and yours truly at LG lounge area; Chef Eileen Andrade, Finka Table & Tap with arroz con pollo fritter topped with aji amarilla sauce; Chef Cindy Hutson, Zest Restaurant; VOSS showcasing their new sparkling flavored artesian water.
Share Our Strength produces Taste of the Nation and has raised over $70,000 this year in Miami alone to support the No Kid Hungry’s programs to end childhood hunger and educate families about healthy cooking and eating.  No Kid Hungry is especially important in the summer, funding enables programs like a school bus in North Carolina to feed the kids when schools are closed. It’s hard to believe 1 in 5 kids in America struggles with hunger from lack of access to food, so I’m thrilled to see this program so successful in Miami which raised enough funds for over 700,000 healthy meals for children.
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clockwise top left: Chef Nelson Fernandez, Byblos braised Colorado lamb shoulder; Chef Xavier Torres, Drunken Dragon’s octopus carpaccio; Chef Adrien Grenier, 3030 Ocean, Wahoo; Chef Jose Mendin, PB Station, octopus pepperoni.
LG, a home appliance partner of No Kid Hungry was just one of the numerous national corporate sponsors who are committed to helping this cause.  I liked how the LG area provided a nice setting of beautiful wood dining tables and chairs and a wonderful spread from a very popular Miami Italian restaurant, Macchialina’s Chef Michael Pirolo.  His caponata and refreshing zucchini salad was a perfect start to a whole evening of top notch gourmet bites from Miami and Broward’s best restaurants. I was given a little presentation of the fabulous LG Black Stainless Steel Series Door-in-Door Refrigerator that’s finger print and smudge resistant, how handy cause I can’t stand smudges.  What I love best was the refrigerator’s outer door that opens but doesn’t open the whole fridge so you have easy access to seasoning bottles and beverages!  So clever especially if you have a big family of kids who keep opening the fridge to get stuff.  The freezer below was very interesting, it had layered drawers and very convenient to see what you have in there instead of those deep drawers so you have to wade through.  As a cooking educator and someone who enjoys cooking, I love products that are beautiful and functional.  Since Asian seasonings are a big part of what’s in my refrigerator door, I think LG’s got it down, well they are from Korea!
 
To find out more about the No Kid Hungry program, visit them here.
For future Taste of the Nation culinary events in your city, visit here.
Disclosure: I was invited by LG to this event.