Posted by The Argus Observer, OR on August 12, 2010 at 11:49:56:
Prison contest seeks to lock in healthy lifestyle
Thursday, August 12, 2010 10:06 AM PDT
The Hunter was invited to judge a cooking contest. This wasn’t just any cooking contest — this one was taking place in Ontario at the Snake River Correctional Institute (SRCI), otherwise known as the prison.
No, it wasn’t an inmate competition, but rather for the employees. It was part of a wellness week campaign for all state employees encouraging them towards healthy lifestyles. One facet of the campaign being this healthy cooking contest, a first time event.
The guidelines were both simple, yet challenging. Bring any original dish you want, from appetizers, salad, entree to desserts (The easier part), but also provide a written recipe with the nutritional breakdown. (That can be difficult on an original item)
The three judges were Boise television chef, Lou Aaron, Dr. Tim Trees, a chiropractor from Payette, and the Hunter. Dr. Tim professed to not be a food expert, which was good, because that balanced out the other two know-it-alls.
The tasting presentations were well organized by Officer Kevin Trees. Held in the administration building (outside the fence, darn), it ended up having a bit of drama. The contestants presented and explained their dishes, also taking questions from the judges.
All this with an audience of over two dozen other employees (including HP) stopping by to watch during their lunch breaks.
There were seven entries, mostly prepared at home — another challenge. It isn’t easy to cook something ahead, bring it in, reheat it and plate it attractively.
The judges ended up enjoying a tasty seven course meal that included an Italian/Sicilian pasta salad, several entrees and a dessert.
The winning dishes were: third place — broccoli stuffed chicken breasts (396 calories). These were filled with shredded cheddar/monterey jack cheese and sauteed onions, and then baked. Quite tasty, but they suffered from the reheat with the chicken drying out a little. The Hunter advocated for a higher finish on this one, but was — um — overruled.
Second place was a mexican meatloaf (238 calories). The meatloaf itself was very good, but the topping of a handful of diced, raw green bell peppers didn’t work.
First place went to the coconut rum tilapia fillets with jasmine rice and mango salsa (353 calories). That sounds good, doesn’t it? It was. The fish was placed in aluminum packets with a splash of the rum and then grilled. There was a pleasant coconut flavor with no alcohol taste.
The mango salsa included mango, red onion, jalapeno pepper, cilantro and fresh lemon and lime juice. Along with the aromatic jasmine rice, the whole dish came together in a manner that exceeded the sum total of the individual parts. Synergy like that is an admirable thing.
This was a fun event, and good for the state for its initiative. It was also interesting to meet Chef Lou. The Hunter plans on stopping by the Chef’s West Side Drive-In which is in Boise — sharp pencil in hand — heh, heh.
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