Iron Chef Challenge 2.0

This past Wednesday Sustainable Agriculture students went at it again in the second annual Iron Chef Challenge! Iron Chef, is a cooking show on TV where culinary chefs are given a period of time to create the best tasting and looking dish with limited ingredients. Sustainable Agriculture Iron Chef is similar but, much more rewarding. It gives students a chance to show off cooking skills, socialize with different classmates, and enjoy sustainable creations.

In the last completion the key ingredient was kale, this time the key ingredients was wintergreens. All students were given starter ingredients: oil, salt, pepper, kimchi, sauerkraut, and maize. They were also given cutting boards, three knives, cooking pans, access to stovetops and oven space. The rest of the ingredients were to be found on the farm or gathered previously.

Meals were scored by three categories: presentation, taste, and lastly sustainability. Judging got a little more serious this time around as we had the great pleasure to have guest judges, and chefs, fly in all the way from Nicaragua and Ecuador!

Group one created a crunchy green salad. They mixed together lettuce, kale, fava bean leaves spritzed with tangerine vinaigrette. They topped off their creation with tangerine wedges, kimchi, and freshly baked maize chips. 

Group two got creative and made flouring pupas. The pupusa was made from maize and stuffed with fava bean leaves, onion, kimchi, lettuce, and a touch of lemon verbena. Their creation was topped with fried cheese from Mexico and radish sliver.

Group three presented three open face tacos. One taco was topped with greens found on the RHS Farm. The next had sauerkraut, and lastly the third was topped with kimchi. Shells were baked with oil to give an extra crunch.

WINNER! Group four did it big and pretty! For this group presentation really made it pop! Flourishing with colors and fresh smells they hid fried greens and maize tortillas. This dish did not only look pretty it was one hundred percent edible.

REMINDER: Tomorrow is our Farmers Market Day from 2:20-4:00! We will be located in front of the school by the office. Gather farm fresh ingredients to make your own Iron Chef creation and you could be featured on our Instagram!!

Till next time-

Sammy Ferroggiaro