Santa Margherita Great Taste Challenge: The Finals!

Well – I didn’t win, but had an incredible day at the finals. They were held last Thursday at the Bon Appétit Supper Club and Café in New York City, which is a “pop-up” restaurant that’s held in a different location for one week every year. They have chef demos during the day and feature lunch specials from well-known chefs. We spent the day there watching all of the demos, meeting some awesome people, and eating LOTS of food. The event happened in the late afternoon after the demos and lunch service were over. I’ll recap whole day, so please bear with me…this might be a long one!

I met the two other finalists when I arrived: Andreann Geise from Myrtle Beach, SC and Deb Kurtze from Schaumburg, IL. They were both super nice and – like me – excited to be there.


We started the day by ordering lunch. The people at Bon Appétit that were with us for the day suggested we share a bunch of things, so we had a quite a feast: José Andrés' JLT with Jamón Serrano and Manchego, Tom Douglas' Rub with Love King Salmon Sandwich, Rick Bayless' Skirt Steak Salad with Avocado and Chile Lime Dressing, Rick Bayless' Creamy Corn Soup with Ham, Tom Douglas' Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons, and Nancy Olson's Pumpkin Whoopie Pie. The JLT, corn soup, and whoopie pie were the standouts for me, but it was all fantastic!


Gina DePalma, cookbook author and pastry chef at Babbo, took the stage after lunch. She demonstrated how to make a zabaglione, which is made by beating egg yolks, sugar, and red wine. The whole process looked a little exhausting, but the end result (which we thankfully got to try) was delicious. Small portions were passed around with a little piece of hazelnut cake.


After Gina DePalma’s demo, Cat Cora sat down at the table next to us for a pre-demo meeting. Katie and I tried our best to not stare, but we couldn’t wait to meet her! The Bon Appétit and Santa Margherita people had her come over to meet us and take pictures after her meeting. I had always thought she looked intimidating on television, but she turned out to be one of the nicest people I have ever met. She’s also very tiny in person! Eventually, she had to pull away from all of the pictures so she could get up on stage and do her cooking demonstration. She energetically showed everyone how to make her skirt steak tacos with shitake mushroom salsa.




Fabio Viviani arrived shortly after Cat Cora’s demo. He did a demonstration of his gorgonzola-stuffed, pancetta wrapped shrimp over herbed polenta and baby spinach. Sadly, they did not give out samples of his dish. I’m definitely going to try the recipe though; it looked and smelled phenomenal!


Preparations for the Santa Margherita Great Taste Challenge begin after all of the demos were over. They took a lot of professional pictures (which I hope to get a hold of at some point), but – for now – I’ll have to post the pictures my friends and I took.

The judges for the event were Fabio (again), Jacob Falleni (Fabio’s business partner at Café Firenze), Bill Terlato (President & CEO of Terlato Wines), and Barbara Fairchild (editor in chief of Bon Appétit magazine). I was personally terrified to cook in front of Barbara Fairchild. I always see her as a judge on Iron Chef, so I almost didn’t want to know what she thought about my food! That said, I was extremely excited to meet her.

Some of my friends in New York came to cheer me on :). We had some Prosecco while waited for everything to be setup.

Mike, Jess, me, Katie, and Hallie

My demo was first. Fabio and Bill Terlato first gave a brief introduction of themselves, the judges, and the competition to the audience. I nervously waited on stage behind them as Katie kept signaling to me to smile!



Here are some pictures of my actual demonstration. I had some difficulties at first because my pan wasn’t getting hot enough and I couldn’t melt the butter. I only had 10 minutes to demonstrate my dish from start to finish, so this was a bit of a challenge. Everyone was standing around me trying to figure out how to get the fancy touch-screen stovetop to get hotter. Once we figured it out, the rest went fairly smoothly. Fabio’s chattiness helped ease my nerves!




Finalist Deb Kurtzke went next with her Glazed Pork over Mango Couscous. The last finalist, Andreann Geise, cooked Mint, Fig, and Chianti Glazed Lamb with Spaghetti in a Lemon Chianti Cream Sauce. Their recipes (along with mine) are posted on the Santa Margherita Great Taste Challenge website. They were both amazing, so I knew this would be a tough competition.

I was SO nervous when it was time for the judge’s critique and the final decision. They announced that Andreann’s lamb dish with the Chianti won. I can’t say I wasn’t a little bit bummed, but I really can’t complain because I had an amazing time and met some incredible people. I hope they’ll let me enter again next year!

Congratulations Andreann!

Truffle Mac

Do you ever wind up with a little bit of various types of cheeses in your refrigerator? I noticed yesterday that I had a little bit of parmesan, goat cheese, cheddar, romano, and havarti. Knowing that a couple of them were nearing the end of their shelf life, I thought some macaroni and cheese was in order.

I estimated that I had about 16 ounces of cheese total:

• 5 oz. light havarti (in slices, which was not ideal but I made it work)
• 4 oz. sharp cheddar
• 3 oz. herbed goat cheese
• 3 oz. parmesan


• 1 oz. romano, grated

This was a bit of an experiment since I had never combined so many cheeses before, but I thought – I’ve never met a combination of cheeses that I didn’t like, so why not?

To compensate for the fact that I was using skim milk (that’s what I had) and some light cheese, I decided to add some truffle oil for a little extra richness. The truffle oil is completely optional, but just a small amount really goes a long way in adding some serious depth of flavor.

Truffle Mac
16 oz. cavatappi pasta
3 slices of bread (crust removed), or one cup of breadcrumbs
5 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. flour
2 c. milk (I used skim, but something closer to whole would be even better)
16 oz. of your favorite cheese, grated
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1-2 tsp. white truffle oil (depending on how strong you want the flavor to be)

Make the breadcrumb topping by putting the bread slices in a food processer. Add 3 tbsp. of melted butter and some freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.

Create a roux by melting the remaining 2 tbsp. of butter in a dutch oven over medium-low to medium heat and adding the flour. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Slowly add the milk, whisking it into the flour and butter mixture to make sure you get rid of any lumps. The sauce will thicken as it gets hot.

Add the white pepper, nutmeg, and dry mustard. I did not salt the sauce because of the amount of salty parmesan I used, but you may need a small amount of salt depending on the type of cheese you’re using.

When the sauce has thickened, reduce the heat to low and slowly add the cheese. Stir until all the cheese has melted into the sauce. At this point, stir in the truffle oil if you’re using it.

Cook the pasta until it’s just shy of al-dente, drain well, and add to the dutch oven with the cheese sauce. Raise the heat to medium-low and let the pasta finish cooking in the sauce for about five minutes.

Sprinkle the breadcrumb topping over the pasta and transfer to a broiler that has been preheated to high. I used an oven-proof dutch oven so I didn’t have to dirty another dish, but you could also transfer it to a separate casserole. Broil until the top is golden brown.

The end result may look a little sloppy, but it sure tasted good!

The Taste of Greece

My mom visited me in Chicago last weekend and we decided to spend Sunday afternoon at the Taste of Greece in Greektown. Great food, beautiful weather, and plenty of wine – what’s not to love?

We started with some grilled octopus from the Greek Islands restaurant. It was simply marinated in some olive oil and herbs, and then served with a wedge of lemon and some bread to soak up the sauce. Perfection!


Next, we had some mousaka from the Parthenon restaurant. If you’ve never had mousaka, it’s a layered dish (which actually looks like a lasagna) made with eggplant, a meat sauce, and a béchamel sauce. My favorite part about it is the meat sauce, which has kind of an unexpected cinnamon flavor. It’s one of my favorite dishes, and not one I get very often.


We couldn’t resist ending our meal with some loukoumades I saw being fried earlier. I had never had them before, but the people at the Artopolis Bakery described them as pieces of fried dough coated with a honey-cinnamon syrup and topped with sesame seeds. They were phenomenal, of course.


My mom and I washed it all down with a bottle of roditis, which is a greek rosé-colored wine. Here is my mom, the mousaka, and the roditis:


I also snapped some random pictures of the food being cooked as we walked around.

Sole Meuniere

Having recently read Julia Child’s memoir and seen "Julie & Julia", I have been wanting a good excuse to make Sole Meuniere. For those who haven’t seen the movie, Sole Meuniere was Julia’s first meal when she moved to France and what inspired her to learn French cooking. I thought it was the perfect meal for last Thursday: my friend Lina and her boyfriend Bobby’s quick stop in Chicago on their big move from NYC to California. My roommate Katie and I wanted to make them an easy but nice dinner after their long drive and to also celebrate the fact that we were seeing them for the first time in over a year!

My roommate made her famous mashed potatoes, which she makes with Yukon golds, milk, butter, and just a touch of sour cream. I also made some steamed haricot vert for a little freshness to go with the rich fish and potatoes.

I didn’t exactly follow a recipe for the sole. Instead, I just did some research online and went at it. The dish is ideally made with Dover sole, which is rather expensive and difficult to come by. I had to settle with regular sole from Whole Foods. The sole is lightly coated in flour, pan fried in butter, and then topped with a brown butter and lemon sauce.

I read an article on the food in "Julie & Julia" that reveals the secret to the dish: a thin coat of Wondra flour. I seasoned the flour with salt and pepper, lightly coated the sole filets, and pan fried in butter. I used about a pound and a half of fish and only fried two fillets at a time, so I put the cooked fish in a 200 degree oven to keep warm while I cooked the rest. When the fish was done, I added some more butter to the pan, the juice of one lemon, and just a little bit of lemon zest. I poured the sauce over the fish and garnished with some chopped fresh parsley.

It all turned out great, but I think I will try to not brown the fish so much next time. There were no complaints, though :)