Announcing a Cooking Contest with Chef Curtis Duffy

You are cordially invited to participate in a cooking/blogging event and vie for a grand prize worth over $200, courtesy of Avenues Restaurant and BLiS™, maker of fine ingredients trusted by several nationally-acclaimed chefs.

Cooking Contest with Chef Curtis Duffy


The contest will be judged by Curtis Duffy, Chef de Cuisine of Avenues Restaurant, Chicago, based primarily on the contestant's ability to achieve a harmonious balance between the required ingredients in terms of color, aroma, flavor, and texture. Creativity manifested through plating and presentation, though secondary to the first criterion, is also important.

Please know that even though we have a professional chef as the judge, we're not looking for 4-star restaurant quality or presentation. So there is no need to feel intimidated. We expect most, if not all, of the contestants to be enthusiastic home cooks just like you who want to have fun with the ingredients and get in touch with their "chefy" side. No liquid nitrogen required. No spherification. No need to present your dish amidst a plume of solid CO₂. Well, unless you want to.

Contestants will create a multi-element entrée using all of the following ingredients:

Chocolate with a minimum of 85% cocoa solids



Mushrooms - any one variety or a combination of multiple varieties



Fish - any one variety



Fennel - Every part of the plant, i.e. bulb, stalks, fronds, must be used.

Entries must be posted on your blog and one image of your entry (500 x 333 pixels only) sent to Leela at leela[at]shesimmers[dot]com by midnight (Central Time) on Sunday April 11th, 2010. Your entry must include links to both She Simmers (http://shesimmers.com) and Curtis Duffy (http://curtisduffy.blogspot.com) with a mention of this contest.

Those who do not have a blog can participate by submitting an image of your entry (500 x 333 pixels) by the time indicated above with a list of ingredients and detailed method of preparation.

The winner will be announced here at shesimmers.com on Wednesday, April 14th, 2010. The winning entry along with the other entries that have been submitted, with links to the participants' blogs or websites, will be included in the announcement post.

Please note that while the contest is open to all, the prizes will be available only to residents of the United States. Should a non-resident of the United States win, s/he must designate a resident as the recipient of the prizes.

The winner will:

• Enjoy $50 off each person for a 2-person dinner at Avenues Restaurant -- a gift from the Peninsula Chicago. In addition, on your visit, Chef Duffy will include in your dinner menu his interpretation of your winning creation. If the winner cannot travel to Chicago, s/he can opt to forfeit the discount offer and instead enjoy the honor of having his/her winning entry, with Chef Duffy's refining touch, included in the menu of Avenues Restaurant.
  
• Receive an extraordinary gift set with a value of over $100 from BLiS™, maker of high-quality ingredients used in the kitchens of Alinea, Moto, The French Laundry, Le Bernardin, Charlie Trotter's, Per Se, Providence, and many other restaurants.

The set includes -

• One 375-ml bottle of BLiS Bourbon Barrel Matured Pure Maple Syrup. Grade A dark amber pure maple syrup has been aged in 12-18 year old single barrel bourbon casks. The barrels are carefully agitated until the honey, charred oak, vanilla and spice notes are imparted into the maple syrup syrup for a pure, one-of-a-kind natural flavor.
• One 100-ml bottle of BLiS Elixer Extra Old Fine Solera Sherry Vinegar. Extra old fine sherry vinegar is aged a second time in 18-year-old maple-cured single bourbon casks that have previously aged pure maple syrup for many months and are assembled in a true solera system. The result of this costly and long aging process is a very complex vinegar with notes of butterscotch, vanilla, and tart chocolate which can be used in various applications.

See my article: Rosemary-Citrus Dried Strawberries and Meringue: An Interpretation of Curtis Duffy and the Many Applications to Which It Leads.