"The Unpampered Chefs" win Amateur Chef Challenge
Congratulations to “The Unpampered Chefs”, who won this year’s Amateur Chef Challenge, held today at the Kankakee Farmers Market.
Team members Shawn Hamenade, of Bonfield, and Tim Chappell, of St. George, prepared a meal of gazpacho, grilled lamb with vegetables, grilled Caprese salad, and peach crepes. The lamb and the crepes were my favorite dishes of the day. The lamb had awesome flavor and was melt-in-your-mouth tender, and the crepes were drizzled with a delicious caramel sauce.
Finishing second in the competition were Louann Lucas of Momence and Aaron Wheeler of Kankakee, who served lamb burgers with goat cheese and tapenade on a pretzel bun, fresh roasted red pepper and tomato soup, and a vegetable fruit salad with mint.
Each team in the annual competition is given $50 at 8 a.m. to shop for ingredients among the market vendors. They then have until 11 a.m. to make their meal.
The competition was fierce, and the five judges struggled to pick a winner, ranking each team on taste, creativity and presentation.
All the teams turned out great food. Among my other favorites of the day:
• A dessert of fresh, diced fruit with a drizzle of pastry cream and a topping crunchy granola topping. The “Two Dudes Cooking” team (a.k.a. Kris Krauklis of Bradley and Bryon Bauer of Bourbonnais, who made up the team name on the fly when pressed by the judges) also prepared strawberry mint soup and beef kabobs with vegetables.
• A corn salsa prepared by Team Gio (Michael Giandonato of Bolingbrook and Jim Giandonato of Kankakee). In addition to tasting good, it was artfully presented and served with toasted pita wedges instead of chips, which I think taste much better and also was a creative use of market offerings. Team Gio also prepared tomato slices topped with garlic and olives, chicken cacciatore, and meatballs.
Kudos to all the competitors, and thanks to Bill Yohnka for arranging the event and allowing me to be a judge. I really do have a wonderful job!
Here are more photos from the event:
Competitors had less than three hours to prepare their meals in front of a curious crowd.
Team Gio prepared tomato slices topped with garlic and olives, corn salsa, chicken cacciatore, and meatballs.
“The Unpampered Chefs” team prepared gazpacho, grilled lamb with vegetables, grilled Caprese salad, and peach crepes drizzled with caramel sauce.
The “Two Dudes Cooking” team prepared strawberry mint soup, beef kabobs with vegetables, and diced fruit drizzled with pastry cream and topped with granola.
Louann Lucas and Aaron Wheeler finished second in the competition with their meal of lamb burgers with goat cheese and tapenade on a pretzel bun, fresh roasted red pepper and tomato soup, and a vegetable fruit salad with mint.
The lucky judges had a tough time picking a winner, and there was brief discussion of asking for a runoff next weekend, but ultimately we put down our forks and turned in our ballots. We all went home with very full stomachs. I even managed to sneak out with some leftovers. From left, the judges were Alan and Jane Meyer, myself, Scott Watson and Kankakee Alderman Steve Hunter.
