Local and Delicious: GrowFest Chef Competition
How do you cook all-local in South Florida when typical produce – tomatoes, eggplant, greens, even onions – is still weeks away from harvest?
That was the challenge for amateur and pro chefs this weekend at the annual GrowFest at Redland Fruit and Spice Park, where cooks had one hour to come up with a delicious dish using a mystery box of ingredients harvested from local farms.
"Our chefs get the chance to taste and cook with ingredients that might not be familiar to them," says organizer Margie Pikarsky of Bee Heaven Farm. Some of those included snake gourd, a long, striped tropical gourd; purslane, a leafy green considered by some to be a weed but is edible and nutritious; and cas guava, a sour fruit the size of a ping pong ball.
Other ingredients in the mystery box included burro plantains, avocado, white and red dragonfruit, garlic sprouts, oyster mushrooms, carambola, June plums, okra, green papaya, Persian limes, heirloom peppers, shiso, Italian basil, cow peas, kaffir lime leaves and hoja santa. Contestants were allowed to bring one local ingredient – for example, fish – and could access a pantry that included local and non-local essentials, such as eggs, coconut oil, coconut milk, sea salt, olive oil and condiments. Produce was supplied by local farms and farmers, including Taste of Redland/Unity Groves, Possum Trot Farm, Fullei Fresh, Paradise Farms, Bee Heaven Farm and Grow2Heal Garden at Homestead Hospital.
Amateur Competition
On Saturday, amateur contestants gathered to prepare their dishes using at least three ingredients from the mystery box. Judges were chosen from the audience to taste and grade the dishes based on flavor, appearance and use of local ingredients. Contestants included Alison Stribling, who grew up in England and says she "loves creating flavorful food with simple or unusual ingredients, particularly Indian and Asian-inspired dishes"; Victoria Barnes, a farm/grove owner and artisan cheesemaker who enjoyes organic gardening, raising and milking her goats and making a variety of cheeses; realtor Carlos Calle, who likes playing guitar and piano; and tropical fruit expert Robert Barnum of Possum Trot Farm. Stribling won the competition for her dish, local mahi mahi poached in a coconut milk, oyster mushroom, heirloom pepper and sweet basil reduction over crispy snake gourd slices; accompanied by a garlic sprout, snow pea shoot, moringa and fresh pea melange..
Pro Chef Cook-off
On Sunday, five professional chefs squared off to face a more daunting challenge – use at least five local ingredients to create a dish for judges Jorge Abreu of the Dade County Farm Bureau, Jim Stribling, manager of Fruit and Spice Park, and Caleb Carr of Taste of Redland. Here, the criteria was plating, creativity, use of local ingredients and flavor. Participants were:
- Vincent Catala of EverCook Miami
- Ines Chatta of Open Kitchen Miami
- Chef Sol (Josh Solis), of Chef Sol Vegan
- Chantelle Sookram of Love and Vegetables and Urban Oasis Project
- Drew Thomason of Homestead Hospital
While the chefs got to work, park manager Jim Stribling and Thi Squire of Grow2Heal Garden at Homestead Hospital talked about some of the lesser-known ingredients that grow in South Florida as well as some of the problems facing local growers, such as laurel wilt, a deadly disease affecting avocado trees and other members of the laurel family; and citrus greening and canker, which affect citrus here. Squire shared tips on using sprouts and unripe papaya. Pikarsky told the audience how to tell which heirloom peppers were hot or not ("Taste it!").
One hour after they began, the chefs presented their completed dishes for the judges.
And the winner: Ines Chattas' pan-roasted golden tile fish with tropical fruit relish, sauteed oyster mushrooms and sauteed purslane with lime zest. Purslane and hoja santa were new to her. "I love them!" she says. For her prize, Chattas got a CSA box subscription from Bee Heaven Farm.
All chefs got to leave with their mystery box and a lychee tree provided by Taste of Redland – and a fresh new look at cooking at local produce in South Florida.
GrowFest! takes place every October to celebrate the launch of South Florida's growing season.
