The humor was not lost on me that it was Country Captain Chicken, a sort of earthy, southern meal, to end two and a half years of mostly fine-dining training. I imagine this was because chicken is easily purchased and quickly used, things critical to a college kitchen trying to close up shop for the summer.

My last class just happened to be American Regional Cuisine, which I have really enjoyed this semester. The class was supposed to be taught by my PITA Food 4 instructor (who, incidentally, I now adore). But, due to a scheduling issue, the class was taught by a new instructor, Matthew Cooper of Lulav. No, not that guy, a new one. I imagine this one knows how to make sushi. 

We did our written and practical final on the same day, which doesn’t always happen. The test had 70 questions. I was the first to turn it in, which always makes me a little nervous… overconfident much? Not really. I only missed three.

We didn’t know what we’d be making for our practical final until just before entering the kitchen. The class was divided and assigned one of two dishes, the Country Captain and a clam chowder. I was glad I got the chicken.

I really relished my last time in the kitchen as a student. For this final, we worked individually, which I enjoy, although I’m also known for often forceful leadership of a group activity. (That’s a phlegmatic/choleric personality mix, for those who are into that sort of thing.)

I finished. It was awesome. Then I realized I forgot to add the raisins, so I scraped off the sauce, fixed the error, and re-finished. Even more awesome.

Not ever being one to leave well enough alone, I asked Chef Cooper if he would mind a bit of liberty taken with the sides. He said that would be fine, with the sides only. So, rather than sautéing the recommended side of asparagus, I broke protocol and used my favorite technique: blanch, shock and awe. (I’m seriously going to make that into a T-shirt.) See recipe below.

The chef dug the food. I got an A.

I had a moment as I walked out the back door, toward the loading dock and trash area that was near my car. Never again will I have the opportunity to learn, play, experiment and grow that I’ve had here. Never again will I be surrounded by such culinary genius, all the time. Never again will I be with this particular group of students, of all ages and talents, who have become some of my best friends.

Here’s to whatever comes next.

____________________________________________________

Blanch, Shock and Awe Asparagus 
4 servings

• 20 stalks asparagus, woody ends trimmed/snapped off
• Olive oil
• 1 Lemon, zested, halved
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper, fresh ground

Prepare a bowl of ice water while you bring a pot of salted water to boil. Heat a grill or grill pan to high heat.

Blanch the asparagus in salted water for 10-15 seconds, or just until the color becomes a bright green. Immediately plunge asparagus in the ice water for a few seconds to stop the cooking process. Don’t leave it there too long, but remove and dry thoroughly on paper towels.

Drizzle olive oil lightly over the asparagus and rub with your hands to thoroughly coat. Season with salt and pepper, then grill for 5-10 minutes or until the asparagus acquires grill marks and the desired level of charring, if you like.

Remove asparagus from the grill and place in a shallow container. Squeeze one half of the lemon over the asparagus, then sprinkle with the zest. Serve to astounded and awed guests.

I’ve been so busy with the Food Blogger Bake Sale that it hasn’t really sunk in. Tomorrow, I’ll take my last final in culinary school, for American Regional Cuisine, and then I’m done.

Last night, I stayed up late writing out the last of the recipe cards that I’ve managed to lose over the course of the semester — why, oh why did I not use a bound deck of cards?!? — as we’ll need them for our practical exam. The chef will assign us each one entree from the semester to prepare, and boy howdy, we’d better have that card with us. We’re also supposed to make sides that go appropriately with the dish.

I still need to study for the written exam. Yes, it’s tomorrow, as well. I study best at the last minute. Get off me.

The last few weeks, lots of great opportunities have cropped up, mostly short-term projects. I like those. In fact, I’m thinking of putting on my business card, “Culinary Mercenary.” Need help developing a menu item? Some extra hands in the kitchen for a couple days? Covering for your line cook who needs a vacay? Give me a call.

I have no illusions that I know it all. In fact, Pulaski Technical College Arkansas Culinary School was just the beginning of my education. I have some plans for a project that will give me some hands-on experience at a variety of places.

Stay tuned, because you’ll be invited along for the ride.

P.S. We raised $979 for Share Our Strength on Saturday! But, it’s just short of last year’s total of $1040, and I wanna beat it. So, please (pretty please?) click here and donate $5 or $10 to help us out. It’s for the kids, y’all!

Arkansas Food Bloggers, Professionals Bake and Sell Goodies to End Hunger
100% of Sales to Benefit Share Our Strength  

(North Little Rock, Ark.) – April 20, 2010 – This Saturday, April 28, Arkansas food bloggers will join others across the country in the third annual Food Blogger Bake Sale, raising funds for Share Our Strength in the organization’s fight against childhood hunger. The Arkansas event, hosted by Christie Ison of Fancy Pants Foodie, will be held adjacent to the Argenta Certified Arkansas Farmers’ Market in North Little Rock, 6th and Main Streets, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Offerings will include items made by local bloggers, including: Hillary Kleck of Sensory Sun; Lisa Mullis of Arkansas Outside; Heather Nabers West of Bake Create Love; Sunshine Crawford of Make Life Delicious; Julie Kohl of Eggs and Herbs; Stephanie Hamling of Proactive Bridesmaid; Kelli Reep of What Have You Heard; Gina Knuppenburg of Desperately Seeking Gina; and Paige Burkham of Approaching Joy. Professional offerings will include gluten-free items by Dempsey Bakery, and other treats from the Peabody Hotel, Argenta Market, Brown Sugar Bakeshop, Whole Foods, Blue Cake Company, Sweet Love Bakes and Gigi’s Cake Boutique.

Last year, the Arkansas team raised over $1,000 with its first sale, and all proceeds went to support Share Our Strength programs such as No Kid Hungry and Cooking Matters. Ison, a graduate this May of Pulaski Technical College’s Arkansas Culinary School, will be a volunteer chef with the Cooking Matters program in Little Rock this summer.

Organized in 2010 by Gaby Dalkin of WhatsGabyCooking.com, the national Food Blogger Bake Sale features food bloggers from across the country who unite to support the cause by holding bake sales in their states on the same day.

Share Our Strength®, a national nonprofit, connects children with the nutritious food they need to lead healthy, active lives. Through its No Kid Hungry® campaign – a national effort to end childhood hunger in America – Share Our Strength ensures children in need are enrolled in effective federal nutrition programs; invests in community organizations fighting hunger; teaches families how to cook healthy, affordable meals; and builds public-private partnerships to end childhood hunger, at the state and city level. Working closely with the culinary industry and relying on the strength of its volunteers, Share Our Strength hosts innovative culinary fundraising events and develops pioneering cause marketing campaigns that support No Kid Hungry. Visit Strength.org.

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A market customer visits a booth with flowers and lots of yummy greens.

Last Saturday, a friend and I visited the Argenta Certified Arkansas Farmers’ Market (CAFM). She is young, newly married, and wanting to learn more about fresh, local foods. It was the first official day of the market for the season, although they did a kickoff the week before.

We arrived around 9, and the crowd was just starting to buzz. (Oh, heck, what do I know…I can’t see straight before that time, anyways.) We looked over booths of produce that were nothing short of spectacular, especially considering that much of it is grown organically. Not many bug munches to be seen on those greens.

At first, I was a bit bothered by the fact there wasn’t a huge variety of items available. There were gobs of early strawberries, lots of leafy greens, flowers, some herbs and the like, but I found myself wanting more.

Soon, however, I came to myself realizing that this isn’t Kroger, and eating in season means waiting for some stuff to make its way out of the ground.

I was specifically looking for asparagus. It is early spring, after all. My guest was coming back to my house for a quick cooking lesson, and I planned to help her make asparagus risotto. One booth said they had a little, but sold out early. Some others said they won’t have any.

I did have a good conversation with Kelley Carney, owner of North Pulaski Farms. He said his booth had better selection earlier in the morning, and much of it had already sold. (Note to self.) He also told me about his plans for the future to offer even more varieties, such as my coveted asparagus, even during cooler months.

I’m not knocking anyone else there, though. A good number of them specialize in just one or a handful of things (cheese, meat, peppers, etc.) and do them very well. The others may just have things they like to grow, and that’s what they grow. And others still, like Hardin Farms, grow a bazillion things that just aren’t available yet.

Okay, so I’ll keep coming back and see what crops up. (See what I did there?) And maybe I’ll get there when they open, at (gulp) 7 a.m. Or not.

I still love them. Meet you there!

Argenta Certified Arkansas Farmers’ Market
6th and Main, North Little Rock
7 a.m. – noon, Saturdays during growing season 

P.S. I’m really into P.S.’s now, so I’ll add one. I’m totally not knocking off the Pioneer Woman.

P.P.S. This is where I get really sad the CAFM is no longer doing online ordering. I could pick what I wanted and schlep by there before noon to pick it up!

My friend/student's asparagus risotto. Turned out nice, huh? Great job, Jenna!

P.P.P.S. Whatever happened of the asparagus risotto, you ask? Well, I bought the asparagus elsewhere and helped my awesome student make it. Yummers!

P.P.P.P.S. Consider this another random plug for the Food Blogger Bake Sale next Saturday, April 28, benefiting Share Our Strength. It’s gonna be right next to Argenta CAFM, so you know I still love them!

Early in the morning hours of April 7, the day before Easter, he quietly left this world from the beautiful Hospice Home Care inpatient facility in Little Rock.

I have recently attempted not to dump personal information on this blog too much. But I think it applies, since much of the story has involved food and the way it affects every element of our lives.  As mentioned in my earlier post, we tried to use food as a healing agent. However, sometimes it’s just time to let go, and that’s what we had to do.

Then, it was time for my mom and I to heal. Rather, it was time to start the healing process, which will likely take some time. Food will play a role here, too.

Southern Baptist funeral weeks are a flurry of food, as I’m sure they are for just about anyone in the South and beyond. It’s a purposeful hijacking of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, taking care of the mourners’ basic requirements so they can focus on other things, or nothing at all, for a little while.  To allow time to heal.

And in my personal case, having to be gluten-free now, all my friends who sent food were wonderful about sending things that were not only allowed, but nourishing and comforting. One friend, although unfamiliar with gluten-free pastas, found some and made me a wonderful macaroni salad, with fresh peas and cherry tomatoes. (What is it about carbs that are so comforting?)

Another friend heeded my unashamed Facebook request for hot milk cakes from Dempsey Bakery. This gave me both a breakfast option for a few days as well as a suitable dessert to enjoy while the rest of the family ate coconut cakes, chocolate cakes and poundcakes that were delivered to my mom’s house.

Our refrigerators have been mounded over with delicious sandwich meat and cheese; lovingly constructed casseroles; tangy, bacon-laden barbecue beans; perfectly seasoned green beans; intricate salads with avocado and veggies and the like.

For a few days, we were able to focus on our family while feasting together and talking, sharing memories. Going through paperwork. Moving on to the next stage of life, whatever that is.

Before you ask, we really are okay, or at least we will be. Without imposing our beliefs on you (well, maybe just a little…), Daddy is okay, too. In fact, he’s awesome. And we’ll get to hang out with him again someday, over a big banquet.

I’ll bet the casseroles there are incredible.

P.S. I’m still moving forward with the Food Blogger Bake Sale on April 28, benefiting Share Our Strength. That happens to be my dad’s birthday. Help me honor the day by raising a bunch of money to help those who don’t have the comfort of enough food to eat. Details coming soon.

Without going into all the details, my dad has been in the hospital for more than three weeks. For much of this time, he hasn’t been able to eat. Even before that happened, he refused the funky creamed soups and broths coming from the hospital kitchen. (This is more due to his pickiness than the quality of the product, but still.)

One day, under threat of intravenous feeding, my mom and I ran to her house to make a broth, one he would willingly drink. She told me about doing the same for my Papa (my dad’s dad) years ago after he had a heart attack. She swears that turnip water brought him from the brink. After reading as much as I have about Asian food-based healing, I don’t doubt it.

Mom and I split up from the hospital, and I ran by my house for the aforementioned Asian food healing books. Turnips, as it turned out, were ranked highly for their restorative properties. So were celery, carrots, kale, garlic and artichoke leaves. Back at my parents’ house, they all went in the pot.

I’d like to report that Daddy drank the broth and was miraculously cured, but I can’t. He did drink a bit, not much. They did start him on intravenous feeding. He’s still on it.

But this story is actually about cooking that broth, standing over it that day in my parents’ kitchen, the one I grew up with. The electric burners I’ve practically forgotten how to use. The now-unfamiliar cookware, which I think she got at Safeway years ago. Searching for utensils, strainers, bowls.

Mom’s foot was swelling, so I offered to take over the food while she propped it up. It was my chance, as it turns out, to pour every ounce of love I could into that pot. My family is very unemotional and shy. (My first one, that is; my husband, kids and I gush to each other on a daily basis.) This was my chance to say “I love you.”

While at the hospital, Daddy has been way down, to the point we didn’t know what was going to happen, and he’s just now inching his way back up. The goal is to return to normal “feeding” — such a cold, clinical term for such a warm, healing process.

I’ll probably never make a broth again without remembering this one. And I may never think of food the same way, either.

Remember to cook with love, y’all.

Preliminary competition has begun for the 2012 title of Diamond Chef (see previous post for background details).

Chef Matt Cooper and Sous Chef Mario Flores of Lulav collaborate on their dish in heat #1.

Heat #1 – 1 p.m.
Chef Cynthia Malik and Sous Chef Richard Goetz (Pulaski Technical College Arkansas Culinary School) vs. Chef Matt Cooper and Sous Chef Mario Flores (Lulav)

Mystery Basket ingredients: Whole chicken, flat iron beef, buttermilk, trail mix, blood oranges, fennel, Tanqueray.

Winner: Chef Malik and Sous Chef Goetz with 39.56 points, vs. Chef Cooper’s 38.19 points.

Winning dish for heat #1 by Chef Malik and sous chef Goetz. Pistachio encrusted flatiron steak and trail mix stuffed chicken, buttermilk potato pancakes, fennel & blood orange salad with gin vinaigrette.

Heat #2 – 2 p.m.
Chef Donnie Ferneau and Sous Chef Michael Miller of Ferneau Restaurant vs. Chef Jason Knapp and Sous Chef Coby Smith of UCA/Aramark.

Chef Knapp seriously contemplates his sauce during heat #2.

Mystery Basket ingredients: Sole, teres major beef (shoulder tender), sour cream, nacho cheese Doritos, mixed berries, bok choy, Patron Silver

Winner: Chef Knapp and Sous Chef Smith with 41.82 points, vs. Ferneau’s 37.57.

Winning dish for heat #2 by Chef Knapp and Sous Chef Smith.

Heat #3 – 3 p.m.
Chef Bonner Cameron (Ya Ya’s Euro Bistro) and Sous Chef Nathan Miller vs. Chef Stephen Burrow (Clinton Presidential Center) and Sous Chef Casey Copeland

Chef Stephen Burrow plates his final dish for heat #3. I got to eat this dish, and although it wasn't the winner, it was phenomenal!

Mystery Basket ingredients: Turkey fries, top butt beef, cottage cheese, Funions, cantelope, leeks, Bacardi rum.

Winner: Chef Cameron and Sous Chef Miller of YaYa’s with 36.84 pts vs. Chef Burrow’s 33.75.

Winning dish for heat #3 by YaYa's chef Bonner Cameron and sous Nathan Miller: Cantelope and cottage cheese crepe stuffed with Funyon-encrusted turkey fries and beef roulade with goat cheese, mushrooms, spinach, and dark rum butter sauce.

Heat #4 – 4 p.m. 
Chef Jeffrey Ferrell and Sous Chef Jeff Owen (Capital Hotel) vs. Chef Diana Bratton and Sous Chef Ivon Nunez (Taco Mama and Café 1217)

Chef Diana Bratton (right) of Taco Mama and sous Ivon Nunez prepare their dishes for heat #4.

Mystery Basket Ingredients: Chicken livers, bone-in ribeye, heavy cream, powdered sugar doughnuts, seedless watermelon, Napa cabbage, cognac.

Winner: Chef Ferrell with Capital Hotel.

Winning dish for round #4 by Chef Jeffrey Ferrell and Sous Chef Jeff Owen of the Capital Hotel. Ribeye cap, herb gnocchi with shiitake mushrooms, napa cabbage chouxcroute, powdered donut liver mousse, brandied veal glacé, watermelon-cognac cocktail.

Heat #5 – 5 p.m. Semi-finals
Chef Bonner Cameron and Sous Chef Nathan Miller of Ya Ya’s Euro Bistro and Chef Cynthia Malik and Sous Chef Richard Goetz of Pulaski Tech.

Mystery Basket ingredients: 
Whole steelhead trout, strip loin beef, chocolate milk, avocado, pink snoballs, arugula, Gentleman Jack bourbon.

Winner:
Chef Cameron and Sous Chef Miller of YaYa’s with 41.83 points, vs. 38.25 by Malik.

Winning dish for heat #5, semifinal, by Chef Bonner Cameron and Sous Chef Nathan Miller of Ya Ya’s Euro Bistro: Pan-seared New York strip with a chocolate milk demiglace with caramelized onions and fresh thyme and garlic. Fingerling potato salad with gorgonzola, and pan-seared trout with avocado mousse and fish fumé.

Heat #6 – 6 p.m. Semi-finals
Chef Jason Knapp and Sous Chef Coby Smith of UCA/Aramark vs. Chef Jeffrey Ferrell and Sous Chef Jeff Owen of the Capital Hotel.

Chef Jeffrey Ferrell of the Capital Hotel puts a finishing foam on his dish in the 6th and final heat, while a television camera looks on.

Mystery Basket ingredients: 
Opakapaka, beef tenderloin, strawberry milk, banana Moon Pie, kiwi, jicama, and amaretto.

Winner:
Chef Jason Knapp and Sous Chef Coby Smith of UCA/Aramark. Chef Knapp will compete against Chef Cameron of YaYa’s at the ticketed final event on June 5.

Winning dish for heat 6 semifinal by Chef Jason Knapp and Sous Chef Coby Smith: Pan-seared filet with amaretto and strawberry demiglace, roasted potatoes, and pistachio and Moonpie-encrusted fish served with kiwi and jicama slaw, and Moonpie butter brussel sprouts.

Click to view slideshow.

Note: See real-time updates here.

Can you get away from the office or the house this afternoon? Some super-talented chefs, converging upon the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in downtown Little Rock, will make it worth your foodie while. And, while the finale event will cost you $150, today’s drop-by-when-you-can style event is free.

From 1 – 7 p.m. today, the Diamond Chef Arkansas preliminary competition will take place amid a blur of proteins and pantry products, many of which will be revealed to the competitors in the form of a mystery basket, as on the popular television show “Chopped.”

The chefs, with the help of one sous chef, will have 40 minutes to prepare a dish using all the ingredients in the basket. Judges will score the dishes based on taste and creativity, as well as technical proficiency and sanitation.

On June 5, Pulaski Technical College Arkansas Culinary School will hold the Diamond Chef finale, a ticketed event showdown between today’s two top contenders. At that event, guests will enjoy a fine dining menu while the chefs compete on stage, creating a three-course meal using a protein that will be announced just moments before the competition begins.

Tickets to the finale event cost $150 per person and can be purchased by calling Yvette Parker at (501) 812-2271 or e-mailing yparker@pulaskitech.edu

Continue to watch for additional posts here at Fancy Pants Foodie or on Twitter at @ARFoodie for real-time updates.

Preliminary competition schedule for today:

Heat #1 – 1 p.m.- Chef Cynthia Malik and sous Richard Goetz (Pulaski Technical College Arkansas Culinary School) vs. Chef Matt Cooper and sous Mario Flores (Lulav)

Heat #2 – 2 p.m. – Chef Donnie Ferneau (Ferneau Restaurant) vs. Chef Jason Knapp (UCA/Aramark)

Heat #3 – 3 p.m. – Chef Bonner Cameron (Ya Ya’s Euro Bistro) vs. Chef Stephen Burrow (Clinton Presidential Center)

Heat #4 – 4 p.m. – Chef Jeffrey Ferrell (Capital Hotel) vs. Chef Diana Bratton (Taco Mama and Café 1217)

Heat #5 – 5 p.m.: Semi-finals

Heat #6 – 6 p.m.: Semi-finals

This was in the days before McNuggets, so my standard fare was a cheeseburger Happy Meal. Every time, I would get about halfway through it and get “too full,” even a little sick to my stomach. This annoyed my sweet daddy to no end, as he had bought yet another perfectly good burger, and I ought to eat it.

Turns out I had a sensitivity (then called an “allergy,” although we now know that to be a misnomer) to onions, one that caused instant stomach swelling, nausea and great discomfort. After extensive testing, we discovered this along with a long list, about 20 different items, that caused some sort of reaction or another in my body.

In recent years, I’d gotten to where I can eat just about anything without a major reaction, even onions if they’re cooked really well. I got really good at cooking and decided to chase a passion at culinary school.

Then, halfway through school, I start to get sick again. Turns out that this time, it’s gluten intolerance.

I’m not going to use this post to defend gluten intolerance as a valid problem, so if you have an issue with it, read this article recently published in the Huffington Post for some insight.

Why am I dumping all this on you, after promising not to talk so much about my own health? Because some yahoos on Twitter went and got my goat last night.

A cook (who will remain nameless, because I’m charitable like that) tweeted his great displeasure that a guest in his restaurant said she was allergic to seafood, and she had a “mise en place” tattoo on her arm. (For the unwashed, that’s a term for prepping food for production. It’s a sure sign she’s a culinary student or professional.)

I replied, quite sweetly, I thought, that there were several students in our program with allergies and sensitivities, and why was that a big deal?

Here are some excerpts he rallied from his followers:

“ya I’m allergic to stupid. How can you be passionate about stuff your (sic) ‘allergic’ too (sic).”

“if you can’t/don’t taste the food your (sic) cooking, then stop wasting your time and go do something you want to do.”

And my favorite, after I asked why it’s such an offensive idea that people with food allergies/sensitivities might attend culinary school:

“poisoning them would f*** up the curve?”

I realize that these are all neanderthal folk who just like to troll up my Twitter feed, but they unearth some issues worth discussing.

It’s a fact that, for whatever reason, food sensitivities and allergies are growing at an alarming rate.  Some of these people will end up at culinary school because they’re good cooks, and they want to cook for other people.

So, some questions:

• What good is a cook who has an allergy or sensitivity?
• Should they be allowed to attend culinary school?
• What accommodations are acceptable for students and cooks/chefs with allergies/sensitivities?
• And on a slightly different tangent, but the one that started the whole conversation: Does a diner have the right to ask for an allergen-free dish, and does the restaurant have the right to refuse them? (I say yes to both, although the situation provides a great customer service opportunity.)

At school, I have never refused to cook anything. Even if I’m having a mild reaction to something, I always power through and finish, just for the sake of doing it. If I don’t feel like I should eat something that day, I get a couple tastes just for verification and move on.

Since my gluten sensitivity came on when I was halfway through school, I had already established a reputation as a hard worker and good student. I think this has allowed me some flexibility to occasionally make a gluten-free version of whatever we’re making in class, although I don’t always push the issue.

The situation may be different for those with full-blown celiac disease or what we now recognize as true allergies, which can be life threatening. The tweeting cook said I should “do my homework” to understand the difference, because sensitivities were, apparently, not worth changing one’s diet over.

I suppose if someone was so food allergic/sensitive they couldn’t eat anything but rice, then maybe they shouldn’t be in culinary school. But otherwise, I think it’s helpful to the world out there, teeming with people who are getting sick from food, to have a trained cook who gets it.

I know I’ll regret this, but let me know your comments below. I’ll probably go ahead and approve everything, stupid trolls included. Bring it on.

Meanwhile, I’m going to just keep on kicking butt in the kitchen, putting out good food. Sorry if that makes you mad.

My place, my passion, at least for now, is in the back, making plates. I had the privilege of helping several extraordinary chefs put together amazing dishes tonight. For those who couldn’t join us tonight, or even for those who were there, I want to share some photos from behind the scenes.

Since tonight was also the night of the Oscars, each course had a movie theme.

Next year, I won’t be a student anymore, and I’m not sure what my role will be for this event. Maybe I’ll have a seat in the dining room. But tonight, I gained knowledge and insight from chefs behind the scenes, and I’ll be a better cook for it.

Hors D’Oeuvres

Presented by Chef Cynthia Malik
Pulaski Technical College Arkansas Culinary School

"Mudbug" salad in endive

Associated Southern-Style Fish and Seafood Display (The Help)
- Included peeled shrimp, oysters with greens and cornbread, and (above) “Mudbug” salad on endive leaves.

Plantain chips with black beans, roasted pork and mango salsa.

Plantain Chips, Cuban-Style Roasted Pork with Black Bean and Mango Salsa (Chico and Rita)

Pissaladiere — Onion Confit, Anchovies, Olives and Thyme on Puff Pastry (Hugo)

Millas (Polenta) Topped with Roquefort and Figs (Hugo)

Herbed Goat Cheese and Roasted Beets on Irish Soda Bread with Hazelnut Vinaigrette (Albert Nobbs)

Assorted Guo Tie (Potstickers) with Dipping Sauces (Kung Fu Panda 2)

Appetizer
Presented by Chefs Terri Johnson, CC and Brandon Douglas, CEC
Big Rock Bistro

“Best Foreign Flavor”
Mediterranean-Style Kibbeh Kabob, Deconstructed Blood Orange Tzatziki

Soup & Salad
Presented by Chef Brian Kearns
Country Club of Little Rock

“The Ensemble Cast”
Roasted Apple and Turnip Soup; Duck Confit and Rye; Smoked Trout with Baby Greens, Dried Cherries, Bacon and Truffle

Fish
Presented by Chef Dan Capello, CEC
Chenal Country Club

“Red Carpet Redux”
Citrus Poached Arkansas Catfish with Aromatic Topping, Truffle Polenta, Haricot Verts and Pistachio

Entree
Presented by Chefs Jamie McAfee, CEC and Jay McAfee, CEC
Pine Bluff Country Club

“Beef Oscar”
Whole Beef Tenderloin Medallions, with Asparagus Spears and Lump Crab, topped with Hollandaise Sauce and served with Purple Potatoes

Dessert
Presented by Chef Jan Lewandowski, CEPC
Pulaski Technical College Arkansas Culinary School

“Concession Stand Connoisseur”
Chocolate and Caramel Bouchon with Candied Popcorn