Culinary Institute of Charleston Students Shine during 2014 Heirloom Pumpkin Competition 11.29.14

 Showcasing the talents of the next generation of culinary professionals, Limehouse Produce recently partnered with the Culinary Institute of Charleston (CIC) to organize a Fall Harvest Cooking Competition with a focus on local heirloom pumpkins and squash.

Students were encouraged to submit recipes utilizing this produce. A panel of the school’s chef instructors, led by Chef Michael Carmel, Culinary Department Chair, selected the top submissions to be finalists in the competition. The finalists cooked their dishes for a panel of judges, which included Weston Fennell of Limehouse Produce, Kinsey Gidick of Charleston City Paper and Chef Trey Dutton of the Indigo Road Group, a CIC graduate. The judges watched the students in action as they prepared their dishes. They then tasted and judged the dishes on originality, creativity, best use of the heirloom products, taste and kitchen skills.

The end result was delicious and impressive. Yuri Kojima’s Hot and Sweet Miso Kabocha was the winning dish. Kojima paired kabocha squash with pork sauce that had been stir-fried with sweet miso, ginger, garlic and chile paste. She served it with sushi rice. Yuri is a second year at CIC and is studying sports and nutrition. 

Other dishes in the competition included second place winner Paul San Luis’ “squashed crab” tortellini and third place winner Sarah Hassell’s  pumpkin and cream crepes. Very creative dishes were also offered by the finalists:  Candice Hunsucker’s Thanksgiving stuffing in a pumpkin, Russell William’s butternut squash gnocchi with Calvados cream sauce, and Arlette Park’s pumpkin eggnog soup. All students received prizes and Yuri will be featured in an upcoming issue of The Local Palate.

Yuri Kojima’s Hot and Sweet Miso Kabocha 

Serves 4

• Canola oil
• 1 kabocha squash, about 1 pound
• 1/2 pound lean ground pork, crumbled
• 1 Tbs. tenmenjan (sweet miso paste available at H & L)
• 1 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
• 1 Tbs. minced garlic
• 1 Tbs. sambal oelek chili paste
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 Tbs. soy sauce,
• 1 Tbs. sake
• 2 tsp. sugar            
• Pinch black pepper   
• 1 Tbs. water
• 1 Tbs. potato starch
• 1 tsp. rice vinegar 
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced
• Japanese sushi rice

Heat canola oil in a fryer or deep pot.

Peel the squash, cut it in half, and remove the strings and seeds. Cut the squash into 1¼-inch pieces. Working in batches if necessary not to crowd the fryer, deep-fry the squash until it is tender when pierced with a toothpick. Remove to paper towels to drain.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the pork and cook it, separating it with a fork, until the juice renders clear. Add the tenmenjan and combine it well. Add the ginger and garlic and cook them until you can smell their aroma. Add the sambal oelek and combine well.

Add the chicken stock, soy sauce, sake, sugar, and pepper and bring to a boil. Place the squash on top of the sauce and let the squash absorb the juice from the sauce, about 3 minutes.

Place the water in a small dish and stir in the potato starch to dissolve. Add the dissolved potato starch to the skillet. Add the rice vinegar.

Sprinkles the scallions on top and serve accompanied  with Japanese sushi rice.

南瓜

ショウガ

ニンニク

ネギ

豚ひき肉

甜麺醤

豆板醤

鶏スープ

＊醤油、酒

＊砂糖

＊胡椒

水溶き片栗粉

油、酢

Paul San LuisTortellini with Squashed Crab and Sage Cream Sauce

Serves 4

Filling

• 1 Kabocha squash, about 3 pounds
• Kosher salt
• 2 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. minced shallot
• 8 ounces lump crab
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 pinch cardamom
• 1/2 pinch nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp white pepper

Peel the squash, cut it in half, and remove the stings and seeds. Cut the squash into

1-inch pieces. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt and stir until the salt dissolves.

Add the squash and cook it until pierced easily with a fork. Drain. Pass the squash through a food mill or mash it with a potato masher. Cool to room temperature. You will have some purée left over after the recipe, which will keep covered in a refrigerator for up to a week.

Heat the butter in a medium pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and sauté for 30 seconds. Add 1½ cups of the squash purée and combine well. Gently fold in lump crab. Add the heavy cream in small increments until squash/crab filling holds together in a ball, but is still moist and pliable. You may not need the whole ¼-cup, or you may need more. Fold in the cardamom, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and one teaspoon of salt. Transfer to a container and refrigerate.

Tortellini

• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt
• 2 cups semolina flour

Whisk the eggs, olive oil, and 1/2-teaspoon of the salt together. Combine them with the flour, folding and kneading until the dough is smooth in consistency. Add a few drops of water if the dough is too dry to come together. Cover dough with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes. In manageable increments, roll out the dough through the #1 setting on a pasta roller. Lay the rolled dough on baking sheet as you go  and cover with a kitchen towel to prevent drying.

Cut the dough into 3-inch rounds. Knead dough scraps together and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rest for 10 minutes and pass it through the roller again. You should have around 40 to 50 tortellini rounds.

Place 1/2-teaspoon of chilled squash filling in the center of each round. Fold the sides together to form a half-moon and pinch to seal. (I don’t use any egg wash or adhesive, but if the tortellini aren’t staying closed, lightly brush the edges of the pasta round before forming the half-moons to seal.) Bring the corners together and pinch to adhere. Dust with flour if necessary, place on a baking sheet, and cover with towel.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle boil. Working in batches, carefully add tortellini, stirring gently occasionally to prevent sticking. Check for doneness at 5 minutes, or when they start to bob to the surface. Drain. Serve immediately.

Note: If hand-making pasta is too labor intensive, store bought jumbo shells can be used instead

Sauce

• 2 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 1 ounce pancetta, cut in small dice
• 1 tsp. minced shallot
• 1 ounce sherry
• 1/2 ounce cognac
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 sprig of fresh sage, leaves attached
• 1/2 pinch nutmeg
• 1½ tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. white pepper

While the tortellini are resting, make the sauce. Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in heavy medium-size sauté pan over medium heat. Add the pancetta and sauté until the fat has rendered out and the pancetta is crisp. Remove pancetta to paper towels to drain. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and the shallots. Sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove pan from the heat and add sherry and cognac. Put the pan back on the burner and simmer the cognac for 2 minutes to burn off the alcohol. Add the cream, sprig of sage, and nutmeg. Reduce the heat to low and cook the sauce until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the salt and pepper and remove the sprig of sage.

To serve: divide the tortellini between four warm plates. Spoon sauce over each portion and top with micro greens or chervil, and pumpkin caviar (if using). Serve immediately.

Pumpkin Caviar (optional)*

• 1 quart vegetable oil, well chilled
• 250 grams pumpkin purée or squash purée, made by same purée method as described above
• Water, as needed
• 15 grams unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup heavy cream, as needed
• 1.2 grams agar agar
•  

Simmer the pumpkin purée (loosened with a little water) with the butter and heavy cream. Off the heat, add the agar agar. Using an immersion blender, shear the mixture for 1 to 2 minutes, until it is thoroughly mixed and the agar agar is dissolved. Return to a low simmer, adding drops of water to maintain consistency. Test the agar mixture’s ability to set by placing a droplet on a cold plate; it should set within 20 to 30 seconds.

 Working in batches, use a medicine dropper to add droplets of pumpkin/agar mixture to the chilled oil to form spheres. Strain oil through chinois into another container to get pumpkin spheres out. Rinse the spheres and set aside.  Afterwards you may need to return oil to freezer or refrigerator to get it cold enough again for another batch.

*Note: this portion of the recipe is in metric units because the precise ratios necessary for spherification are extremely difficult to obtain using Imperial measurement units.