Winning dishes named at inaugural Vermont Locavore Culinary Competition
A new component of the 2010 Vermont Life Wine & Harvest Festival was the inaugural Locavore Culinary Competition held at Mount Snow on Sept 26. Competing for top honors were recently named “Chef of the Year” Amy Chamberlain, chef/owner of The Perfect Wife Restaurant & Tavern, Manchester, Ismail Samad, head chef of The Putney Inn, Putney, Susannah Walker, head chef of The Wilmington Inn, Wilmington and Tristan Toleno chef/owner The Riverview Café, Brattleboro.
The four chefs were paired at random into two teams. Each team had 1-hour 15-minutes to create an appetizer and a main course for three judges. Judging the competition were David Rachlin President & CEO of Grafton Village Cheese, Mary Nowlan Editor of Vermont Life and Lisa Sullivan owner of Bartleby’s Books Wilmington and The Book Cellar Brattleboro.
The chefs choose from a generously donated pantry of Vermont products including;
Danaher Fish Farm Trout, Fowl Mountain Farm Rabbit, Misty Knoll Farm Chicken, Boyden Beef Farm, Vermont Butter & Cheese, Champlain Apiaries, Brattleboro Food Co-op, Blue Mountain Produce, Olivia’s Croutons, Sprague & Son Maple, Mother Myrick’s Chocolate, Side Hill Farm Jam, North East Kingdom Mustard, Vermont Smoke & Cure, Grafton Village Cheese, The Hermitage Inn, Boyden Vineyards, Honora Winery, Putney Mountain Winery, Shelburne Vineyards, North Branch Winery, Side Hill Farm Winery, Eden Ice Cider and Woodchuck Cider.
Judges scored on taste, creative use of Vermont products, appropriate wine or cider pairing and presentation. In the appetizer category the team of Ismail Samad and Amy Chamberlain won with a Rabbit Three Way with brown butter and acorn squash paired with Eden Ice Cider. The judges were impressed by the beautiful presentation, fantastic use of Vermont products and the superior taste. In the entrée category the team of Susannah Walker and Tristan Toleno won with a Roasted and Braised Chicken with Grafton cheddar potato gnocchi and acorn squash paired with Snow Farm Vineyard Vidal Blanc. The vertical presentation of the plate, creative use of Vermont products and out of this world taste topped the list of comments by the judges.
The 3rd Annual Vermont Life Wine & Harvest Festival the collaboration between the Mount Snow Valley Chamber of Commerce and Vermont Life Magazine is a weekend long event held during peak foliage season has been honored as a Top Ten Fall Event in Vermont as well as a Top 100 Event by the American Bus Association for 2011.
For information please contact Patrice Schneider at The Mount Snow Valley Chamber of Commerce 802-464-8092 or patrice@visitvermont.com .
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