Local Flavors Recipe Challenge

Throughout MArch and April we challenged you to make the best recipes from three provided ingreedients lists. Here are our winners.

The three winners will receive a $50 Co-op gift card.

The Baker’s Challenge:

Jia Hui

Grapefruit cake  

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder 

Up to 1/2 cup brown sugar, or any sweetener such as turbinado and coconut sugar. (I like to halve sugar in recipes, less would make it more tart) 

1/8 tsp (dash) salt

1/3 cup veg./neutral oil

1 cup grapefruit juice, preferably fresh—it may take 3-4 grapefruits 

2 tbsp zest

1 tbsp white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Icing

3/4 to 1 cup powdered-sugar

3 tbsp (vegan) butter such as Earth Balance 

3 tbsp grapefruit juice

more zestiness

  1. Preheat oven to 375F. Oil a cake pan or loaf tray. Mix wet ingredients. Mix dry. Mix together. Feel free to take a picture of how vibrant and pink the batter is. 
  2. Pour in pan and bake 27-30 minutes. For cupcakes, check it at 16-18 minutes.
  3. Mix icing ingredients until altogether smooth. Refrigerate if you have time. 
  4. When the cake is done, let it cool (10 min, or you can slice and try a piece if you’d like), then add icing. 
  5. (While you wait, you can eat some grapefruit you juiced. :))

The MediterraneanChallenge:

Jia Hui

Mediterranean Challenge Pasta (vegan)

Ingredients

½ cup Rotini pasta (also works with gluten-free noodles, which can be even higher in protein) 

½ onion, diced 

fresh sage

Kite hill almond ricotta cheese (vegan), to taste

¼ cup nutritional yeast (aka nooch)

3 cloves fresh garlic, minced

½ cup Chopped tomatoes, can be fresh or canned. And cherry tomatoes, to taste

¾ cup coconut cream (if possible, chill the can) 

½ cup Chickpeas 

Capers, olives, to taste

Serves 1-2-3 hungry (small) human(s) 

  1. In a pan, fry the fresh garlic and onion in olive oil (or what’s on hand) until aromatic. Add tomatoes and coconut cream and nooch. Simmer on medium heat. 
  2. Cook pasta. Once ready, throw it together in the sauce pan and add chickpeas, capers and olives. Stir on heat if you’d like. 
  3. Now it’s ready to eat; and top with sage, cherry tomatoes , and ricotta as desired.

The Eastern Flavors Challenge:

Becky

Asian Udon Peanut Sauce Noodles

Ingredients 

8 oz. Wide udon noodles

¼ cup chopped green onions

½ Fresh lime 

 

Peanut Sauce Ingredients

⅓ C creamy peanut butter

2 T. Rice vinegar 

3 T. Tamari sauce

¼-½ t. Sriracha (depending on how spicy you like) 

2 T. maple syrup or honey

1T. Sesame Oil

1 t. Freshly minced ginger

2 cloves garlic minced ( or if have to use powder ¼ t garlic powder) 

3 T. warm water

  1. Whisk ingredients listed for Peanut sauce in a small bowl until smooth.
  2. Cook wide udon noodles according to package directions. Drain well.
  3. Pour peanut sauce over noodles in serving bowls. Use tongs or chopsticks to mix until sauce covers noodles.
  4. Garnish with green onions and squeeze a slice of lime to give fresh flavor.
  5. Enjoy! 

How it worked: 

STEP 1: Choose Ingredient List

We’ve compiled three different lists (see below) all with very different ingredients. Create a recipe using at least 4 ingredients from the list. While 4 is the minimum, we encourage you to use as many ingredients from your chosen list as possible. 

Additionally, you can use up to 3 ingredients off the list. We’re not counting water, salt, pepper, dried spices, and small amounts of cooking oil as “off-list” ingredients – feel free to use these ingredients as needed.

STEP 2: Create a recipe

Get creative! Go sweet or savory, simple or extravagant, breakfast, lunch, or dinner as long as it’s original. Whatever you come up with, write down the recipe. Be sure to include measurements and step-by-step instructions. Photos aren’t necessary, but you can include them if you wish. You may also wish to send us a video of your thought process or of you making the recipe, but this is optional. 

STEP 3: Send us your recipe by 4/15/21

Email your recipe to [email protected]. You can submit one recipe per ingredient list. You must submit recipe(s) by 04/15/21. 

STEP 4: We put the best to the test

Once we get all of the recipes, we’ll pick a handful of the best looking ones for each ingredient list. Madison and Christine will make them in the Teaching Kitchen, taste test them, and choose a winning recipe from each ingredient list. Each winner will receive a $50 Co-op Gift Card! 

We’ll post videos of us making the winning recipes and what we come with for each list. Good luck! 

Ingredient Lists

The Baker’s Challenge

  • grapefruit
  • sour cream
  • eggs
  • whole wheat or buckwheat flour
  • basil
  • baking powder
  • baking soda
  • sugar
  • butter
  • white chocolate

The Mediterranean Challenge

  • DFC chicken apple sausage
  • noodles of your choosing
  • squash
  • onion
  • fresh sage
  • ricotta cheese
  • mozzarella cheese 
  • fresh garlic
  • tomatoes
  • coconut cream

The Eastern Flavors Challenge

  • peanut butter
  • coconut milk
  • miso
  • tamari or soy sauce
  • shiitake mushrooms
  • sriracha
  • wide udon noodles
  • lime
  • fresh ginger
  • hot peppers