And the best gazpacho is.....the Challenger!!!

For this week's challenge it only seemed logical to have Ellen and Linda be our judges.  Ellen is a bonafide, true vegan and Linda is quite a gourmet cook.  Connie, Ellen, and Linda started their friendship in a metalsmithing class (that is another story!) and progressed to monthly outings usually involving field trips, food, and the (occasional) glass of wine.

On a beautiful summer day we met at one of our favorite restaurants where Connie discreetly passed bags of gazpacho and accompaniments to our judges for them to take home and taste.

                                                             Linda and Ellen

First up, Betty's gazpacho:

                                                                 Betty's Gazpacho

One thing that we've learned through our weeks of doing this cook-off:  Bruce has a hard time sticking to the recipe!  His creative juices get to flowing, and he wants to deviate big time.  So, that works fine when he's the Challenger because he can adapt the recipe at-will, however when it comes time for him to follow Betty's recipe....different story.  For this recipe, it called for lemon juice and since we didn't have any lemons (and Bruce didn't want to make his 15th trip to the grocery store that evening) he decided that Betty would have used bottled lemon juice.   Connie suspects that is why Linda commented as she did about Betty's dish.

Here's what she said:  "I liked this one, but something about it was a bit off...like it had an oil that was stale or something.  With a bit of sugar...it might have won with me".

Next up:  The Challenger's Gazpacho:

                                                         The Challenger's Gazpacho

Again, Linda had one constructive criticism:  "It was a bit salty for me.  I'm pretty sure it's the Betty Crocker one (wrong, Linda) because it tastes just like the old recipe I used to make...so I have to go with this one as this week's winner".

And, perhaps Ellen summarized this week's contest best:  "For me, it was hands down the Challenger's Gazpacho.  It was chunkier and more flavorful for my taste buds"!

So...lessons learned this week:  when a recipe calls for lemon juice, use the real thing.  And, as the ancient Romans used to say...if you need to take a drink when you eat gazpacho, you've added too much salt!"


The Current Scorecard
Betty:                          3
The Challenger:         2

Moving on to.....Gazpacho

Since Connie primarily eats vegetables (and some seafood), gazpacho is one of her favorite Spring/Summer dishes.  After the rhubarb debaucle, we decided to work with something we know and love:  tomatoes!

Now, for a quick history lesson on the origins of gazpacho:

This popular soup from the Andalusian area , (an autonomous community of Spain), mostly known now for being served cold, has many different influences from Greece and Rome, but also from the Moor's and Arab culture.

The original soup was blended stale bread, olive oil and garlic, with some liquid like water or vinegar that was pounded together in a mortar. Different vegetables and almonds that were available were also added.

This soup evolved into different varieties, the most popular around the world is a tomato based variety, served cold. It is often served heated in certain regions in Spain.

Now Gazpacho has become a generic term for a cold soup that has a vegetable or fruit base or both , that has similar spices to the traditional.

While it was common for Roman soldiers to carry dried bread, garlic and vinegar to make the basics of this early soup, it was Christopher Columbus who changed the dynamics of gazpacho.  Christopher Columbus probably took this soup with him on his voyages from Spain. When he brought back tomatoes, cucumbers and different peppers that is when the soup evolved to it's present state.

Now all kinds of things are added such as watermelon and cantaloupe.

Betty's Gazpacho (prepared by Bruce) from her 1988 cookbook:

1 1/2 cups tomato juice

  1/2  cup chopped cucumber

  1/2  cup chopped green pepper

  1/2  cup chopped onion

     2  tablespoons lemon juice

     1  tablespoon vegetable oil

  1/2  teaspoon salt

  1/4  teaspoon red pepper sauce

     2  tomatoes, chopped

  

Accompaniments:  About 1/2 cup each chopped cucumber, green pepper and onion and 1 cup seasoned croutons

Place all ingredients except Accompaniments in blender container.  Cover and blend on medium speed until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.  Serve with Accompaniments.  8 appetizer servings.  65 calories per serving.

 

 

The Challenger's Version (prepared by Connie):

As shown in the recipe

Makes six servings.

Ingredients

• 2 Roma (plum) tomatoes, quartered
• 1 large cucumber, peeled and halved
• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 1 cup green bell pepper, diced
• 1 (4 ounce) jar diced pimento peppers, drained
• 2 (12 fluid ounce) cans tomato juice
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup croutons
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Directions

1. In a blender combine one tomato, half the cucumber, half the onion, a green bell pepper quarter, the pimento and 1/2 cup tomato juice. Blend at high speed for 30 seconds to puree the vegetables.
2. In a large bowl mix the pureed vegetables with remaining tomato juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, vinegar, hot pepper sauce, salt and ground black pepper. Cover mixture and refrigerate until it is well chilled (about 2 hours).
3. Meanwhile saute the croutons in oil and add the garlic; transfer to a small bowl.
4. Mix remaining chopped tomato, cucumber, onion and green bell pepper with the pureed vegetables. Serve soup in chilled bowls, garnish with chives and croutons as accompaniments.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 167 | Total Fat: 12.9g | Cholesterol: 0mg

One more important thing to know:  According to our research, if you need to have a beverage with gazpacho, then there is too much salt in the recipe.

 

So...who do you think will win this week's Gazpacho Cook-off????

 

The Contest That Would Not End!

The whole problem started when Bruce (very graciously) agreed to do all of the grocery shopping for both of our dishes.  He did not know how much rhubarb it would take to equal a cup so he bought one bunch of it.  He made his Challenger dish first with half of the rhubarb and left Connie the other half.  His dish was quite beautiful, but looked more like a cookie than a crisp.

                                                  The Challenger's Rhubarb Crisp

Since she waited to the last minute to make her dish (and there was not enough rhubarb left for the full recipe) Connie was not able to make the casserole-sized dessert that the recipe called for. So, in her "finite" wisdom she decided to makae half the recipe as two small servings for our judges to taste.

Both Connie and Bruce decided that the rhubarb looked stringy and cut all of the exterior red part away. Then we both agreed that the remainder should be minced since it looked so unappetizing....more big mistakes!

Connie's recipe took forever and still didn't look like the topping had browned, but she stopped the cooking (at twice the recommended amount of time)!  The dish looked awful and the more that she thought about it, the more she decided that the whole problem was caused by Bruce not getting enough rhubarb...it couldn't have been her lack of cooking skills!

                                    Betty's Rhubarb Crisp with LOTS of Whipped Cream

 

On to our judges:

Tom and Kris have been our very good friends for many years.  Bruce and Tom used to work (and still golf) together and Connie and Kris are big-time hikers/walkers. We chose them for this competition because they come from the midwest and both are die-hard rhubarb lovers!  Strange folks, the Midwesterners!

                                                                                                              

They invited us over to their house so that we could all make individual pizzas.and we agreed to bring the dessert:  rhubarb crisp, of course!

                                Kris and Tom Hosting the "Make Your Own Pizza Party"


We ate way too much and laughed way too hard as we quickly covered their kitchen in flour and pizza toppings.  The wine, rum, vodka, and beer flowed steadily which probably didn't help our creative skills, but the pizzas were all delicious.  As we got ready for our yahtzee competition (yes, we are a wild bunch!) we set up the rhubarb crisps for tasting.

Both Tom and Kris were quite perplexed with our creations, flatly stating that they had never tasted rhubarb like ours before!  Given that they are very kind people, they struggled hard to say something positive about both dishes:  Bruce's crisp was buttery, but the rhubarb flavor didn't really come through and Connie's was more like pie filling (Midwestern speak for "mushy, overcooked mystery fruit").
They then quizzed us on how we prepared the rhubarb and brought out their cookbooks to try to help us...definitely not a sign of a successful cooking competition.  We realized that you are supposed to leave the outer skin on the rhubarb and cut it in big chunks instead of mincing it!

We were quite disillusioned with the whole rhubarb experience, but Connie decided to give it one more attempt.   Back to the grocery store went Bruce to get the correct amount of rhubarb and this time she prepared it correctly and made the casserole-sized crisp.

                                                          Betty's 2nd Rhubarb Crisp

For the second tasting, Tom and Kris came over to our house for a Mexican Fiesta which included pulled pork salad and tilapia enchiladas...those dishes should have been this week's challenge!  As we got ready for another yahtzee competition (no, we aren't stuck in our ways), Connie prepared Betty's 2nd Rhubarb Crisp.  The comments were MUCH more positive -- they happily said that this was almost like something they've tasted before!  Not exactly glowing praise, but ....whatever.  Our experiemnentation with rhubarb is over and we've declared this week's competition a DRAW...no winner!

One final note:  We're boycotting the rhubarb.

The Current Scorecard Stays the Same:

Betty:                     3
Challenger:           1

(These) Southerners Should Not Mess Around with Rhubarb!

Neither Bruce nor Connie knew much about rhubarb, so it seemed like an intriguing idea to attempt Rhubarb Crisp...seriously, how hard can it be to make a crisp?  Visions of Apple Brown Betty danced in our heads and we knew that we were up for the challenge!

                                                  Apple Brown Betty

First problem:  we didn't even know what a rhubarb looks like (we thought it might be like eggplant)!  And, we had no idea where you buy the things!


Off  we went to Wikipedia to find out the basics and this is what we learned:

Rhubarb is a group of plants that belong to the genus Rheum in the family Polygonaceae. They are herbaceous perennial plants growing from short, thick rhizomes. They have large leaves that are somewhat triangular-shaped with long fleshy petioles. They have small flowers grouped in large compound leafy greenish-white to rose-red inflorescences.
Although the leaves are toxic, various parts of the plants have medicinal and culinary uses. The traditional Chinese pharmacopeia features rhubarb (as a laxative).^[1]
In culinary use, fresh raw stalks are crisp (similar to celery) with a strong tart taste. Most commonly the plant's stalks are cooked with sugar and used in pies and other desserts. A number of varieties have been domesticated for human consumption, most of which are recognised as Rheum x hybridum by the Royal Horticultural Society.
Rhubarb is usually considered to be a vegetable; however, in the United States, a New York court decided in 1947 that since it was used in the United States as a fruit, it was to be counted as a fruit for the purposes of regulations and duties. A side effect was a reduction on imported rhubarb tariffs, as tariffs were higher for vegetables than fruits.^[2]

Bruce agreed to go in search of this mysterious ingredient and he went to the most exotic shop we frequent...Kroger!  (Actually, we sometimes venture out to Publix).  And, this is what he found --

                                                                ^{The Mysterious Rhubarb}
                                                                                     
They're quite pretty...like red celery.  They seemed kind of stringy so we made a joint decision to skin them first and chop them up really small...first big mistake!  Our second big mistake was not buying enough rhubarb for both of our dishes.  Our third mistake was not tasting the thing before we started cooking with it...we were both kind of scared of it! And our final (and biggest) mistake was serving this to one of our judges who had just had a colonoscopy (we didn't read the fine print from Wikipedia that it is used as a laxative...whoops!)

Anyway, on to this week's recipes:

Betty Crocker's Rhubarb Crisp

4      cups cut-up fresh rhubarb
1/2   teaspoon salt
1 1/3 to 2 cups sugar (depending on tartness of rhubarb)
3/4   cup all-purpose flour
1      teaspoon cinnamon
1/3   cup butter or margerine
Whipped Cream

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Place rhubarb in ungreased baking dish, 10x6x2 inches.  Sprinkle with salt.  Measure sugar, flour and cinnamon into bowl.  Add butter and mix thoroughly until mixture is crumbly.  Sprinkle evenly over rhubarb.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until topping is golden brown.  Serve warm with whipped cream.

6 servings.

The Challenger's Rhubarb White Chocolate Crisp

Prep Time:  10 mins
Total Time:  1 hrs 10 mins
 Servings:     12

Ingredients:
4 cups rhubarb, chopped
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place chopped rhubarb in a 13 x 9 cake pan
Bake for 20 minutes.
While rhubarb is baking, mix the rest of the ingredients.
Crumble mixture on top of cooked rhubarb and bake 40 minutes longer


So, who do you think will win this week's challenge??? Stay tuned for the strange story of the rhubarb cookoff!!!

Oooo La La...Madamoiselle Betty scores again with her Crab Louis!

On a rather crisp Spring morning Connie headed to her friend Leanne's house.  The plan for the day was to check out the newly opened Gibbs Gardens in North Georgia.  These gardens cover 300 acres and were developed by an individual over the past 30 years.  It has just recently been opened to the public, and it is AMAZING!!!

Check out the photo that Connie took on her i-phone...it is THAT beautiful!

                                                                  Gibbs Gardens

After our excursion, Leanne agreed to be this week's judge. Not only is she a wonderful garderner herself, she also excels at Southern and traditional cooking and was already a big fan of Crab Louis/Louie so she was the perfect choice. 

                                                       This Week's Judge:  Leanne


Bruce and Connie had cooked all of the ingredients and pre-made their respective dressings so it was simple to assemble them at Leanne's house and let the judging begin!

                                                               Betty's Crab Louis

First she tasted Betty's Crab Louis.  She was immediately impressed with the appearance of this dish.

Then, she moved on to the Challenger's Crab Louie.

                                                         Challenger's Crab Louie

After eating a fair amount of both salads (she was very full after this "taste" test!) she said, "It was a tough decision.  I liked them both!  The one with tomatoes, eggs, and olives (Betty's version) seemed more like the classic Crab Louis that I like.  The olives gave it  more of a burst of flavor than the asparagus and avocado in the challenger's version.  Additionally, I liked the dressing better in Betty's version.  The challenger's Crab Louis had pickles or relish (sweet relish) that overpowered it a little....but as I said, they both were good.  However, I'm going with the traditional Crab Louis."

After hearing this feedback, Connie did a bit of experimenting with the gallon (seemed like it, anyway) of Crab Louie dressing that was left over.  The sweet relish was a bit strong...she would recommend cutting that in half and adding a bit of low fat sour cream to the remaining ingredients.  She tried this and the dressing was fabulous.  It was even good with tuna and salmon as a side dressing!

This one was close, but.....Congratulations (once again) Betty!

Current Scorecard:
Betty:            3
Challenger:   1

Crab Louie (or is it Louis?) Salad

Bruce drew the Betty Crocker stick this week and we decided to do yet another old classic -- crab louie.  The old Betty Crocker cookbook spelled it "Louis" while modernn day recipes seem to choose "Louie"...not sure why, so we went to Wikipedia to get the scoop.  Here's what we learned:

"Crab Louie salad, also known as Crab Louis Salad or the King of Salads, is a type of salad featuring crab meat. The original recipe dates back to the early 1900s and originates on the West Coast of America.

The exact origins of the dish are uncertain, but it is known that Crab Louie was being served in San Francisco, at Solari's, as early as 1904^[1]. A recipe for Crab Louie exists from this date in a publication entitled Bohemian San Francisco by Clarence E. Edwords,^[2] and in the 1910 edition of a cookbook by Victor Hertzler, head chef of the city's St. Francis Hotel.^[3]

Wikipedia's Photo of Crab Louie

By some accounts it was created by entrepreneur Louis Davenport, founder of the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Washington. Davenport spent his early years in San Francisco before moving to Spokane Falls. He would use crab imported from Seattle to be offered in his hotel. His recipe pre-dates 1914 and can be found in hotel historical menus. The popularity of Crab Louie has diminished since its heyday in the early to mid 1900's, but it can still be found on the menu of some hotels and restaurants on the West Coast, including the Palace Hotel in San Francisco and the Davenport Hotel."

 

The main (but quite significant difference) in this week's recipes centers around the dressing. Betty's recipe includes sugar and worcestershire sauce, while the challenger recipe is way different!  It incorporates many of the classic louie ingredients such as eggs and olives in the dressing.

Betty Crocker's Crab Louis

Note from Betty:  A classic from our happy heritage of West Coast salads.  It's an ideal salad for a light luncheon -- you can count on everyone liking crabmeat.

2 cans (7.5 ounces each) crabmeat or 2 packages (6 ounces each) frozen cooked crabmeat, thawed
Louis Dressing (below)
4 tomatoes quartered
4 hard-cooked eggs, quartered
Ripe or green olives
4 cups bite-size pieces salad greens, chilled

Drain crabmeat and remove cartilage; chill.  Prepare Louis Dressing.  Arrange crabmeat, tomatoes, eggs, and olives on greens.  Pour Louis Dressing over salad.

4 servings.

Louis Dressing

1/4 cup chili sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1 teaspoon instant minced onion
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt to tast

Mix all ingredients.  Cover and chill 30 minutes.

1 1/4 cups.

The Challenger Crab Louie Salad Recipe

Connie checked out Rachel Ray's recommendation for the best Crab Louie.  She highlighted this recipe from the Swan Oyster Depot in Nob Hill, San Francisco on one of her shows, so this seems like a definite winner.

Just to be sure, Connie checked out comments from patrons of this restaurant after they had eaten the Crab Louie salad and this is an example of what they said, "Pure, unadulterated seafood is the be-all and end-all at this historic eatery.  Lump crabmeat drenched in creamy Louie dressing elevates the throwback salad's shredded iceberg lettuce.  Try the Crab Louie...VERY delicious".  Watch out, Betty!!!

Salad:
1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
8 - 12 ounces fresh picked Dungeness crabmeat
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced lengthwise thinly
3 tomatoes, quartered
1/2 lb. asparagus speers, cooked

Dressing:
1 pint mayonnaise
1/2 pint tomato ketchup
1/2 cup sweet relish
1/2 cup chopped black olives
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped

Directions:
To make the dressing, mix together all ingredients.  Make a bed of iceberge lettuce on a large plate.  Top with crab, avocado, tomatoes, and asparagus.  Drizzle with Louie dressing.

4 servings.

So....who's gonna win the Crab Louis cookoff???

Bruce Kicks Some Betty Crocker Boo-Tay!

Well, we forgot how much fun it is to make cheese straws...and how good they taste!  This would be a great cooking project to do with children. Also, I suspect that we'll be including these in future get-togethers/picnics with friends and family.  Seriously, they are that good!

Bruce started first with his challenger recipe.  He used a serated pastry cutter to get the unique shape...they looked just like french fries!  As soon as Connie took a nibble, she knew that Betty was in trouble.  Bruce's cheese straws were addictive with their slightly spicy taste.

Bruce's Cheese Straws

Connie took extra care in following Betty's recipe.  There were several shapes that were recommended for the same recipe and she chose the twisted variety.  They looked quite pretty when they were done, however the flavor was much blander than Bruce's version (so children may prefer this recipe).



                                                              Betty's Cheese Straws

Connie's only hope was that perhaps this week's judge would prefer less impactful cheese straws and a more traditional appearance.

So..on to this week's judge!  Our friends, Halle and Rich, hosted a Saturday afternoon get-together for about 40 of Halle's friends.  The menu was wine and chocolate and we figured that cheese straws would be a nice complement.  Halle graciously agreed to be this week's "guinea pig".  She is an excellent cook in her own right (she's masterful with autumn soups), but she's also one of those Human Resources people who never wants to hurt anyone's feelings, so we figured this might be a challenge for her to have to choose a winner.

                                                                 Halle and Rich

Connie got to the party early and presented both sets of cheese straws.  Halle started with Bruce's challenger version first.  This is what she said:  "Oh!  Oh my!  Oh!  This is sooooooo good!"  This continued for several long minutes until we thought perhaps that we needed to give her some privacy~!  She went on to ask what the "secret ingredients" were (cayenne and dried mustard) and how Bruce made them look like french fries -- so very clever! She topped it off by asking for the recipe so that she could serve them to her Easter guests!

Connie pretty much knew that it was over for Betty at this point, but bravely put on her game face.  Halle gingerly nibbled on one small end of one of Betty's cheese straws and said:  "Are these the ones that you made?"  Connie replied that it didn't matter who the cook was...the competition was against Betty not Bruce or Connie.  She still looked doubtful and finally said that she didn't want to hurt Connie's feelings (no surprise there)!  

'Nuff said!  

As Connie soothed Betty's ruffled feathers, Halle continued wolfing down Bruce's cheese straws...yes, they are that good.

Congratulations,  Bruce!

Current Scorecard:

Betty:                    2

Challenger:          1