Students in the Hawaii Community College Culinary Arts program in West Hawaii were the overall first place winners at the 17th annual Hilo Culinary Classic that took place April 10 at the Hawaii Community College campus in Hilo.
The annual culinary competition was well-attended this year, and it featured food to eat as well as dishes meant exclusively for viewing. Foodies, families of student chefs and members of the public enjoyed the technical heights achieved by the Culinary Arts students.
The judges were Sandy Dubczak, chef instructor at HCC, Chef Casey Halpern of Cafe Pesto and Chef Aaron Anderson of Hilo Bay Cafe.
The winners in the College Student Division and overall winners were: first place, the team of Tiffany Chesser and Arnel Andres, buffet desserts platter; second place: Tasha Bohol, cake; third place; Hana Jung-Okuda, six individual desserts.
Winners in the Professional Division were: first place, the team of Jayme Yoshimura and Keoki Medeiros, seven-course meal.
To right are two of the recipes from the winning entry at the Hilo Culinary Classic as prepared by West Hawaii students Tiffany Chesser and Arnel Andres.
Orange Cookies
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups butter
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons orange extract
1 tablespoon orange zest
Preparation:
Cream butter and sugar.
Add vanilla and zest and mix.
Add flour and mix well.
Roll out cookies to desired thickness.
Put in freezer for 10 to 15 minutes. Take out and cut out cookies with cutter.
Bake at 325 degrees about eight to 10 minutes.
Kiwi Rum Cake Mad Hats
2 cups fresh kiwis
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
Zest of one large lemon
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons rum
Fondant for decoration
1 cup simple syrup
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease square cake pan. Sprinkle evenly with nuts.
Chop and peel kiwi fruit.
In a mixer, combine oil, egg and rum until incorporated.
Sift together dry ingredients and place into bowl. Make a well in the middle of dry ingredients. Pour in oil and egg mixture. Mix until just combined.
Fold in kiwi fruit and zest.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Allow cake to cool completely before decorating. To make hats, use a round cutter to cut out cakes. Roll out fondant thinly. Brush cakes lightly with simple syrup. Cover completely with fondant. If needed, roll out more fondant for rims of hat. Cut rims with a larger round cutter than used for cakes. Attach the two parts of the hat with a little simple syrup. Embellish hats as desired.