March memories, 2008, with swell food, my sons, and my little Mama.

Lamont got invited to participate in the Chef's Blackbox Competition, and he asked his brother Leland to be his assistant--they've worked together many years at the same restaurant, several ones, in fact, starting in Jackson, Mississippi, and ending up here in Portland, Oregon, at 3 Doors Down Cafe where they both worked in 2008. Decision-making time meant looking around at what's available and making notes for a three-course menu. What to select from the ingredients to prepare dishes for the judges at the Taste of Tillamook competition held March 15, 2008, in Tillamook, Oregon. That's Lamont on the right, Leland on the left. The secret ingredients, yet to be revealed.



Available produce, fruit, spices. Lamont selected prawns and cod from the secret ingredients--I don't remember what else was available, nor do I remember what the competing chef chose. The teams had one hour to prep and cook their three dishes.



Leland works on leeks; Lamont works on salsa verde.



Leland works on fennel; Lamont works on salsa verde.



Leland and the mandoline slicer, part of prepping for the salad.



Prep, an important and on-going step to creating tasty plates.



Leland and the spinach. I'm not sure what Lamont is opening in this photo.



Busy cook.



Left hands.



Still busy cook.



Right hands.





Memorable appetizer--sautéed prawns (a secret ingredient), freshly made salsa verde, and sautéed leeks with bacon.



Memorable salad--quarter-sized cucumber slices surround a mound of match-stick-sliced fennel and Granny Smith apple, topped with paper-thin slices of red onion.



Memorable entree--pan-roasted cod (a secret ingredient), spinach sautéed with garlic and capers, and roasted fingerling potatoes.



The five judges.



Getting up close and personal with the judges. Those extra people also bid on plates and ate the ones prepared by the other chef. More about Lamont and Leland's plates later.



A bit more with the judges.



My little Mama, smiling her special smile, enjoying this time with my sons and me just as much as we enjoyed it and being with her.



In review, the requirements were to make three demonstration dishes, using a different secret ingredient in two of those dishes, then prepare more of the same for the five judges to taste. At the end of an intense hour for the four cooks, Mama and I won the bidding competition for the demo dishes (a fundraiser for Food Safety in Tillamook County) and got to pick which chef's dishes we wanted to eat. That's a no brainer, right. While their food was delicious--we cleaned the plates in no time--the judges made the other guy the winner by 11 points.



And here they are, the two most important men in my life, Leland and Lamont, one-hundred-per-cent their father's sons.

ABC Wednesday - I is for Incredible Indulgence

Thank you for your kind indulgence at this show and tell of the food my sons cooked last Saturday at the Taste of Tillamook over on the Pacific coast. Lamont got invited to participate in the Chef's Blackbox Competition, and he asked his brother Leland to be his assistant.

Incredible appetizer--sautéed prawns (a secret ingredient), freshly made salsa verde, and sautéed leeks with bacon.


Incredible salad--quarter-sized cucumber slices surround a mound of match-stick-sliced fennel and Granny Smith apple, topped with paper-thin slices of red onion.


Incredible entree--pan-roasted cod (a secret ingredient), spinach sautéed with garlic and capers, and roasted fingerling potatoes.


The requirements were to make three demonstration dishes, using a different secret ingredient in two of those dishes, then prepare more of the same for the five judges to taste. At the end of an intense hour for the four cooks, Mama and I won the bidding competition for the demo dishes (a fundraiser for Food Safety in Tillamook County) and got to pick which chef's dishes we wanted to eat. That's a no brainer, right. While their food was delicious--we cleaned the plates in no time--the judges made the other guy the winner by 11 points.

Mama and I are incredibly blessed to have Lamont and Leland in our lives, and it's not just because we've not had to cook a single holiday meal since we moved to Portland, although that is absolutely nothing to sneeze at, right? All you always-the-one(s)-who-cook-holiday-meals know what I'm talking about. It's that and so much more. We love those two kind, creative, caring, talented, responsible men!

Be sure to go to Mrs. Nesbitt's Place for loads of other ABC Wednesday blogs!

Thanks to Lindsay for taking these great photos.

A bit of this, a bit of that, and they're off . . .

Fresh ingredients make cooking fun, tasty, rewarding.

The secret ingredients revealed--fresh seafood and cheese. The competition required each chef to make three dishes and to use a secret ingredient in two of them. I'm not sure, but I'll find out soon, if that had to be two different secret ingredients.

I didn't get a shot of the secret ingredients themselves because I felt it would be uncouth to walk up there behind the chefs while they were competing. And afterwards I was too busy eating and taking photos to even think of it. More about eating tomorrow.





















. . . continued tomorrow.

Before the big reveal ...

Leland and Lamont spend time going over the pros and cons of fresh ingredients, the ones that they could see there in front of them on the table.

Out of sight to the left of this shot sat a large plastic tub, covered with a white table cloth.

Lamont's taking notes on a restaurant order pad as they think about what would come next, the big reveal--the unveiling of the secret ingredients.

More tomorrow, if I can get my computer to cooperate--something about the startup disk. I don't even know what that is, so I just might be in a world of hurt.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!