You check your fridge and see some pink gulf shrimp and flounder, a few bunches of fresh dill and chives and plums in the fruit drawer. There’s a nice jar of crispy chili flakes on the spice rack you want to use, too. You have the usual pantry staples, as well as dairy products, some grains and a good array of veggies.
Your last-minute dinner party starts in three hours, and you need an appetizer, main and dessert ready by the time guests arrive using those primary ingredients. Go!
That was the challenge facing Florida Tech Executive Chef Jon Skoviera and his Campus Dining team at the 32nd Annual UMASS Chef’s Culinary Conference earlier this summer, which concludes with a American Culinary Foundation-sanctioned competition.
As they have in the past, the team of Skoviera, Sous Chef Steven Concis and Crystal Mensch (who anchor the university’s catering department), and Pastry Chef Julia Nelson (she of Crimson Crossing cake fame) met the challenge with creativity, skill and excellence. And as they have in the past, the team walked away with a major prize in the competition – a silver medal.
The recipes they created under those challenging conditions included Key West gulf shrimp ramen with bok choy and shiitake mushrooms, crispy flounder and flounder quenelles with chive mashed Yukon potatoes and creamy dill fumet (a flavorful stock) and lemon ricotta entremets with plum sauce and creme anglaise for dessert.
The competition was rewarding and challenging, Skoviera said.
“The most rewarding thing is the recognition you get from your peers and the judges by creating amazing dishes from the same ingredients,” he said. “The trickiest is making the items work together to create a harmonious dish, because they like to give you items that are not easily paired together.”
The dishes were judged on taste, texture, quality of preparation and teamwork, and the Florida Tech team scored 88.83, less than 1.2 points from gold. It was the team’s third consecutive top-two finish.
Tom Stewart, assistant vice president of Campus Dining, said time spent at the conference yield benefits back home for more than just the team that attended.
“The experiences they get every year have been instrumental in the development of professionalism and teamwork within our staff,” he said. “They bring back excitement and great new ideas to incorporate into our dining program.”
