Exquisite cranberry GT relish, delicious GT Love cake, savory puff pastry GT Gruyere and Mushroom appetizer, smooth & creamy dill, potato GT soup, healthy & colorful GT Southwestern salad, Best of Show raspberry GT cobbler
BY CLAUDIA SLOVACEK
Every year the cooks, gardeners and neighborhood residents gather at the end of the growing season to celebrate our fall harvest and to squeeze every last ounce out of our gardens. Since the first killing frost of the season has not yet occurred the cooks had an abundance of green tomatoes to experiment with.
On Thursday, October 20th, the 12th and 13th Avenue Community Garden sponsored the 16th annual Green Tomato Cook-off at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Midtown Phillips. We had seven entries this year and as the judges weighed in, they said it was one of the hardest years to decide who made the best sauce, sweet and savory entries.
The judges this year included our long time guest, Ruth Holmquist, who has judged the contest for many years. We included a few new faces this year, inviting some of the staff/interns from St. Paul Lutheran’s Clinic to join us. Elizabeth Mishler, Meghan Deering, Rachel Wirthlin, and Howie Hsieh also participated in tasting and assessing the seven entries.
We started off the evening with fried green tomato appetizers, which were prepared by Sue Hunter Weir, Paul Weir and Wizard Marks. Many of the attendees raved about the appetizers and perhaps a few will try them on their own. This year’s featured a crust made with Panko breadcrumbs. A little hot sauce and salt and pepper and the tongues were dancing with this delectable appetizer.
Cash prizes and ribbons were awarded for three categories of entries: 1) Sweets like pies and tarts and ice cream (one of our all-time favorites was green tomato ice cream); 2) Savories like stews, soups, pestos, casseroles, frittatas, empanadas, spanakopita; and 3) Sauces/condiments, including salsas, relish, chutneys and the like. We even had green tomato beer one year!
This years”™ winners were as follows:
SAUCES
1st place for sauces went to Pastor Patrick Cabello Hansel for an exquisite Cranberry Green Tomato relish.
SWEET
1st place for sweet was awarded to Linnae Nelson Seys and Jamie Seys for their Green Tomato Love cake which added a moist and delicious finish to the meal.
SAVORY
3rd place for savory went to Wizard Marks for a great use of puff pastry in a Green Tomato, Gruyere and Mushroom appetizer.
2nd place for savory was awarded to Sue Hunter Weir for a smooth and creamy Dill Potato Green Tomato soup.
1st place for savory went to Sue Hunter Weir for a healthy and colorful Green Tomato Southwestern salad, including a green tomato dressing.
BEST OF SHOW
Best of show (best from all three categories) was awarded to Sue Hunter Weir in the sweet category for her Raspberry Green Tomato cobbler, fresh from the oven. Although a bit messy, it left the participants wanted to lick their plates clean so as not to miss any last remnants of its heavenly flavors.
Mark your calendars for next year’s cook-off, which will again occur on the third Thursday of October 2017. We encourage all cooks out there to start planning for next year’s contest, starting with this year’s crop.
