cooking FOR fun
WITH SAM BOZZO
39th Annual Gilroy Garlic Festival
Champions for Charity Cook-off
After the 2016 SakaBozzo retirement from being on the Garlic Festival stage for 25 years , I did not expect to be back up there this year . We were surprised when SakaBozzo was invited to judge the Champions for Charity cook-off competition on Friday , July 28th . Gene Sakahara and I were joined by chef Jason Gronlund , a two time Gilroy Garlic Festival Professional Chef Cook Off winner . The contest was made even more lively by master of ceremonies , Shaun O ’ Neale , season seven winner on Fox Network Master Chef . His entertaining banter kept the first responders and the audience laughing .
Three teams of first responders competed for a $ 3,000 donation to their chosen charity . The defending champions Herb Alpers and Tom Evans from CAL FIRE / South Santa Clara County Fire Protection District were competing for the Muscular Dystrophy Association . Next John Campbell and Morgan Sanders from AMR ( American Medical Response ) Rural / Metro Ambulance , Santa Clara County were hoping to win the prize money for the Alzheimer ’ s Association . It should be noted that John won the “ unofficial uniform ” award for this camouflaged kilt . Finally , Robert Herrera and Ludwin Marroquin of the San Jose Fire Department were cooking their best for the Bill Wilson Center for Youth and Families of Santa Clara County .
The competition started with revealing the secret ingredients for the entrée … shrimp , boxed macaroni and cheese , Christopher Ranch Pesto and Hazmat Hot Sauce . This round would see one team being eliminated . The teams each had 30 minutes to prepare the entrée They also had access to a well stocked pantry . Each dish was presented to the judges for scoring and tabulating .
The winning entree dish was shrimp dippd in flour and sautéed in extra virgin olive oil dashed with the Hazmat Hot Sauce , which , by the way , was developed by Cook Off chairperson , Marcie Morrow . The meal was served with the boxed noodles and a medley of shitake , cremini , Portobello and oyster mushrooms topped with roasted garlic and a Merlot wine reduction . Voting was close and the first round went to John Campbell and Morgan Sanders from AMR Rural / Metro Ambulance . Defending champions Herb Alders and Tom Evans from CAL FIRE were eliminated .
Next came the second round challenge of making a dessert with the secret ingredients … heavy cream , zucchini , roasted garlic and spam . John and Morgan took heavy whipping cream , roasted garlic , brown sugar julienne sliced spam with a bit of olive oil butter and spiral zucchini . John created a Crème Anglaise which is egg yolks and sugar whisked and gently blended on double boiler until a lightly simmered custard is formed . Their finished dish was beautiful and delicious .
Maybe it was the heat or the heat of the competition but my mind wondered to thoughts of bananas foster … except it was zucchini and spam with the roasted garlic , butter and brown sugar and when the Crème Anglaise was gently poured over those ingredients , my mind went to a rare great holiday dessert , Zabaione , with almost the same ingredients .
After tasting and evaluating the two desserts , the winner was announced . The Champions of Charity went to John Campbell and Morgan Sanders from AMR Rural / Metro Ambulance , Santa Clara County . Based on their win , a check for $ 3,000 was sent to the Alzheimer ’ s Association .
The three teams competing gave their all , just like they do every day in their role as first responders . We thank them for their service and their willingness to contribute their winnings to a much needed non-profit . Based on the hugs and congratulations , everyone enjoyed the day and the competition .
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GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2017 gmhtoday . com