Showing posts with label pie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pie. Show all posts
KCRW Good Food Pie Contest
Last month KCRW and LACMA (L.A. County Museum of Art) hosted the 3rd Annual Good Food Pie Contest. I added it to my calendar spring of this year to make sure I attended in the fall. Have to get those priorities straight!
Last year I had the pleasure of attending the 2nd Annual Good Food Pie Contest in Beverly Hills, behind the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The spacious setting, apron fashion show, pies to taste everywhere I looked and ample shade made it a great event.
The man in top hat sharing his pie tastings with his dog added to the unique vibe.
It was perhaps a bit less organized, lacking shade/seats, had much larger crowds/lines compared to last year, but still worth experiencing.
Categories: nut, cream, fruit, savory and Tim Burton inspired (to complement the current Tim Burton retrospective exhibition at LACMA). What a great theme for pies!
You can find the winners at this link. For some reason this year just bakers' names were announced, not the pie names. And if you were in line for tasting, you were far from the stage, so it was really hard to follow who won what during the event.
However, I love that Best in Show went to a Classic Apple Pie, as making a perfect classic trumps trendy flavors all the time in my book.
A lot of articles and blog posts give insider views of entrants/bakers, judges and contain lovely pie photos. I'd love to show you what it was really like there. The exciting, crazy energy and the pies after being cut into.
Nut Pies
Cream Pies
Aside from banana cream pie, this isn't my favorite category. A Banana Cream Pie and Banana Nutella Cream Pie both placed in the awards. I tried to get a taste of the Banana Nutella Pie, which looked like a cloud of heavenly cream, but did not want to fight the crowd to get to it.
The original is made with a butterscotch filling, but this Crack Pie with Chocolate version really rocked. The chocolate, not over-sweet, held equal billing with the crumbly crust.
Tim Burton Inspired
The winner in this category, Emily Baker's James and the Giant Peach Pie did indeed have a whole peach perched on top.
This Beetlejuice Pie of green tea mousse and 'slimed goo' tasted and looked beautiful, but unfortunately, the photo is too shady. The goo part had a good seedy texture.
This Dr. Pepper, Pepita, Pink Peppercorn Pie also sounded and looked interesting. I'm not sure what movie or character it references. Pepita is the Spanish word for pumpkin seeds.
Some of my friends and I snuck some chairs out of Ray's restaurant to sit and eat a bit to make room for the many, many other tasters in line.
That red stained plate reminds me of a painter's palette.
Fruit Pies
That red stained plate reminds me of a painter's palette.
Fruit Pies
This Bourbon Peach Pie with Crystallized Ginger Crust really won it hands down among the fruit pies I tasted. The crust held up without getting soggy and the peaches tasted sweet and tart, just how I like them.
Cherry pies are among my favorites too. By this time I was sticking to the unusual and impossible to pass up pies, knowing my appetite was dwindling with each passing minute.
Cherry pies are among my favorites too. By this time I was sticking to the unusual and impossible to pass up pies, knowing my appetite was dwindling with each passing minute.
Savory Pies
The Filipino Chicken Adobo Pie with sesame seed latticed crust succeeded well. Very tasty, balanced filling with right amount of crust.
The Individual Aussie Meat Pies had a flaky, light crust. I found the meat filling a bit too salty, although overall a great effort.
It's always a treat running into my friend Cecilia Fabulich and trying her food. This Herb Tomato Pie had cheesy, quiche-like, bright flavors. She's competed and won many cooking competitions.
The Mushroom Forest Tart is a great idea, but also felt that it was a bit strong on salt and the mushroom garnishes dried out a bit. The vegan Fried Chicken Picnic Pie next to it looked interesting as well.
One of my very favorites of the day, Terry Sweeney's Persian Tart (won the savory 1st place ribbon), really brought taste and creativity to the game. Just standing near it, the herbal and savory scents wafting by totally drew me in. His friendly demeanor made it even more appealing.
The filling of shredded chicken blended beautifully with tamarind, fenugreek and other fresh herbs and spices.
The Good Food site posted the recipe and mentioned his plans to make the same pie with lamb cubes too. That might even take it to more stratsopheric levels of tastiness.
After taking the tiny bite I requested, I regretted not taking the full slice he originally offered me. Had there not still been a very long line, I would have gone back for seconds of only this glorious pie.
Uncertain Which Categories....
The filling of shredded chicken blended beautifully with tamarind, fenugreek and other fresh herbs and spices.
The Good Food site posted the recipe and mentioned his plans to make the same pie with lamb cubes too. That might even take it to more stratsopheric levels of tastiness.
After taking the tiny bite I requested, I regretted not taking the full slice he originally offered me. Had there not still been a very long line, I would have gone back for seconds of only this glorious pie.
Uncertain Which Categories....
I saw a sign for Artichoke Heart Pie and expected to see a savory tart with sliced artichoke hearts on top. This one looked more like a lime colored pumpkin pie. And surprise #2 was that it was not savory, but sweet!
It tasted fine, although it was a bit hard to wrap my head around it. The presentation could have been more indicative of the ingredients, in my humble opinion.
It tasted fine, although it was a bit hard to wrap my head around it. The presentation could have been more indicative of the ingredients, in my humble opinion.
I felt bad looking at pies or locking eyes with bakers and saying 'no' to their offer of a slice. I would have tried them all if I could, but never do well with large quantities of sweets.
There's always next year too. Cannot wait!
Maui Series: Island Foods
Today is the 1-month anniversary for Tiffin unBoxed. So in order to round out the month, here is the last in my Maui Series and it is, of course, about the food. As much as I adore Hawaii, it hasn't been the most exciting food destination for me. In any case, I tend to focus on some of the food items unique to the islands, and in doing so, found some exciting options.
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| Papaya with lilikoi (passion fruit) in center |
The Hawaiian papaya is native to the American tropics. When they are ripe they feel like a ripe avocado and are orange to pink in flesh. There was a little craft market in Kihei from where we bought fruits and fresh coconut water. This papaya was served with the seeds removed and a scoop of fresh lilikoi (Hawaiian passion fruit) in the center. Papaya is often served in tropical countries with a squeeze of lime, which enhances its tropical flavor. This tart lilikoi provided the same flavor enhancer, but tasted and looked better.
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| fresh, organic jackfruit at the Maui Swap Meet Farmer's Market |
On Saturday I drove to the weekly Maui Swap Meet, hosted at the Maui Community College. Within the market one can find all kinds of local fruits and vegetables such as this rarely seen jackfruit. They also had Cuban bananas (they are red!), coconut, rambutan, green mangos, bitter melon, Hawaiian avocados, several varietes of eggplants and plenty of other produce and fresh plants.
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| poke at Lulu's |
During the trip, my former college roommate and I had a reunion after more than a decade. We went to a popular restaurant in Kihei called LuLu's. It has a full bar, game room and ocean view with open air seating. She chose this great Hawaiian specialty dish called Ahi Poke. It is cubed raw Ahi fish marinated in soy sauce, onions and other seasonings. It was served atop a bed of wasabi edameme spread with wonton crisps.
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| Mahi Plate at Paia Fish Market |
In our group, the consensus on best meal was this grilled, blackened Mahi served with cole slaw and potato salad or rice. It was juicy, flavorful and flaky. The dark sauce towards the front of the plate is the sweet and vinegary bottled Tiger Sauce, which goes well with seafood. The Paia Fish Market always has a line and limited, communal bench seating. We came and enjoyed this meal more than once during the trip.
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| roadside rotisserie chicken |
While driving home from the swap meet, I was looking for lunch to pick up and take back to the condo. On Kihei Road I found this roadside stall cooking rotiserrie chicken over coals. This chicken made a great lunch along with corn and rice. Of course they had Sriracha hot sauce on the side.
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| sushi counter at Star Market |
Los Angeles is a big sushi town. It's available almost anywhere and is incredibly popular. The Star supermarket in Maui not only had multiple varieties of fresh poke, but had very interesting and colorful packaged sushi along with coordinating side dishes and beverages.
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| jellies and jams |
Many stores in town had these wonderful assortments of jams and jellies, including lilikoi butter, guava butter, Kula strawberry jam, mango chutney, papaya jelly, pineapple jelly, pineapple-coconut jam. We also found coconut syrup for pancakes. Many stores also sell Hawaiin finishing salts, honey and an irresistable coconut candy made with fresh coconuts cooked in sugar cane and water
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| banana cream pie at Stillwell's Bakery |
Banana cream pie is my favorite pie, when made well. Anyone who loves banana and/or pie should high tail it to Kahului and visit Stillwell's Bakery. They are famous for their cream horns and of course, this unforgettable pie. It is served chilled and made of the most delicous cream, layer of custard, slightly tart and sweet Hawaiian bananas and a crispy, buttery crust. It was one of the few things I ate in the car right after buying it (normally my need for tidiness prevents me from doing that).
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| shaved ice with lychee and guava flavors |
Another classic local treat is the ubiquitous Hawaiian shaved ice, which is so refreshing in the island heat and humidity. For mine I chose lychee and guava flavors. These ices are served with tropical fruit syrups. For me it was a bit too sweet. My taste buds have been spoiled by the L.A. Chinese shaved ices served with sweetened, condensed milk and fresh fruits! Nevertheless, it's worth a try at least once.
What's worth more than 1 try is what the rest of this write-up will be devoted to - Ono Gelato. My sweet tooth is not too strong, except for ice cream and gelato. And this unique gelato is made fresh daily from drug-free cow milk, organic fresh fruits and they also use bio-degradable packaging and utensils.
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| Ono Gelato's sorbettos - dairy free |
This photo shows a sampling of Ono Gelato's dairy free sorbettos - dark chocolate, guava, pineapple and Seamist, which is a magical concoction of organic tea, lime, lemongrass and mint. Have you ever seen gelato with fresh lillies, herbs and orchids on top? Lovely.
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| Ono Gelato's milk-based gelatos |
I'm a dairy afficionado. Although I loved the sorbettos, the gelatos really drew me in. Although each one outdid the other, there are a couple of exceptional flavors I gleefully settled on.
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| Ono Gelato's very popular Lilikoi Quark gelato |
Lilikoi Quark - made with Surfing Goat Dairy's award winning goat cheese and passion fruit. For those that love tart and slightly sweet fruit flavors with a rich creaminess, this is IT. It tasted like passion fruit with sour cream with a hint of cheesecake, all rolled into one. Intense flavor. Just look at it!
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| Ono Gelato's Sandy Beach gelato |
Sandy Beach - made from peanut butter, coconut candy (the best) and sea salt. With gelato I am a sucker for textures as well as sweet and salty. This flavor balanced the tart Lilikoi Quark very well. Creamy, sweet, salty, crunchy, peanuty. A winner for sure.
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| Ono Gelato's packaged gelatos |
The S.P.A.M. gelato idea is genius. I believe it stood for strawberry, papaya, apple banana and mango. Another fruity delight.
And with that, we are done with the Maui series, inspired by a great vacation 2 months ago. Aloha and Mahalo!
