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Dutch Oven Cookoff held
Prairie Horizons and the Cottonwood Chamber of Commerce want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped make the 1st Annual Dutch Oven Cook-Off such a great success at the Idaho County Fair. This event was held on Saturday, August 23rd in the City Park. The cook-off was a fundraiser for the renovations of the Community Hall in Cottonwood. 
We would first like to thank all of our sponsors who helped with their support of time, money and prizes. Thank you for going that extra mile by reaching out to show your support in making our communities’ vision begin to be a reality. The sponsors include: Cottonwood Chamber of Commerce, Cottonwood Cash and Carry, Arnzen Drug, Angie’s Crafts and Supplies, Riener’s Grocery, Hoene Hardware, Grangeville Ace Hardware, Lewiston Army/Navy Store, Cloninger’s Harvest Food – Kamiah, Kathee Tifft, St. Mary’s Employee Fund, Primeland Cooperatives, Kamiah Tru-Valu Hardware and the Monastery of St. Gertrude Next we want to thank the judges who took time out of their busy schedules and did both field judging and food tasting for all the participants’ dishes. Our judges were Rocky and Joe Sams, winners of the North Central Idaho Dutch Oven Cook-Off, and Bertie Forsmann who is well known for her excellent cooking here in Cottonwood. The Sams will be participating in the national Dutch Oven Cook-Off being held in Salt Lake City, Utah in March 2009. We thank all of you so much for your time and talent as well as your ideas which will help make our competition even better next year. We wouldn’t have been able to have the competition without our participants, and we thank them for making this possible. They too stretched themselves as this was everyone’s first time to be in a Dutch Oven competition. Most of the competitors said they enjoy doing this kind of cooking in their backyard or while camping. They certainly looked relaxed and knew what they were doing. The teams were: #1 -- Nancy and Tim Costa from Kooskia who cooked a main dish of ‘Creamy Chicken Enchilada’ and a dessert dish of ‘Peach Crisp topped with Blueberries’ #2 -- Sunnie Renshaw and Victoria Davis also from Kooskia whose main dish was ‘Pesto Lasagna Rolls’ and a side dish of ‘Ginger Lime Sweet Potatoes’ #3 -- Stan and Melanie Hawkins from Cottonwood who made ‘Sheepherder’s Bread’ and they said their children grew up eating this delicious staple #4 -- Drs. Teel Bruner and Jeremy Ostrander from Cottonwood whose main dish was ‘JO’s Chicken and Biscuits,’ a side dish of ‘Jalapeno Cheesy Dutch Potatoes,’ and a dessert of ‘Kentucky Mud Cake’ #5 -- Tom and Judy Gehring from Keuterville who made a main dish of ‘Chicken Ole’ and a dessert of ‘Cherry Pie’ #6 -- Bob Michels from Cottonwood made a main dish of ‘Creamy Chicken’ and a side dish of ‘Crabby Mushroom Spread’ The winners were as follows: Main Dish – Sunnie Renshaw and Victoria Davis for their ‘Pesto Lasagna Rolls’ Side Dish – Sunnie Renshaw and Victoria Davis for their ‘Ginger-Lime Sweet Potatoes’ Bread Dish – Stan and Melanie Hawkins for their ‘Sheepherder’s Bread Dessert Dish – Judy and Tom Gehring for their ‘Cherry Pie’ Taster’s Choice – Drs. Teel Bruner & Jeremy Ostrander for their ‘JO’s Chicken & Biscuits We also want to thank the many people who supported the ‘tasting’ portion of the competition and of course all the volunteers who worked so hard to make this all happen. Everyone enjoyed the day and we look forward to having an even larger event next year at the fair. The winning recipes follow: 17 on TOP 8 on BTM 30 Minutes Serves 7 2 (26 oz) pasta sauce or 6 cups homemade 3-4 cloves garlic, minced 1 15-oz container ricotta cheese 2 cups cut up fresh spinach 1-3 ½ oz. jar prepared pesto 1 egg ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese ½ teaspoon salt freshly ground pepper 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese Fill 12” DO with water and heat over a mound of hot coals until the water is hot enough to soften noodles, drain. Combine garlic, ricotta, spinach, pesto, egg, Parmesan, salt and pepper in bowl. Place a lasagna noodle on a cutting mat; spread ¼ cup of the ricotta mixture on the noodle. Roll noodle up; and place seam side down off the side. Repeat with remaining noodles. Empty remaining water from DO and wipe out with a paper towel. Spread 1-26 oz container of pasta sauce in the bottom of the DO. Place the noodle roll ups in sauce and spread the other 26 oz. of sauce over the top of noodles. Grate the mozzarella over the sauce. Place lid on DO and start baking process for 30 minutes. 18 on TOP 9 on BTM 55 minutes or until Potatoes are soft Serves 12 10 cups thinly sliced, peeled sweet potatoes (about 3 lbs.) ½ cup butter 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 1 tbls. lime zest 2 tbls. fresh lime juice 1 tbls. orange zest 1 tbls. peeled grated fresh ginger 1 tsp. soy sauce 1 tsp. salt ¼ tsp. pepper Combine flour and sliced potatoes in a large bowl, toss to coat. Melt butter in small sauce DO. Add sugar and next 7 ingredients (sugar through pepper); cook 4 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Pour over potato mixture; toss well. Spoon mixture into a parchment lined 10” DO. Cover and cook for 55 minutes, checking to see if potatoes are soft. Let stand 10 minutes with lid ajar before removing from DO. Sheepherders Bread 1 Tbls Salt 1 Tbls Yeast – dissolved in 1 cup warm water 4 Tbls Evaporated Milk 3 cups Water 10–12 cups flour Mix all ingredients together until dough is stiff – not sticky. Let rise until doubled in size. Punch down. Knead dough thoroughly until all air is out and dough is very soft. Put in greased dutch oven and let rise until dough is about one inch from lid. Bake over 8 briquets or coals with coal all along the top lip of lid. Bake until golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Dutch Oven Cherry Pie Filling 3 or 41/2 Tablespoons Minute tapioca 1½ or 2 cups sugar ¼ or ½ teaspoons Almond extract Use either the lesser or greater amount of ingredients listed for filling depending on the size of your Dutch oven and how much filling you would like. Mix cherries and juice, tapioca, sugar and almond extract in bowl and let stand 15 minutes while preparing crust. 11/2 teaspoons salt 1 cup chilled vegetable shortening 6-8 tablespoons ice water ¼ cup milk and 2 tablespoons sugar mixed for brushing the crust during baking. Canola oil or butter to coat the Dutch oven. Prepare the Dutch oven by coating the base and sides of the Dutch oven with canola oil or butter. Place flour and salt in a mixing bowl and cut in shortening with a pastry blender or by crumbling lightly by hand until the mixture resembles course meal. Sprinkle water over the surface of the mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, and mix in lightly with a fork, just until pastry holds together. Shape gently into a ball on a lightly floured pastry cloth or hard surface, then flatten into a circle about 1 inch thick. Using a rolling pin, and short firm strokes, roll ½ of the pastry into a circle about 3” larger then the Dutch oven pan you plan to use. To transfer the pastry into the pan, lay the rolling pin across center the pastry circle, fold half of pastry over pin and ease into pan. Press lightly into pan. Fill the pie shell by adding the prepared filling and dot with small dabs of butter. Brush the top edges of the crust with cold water. (This helps seal the crust together). Roll out the other half of the pastry as you did the first and cover the top of the filling with the crust. Make fluted edges by rolling the crust edges over each other and crimp to seal. Cut designs on the top crust to let air escape during baking. If you have dough left over, you may cut designs to add to the top crust. Attach designed pieces by brushing with water and the area that will be covered with the designs. Cookie cutters may be used to make designs. Make sure you have air vents that are not covered by the added designs. Mix milk, sugar and set aside. Bake approximately 45-50 minutes or until juices form bubbles that burst slowly. Bake with 1/3 briquettes on bottom and 2/3 on top. 10” oven – 7 (bottom), 14 (top). When pie starts to bubble and crust starts to brown, place foil over crust to keep from burning. For a shiny crust, brush crust with milk and sugar mixture as the pie starts to bubble. May repeat brushing the crust several times. 10-inch Dutch oven serves 6-8. Serve with whipped topping or ice cream and enjoy! JO's Chicken n' Biscuits Chicken Olive oil 1/2 cup White wine Fresh sage Fresh thyme 3/4 cup of each of the following fresh vegetables: sweet com, green beans, caITots, celery, and onion I cup heavy cream 1-2 cups chicken stock Dash of Tabasco Salt and pepper to taste I tsp fresh lemon juice 1/4 cup flour mixed with 2 tbsp water 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp fresh thyme 1 stick unsalted butter, grated with cheese grater 3,4 cup pepper jack cheese 1/2 cup half and half Clean chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces. Dredge in flour, and flavor with salt and pepper. Heat dutch with 15-20 coals just on the bottom, and fry the chicken in the olive oil until it takes on some color. Deglaze with white wine and cook down by about half. Put thyme and sage into some cheesecloth, tie with kitchen twine, and place in dutch. Cover with vegetables, and add stock. Make sure that the mixture is not completely covered by fluid, as the vegetables will give off a lot of water. Replace lid, and place 15 or so coals on top. Bring to a vigorous boil and stir. Replace lid and adjust coals, 2/3 top, 1/3 bottom to a steady simmer. You'll probably need to remove some coals. Cook chicken and veggies for 20-30 minutes until vegetables are almost cooked through. In the meantime. . . . . .make the biscuits. Put all dry ingredients together and mix. Add the butter and cheese and toss. Add the half and half, and mix quickly. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead quickly (maybe for a minute or so). Add flour as needed if too sticky. Press out with fingers and cut into biscuits. Add cream, adjust flavorings with salt, pepper, and lemon, and add a dash of Tabasco to taste. Bring back to a simmer. Add flour mixture and bring back to a boil. Put biscuits on top of chicken mixture, and put some extra cheese on top if you like. Move all coals to lid and cook until you can smell the biscuits (about 10-15 minutes more). Have a beer while your partner makes the dessert! |
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