Rochester Recipe Run winners

More than 100 people showed up with their culinary creations for the Recipe Run at the Rochester Institute of Technology Thursday night, a pleasant surprise to food judges from RIT and the Democrat and Chronicle.

"It was fun," said D&C newspaper food writer Karen Miltner. "We didn't know how many people to expect. They had to go shopping. They had to cook, and they had to bring food to campus."

The event was one of the Week 2 challenges, focused on Local Food. Of 104 total food entries, judges chose a winner in each of the four categories - pizza, honey, cheese and pepper. The winners were:

Winner: David Sprout of Webster
Local ingredient: Homemade Pizza Crust from DiPaolo Bakery
Recipe: Garbage Plate Deep Dish Pizza.

Winner: Scott Myers of Chili
Local ingredient: Honey from Davis Honey
Recipe: Saffron Honey Ice Cream

Winner: David Volzer, RIT student from Honeoye Falls (prep work by Nathan Weeks).
Local ingredient: Habanero Cheddar from Larry's Cheese
Recipe: Pumpkin & Habanero Cheddar Souffle

Winner: Kimberly Kay of Pittsford
Local ingredient: Rochester Pepper Blend from Stuart's Spices
Recipe: Roasted Butternut Squash and Mango Soup.

Winners will receive a cookbook of their choice from the D&C Democrat and Chronicle collection. View the winning recipes as well as a list of contest judges online at picturetheimpossible.com, and get a taste of behind-the-scenes tidbits from the event in Miltner's food blog at DemocratandChronicle.com. (Click "Blogs.")

Judges for the Week 2 Rochester Recipe Run for Picture the Impossible were:

Stephen Jacobs, Associate Professor of Interactive Games & Media
Karen Miltner, Democrat and Chronicle food writer
Elizabeth Lawley, Director of the Lab for Social Computing
Kyle Omphroy, Democrat and Chronicle Web developer???
Elouise Oyzon, Associate Professor of Interactive Games & Media
Tim Trayhan, Democrat and Chronicle

- Chris Dicken, Democrat and Chronicle photo editor, also assisted with judging.

The winning recipes (as submitted by the winners):

Garbage Plate Deep Dish Pizza

1 DiPaolo Bakery pizza crust
2 beef patties - cooked
2 cups macaroni salad
2 cups home fires
2 eggs - beaten
8 oz. mozzarella cheese

Roll dough flat and place in a 12 inch cast iron pan. Combine all ingredients and pour into pan. Cover with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until cheese begins to brown.

Saffron-Honey Ice Cream

1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoons Saffron-Honey Mixture

- 3/4 teaspoon saffron threads
- 1/3 cup Davis Citrus Blossom 100% Pure Raw Honey
- 9 tablespoons of water

1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
Lots of ice
Rock salt

1. Start by making a syrup with the honey, water and saffron threads. Simmer the water and saffron in a small saucepan until reduced by half (about 5 minutes)
2. Stir in the honey. Set this aside and let it cool.
3. Use a "Play and Freeze" ice cream maker (http://icecreamrevolution.com) to make the ice cream. The next steps are based on the design of the device.
4. Mix the heavy whipping cream, sugar and 2 teaspoons of the Saffron-Honey Mixture and put it into the ice ceam ball.
5. In the ice part of the ball, fill with ice, and then add 1/2 cup rock salt to the ice.
6. Shake, shake, shake and roll the ball around for about 10 minutes.
7. Open the ice cream end, stir, scrape solidified cream off the edges, re-close.
8. Occasionally let some of the water drain from the ice section. Then add more ice and salt. SCIENCE!
9. Repeat steps 6, 7, 8 until the cream is a thick, yummy delight.
10. Eat up!

Recipe is rather loosely inspired by Aunt Margaret's recipe here

Pumkin and Cabot Habanero Cheddar Soufflé

This recipe was found at http://www.cabotcheese.coop/pages/recipes/recipe.php?id=86. The Cabot Habanero cheddar in the recipe was replaced with Habanero Cheddar from Larry's Cheese.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Mango Soup

2-3 lbs. butternut squash
2 T. olive oil
1 c. coarsely chopped Spanish onion
1 tsp.. rubbed sage
4 c. chicken stock
pinch allspice
1 mango
1 tsp. salt
1/2 to 1 tsp. Stuart's Pepper Blend
4 shakes cinnamon (or to taste)
1 generous pinch ginger (or to taste)
2 tsp. lemon juice (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. honey (or to taste)
1/2 c. toasted walnuts (optional)
half and half or cream (optional)

Place squash in baking pan for 1 hour at 435 degrees or until squash is soft to the touch and patches of skin are brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.
While squash is roasting, make soup base. Heat olive oil in saucepan over moderate heat and add onions, allspice and sage. Reduce heat and allow onions to sweat for 10 minutes or until tender. Add the mango and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and cook about 15 minutes.
When the squash is cool enough to handle, scoop out the pulp. Add pulp to soup base and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Puree the soup in a blender in batches until very smooth. Return to pan. Stir in salt, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, lemon juice and honey.
Let cool. Reheat and adjust the seasonings. Garnish with a swirl of cream, if desired and sprinkle with walnuts.