Roasted Corn Pasta Salad- that took the win win-( I won 5th place) and about 2015 fair

hello reader's this past 8 days been super busy competing at the san mateo county fair. I sure learned a few tips a long the way from the chef judges such as Bill Hutton etc. he gave me some great tips for the future cooking contests and even on TV, I mean yes on TV like Master chef or Chopped. I will be competing again in 2015. I heard they may be making a few changes, but The department chair Marie Kemper and My Dear Chef instructor buddy Chef Terri Dien will notify me at the time, I will only do 5-7 cooking contests next year for the fair. I decided for 2015 I am thinking of Entering the Happy cows California dairy products, again, this year the sponsor was Snap-ed the nutritition supplement program for low lncome families but the demos were open to the public for recipes and tastings, got to chance to meet a lot of great chefs and I have collected a lot of recipes using the top 5 san mateo county home grown crops artichokes, leeks, brussel sprouts, Fava beans and English peas. i got the leek stuffed salmon recipe, broiled leeks with an apple vinaigrette and a kale salad with a kick recipe are my recommended recipes. will be doing a blog about the recipes soon for those who didn't go to san mateo county fair or those who live miles and miles away. so speaking about happy cows i will be using the 2 out of 5 top ingredients brussel sprouts and leeks, will make a brussel sprout and leek au grain- made with a cheese sauce using clover storetta ingredients for 2015 and topped with bread crumbs for crunch so i just came up with the recipe a few days ago, will test it for thanksgiving this year and will let you know how it turns out and will re-test it again when the catalog comes out in January. i am also going to enter the heart healthy entrée contest- will be entering my sister's Blackberry  BBQ Meatloaf instead of beef using ground turkey and instead of store bought BBQ sauce will make my Facebook  Fan's Deb Ellison's Blackberry BBQ Sauce to help cut the sugar down. and then will compete with my niece Ariel for another kids and adult cooking contest, don't know the challenge yet but marie will let us know soon, will also redeem in Biscotti so i would divide the dough in half next time and add in cranberries and pecans instead of chocolate and almonds for 2015 and i got a two tone cupcake mold that the ladies game me at the pasta salad contest and will use that to enter my chocolate vanilla two tone cupcakes, will ask Busy Baker's owner Nicole for her basic cupcake batter recipes and will give her full credit then! for now i share my winnings with you so in August 2nd will be competing and redeeming my brownie recipe at the sonoma county fair chef bill gave me 2 important tips instead of cocoa powder add 1 cup chocolate  chips melted in microwave which im gonna do next time and instead of 2 cups sugar increase sugar to 1/2 extra only so the judges in Sonoma would taste the real difference. and in September 6th will be competing in the South san Francisco 2nd annual chili cook-off i said to chef terri, i am doing a rematch with you with a new sous chef so i hope chef terri is still up to the challenge and hopes to add her co-founder mia chambers along with her husband paul into her team. i got one team member that accepted into my team, she went to ECHS- El Camino high school in south san Francisco with me her name is Veronica sanchez and she is one of my newest assistant chefs for this year, she is a baker at mission minis and is a pastry student to become a pastry chef at the art institute i am  still waiting to  add another assistant will see what happens from there. so 2 more cooking contests to go in Sonoma and in South city, but san mateo see you in 2015

 

Roasted Corn Pasta Salad

 

1lb penne pasta

3 ears corn, husked off and kernels off the cob

1/2 onion, chopped

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 tablespoon vegetable or corn oil

1 cup mayonnaise with olive oil

2 tablespoons chipotle puree

2 cups chopped cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

 

method

preheat oven to 400 degrees

combine corn, chopped onions along with melted butter and oil in a bowl mix well and transfer to a cookie sheet. roast for approx. 15 minutes or until golden. let cool while you cook the pasta

bring a large pot of water to a boil season with salt very heavy and then add the pasta and cook according the package directions drain and run under cold water to cool it down a bit.

in a blender puree the can of chipotles until smooth. add 2 tablespoons to the 1 cup of mayo in a bowl and save the rest for other use or to season your pasta salad.

add the pasta in a large bowl along with roasted corn chopped cilantro, mayo chipotle mixture and season with a little salt and pepper. don't over season ok. and toss to combine. cover the bowl with plastic and refridgerate for 2 hours or until chilled. if its too dry add more mayo and a teaspoon of chipotle puree and salt to taste. enjoy at potlucks and cook-outs