In my last day in the kitchen at cooking school, we had a ‘black box competition’ of sorts. Normally in a black box competition all of your main ingredients are a secret (hidden in a black box). For us, only our protein was a secret from us. We were allowed to prepare recipes and bring in any special spices or ingredients we thought we might need. Someone in my class asked our chef if I could bring in tofu and he said yes! I am so glad she asked him that, because I thought that would be out of the question. After finding this out, I was VERY excited. I knew instantly what I was going to make. Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with my Citrus Quinoa and I ended up making a side of thinly sliced red/yellow/green/orange bell peppers sautéed,

We had two hours to present our meal, and I found that to be a long time- I was waiting around for probably more than a half hour! After plating and garnishing my dish, I felt so proud! I was happy with the flavour and I thought it looked beautiful. I really wanted to show everyone that ‘weird’ food like tofu and quinoa can be delicious and I think I was successful. I had quite a few people in my class tell me that they ‘normally hate tofu, but that was the best tofu they have ever had’. When we were all shaking our chef’s hand and thanking him, he came up to me and said ‘I loved your tofu!’. That meant a lot coming from him, as in the first day or two he said I would have trouble getting through the course because of my vegetarianism. I think I just had to prove myself and I’m glad I was able to!

The judges were several other staff Chef’s, including the president of the BC Chef’s Association, our career advisor and a few office staff. It was so neat to see everyones creation- we all stuck to what we knew best and there were some beautiful potstickers, and spring rolls, pasta, risotto and other dishes.

I ended up coming in 6th, which I am ecstatic about! I was only one point behind 5th place, and 3 points behind 4th! When the judging rolled around, I really thought that there was no way I would come close to the top spots- which chef would like tofu more than meat….but it looks like they enjoyed it!

Here is a link to my posts about the tofu and the quinoa. It’s been a great 11 weeks in the kitchen and I can’t wait to start some baking when I get back from the break!