I maybe a tech guy, but the summertime always re-awakens my inner chef. This summer, I’ve been especially lazy in the cooking department because of my busy life and limited budget. (Buying a house ain’t cheap!) But I’m still a Food & Wine magazine subscriber, and I still like reading good recipes on the internet.
The 2008 Great American Seafood Cook Off took place in the great state of Louisianna. Despite the devestation brought on by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Lousianna residents continue to thrive and keep up the spirit of the South. Chefs from all over the United States of America showed up to show-off their culinary skills with local, sustainable seafood.
Some people maybe like “Seafood, yuck!” But there’s something to be said for meals in this category. You are seriously missing a huge section of taste possibilities if you exclude seafood from your diet.
My favorite recipe from the cook-off was Chef Paul Anders’ (from Colorado) Colorado Striped Bass Panzanella (includes Farmer’s Market Tomatoes and Cucumbers, Mint, Basil, Olives, Ciabatta Bread, Crispy Eggplant, Aged Balsamic Vinegar, Tuscan Olive Oil). It didn’t win, but that doesn’t mean everything in the competition didn’t look absolutely delicious.
The winner was Chef John Currence of Mississippi, with his Mississippi Redfish Courtboullion with Seafood Dirty Rice:
The contest is presented by the Lousiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board, and they have crowned Chef John Currence the 2008 King of American Seafood. Currence’s competition-winning recipe is available on the Great American Seafood Cook-off’s website (See link above). Be sure and try this dish out for yourself, modify it as necessary (we don’t all have access to fresh seafood, after all) and tell me in the comments how it turns out!
