contest

By Heidi Sutton

Teamwork was the key ingredient at this year’s Junior Iron Chef competition. The annual event, now in its 7th year, was held on March 9 at Whole Foods in Lake Grove. Hosted by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, the one-day cooking challenge, described as “part ‘Chopped,’ part ‘Iron Chef,’ and part ‘Food Network Challenge,’” gave middle and high school students the opportunity to work in groups of three to five to complete a delicious dish of their choosing in under an hour. Fifteen teams from all over Long Island competed this year for the ultimate title of Junior Iron Chef.

“This is an amazing event,” said DJ Anthony Cafaro, from WEHM, who has served as the event’s emcee since its inception. “It’s cool to see some repeat competitors from year’s past and it’s awesome to see a lot of new competitors here,” he said.

The purpose of the event was to encourage budding chefs to learn new cooking skills and lead a healthier lifestyle while promoting the use of local food to support our local farmers and environment. Each team was required to  create a new healthy vegetarian or vegan based recipe that used local ingredients and could be easily implemented into school cafeteria menus.

“This is the seventh year I’ve done this and by far this was the greatest year with the best flavors,” said Cafaro as he tasted all the dishes.

Celebrity chefs Kayla Mitchell and William Connor helped judge the event last Saturday.

Among the 11 judges who graded the dishes based on flavor, health value, creativity and presentation was 14-year-old William Connor from Northport, a past contestant on “Chopped Junior” on the Food Network,  and 13-year-old Kayla Mitchell of Center Moriches who was a contestant on the third season of “MasterChef Junior” on Fox Broadcasting.

High school teams were given a secret ingredient at the last minute, a Sumo Citrus, to incorporate into their dish. Some chose to use the peel, others the juice. While the teams created their dishes, Cafaro kept the ever-growing crowd entertained with fun trivia and giveaways to places like the Long Island Aquarium and concerts.

While the judges deliberated, Executive Chef Jason Keubler and Anthony Cafaro visited each station, tasting each dish and giving feedback to the aspiring chefs. While Cafaro raved over everything that was put in front of him, Keubler gave positive feedback, from “These eggs are spot on,” “Flavors are very balanced,” “Great knife skills,” to pointing out the cleanliness of their workstation and asking them what their greatest obstacle was. “It’s all about teamwork and it shows in your work,” he complimented one team.

First place in the middle school division went to Team G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time) from Seneca Middle School in Holbrook. Students Leah Ferraro, Sofia Iacono, Jacqueline Volo and Gianna Scolaro, guided by coach Robert Frontino, won the judges over with their creative Caribbean Breakfast Salad, which was comprised of cinnamon sugared French toast, grilled pineapple and arugula salad with goat cheese, topped with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

“That’s insanely good,” drooled Cafaro as he reached for a napkin. “The cinnamon and the goat cheese go so well together,” agreed Chef Jason. “The color is super vibrant, the spiciness goes with the sweetness with nice textures. Beautiful presentation,” he said adding that he was impressed by how nicely they worked together “just like in a professional kitchen.”

Second place was awarded to The 3 Breakfasteers from Suffolk County 4-H Trailblazers of Yaphank for their Vanilla Fruit Crepes filled with whipped cream and diced strawberries and garnished with blueberries. Corey Burke, Alexis Vladikin, Nora Nemickas and coach Nicole Vickovich made up the team.

The Junior Porters from Greenport Union Free School District grabbed third place for their Mediterranean Breakfast Crepe with an Herbed Whipped Cream. Coached by Katherine Ryan, Rocio Azama, DeShawn Solla, Aleyana Gungar, Ayania Smith and Brynn Dinizio were awarded for their healthy crepe stuffed with baby spinach, sundried tomatoes, black olives and low-fat feta cheese.

Team Almost Master Chef from Sachem North High School in Ronkonkoma captured first place in the high school division. Kaitlyn Seitz, Hailey McKishi, Kayla Salvate and Victoria Corcaran, under the guidance of coach Lindsey Shelhorse, impressed the judges with their Brunch For Lunch Chilaquiles dish featuring homemade tortilla shells topped with fried egg, cheese, onion and cilantro.

Second place was awarded to the Greenport High School’s Bacon Bits – Jhon Ramirez, Tommy Tsaveras, Colin Rossetti, Mateo Arias and Charles Staples – for their Gyro Style Veggie Burger on Whole Wheat Pita, which was served with sautéed onions and tzatziki sauce with a cucumber garnish. The team was coached by Marianne Ladalia.

The Salt Shakers from the Suffolk County 4-H Trailblazers garnered third place. Olivia Unger and Lexington Carrera, under the guidance of coach Adrienne Unger, were given high marks for their crispy Potato Latkes topped with a dollop of sour cream and garnished with chives and scallions.

The Mise en Place (everything in its place) awards were presented to Seneca Middle School’s Taco Bellas (Emma Bollinger, Amanda Madigan, Madeline Turano and Adrianna Sigler with coach Robert Frontino) and Almost Master Chef.

The Public Presentation awards, for the team with the best poster/informational display and judge presentation, were presented to G.O.A.T. and Bacon Bits.

“The kids today were just tremendous,” said Vito Minei, executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County. “This is truly a Long Island Junior Iron Chef competition with teams coming all the way from Floral Park, Franklin Square and Greenport,” he added. “I want to thank all the parents and families.You should be proud. These kids were fabulous. They all practiced teamwork and each child had an opportunity to shine.”

Brunch for Lunch Chilaquiles 

by Team Almost Top Chef, first place winners in the high school division

Ingredients

Tortilla Shell

10.5 ounces of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup vegetable oil

7-8 ounces of hot water (110-120F)

Sauce

Diced yellow onion

Diced and seeded jalapeño

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon ground chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

3 tablespoons flour

½ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon salt, to taste

Pinch of cinnamon

Can of tomato paste

2 cups vegetable broth

1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Filling and Topping Ingredients

Can of drained and rinsed black beans

12 oz. Fiesta Blend Cheese (365 Everyday Value Brand)

3 oz. cotija

Diced red onion

Cilantro

6 Eggs

Directions

 Instructions for sauce

  1. Sauté the diced onion and jalapenos to the pan.
  2. Crush and smash cloves of garlic and salt and add to the onion mixture.  Add the cumin and chili powder.  Add the flour, oregano, garlic powder and salt into a small bowl and place it near the stove.
  3. Add the flour/spice mixture.
  4. While whisking constantly, cook until fragrant and slightly deepened in color, about 1 minute. Whisk the tomato paste into the mixture, then slowly pour in the broth while whisking constantly to remove any lumps.
  5. Raise heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a simmer, then reduce heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook, whisking often, for about 5 to 7 minutes.
  6. Remove from heat, then whisk in the vinegar and season to taste with a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Add more salt, if necessary.
  7. Stir in the black beans

Instructions for tortillas

To make the dough: In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour in the lesser amount of hot water (plus the oil, if you’re using it), and stir briskly with a fork or whisk to bring the dough together into a shaggy dough.Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead briefly, just until the dough forms a ball. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Round the pieces into balls, flatten slightly, and allow them to rest, covered, for about 15 minutes.  Preheat ungreased cast iron griddle or skillet over medium high heat, about 400°F. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll into a round about 8″ in diameter. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Fry the tortilla in the ungreased pan for about 30 seconds on each side. Then cut into wedges and fry them and add salt to taste.

Assembling

Fry the eggs. Layer the fried tortilla shell with spoonful of sauce and cheese.  Top with the fried egg, more cheese, dice red onion and cilantro.

Caribbean Breakfast Salad

By Team G.O.A.T., first place winners in the middle school division

Ingredients

16 oz of arugula

8 oz of goat cheese

2 boxes of raspberries (7 oz. each)

1 pineapple

1 loaf challah bread

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar

1/4 cinnamon

4 eggs

2 tbsp honey

Directions

Challah French Toast

Preheat skillet to 350 degrees. Mix eggs in large bowl. In a separate bowl mix sugars and cinnamon. Dip the challah bread slices into egg mixture and then the sugar blend. Cook until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes.

Arugula Salad

Mix oil, vinegar, honey and mustard and whip until blended. Strain the raspberries. Add raspberry juice to oil mixture until smooth to taste. Toss arugula, whole raspberries and cheese together with liquid dressing.

Pineapple

Cut outside skin of pineapple. Cut one inch horizontal slices. Dip in sugar mixture. Grill on both sides for 2 to 3 minutes.

All photos by Heidi Sutton

Coloring Contest

Why should kids have all the fun? Celebrate the arrival of spring with Times Beacon Record News Media’s 4th annual Adult Coloring Contest for ages 21 and older. Color in the cover of the March 9 Arts & Lifestyles and enter to win a three-year subscription to one of TBR News Media’s six papers — a $99 value! Simply download the image from the main website (tbrnewsmedia.com) and print out.

Choose from The Village Times Herald, The Port Times Record, The Village Beacon Record, The Times of Middle Country, The Times of Smithtown or The Times of Huntington, Northport and East Northport.

Mail your winning entry to Times Beacon Record News Media, P.O. Box 707, Setauket, NY 11733 or email a high-resolution image to [email protected]. Please include your name, town and phone number. Deadline to enter is April 5. The winner will be announced in the issue of April 11. For more information, call 631-751-7744, ext. 109.

Stony Brook’s iGem team pose with Randy Rettberg, president of the iGem Foundation, at the event. Photo from SBU

Stony Brook’s University’s 2018 team for the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition took home the university’s first gold medal during the four-day iGEM Giant Jamboree held at Hynes Convention Center in Boston in October. 

Since 2014, Stony Brook’s iGEM teams have competed at this annual event, previously receiving bronze and silver medals for their student-designed synthetic biology projects. This year’s competition involved 343 teams from around the world, including 60 from different colleges and universities in the U.S. Stony Brook was one of only seven collegiate teams from the U.S. to earn a gold medal.

Stony Brook’s iGem team pose with Randy Rettberg, president of the iGem Foundation, at the event. Photo from SBU

Led by sophomores Priya Aggarwal and Matthew Mullin, the 14-member team’s project, The Sucrose Factory, focused on the use of cyanobacteria to economically sink carbon dioxide by simultaneously producing sucrose that can be used to produce biofuels and bioplastics. Their project proposal was the only one to win all three open competitions offered by the iGEM sponsors Genscript, Opentrons and Promega. 

The iGEM competition promotes the advancement of synthetic biology through education and a competition aimed at developing an open and collaborative community of young scientists. Synthetic biology projects developed by previous SBU iGEM teams have ranged from a search for innovative treatments for diabetes and pancreatic cancer to lowering the cost of vaccine preservation. At Stony Brook, new teams are recruited each year, and members are mentored by students from previous teams and advised by Peter Gergen, director of undergraduate biology and a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology. 

“The Jamboree was a great experience for the 14 students on the team, and I think there may actually be some long-term potential in the ideas behind their project,” said Gergen, who said he is very proud of this interdisciplinary and talented group of students. 

In addition to Aggarwal, a human evolutionary biology major, and Mullin, a mechanical engineering major, members of Stony Brook’s 2018 iGEM team are Stephanie Budhan ’21, chemistry; Woody Chiang ’19, biochemistry and psychology double major; Dominika Kwasniak ’20, biochemistry; Karthik Ledalla ’21, biomedical engineering; Matthew Lee ’21, biology; Natalie Lo ’21, biology; Lin Yu Pan ’20, health science; Jennifer Rakhimov ’21, biology; Robert Ruzic ’19, biomedical engineering; Manvi Shah ’21, psychology; Lukas Velikov ’21, computer science; and Sarah Vincent ’19, biology.

More details on the team’s project are available at https://2018.igem.org/Team:Stony_Brook/Team.

Thanks to all the children who entered Times Beacon Record News Media’s annual Halloween contest and for helping to make it so successful! Congratulations to Julianna P. of Setauket and Izzy F. of Lake Grove for being this year’s winners and receiving a family four-pack of theater tickets to “The Little Mermaid Jr.” courtesy of the John W. Engeman Theater in Northport.

Last year’s winners, from left, Donna Wissman of Port Jefferson (third place); Ken Granieri of Selden (first place and best looking pie); and Gillian Winters of Setauket (second place)

Calling all bakers …

Time to bake a pie! The humble apple will be the focus of the largest Apple Pie Baking Contest on Long Island to be held in conjunction with the 29th annual Long Island Apple Festival on Sunday, Sept. 30 at the Sherwood-Jayne Farm, 55 Old Post Road, Setauket from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Contestants will have the chance to show off their favorite family recipes and participate in an old-fashioned blue ribbon competition. The event is sponsored by Preservation Long Island and Homestead Arts.

Entries must be traditional apple pies only. The pie, including crust, must be homemade by amateur bakers. Pies must be on the contest table at the Sherwood-Jayne Farm by 10:30 a.m. on the day of the festival. A written recipe must be submitted with each entry including the name and address of the baker. Each contestant will receive one free Apple Festival entry.

Visitors to the apple festival will have a chance to vote for Most Beautiful Pie.

Judging will begin at 2 p.m. with prizes awarded at 3 p.m. followed by photos at 4 p.m. First-, second- and third-place winners will be announced for Best Tasting Pie. A fourth prize will be awarded for Most Beautiful Pie.

All winners will receive a prize. Past prizes have included a brunch or dinner for two at fine restaurants, theater tickets, gift baskets and gift certificates. The first-place winner will be invited to be a judge at next year’s Apple Pie Baking Contest. All pies, including their dishes, will be auctioned off after the winners have been announced.

For an application, visit www.preservationlongisland.org. Deadline to apply is Sept. 28. For more information, call Andrea at 631-692-4664.

Photos courtesy of Preservation Long Island

 

 

Photo by Jay Gao

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Jaimie Lane of Selden for being the winner of our latest Caption This! photo contest. Jaimie’s creative caption, “No, you ask him to refill the bird feeder …,” beat out the competition to win a family four-pack to see “Shrek The Musical” at the John W. Engeman Theater. Congratulations and thanks to all who participated in our contest. Special thanks to the John W. Engeman Theater, 250 Main St., Northport for being our sponsor. Be sure to look out for our next Caption This! photo contest in the near future.

Photo by Jay Gao

Jay Gao of Stony Brook captured this photo in his backyard on July 15 using a Nikon D5500. He writes, “It was in the late afternoon when we noticed these two squirrels were playing around on the  ground. Had just enough time to grab my camera and to take a couple shots before they disappeared into pine trees.”

Share your best caption for this adorable photo at [email protected]. The reader with the most original title will be announced in the Aug. 16 issue and win a family four-pack to the children’s production of “Shrek The Musical,” now playing at the John W. Engeman Theater through Sept. 2. Open to all ages. Deadline to enter is Aug. 11. Good luck!

Jameson Flaiz, on right, age 5, of Miller Place with his Super Dad, Ben, and his younger brother Keegan.

TBR CONTEST HONORS LOCAL FATHERS: Thanks to all the children who entered Times Beacon Record News Media’s 2018 Father’s Day Contest. Congratulations to Everett McClintock of Wading River and Jameson Flaiz of Miller Place for being this year’s winners and receiving a family four-pack of movie tickets to the Port Jefferson Cinemas. Special thanks to P.J. Cinemas  for being this year’s sponsor and for their generous donation. Happy Father’s Day! 

 

Jameson Flaiz, on right, age 5, of Miller Place with his Super Dad, Ben, and his younger brother Keegan.

‘All About My Super Dad’

By Jameson Flaiz

My dad’s name is Ben.

His favorite color is green.

His favorite food is chicken & broccoli.

His favorite activity is to build stuff.

He is my hero because when I’m hurt he makes me ok.

My favorite thing to do with him is to go fishing.

Everett McClintock, age 10, of Wading River with his Super Dad, Thomas

‘All About My Super Dad’

By Everett McClintock

My dad’s name is Thomas.

His favorite color is blue.

His favorite food is Chinese food.

His favorite activity is going out with      his family.

He is my hero because he is the best dad in the world!

My favorite thing to do with him is to go out with him and my brother on weekends to 7-Eleven.

 

Photos by Heidi Sutton

Augusta R. Malvagno of Port Jefferson Station is our grand prize winner!

Dear Readers, 

We recently held our third annual adult coloring contest. Readers age 21 and older were asked to color in the cover of Arts & Lifestyles.

The response was overwhelming, and we received many colorful entries from readers all along the North Shore who used many different types of medium, including colored pencils, markers, gel pens and glitter to create their masterpieces. 

Many participants commented on how much fun they had  coloring in the page and how relaxing it was. Jaclyn Visco of Wading River wrote, “Thank you for considering my entry. I love these contests!”

Susan Saviano of Selden gave us glittery red butterflies poised to flitter away, while Linda Sardone of Sound Beach gave us a Caribbean-inspired entry with a pink salmon background. 

The color choices for the petals of the flowers were also very unique, with yellows, reds, greens, purples and even multicolored and ranged from bold to demure. 

Although it was extremely difficult to choose a winner as every entry was unique in its own way, the judges (our editorial team) ultimately chose the coloring page by Augusta R. Malvagno of Port Jefferson Station  who edged out the competition by using vibrant colors that seemed to pop off of the page! Augusta receives a three-year subscription to any one of our six papers, courtesy of Times Beacon Record News Media.

And surprise, all other entries will receive a one-year subscription as a thank you for entering our contest. Congratulations to all!

Alexa, mom Kristen and Caroline D'Andrea

Thanks to all the children who entered Times Beacon Record News Media’s 2018 Mother’s Day Contest. Congratulations to Alexa and Caroline D’Andrea of Shoreham and Phoebe Powers of Northport for being this year’s winners and receiving a family four-pack of movie tickets to the AMC Loews Stony Brook 17. Special thanks to AMC Loews for being this year’s sponsor. Happy Mother’s Day!

Jenna and Phoebe Powers

Makes every day special

Oustanding mom

Treats me kindly

Helps me when I’m hurt

Everything is more fun with her

Really sweet and loving

— By Phoebe Powers, age 7

 

Alexa, mom Kristen and Caroline D’Andrea

My mother is marvelous.

Opposite of mean!

The best mom ever!

Hugs me a lot!

Excellent always!

Runs with me!

— By Alexa D’Andrea,   age 7

 

My mom is so AWESOME because she does everything for me.

Outstanding, my mom is outstanding because she is 1 in 1,000,000.

The best mom ever, my mom is the best mom ever because she never says no!

Happy, my mom is always happy because she is a postive person.

Excellent, my mom is excellent because she doesn’t yell and is always nice.

Really nice, my mom is really nice because she listens to what ever I want to say to her.

— By Caroline D’Andrea, age 10