Second Prize Winner is Danielle Hill of Western Branch High School, Chesapeake, Virginia, for Lentil and Wild Rice Stuffed Zucchini
NEW YORK, March 13, 2012—Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), the national leader providing scholarships, education, and career opportunities in the culinary arts to underserved youth and Meatless Monday, an initiative of the nonprofit The Monday Campaigns, which provides healthy and environmentally friendly information and recipes, are proud to announce today the winners of the 2012 C-CAP Meatless Monday Recipe Contest. Second Prize Winner and recipient of a $3,000 scholarship is Danielle Hill of Western Branch High School, Chesapeake, Virginia (C-CAP Hampton Roads, VA), for creating Lentil and Wild Rice Stuffed Zucchini.
Danielle Hill (Dani) credits her grandmother for helping her realize her love for baking and pastry. She is a member of the National Honor Society with a 3.89 GPA, works as a hostess in a local restaurant, and is planning to attend Johnson & Wales University, majoring in Baking & Pastry, in the fall.
“I selected a vegetable that would withstand being stuffed and enlisted my classmates as the taste testers for the recipe. They voted for the recipe that was submitted,” says Danielle.
Thousands of C-CAP high school seniors became head chefs in their classrooms and were introduced to the Meatless Monday public health campaign encouraging everyone to start each week with a healthy meal. While working with their culinary arts teachers to concoct the original meatless entree, the teen chefs were encouraged to use the recipe contest to explore new fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes.
“We’re excited to be working with C-CAP, encouraging aspiring chefs to develop imaginative recipes that can be offered as alternatives on the menu, while simultaneously showing them that meatless meals can be both healthy and delicious,” says Sid Lerner, founder and chairman of The Monday Campaigns.
Each C-CAP school was invited to submit only one student recipe and photo. Seven finalists were selected and presented to a distinguished panel of judges. Three scholarships will be awarded this spring at the C-CAP Cooking Competitions or Scholarships Awards in the hometown of the winning student chefs. The first prize winner will receive $5,000, the second prize winner will receive $3,000, and the third prize winner will receive $2,000.
Danielle will be competing in the C-CAP Chesapeake Cooking Competition for Scholarships on April 20 and she will receive her scholarship at the Awards ceremony on April 23.
“Through this contest, student chefs were guided by their teachers on recipe writing and development and were able to showcase their talent creating exciting meatless recipes,” says C-CAP president Susan Robbins. “C-CAP has teamed up with The Monday Campaigns to give high school seniors the opportunity for scholarships while promoting healthy eating in high schools and communities throughout the nation.”
The recipe submissions were judged on originality, flavor, healthfulness, ease of preparation, and writing ability. The recipe contest winners are from Los Angeles, California; Chesapeake, Virginia (C-CAP Hampton Roads, VA); and Chicago, Illinois. The judges evaluating the submissions for the first annual C-CAP Meatless Monday Recipe Contest were Dawn Jackson Blatner, author of The Flexitarian Diet; Laurie David and Kristen Uhrenholdt, co-authors of The Family Dinner; Ellie Krieger, host of the Food Network’s hit show, Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger, now airing on the Cooking Channel, and USA Today columnist; Joey Lee, food editor of www.meatlessmonday.com; Hillary Mickle, founder of FOODILY, “the world’s largest recipe network”; Ron Taylor, executive chef of Brand Aromatics, and Scott Uehlein, corporate chef of Canyon Ranch.
2nd prize: $3,000 scholarship: Danielle Hill of Western Branch High School, Chesapeake, VA (C-CAP Hampton Roads, VA)
Lentil and Wild Rice Stuffed Zucchini
Yield: 6
Serving Size: 1 shell
Ingredients:
1 2/3 cup water
1/3 cup dry lentils, rinsed
1 bay leaf
3 large zucchini (Approx. 6 inches in length), halved lengthwise with stem end removed, reserve pulp
1 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil, plus extra for brushing zucchini
½ cup medium diced onion
1/3 cup medium diced celery
2/3 cups chopped mushroom
½ cup medium diced red pepper
2 small cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon dried tarragon
½ teaspoon dried marjoram
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons white wine (or white grape juice)
¼ teaspoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
½ cup cooked wild rice
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
Directions:
Bring 1 2/3 cups of water to a simmer, add lentils and bay leaf. Simmer until the lentils are soft, about 35-40 minutes. If any, drain remaining water and remove bay leaf when cooked.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While lentils cook, slice the zucchini lengthwise and scoop out seeds and pulp into a bowl leaving ¼” around the sides. Chop the pulp.
When the lentils have about 20 minutes left to cook, brush the extra vegetable oil over the zucchini shells and bake cut side down until tender, about 15-20 minutes.
Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat in a large skillet and cook the zucchini pulp, onions, celery, mushrooms, red peppers, and garlic until soft, but not brown and most of the liquid is evaporated. Add the cooked lentils, cooked wild rice, tarragon, marjoram, cumin, sesame oil, white wine or white grape juice, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and remove from heat.
Once the zucchini shells are tender and filling is cooked, scoop the filling into the zucchini shells. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top. Serve immediately.
Serving Suggestion: Accompany the Lentil and Wild Rice Stuffed Zucchini with tri-colored cheese tortellini and a tossed salad.
**recipe tested with white wine and Rice Select royal blend wild rice.
Contact:
Joyce Appelman
C-CAP
250 West 57th Street
Suite 2015
New York, NY 10107
516.482.1016
greatappel@aol.com
Cherry Dumaual
The Monday Campaigns
215 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10016
212.991.1056
cdumaual@mondaycampaigns.org
About C-CAP
Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) works with public schools across the country to prepare underserved high school students for college and career opportunities in the restaurant and hospitality industry. A national nonprofit organization founded in 1990 by well-known culinary educator and author, Richard Grausman, C-CAP manages the largest independent culinary scholarship program in the United States and has awarded high school students $34 million in scholarships and donated $2.7 million worth of supplies and equipment to classrooms. C-CAP provides training and curriculum enrichment programs including: teacher training; scholarships and cooking competitions; job shadows, job training, internships, and career advising; college advising and college 101 workshop; and product donations. C-CAP operates programs in seven locations: New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Philadelphia; Hampton Roads, VA; Prince George’s County, MD; and statewide in Arizona. For more information about C-CAP, visit www.ccapinc.org.
About Meatless Monday
Meatless Monday is a nonprofit public health initiative of The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The goal of the campaign is to cut saturated fat intake, which in turn reduces the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Going meatless one day a week can also decrease our carbon footprint and save precious resources like fresh water and fossil fuel. Since its launch in 2003, Meatless Monday has become an international movement with support from celebrities, universities and organizations around the world. For more information about Meatless Monday, visit www.meatlessmonday.com.
Acknowledgment: Thank you to S&W Premium Beans for their product contribution to the schools.
