Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend Whole Foods Fort Collins Fall Festival event!
There was pumpkin painting events and even two pie eating contents. Those pies were no joke either; their caramel apple pie weighed in at 2 pounds!
2 pounds of pie that folks had to eat in under 10 minutes. Holy. Crap.
There was also a cooking contest, Iron Chef (American not Japanese) style between three local chefs. The secret ingredient was winter squash which had to be used in three dishes: Appetizer, Main Course, and Dessert.
Myself along with my buds, Kristin from Feasting Fort Collins, and Andrea from Serving Up Fort Collins were asked to judge this event.
It was amazing and awkward all at the same time! The day was gorgeous but windy as heck, so we were kind of being blown all over the place as we anxiously awaited the tasty dishes.
It was awkward because I have never had so many folks stare at me as I ate. Thankfully nothing was messy so I did not make a fool out of myself!
The dishes were amazing and I’m going to try to remember their names as best I can since I wasn’t able to take notes.
First up, let’s look at what Jax Fish House brought to the table:
Appetizer:
(Sorry that this picture is whited out, it was very sunny that day!)
Winter squash terrine with crispy prosciutto.
Main Course:
Squash ravioli with pest filling and ham hock gravy. The dough for the ravioli had the squash in it and the pest was made from squash stems.
Dessert:
Squash soda float. In house made squash soda with vanilla ice cream. Ginger snap cookie and cascade hops infused whipped cream.
Next is Whole Foods Market Fort Collins:
Appetizer:
Squash risotto with crispy root veggie slices and a balsamic reduction.
Main Course:
Pork loin (If I’m remembering correctly) with winter squash hash, sprinkled with gorgonzola.
Dessert:
Squash Crumble with toasted hazelnuts and a vanilla cream sauce.
And the final competitor was The Kitchen (which will be coming to Fort Collins next spring)!
Appetizer:
Squash hummus made with Noosa yoghurt.
Main Course:
Butternut squash with wheatberries and cumin yogurt.
Dessert:
Squash cake with graham cracker and pumpkin seed crust with a pumpkin ale caramel.
Everything tasted amazing and the use of squash was very creative. I was hoping to have a chance to speak with the chefs after the event to thank them for taking the time to participate but sadly I did not get to.
I’ll have to do it now! Thank you Whole Foods for putting on such a great event and inviting me to participate. Thank you to Jax, Whole Foods, and The Kitchen for creating outstanding dishes for us to experience!