49th Annual Cook Off

49th annualRecie Contest and Coo-o Cooook

irs t place, College ca tegor y: Gina Mc A teer of SUN Y Oneon ta, Po ta to Leek Soup

First place, Community category:Bennett Privitera of Oneonta,Benny’s Frutti di Mare

ir st place, Desser t cat egor y : olet t e Mar t in of SUNY Oneont a, ey L ime Y ogur t Cheesecak e

A supplement to The Daily Star on Saturday, March 21, 2009

The Daily Star’s annualcook-off and recipe contest hasgone through many changesover the years. The venue hasflip-flopped between educa-tional and commercial facili-ties, and the number of final-ists has swollen and shrunkfrom year to year.Throughout it all, it hasbeen an opportunity for anychef, from the professionallytrained to the novice, to sharebest-loved recipes with thecommunity. This year, morethan 100 eliglible entries weresubmitted, ranging from thehumble to the gourmet, offer-ing something for any palate toenjoy.Held for the second year atthe State University College atneonta, the cook-off featurednine talented chefs, ranging inage from a grandmother to aneighth-grader, demonstratingtheir talents to a standing-room-only crowd of onlookers.The cook-off was shifted toa Saturday this year, a movethat seemed to draw morespectators. The capacity crowdmingled with the judges beforethe event, and were greetedby Daily Star Publisher TanyaShalor and SUNY OneontaPresident Nancy Kleniewski.While the cook-off is tradi-tionally the province of DailyStar Community Editor EmilyPopek, this year’s event wasmuch more than a one-womanshow. The planning committeealso included Shalor, SUNYneonta Vice President forCommunity Relations CarolBlazina, and SUNY Oneontaintern Cassandra Stanton, whoalso served as master of cer-emonies for the day’s events.Community liaison Patty Bet-tiol of Oneonta rounded out theplanning team.Staff from the college,including Dan McCahill, GinaMcAteer, Paul Clausson, BryanBennett, Kimala Clark andKatherine Nelligan of Sodexo,lent their support before,during and after the cook-off,keeping everything runningsmoothly.Besides ensuring that thisyear’s event was a success, thisgroup laid the foundation fornext year’s 50th annual cook-off, which promises to createnew traditions as well as hon-oring old ones. The planningcommittee also brought backlast year’s panel of judges, add-ing an Oneonta restaurateur tothe judge’s table as well. Moreon this year’s judges is foundon Page 6.This year saw a few morechanges to the venerableevent, including one that hadmouths watering across thefour-county area. The intro-duction of a Desserts categorydrew great response from thecommunity, netting more than40 recipes from chefs youngand old. Entries varied fromthe familiar, such as chocolatechip cookies and rice pudding,to the unusual, such as PastaBanana Cream Pie, AppleCherry Grunt, StrawberryTiramisu Bites and Key LimeYogurt Cheesecake.While one category wasadded, another was removed.While a few enterprising didenter the Youth category,open to young people up toage 18 who are not attend-ing college, there were notenough submissions to give the judges a choice. Several otherYouth entries were sent in forinclusion in the cookbook, butwith the instruction that theyweren’t to be included in the judging.Community participationwas not lacking when it cameto this year’s cook-off prizes,however; all nine of this year’sprize packages were providedby donations from local busi-nesses, thanks to the involve-ment of Bettiol. Though Bettiolwas unable to attend the cook-off itself, she worked with TheDaily Star and the college tohelp plan the event and solicitprize donations from numerouslocal merchants. A completelist of this year’s sponsors is onPage 24.Stories about this year’sfinalists appear on Pages 3-5(Community), 7-9 (College) and20-22 (Dessert).

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2

Soups, sides and breads

........ Pages 4-6

College recipes

.................... Pages 7-11

Youth recipes

...........................Page 12

Main dishes

....................... Pages 13-15

Desserts

............................ Pages 16-23

RECIPE INDEX

hanges make 49th annual cook-o a hit

SUNY Oneonta President Nancy Kleniewski, at left, stands with DailyStar Publisher Tanya Shalor as they begin the 49th annual Cook-off and Recipe Contest at SUNY Oneonta.

About this section

The Daily Star’s 49th annual cook-off and recipe contest generated 129 recipes, 113 of which appear in this section. A panel of judges selected three finalists and two alternatesin each category: Community, for non-students; College, forstudents attending college in the local area; and Desserts,open to any age group. Alternates are indicated with anasterisk.Stories and layout in this section are by Daily Star CommunityEditor Emily F. Popek. Photos are by Daily Star photographerBrit Worgan.

For a man whose familydoesn’t enjoy eating seafood,Bennett Privitera of Oneon-ta wasn’t shy about includingfishy fare in his entry for TheDaily Star’s 49th annual cook-off and recipe contest.The winning recipe, Benny’sFrutti di Mare, contains fivekinds of seafood, plus a littleclam juice, in a fragrant brothserved over pasta, a combina-tion the judges deemed topsfor the Community category.For his first-place win, Privit-era took home a one-night stay,plus breakfast, at the HolidayInn of Oneonta/Cooperstown;a $50 gift certificate to Christo-pher’s Restaurant and Lodge;and a $15 gift certificate toGolden Guernsey.Cheered on by his wife, Ja-mie, and their children, includ-ing 2-week-old Grace, Priviterastarted off his presentationby playing the waiting gameas a large pot of water heatedto a boil. In the meantime, heprepped his seafood and chat-ted with the judges about hisrecipe.“My grandfather owned afish business,” Privitera said.“He made fish every Friday,and every year at Christmas hewould go to the fish market toget something for the tradi-tional Italian meal,” the Feastof the Seven Fishes. While hisfamily may not enjoy seafood,Privitera said he cooks it forhimself from time to time, andcame up with this recipe whenhe was looking for something“a little different. ... You gettired of the usual things, clamsor shrimp scampi,” he said.As Privitera added clam juice and white wine to the pot, judge Billy O’Donnell offered atip. “If you’re good at chopping,you can save the clam juiceyourself,” O’Donnell advised,but Privitera just smiled andacknowledged that his chop-ping “can be a little messy.”Nevertheless, the judges gavePrivitera high marks on prepa-ration and technique, as wellas on the overall flavor and tex-ture of the delicately flavoreddish. “The best!” wrote judge Joseph Poon. “Traditional Ital-ian flavor ... well done!”With baby Grace in tow, Priv-itera’s wife looked on proudlyas her husband tended asteaming pot of clams, musselsand scallops. “He does most of the cooking at home,” JamiePrivitera said. “He’s alwayscoming up with new things.”For his wife’s birthday, Privi-tera recently tried somethingnew, making his first cake fromscratch. “It came out prettygood,” he said with a smile.When Privitera brought outthe calamari to add to the pot,he explained to the judges thathe had cut it up ahead of time,adding that “I like to chase mywife around the kitchen with atentacle,” drawing a big laughfrom the audience. Realizingthat he was missing one of hisusual ingredients, Priviteraplayed it off. “We do a lot of stuff off the cuff,” he said, andthe judges nodded in agree-ment.

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‘Fruits o the sea’ take irst or community

BENNY’S FRUTTI DI MAREBennett PriviteraOneontaIngredients

:cup olive oil4 cloves garlic, chopped2 pinches crushed redpepper2 tablespoons fresh pars-ley, chopped½ cup white wine1 dozen cleaned littleneckclams1 pound cleaned mussels1 pound sea scallops12 to 18 medium cleanedshrimp, peeled and dev-eined1½ cups marinara sauce½ pound calamari rings1 pound angel hair pasta,cooked according to packagedirections

Directions

: Heat oliveoil over medium heat. Addchopped garlic; sautee untilfragrant. Add crushed redpepper and sautee for 30 sec-onds.Add parsley and whitewine. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes.Add clams, mussels and scal-lops. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes.Add shrimp and marinarasauce. Cook until clams andmussels have opened, dis-card any clams and musselsthat have not opened.Remove from heat and addcalamari. Allow to sit 5 min-utes before serving over an-gel hair pasta. Garnish withtoasted bread crumbs (do notuse grated cheese).

FIRST PLACE

Communityategory

he subtle aroma of sea-food, garlic and white wineﬁlled the room as Priviteraspooned his ﬂavorful concoc-tion into bright serving bowls,arnished with fresh greens.Each judge eagerly set to tast-ing the dish and welcomedPrivitera’s offer of smalllasses of white wine to com-pliment their meal. “Let’s getdrunk!” Poon declared, settingoff a ripple of laughter aroundthe room.