Weekend Challenge 2 Results

I decided to go a little easier on you folks this time around. Oddly, I didn't get as many entries as the first Weekend Challenge, despite the relative ease. I did get one entry emailed to me, along with a photo, but the person who sent it failed to also post it in the comments area. Remember, the rules do state that you need to post your recipe in the comments area, where everyone can see it. Hopefully that person knows who he is (since I sent him an email and all), and will post his entry as soon as possible in the comments area. As soon as he does so, I'll go ahead and post his photo.

My entry was pretty straight-forward. I diced up three roma tomatoes, added a couple of tablespoons of roasted red peppers (in the form of canned diced pimento), a chiffonade of a couple of leaves of basil, about a tablespoon of crumbled feta cheese, a clove of garlic minced very fine, a splash each of Balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, and a pinch each of black pepper and Kosher salt. Pow! Fresh Mediterranian Salsa!

What can you do with such a thing? You can pile it onto bruscetta, you can dip pita chips into it, you can use it as a condiment for just about anything Italian or Greek, or you can do what I did. I took some cucumber, cut it into half-inch rounds, cut off the peel with a round fluted cutter, scooped out a little bowl with a mellon baller, and then filled each one with my fresh salsa. You've got to be careful scooping them out, so that you don't cut through the bottom. You also need to make sure not to pile these so high with salsa that people can't see the sides or pick them up.



And now for your entries! I really liked Tensai's stuffed tomato entry. It's important to not with this sort of thing that you really need to be using large globe tomatoes (or slicing tomatoes, as he calls them). Another thing that you need to remember is that when you stuff something like this, you do need to make sure that the filling is fully cooked. Remember: when stuffing things, you should be reheating the stuffing, not cooking it. Another thing I liked about his entry were the jalapenos. I love hot food. Kudos to Tensai on his recipe.

Art's entry was even simpler. Her chili took just a few minutes of prep time in the morning, little more than tossing a bunch of ingredients in the crock pot and letting it sit all day. Her chile cornbread reminded me of a similar recipe that we used to make when I was working at a bakery. It also reminded me of Business Management class in cooking school, when we were discussing menu descriptions. One student used "sweet" in her cornbread recipe, and another thought that it was redundant, since cornbread is always sweet anyway. Neither considered that there is also such a thing as savory cornbread, which I prefer far and above sweet cornbread. My thanks to Art for her Chili and Cornbread meal.

Charles' dip was also a nice entry. In fact, he only used one additional ingredient: red onion. Were I making this dish for my wife, I think I would probably leave the red onion out, but if she weren't around, I wouldn't hesitate to put it in. At the end he says to throw it all in a bowl, grab a bag of tortilla chips and dig in. I'm the sort that would cook it all first, minus the cheddar, and then pour over a pan full of chips covered in cheddar, before baking at 350F for five to ten minutes. Either way, I think you'll be happy.

Thanks to everyone that played! Tune in this Friday for another episode of The Weekend Challenge!