LIMA — A cooking demonstration held Thursday night at Apollo Career Center gave local residents the chance to learn how to make holiday recipes from six local presenters.
Hundreds of food enthusiasts turned out for the first-ever Salt Marketplace & Cook Show, which was hosted by Salt magazine. Six presenters, which included a culinary arts instructor, the head chef at The Met and a food editor, participated in the demonstration.
Pam Stricker, publisher of Salt magazine, said the demonstration helped bring the recipes people read about to life.
“Instead of just reading about it on a printed page, they actually get to see it done,” Stricker said. “The ingredients are listed in the program, so people can follow along and make notes.”
Dishes that were presented at the event included a holiday salad, pumpkin and apple cider fizz, chicken and bowtie pasta with pumpkin sage cream sauce, jambalaya, a mushroom Gruyere tart and pumpkin muffins.
A large screen that projected from behind the stage allowed attendees to gain an up-close look as the food was prepared. Each presenter cooked the meal beforehand to show the audience what the final product would look like. Each meal was given to a door prize winner.
One of the event’s presenters was Lauren Harvey, an Apollo Career Center graduate and head chef at The Met in downtown Lima. She prepared a holiday salad, which included butternut squash, kale, Granny Smith apples and more. Harvey said the dish was her own creation, and that a similar recipe will be used at The Met in the coming months.
“You typically don’t think you can put butternut squash in a salad, but when you pair it with fruit it’s delicious,” Harvey said. “All the ingredients I used are in season now, so it’s a great holiday dish that will carry you through Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
Brian Keegan, the wine steward for Old City Prime and a demo chef at Chief Supermarkets, prepared a mushroom and Gruyere tart.
“It’s kind of a pain in the neck to make, but if people are willing to try it, more power to them,” Keegan said.
Keegan, who has been cooking for 50 years, said he hoped individuals were able to take something away from his demonstration.
“I hope they learn something and that they find out about some people in the community who have taken this up as a profession or a hobby,” he said. “It’s good fun.”
Along with the cooking demonstration, the event also featured a marketplace with 19 vendors. Each vendor had a booth set up with information and samples of their products. Door prizes were handed out throughout the night, including a Weber Performer Grill provided by DeHaven Home and Garden Showplace.
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