Middle School Trio Takes Second Place at Jr. Iron Chef Competition

Three North Country Road Middle School students had some exciting news to share with their friends and teachers when they returned to school after the St. Patrick's Day weekend. The students Maya Scopin, Gillian Cordes and Ally Mooney, comprise team Triple Edge.

They have been training for over a month and competed in the first, Jr. Iron Chef competition of all the Middle Schools and High Schools on Long Island, on Saturday, March 16, 2013. They were one of only fourteen teams chosen to compete in the event. When the results were tallied, they heard the news that made them smile and had some in the crowd cheering. They won the second place trophy for two dishes that they prepared and plated.

The first was a grilled, vegetarian, mini stuffed pepper. It included an assortment of seasonal, locally grown vegetables, and several ingredients from the USDA, school lunch program list, including black beans and diced tomatoes. The other dish was a fresh fruit salad of Clementine sections, Raspberries and Strawberries, lightly dressed with a Blood Orange and Tarragon Vinaigrette. They had to prepare, cook and plate ten servings of each, in one hour or less. Whole Foods Market provided all of the ingredients on their shopping list, for the competition. Whole Foods Market also transformed the front of their Lake Grove store to serve as "Iron Chef Stadium".  Various Chefs, Directors of Culinary programs from Local Colleges, Hospitals, The Cornell Cooperative Extension, Local School Districts and facilities in Connecticut, then judged them.

In the end, the girls were only a few points away from a perfect score. The dishes had to conform to very specific criteria, including having to be vegetarian, the use of locally grown ingredients, to cut down on the carbon footprint and to help promote local growers. They had to include USDA ingredients, the recipes also had to be cost effective for use in school lunch programs and appealing to the students. Needless to say, they went over very well. Even the other teams that competed against them complimented the trio on their presentation and recipes.

These are original recipes that the team developed together, with their cooking coach, Adam Scopin and the other parent supervisor, Ellen Cordes. Along with the cooking techniques and nutritional information, they also learned about organizational skills and how it ties in with a French cooking term called "Mise En Place" (pronounced [miz on plas]), which means "everything in place" and the importance of preparing in advance and working as a team. The seventh graders even embroidered their own aprons with the name of their team.

The recipes were published in a cookbook distributed through Whole Foods Market and the Cornell Cooperative Extension. During the judging portion of the event, Maya Scopin was interviewed live on the radio. She had to describe the dishes to the listening audience who weren't present to see the gastronomic action for themselves. The young chefs were presented with the trophy in front of all of the other teams and spectators that attended the culinary showdown. Asked if they wanted to participate again next year, they didn't hesitate to say yes. They were already discussing what they could create to get the top spot, the next time they compete at Iron Chef Stadium.

Photos ©2013 Adam Scopin