Monday morning was our big day: the judging for our tomato recipe contest.

We had culled 90+ tomato recipes—all entries to our “You Say Tomato” recipe contest—down to the top five in each of three categories: Salad, Entrée, and Preserves & Condiments.

We met at the Hawai‘i Community College’s cafeteria, where, led by Allan Okuda, director of the Hawai‘i Community College Food Service Program, and HCC’s Chef Sandy Barr, 30 culinary students had been working hard all morning preparing those top 15 recipes.

Our line-up of judges sat at a long table in front of the room, and sampled the delicious dishes as they came out. They had scoring sheets in front of them and rated each one.

Randy Nunokawa, Audrey Wilson, Rockne Freitas, Marlene Hapai, Joan Namkoong, Sonia Martinez

I have to say that the students did an incredible job. Their job was to prepare a recipe they’d never used before, following its instructions exactly—no improvising—so the judges could sample the dishes and judge the recipe. They really did a wonderful and very professional job. The dishes came out looking, smelling and tasting terrific.

I know this because after the judging was over, they brought out more of everything and made a buffet line, and all us hangers-on got a plate and feasted. It was delicious. Richard, June and I marveled that we get to do things like this for our job!

 

Chef Allan said the students enjoyed the opportunity, and worked really hard at it. He and Richard have already agreed to do a second annual “Hamakua Springs Tomato Challenge” next year.

Randy Nunokawa, HCC’s Non-Credit Culinary Program coordinator, agreed that it’s great for the students to be exposed to this sort of project, where it all matters—presentation, texture, taste. He added his appreciation that Hamakua Springs brought its Tomato Recipe Contest to the college. “The community coming to the college,” he said; “that’s what Community College is for. That’s what we all strive for.”

Randy Nunokawa, Joan Namkoong, Audrey Wilson, June Ha, Sonia Martinez, Richard Ha, Marlene Hapai

Richard said he was happy to work with the culinary students, whom he hosted on a tour of the farm last week. “This was a great event,” he said. “I had great faith in the students and staff of HCC. But the results even exceeded expectations. June and I are extremely happy with how it went.

“I was so proud of the students,” he said. “I think that they presented the recipes that were submitted at a very professional, high level. And the dishes were not only wonderful to look at, they were also delicious.”

In addition to Nunokawa, judges were Rockne Freitas, Chancellor of Hawai‘i Community College; Marlene Hapai of the University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents; food writer and cookbook author Sonia Martinez, who helped coordinate the event; food writer and author Joan Namkoong and Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald food columnist Audrey Wilson.

Roland Torres, producer of the television program Kama‘aina Backroads, videotaped the contest judging for a segment that will appear on a future Kama‘aina Backroads episode. We’ll post about it here when that’s coming up.

Here are the winners:

Candace Ames of Hilo won Grand Prize in the Entrée category with her “Hamakua Style Tomato Pie,” which was also the overall Grand Prize winner. Each grand prize winner receives a $350 Foodland/Sack and Save gift certificate and a personal tour of the farm.

The winning Entree: Hamakua Style Tomato Pie

Ames’s “Hamakua Style Tomato Pie” was a crowd-pleaser, creating a lot of buzz and ending up with a large point spread between it and the next highest-rated recipe. Judges, students and visitors alike raved about the quiche-like dish.

“Candace Ames told me she was blown away, happy and surprised,” Richard said. “She said she tries to eat healthy and she experiments and modifies recipes a lot. She said she loves Hamakua Springs tomatoes in the pie because they are firm.”

The top three entrees

Second place in the Entrée category went to Carolyn Uejo Kuntemeyer of Hilo for her “Ripe Tomatoes Stuffed with Lentils and Rice.” Third place went to “Tomato and Flank Steak in Awesome Sauce,” submitted by Aiea resident Barbara Lee.

All second place winners receive $300 in Foodland gift certificates, and each third place winner $250 in certificates.

The three winning salads

The Grand Prize Salad was Leonora Tsukayama of Hilo’s “Crunchy Lomi Salad.” Second place went to Eileen T. Tredway of Hilo, for “Tomato is a Fruit” Salad, and third place to Alyssa Moreau of Honolulu for her “Fresh Tomato & Corn Salad.”

In the category of Preserves & Condiments, Grand Prize went to Suzie Littlejohn of Kea‘au for her “Tomato Chutney,” which was also a crowd favorite. Second place, the colorful, tasty and interesting “Tomato Sass,” went to the Kea‘au High School Food Service Class. Third place was “Simple Salad Dressing,” submitted by Jessie Hillinger of Hilo.

Our first recipe contest was a wonderful experience all the way around. Our thanks to every single person involved, and we’ll see you next year! — posted by Leslie Lang