Waterloo, Wisconsin — Creative foodservice chefs who entered the Mad About Crave Brothers Mascarpone Recipe Contest have demonstrated that creamy Mascarpone cheese is an ingredient equally suited for appetizers, entrees and desserts. Their winning recipes, all featuring Crave Brothers Farmstead Classics Mascarpone, celebrate the richness, versatility and quality of this farmstead fresh cheese.
Top honors have been awarded to the Overall Winner, Chef Kristine Merten of Hy-Vee supermarket in Austin, Minnesota. In addition to the $300 prize for winning the small plates category, she received an Apple iPad for being the Overall Winner. The simplicity of her recipe highlights the ingredient flavors and textures. The presentation features layers of salt-roasted beet medallions and a filling of Mascarpone mixture with scallions, salt and pepper. It’s topped with a drizzle of red wine and balsamic reduction, then sprinkled with candied walnuts. The appetizer is finished by a garnish of micro greens atop the medallion tower.
Chef /director Sonia Murphy of Cal Mart in Calistoga, California, won the $300 prize for top entrée honors with her recipe for Salmon and Shellfish Chowder with Crave Brothers Mascarpone Fumet. The recipe was created for the hot food bar at Cal Mart. It all begins with the fumet, thickened with cornstarch and gelatin and featuring Crave Brothers Mascarpone. Potatoes, corn and peppers are added to this simmering, thickened fumet, followed by clams and prawns. After the clams have opened, the fumet is then poured over salmon in a heated hotel pan. After the salmon cooks in the hot fumet, the flavorful chowder is garnished with parsley and served immediately.
The dessert honors and a $300 prize went to John Hui, CEPC, AAC, corporate pastry chef of Pebble Beach Resorts in California. His dessert, Vanilla Bean Mascarpone Cake with Orange Mascarpone Gelato, features a moist vanilla-scented cake served at room temperature with gelato, a fresh California strawberry compote and vanilla bean syrup.
Crave Brothers Farmstead Classics, including Crave Brothers Mascarpone, are a family of award-winning artisan cheeses, produced by using 100% green power and practicing water conservation and recycling. The cheeses are made at the state-of-the-art farmstead cheese factory with milk from the Crave Brothers Dairy Farm.
For more information about the Crave Brothers Mad About Mascarpone Recipe Contest and the winning recipes, visit the website at www.cravecheese.com.
The Crave family farms 2000 acres of rich land in south-central Wisconsin, growing soybeans, corn and alfalfa to use as nutritious feed for their Holstein cows. From the manure digester to water recovery, sustainability is top-of-mind on the farm. Every pound of cheese made by George Crave, a licensed cheese maker, is made with milk from the family’s herd. Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese produces Mascarpone, Fresh Mozzarella, Les Frères and Petit Frère French-style cheeses, Farmer’s Rope Part-Skim Mozzarella String Cheese and Oaxaca.
Source: Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese, LLC
