Four finalists recipes for Cook of the Week Challenge
After two months of recipe challenges, four suburban cooks, from a field of 16, earned spots at the Daily Herald Cook of the Week Challenge finals.
Cate Brusenbach of Antioch, Mark Clemens of Elgin, Penny Kazmier of South Barrington and Michael Lalagos of Schaumburg put their kitchen skills and culinary creativity to the test during a cook-off in front of 200-plus people earlier this month at the Hyatt Regency Woodfield Schaumburg.
The contestants had one hour to prepare a dish using Rose Packing Co. pork tenderloin, fresh or dried cranberries, Fisher Chef’s Natural hazelnuts and canned chipotle peppers. They each had a hand-picked helper to aid in chopping and stirring, and could pull additional items from a pantry of common household ingredients.
At the end of the night the five judges awarded Penny Kazmier the title 2011 Cook of the Year, yet each of the cooks should be proud of their recipes.