Second Annual He Said/She Said Contest

Last year my husband and I ran a 6 week He Said/She Said Contest with recipes from  Better Homes and Garden New Grilling Book, 2005 by Meredith Corporation.  The rules of the contest is that each of us chose 6 recipes from the book, cooked them and then blogged about each recipe.  In the end there was supposed to be a winner but by the end of the contest we were both winners because we had explored new recipes.  This year's he said/she said contest will focus on exploring Company's Coming® Heart-Friendly™ by Jean Paré.

Jean Paré has been a favourite Canadian cookbook author of ours for years.  We have several of her cookbooks.  Company's Coming® cookbooks are published in Edmonton, Alberta.  Her recipes are always top notch!  This cookbook was a very generous gift to my husband from our kids.  This is the perfect opportunity to explore another great Company's Coming® cookbook.

This year the contest will run from August 1 to August 31.  It is a shorter time frame than last year's contest.  In light of that each of us will choose 4 recipes from this cookbook, cook them and then blog about them.  Each will be identified by a he said or she said notation in the title.  At the end of the contest there will be 8 recipes total from the cookbook.  I will run a poll for each of us followed by a final combined poll for voting.  If last year is any indication this will be another great contest pitting husband and wife together.  I hope you enjoy our little challenge and the recipes we come up with.

October He Said/She Said Contest

If you have been following this blog you will know for 6 weeks ending August 30, 2009 my husband and I were running a He Said/She Said contest that resulted in 12 different recipes from Better Homes and Gardens® New Grilling Book. The winning recipes by popular vote were:

He Said She Said

We are going to be doing a different He Said/She Said contest for the month of October. I think you are really going to enjoy this one! This contest is not going to be quite as involved but I think it is going to be very interesting. The focus of this contest will be investigating new ingredients. The rules are: Choose 1 ingredient you have not cooked with before. The ingredient can be anything of your choosing providing you have not used it before in any dish you have prepared. Create two dishes using the ingredient. Pictures and recipes will be posted throughout October. The contest ends October 31, 2009. Voting for the best recipe will begin on November 1, 2009 and run for 1 week.

Looking Back on the He Said/She Said Contest

The Cookbook of Choice

One of the easiest ways to discover new recipes is to pick a cookbook then go through it marking recipes that sound appealing to you. That's exactly what my husband and I did then to make it a bit more challenging we turned it into a contest identified here as He Said/She Said. Both of us are accomplished home style, cooking from scratch cooks so this became one more aspect of being able to share of love of food. At the same time we each learned something about each other's cooking style along with discovering a few new ingredients.

When I originally came up with the idea for this contest the premise was each would do 6 different recipes of their choosing without assuming any help from the other. Well that idea fell by the wayside with the very first recipe, Texas Style Barbecue Chicken. As we browsed through the recipes questions arose over certain ingredients so one of us would rush off to do an online search. The curiosity of what was happening in the kitchen quickly turned into me acting as hubby's sous-chef and he in turn acted as mine. In the end the entire contest became less of a competition and more of a team work effort. We seriously had a lot of fun with this so already have plans for our next joint venture in cooking coming soon so watch for that coming as October's feature.

He Said/She Said Contest Summary

For the past 6 weeks my husband and I had a contest with each of us making a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens® New Grilling Book to create a meal. The primary goals for this contest was to discover new recipes while learning a bit more about our cooking styles in a fun yet slightly competitive contest. In total there were 12 recipes, each choosing 6. The contest ended August 31 with all dishes completed by that date. Originally I was going to post one large poll so you the reader could vote for your favourite dish of the 12 recipes. Instead I will post one poll for the best of he said and one poll for the best of she said followed by a final polling with the first poll to go live tomorrow and running one week. Tomorrow's blog post will give some of the highlights we discovered from the contest.

The Cookbook of Choice

Here is a summary of the He Said/She Said recipes. Click any of the pictures to take you to the full write-up for the dish. If you try any of these dishes please let us know. Please leave comments on the individual posts or on this post if you wish. Happy voting!


He Said

She Said

He Said (6) - Mushroom Stuffed Pork Chops

If you recall my husband and I were having a bit of a contest with each of us using a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens® New Grilling Book to create a meal. There were 12 recipes in total, 6 of his choosing and 6 of mine. The contest ended August 31 so here is final recipe. I will post a summary with links to all of the recipes and the first poll where you can vote for the meal you liked best later this week. I will also post a follow-up on some of the things we learned with this fun contest. The rules were all the ingredients must be used but the amounts can be altered.

The Prep

The prep work for the mushroom stuffed pork chops was quite simple. My husband picked up fresh butterflied pork chops from our local butcher shop (1). The nice thing is the butcher shop custom cuts to our specifications so we always get exactly the cut we want. The recipe called for making a pocket in the pork chops but getting them butterflied is easier so the instructions have been modified to reflect that. He mixed the mushroom stuffing together then placed it in the centre of each pork chop (2). Then he fold the pork chops together to form a pocket (3) and grilled on a covered grill on medium heat. During the last 5 minutes of grilling he brushed on orange marmalade (4) which reminds me I need to make orange marmalade.

Mushroom Stuffed Pork Chops
source: Meredith Corporation, Better Homes and Garden New Grilling Book, 2005. Pp. 214

4 pork loin chops (1¼-inch thick)
½ c coarsely chopped fresh mushrooms
¼ c chopped onion
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
1 c coarsely chopped fresh spinach
¼ c soft bread crumbs
¼ c orange marmalade

Cook mushrooms and onion in hot butter until onion is translucent. Remove saucepan from heat. Stir in ginger, salt, pepper, spinach and bread crumbs. Gently toss to mix. Spoon the stuffing onto the butterflied pork chops. Fold the pork chops to form a pocket. Secure with a wooden toothpick. Grill on indirect heat on medium for 35 to 40 minutes or until chops are slightly pink in the centre and juices run clear (160ºF), turning once. During the last 5 minutes of grilling, brush with orange marmalade.

Mushroom Stuffed Pork Chops

I think it is official! My husband is seriously trying to show me up when it comes to grilling. These are some of the best tasting pork chops you will ever taste! The meat was nicely grilled and tender. The simple stuffing was just a delight. The orange marmalade added a nice high note without being over powering. The flavours just complimented each other so nicely! Hands down I really think this is the best of the 12 recipes. It was simple yet delicious with all the hallmarks of a great recipe!

I served the pork chops with grilled potatoes and fresh lettuce, tomato, basil from the garden accented with cucumber slices. It was an excellent meal!

He Said (4) - Glazed Prosciutto Wrapped Shrimp

If you recall my husband and I are having a bit of a contest with each of us using a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens® New Grilling Book to create a meal. In total there will be 12 recipes, 6 of his choosing and 6 of mine. The contest ends August 31 so the first week of September I will post a poll where you can vote for the meal you liked best. The rules are all the ingredients must be used but the amounts can be altered.

Glazed Prosciutto Wrapped Shrimp

My husband chose a shrimp dish as his fourth contest recipe. The recipe for the glazed prosciutto wrapped shrimp said that serving with couscous was optional. My husband served this recipe without the couscous as an appetizer. This is definitely a keeper recipe especially for using as an appetizer.

The recipe called for a bourbon grilling sauce but did not give a recipe so I made one. There are a lot of flavours going on in this appetizer. There is the sweet seafood flavour of the shrimp mixed with the saltiness of the prosciutto that mingles nicely with the mild smoky heat of the grilling sauce. It really is a lovely combination, one sure to please!

Glazed Prosciutto Wrapped Shrimp
source: Meredith Corporation, Better Homes and Garden New Grilling Book, 2005. Pp. 336

½ c bourbon grilling sauce (see my recipe below)
½ tsp chili powder
24 fresh or frozen large shrimp in shells
8 thin slices prosciutto

Soak wood skewers 15 to 20 minutes. Peel and devein shrimp. Pat dry and set aside. Mix grilling sauce and chili powder. Wrap each shrimp with a half of strip of prosciutto. Thread onto a skewer. Brush with grilling sauce. Grill on medium heat until shrimp is opaque and prosciutto has defined grill marks, about 6 minutes. Remove from grill and serve as desired.

Bourbon Grilling Sauce

The ingredients for the grilling sauce are pictured in the top photo. The bottom photo shows the 2 - 250 ml jars of canned sauce along with what was used for the shrimp (brush) and put aside for later use. I used a Vadalia onion and Jack Daniel's® Tennessee Whiskey in this recipe. I also eliminated the salt, reduced the liquid smoke and increased the tomato paste. The yield was about 1 L (4 c). Each and every time I cook I'm always alert to a canning opportunity. The flavour of this sauce even without a bit of mellowing gets rave reviews from both of us. I was impressed enough with the flavour that I canned up 2 - 250 ml test jars so will report back on those results. The remaining sauce was refrigerated for an event we are hosting mid-week.

Bourbon Whiskey Barbeque Sauce
source: my recipe

½ onion
4 cloves garlic
¾ cup bourbon whiskey
¼ tsp ground black pepper
2 c ketchup
½ c tomato paste
⅓ c cider vinegar
1 tbsp liquid smoke flavoring
¼ c Worcestershire sauce
½ c packed brown sugar
⅓ tsp hot pepper sauce, or to taste

Combine onion, garlic, and whiskey in a large skillet over medium heat. Simmer mixture for 10 minutes, or until onion is translucent. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Yield: about 1 L (4 c)

Canning Instructions: Ladle the hot sauce into 250 ml (half-pint) jars leaving ¼-inch headspace. Wipe rims. Adjust 2 piece lids. Process 20 minutes in BWB canner at altitudes under 1,000 feet above sea level. For higher altitudes refer to altitude adjustment chart.