What's cooking this weekend.

Upon my wife’s insistence, I was one of over 1,000 amateur chefs who recently submitted recipes to a summer cook off competition hosted by “Fox in the Morning,” a local morning news program. With just six hours left before the entry deadline, I improvised a long-time favorite recipe to meet the entry qualifications, which required that the recipe include chicken, basil and peppers. My entry won, along with two other finalists, the opportunity to prepare and serve the recipe on the morning news program to a panel of professional chefs.

When my I decided to submit a recipe to the show, I thought about the ingredients that were required. Mojo is something familiar that I had cooked before, and it’s a great summertime marinade. The evolution of the recipe began one weekend with leftovers on the menu for lunch. Unfortunately, there were just two pieces of chicken left. In an effort to make everyone happy, I started looking for a way to make something out of nothing. I grabbed some wraps, a can of pineapple and threw some garnish and spice in the mix. At the time it wasn’t a recipe, it was serious improvising. With the requirements in mind for the cook off, I thought the basil and peppers would pair well with the pineapple for a nice salsa. I wrote out the recipe for the first time and it looked good on paper, so I sent it in. To be honest, I didn’t think I would make it in the contest. I know my food is good, but my patrons tend to be a bit biased.

When I won, I was surprised at first… especially since the judge announced the winner as “Joe.” Apparently, the judge was quite taken with our baby daughter Joley, nicknamed Jo, just moments before the judging. As it became apparent that I was the winner, I knew I’d return to work to with a new name for the day! Regardless of the win, the station’s news cast and crew treated us great. We felt like 9 year-olds on a class field trip.

http://www.fox41.com/Global/story.asp?S=12875452