Cooking Challenge
Here's the deal. I'm in the food rotation to bring a "hot dish" for a high school wrestling match. The dish is intended to serve the wrestlers and parents who are there for an ALL DAY tournament. Typically, the wrestlers snack on granola, fruit, sandwiches, etc during the tournament. But when a wrestler is finally finished, he's ravenous and ready to sit down and chow. This is where the hot dish is supposed to come in. Other parameters of the challenge:
1) I need to arrive by 9am. The location is too far from home for me to go home and then come back.
2) The "hot dish" needs to keep until say, mid afternoon to late afternoon
3) I have access to a power outlet, but nothing else.
4) These folks are NOT adventourous eaters, but they are carnivores.
5 Comments
The condiments could make it particularly memorable so that it's like an Ice Cream Bar except it's a Chili Bar : shredded lettuce, chopped onions , chopped green chilis, chipotle sour cream, plain bottled hot sauce, shredded cheddar,crushed taco chips, salsa or chopped tomatoes. And you could make the chili more appealing by using cubed beef rather than ground meat. I added black, red and white beans to my chili last time and it was so pretty! Also, if you included some grain in your chili, that would be a nice nod to healthful eating--something like chewy wheatberries or shortgrain brown rice or red quinoa. Personally, i would stay away from meatballs in red sauce or lasagna etc- too heavy/hard to digest after a rigorous workout. I would also include a complex salad as an option, w/ lots of texture in the components- mesclun, cukes, sprouts,cheese, nuts or seeds,fennel, apple,avocado, beets-- for those who need it as their entree. (maybe also some small bowls of shredded chicken next to the salad.) People love to have a display of choices; makes 'em feel special. (Not the same old concept of one dish-take it or leave it.)