Good Food pie contest: Photos

I had a great time at the Good Food pie contest today! Neither of my pies (Hatch chile with bacon, green onions and cotija cheese on the left in the photo above; fig, goat cheese, rosemary and Meyer lemon on the right) made it to the final round, but that's fine with me. I didn't enter the contest to win. I did it to have fun, and on that count it was a smashing success. Here are a few photos from the day:

Fellow food bloggers Dorothy Reinhold of Shockingly Delicious and Chrystal Baker of The Duo Dishes at the entrance

The crowds waiting patiently for the tasting frenzy to begin

Heroic Good Food producer Harriet Ells guarding the pies

Good Food host and pie contest emcee Evan Kleiman interviewing one of the bakers

One of the pies I wanted to taste - but by the time I was done serving my own pies, it was all gone (sniff!)

This sour cherry pie was delicious - as you know, I'm deeply attached to Leona Valley cherries

Chrystal doing what food bloggers do best

Dorothy Reinhold of Shockingly Delicious with her two entries (blueberry, and something with smoked salmon)

Christina Xenos with her spanikopita (spinach pie), which took third place in the Savory category - she learned to make it from the little old ladies at the Greek Orthodox church her family attended in Ohio

Congratulations to all the winners; great job, Harriet, Evan and the KCRW crew; and huge props to all the bakers! Now I'm inspired. I already have a list going for next year....

The Good Food pie contest

I'm all ready for tomorrow's Good Food pie contest, sponsored by Evan Kleiman's "Good Food" program on National Public Radio. Two pies baked and cooling on the counter. Two complete experiments, untested recipes I created out of thin air. Yeah, that's the way I roll. Or, in this case, do not roll, as both pies used press-in crusts. Despite my cherry pie practice earlier this summer, I'm still not much good with a rolling pin.

I entered in two categories: Fruit and Savory. I knew what I was making for the fruit pie. It's fig season, and last year I made a really good fig and goat cheese pie. Okay, I called it a tart, but really, it was a pie. I made it only a few months after I started working at Business.com, and it was one of the more unusual things I brought in for my colleagues to taste. They have sophisticated palates; they liked it.

But I thought there was one problem with that recipe: The figs were too watery. This time I got rid of some liquid ahead of time by making a fig compote for the bottom layer of the pie, rather than using fresh figs. I also decorated the top with cut figs that I broiled first. I'm pleased with the way it looks, although I won't really know what the consistency is like until tomorrow. I'm a tiny bit afraid that the goat cheese layer will be rubbery - maybe I should only have added one egg instead of two. Oh well. Too late now.

I had more trouble deciding what to make for the Savory category. I wanted to use the Hatch chiles I found at Bob's Market earlier in the week - such a rare treat, especially outside of New Mexico. I thought about making a pork and green chile stew, but in the end I was just too lazy. So I made a sort of {quiche} - I'm saying that softly because if it's really a quiche it might get me disqualified. No, it's a pie, dammit! Anyway, I mixed the roasted Hatch chiles with chopped cooked bacon, green onions, cotija and panela cheese, eggs, and cream, and baked it all in a cornmeal-enhanced pie crust. It smells unbelievably good. My family is quite irritated that I only made one and it's going to the contest instead of in their bellies.

I'm not expecting to win. But I'm expecting to have a good time and take lots of pictures. And eat lots of pie. If you're in Los Angeles and free tomorrow, come on down - it's going to be a hoot.

UPDATE, Sunday evening: Nope, I didn't win anything. But I had a really good time hanging with the other pie bakers. And I got lots of compliments on both pies. I'm already thinking of pie ideas for next year....

Oyster mushroom fricassee recipe on The Mushroom Channel blog

Why is it so hard to take pictures of cooked mushrooms? I struggled and struggled with this one - shot it four different ways before I finally came up with this one for my latest post on The Mushroom Channel. It's the oyster mushroom fricassee from Le Saint Amour in Culver City, one of my favorite French restaurants.

The photo I took in the restaurant the first time, too dark. The second time, overexposed. My first attempt at home, pathetic. This one, passable. What to do? Wait, I have a solution! I just need to take Rachel from Inside the Kaganoff Kitchen with me everywhere I go. Rachel, I hope you're available for the foreseeable future. Please bring your camera.

Head on over to The Mushroom Channel to read about this delicious, ultra-French-but-so-easy-to-make-at-home dish!