August 19, 2013 - Lewiston (Idaho) Morning Tribune
PULLMAN, Wash. — Patricia Franks normally arrives at Pullman’s National Lentil Festival on the back of a motorcycle.
On Saturday, the Valleyford, Wash., resident made her entrance in a presidential party bus and left $2,000 richer after taking first place in the event’s “Lengendary Lentil Cook-off.”
Her granola earned the award from a judging panel that included a former “Top Chef” contestant from Seattle, the executive chef at the Coeur d’Alene Casino and the owner of Cowgirl Chocolates in Moscow.
Franks has been a regular at the annual Lentil Festival, making the day trip from her home just south of Spokane. “The high point of my summer is to ride the motorcycle (to the Lentil Festival) and get in the tasting line,” said Franks, a risk management analyst for the crop insurance arm of the United States Department of Agriculture.
Franks’ win initiated the cook-off’s new format that debuted at the 25th annual festival. She was one of five finalists from all over the country who won a free trip to Pullman and prepared their recipes for judges.
Until now, volunteers cooked finalists’ recipes. Then the first 400 people to get into a line at the Lentil Festival selected the winner.
That element of the competition was kept alive with a $100 people’s choice award that was tweaked to reduce the number of voters to 100. It went to Ashley Loyning, a Portland Community College student. Loyning, who made Balsamic Lentil Stew, also took second place with a $1,000 prize.
The dishes of Franks, Loyning and the other three contest participants reflected the lentil’s versatility. Lisa Speer took third place with an iron skillet pizza. Speer, who used to practice law, traveled from Palm Beach, Fla., where she’s a homemaker.
A carrot cake made by Donna Kelly, a prosecutor from Provo, Utah, won fourth place, and a stew that featured asparagus garnered fifth place for Mary Leverette, a writer from of Columbia, S.C.
Franks’ combination had oats, peanut butter, honey and of course, lentils. The peanut butter and honey give the cereal a flavor similar to an oatmeal cookie, Franks said.
The granola was one of two recipes Franks submitted, and it surprised her that it was the breakfast food, not a stew made with Middle Eastern spices, that snagged the contest spot. “I really came close to not entering this one,” Franks said.
Loyning, a Whole Foods employee who said she may pursue a career in social work, paired lentils with sausage, bacon, garlic, onions and mushrooms. “(Lentils) really take home the flavor of any ingredient you add to the recipe,” Loyning said.
Kelly and Leverette both pureed the lentils for their recipes. Lentils came into play in the carrot cake as a substitute for applesauce and to up the protein content, said Kelly, a writer of the blog,
“Apronstringsblog.com.” “You can’t really taste the lentils, but it adds a richness and a moistness to the cake.”
Texture mattered to Leverette too. She said lentils provide the body to her soup that also contains onion, thyme, fresh spinach and lots of Parmesan cheese. “(The cheese is) what adds the oomph that everybody likes.”
The contest had an episode of behind-the-scenes drama. Finalists had about 90 minutes to cook the food for the judges in the home economics kitchen at Lincoln Middle School, which organizers chose because it has five identical kitchens in one place.
Smoke from a pan of bacon that Loyning was cooking triggered a fire alarm and the building had to be evacuated until firefighters arrived and assessed the situation. The contestants and the volunteers helping make their dishes for the people’s choice contest waited outside worrying.
Kelly’s cake had been in the oven and was almost done baking, raising concerns it might dry out or burn.
The dough for Speer’s pizza was out and at risk of over-rising. Loyning apologized profusely and the competitors swapped stories about similar mistakes they had made.
The contestants posed for a picture with the firefighters as Loyning held the bacon responsible for the commotion.
In spite of the setback, the judging started just a few minutes behind schedule.
“We’re about the least cutthroat group of people you could ever meet,” Leverette said.
