The 20th Annual BCPMA Healthy Chef Competition took place March 20th at the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Vancouver. It is co-hosted by BC Produce Marketing Association and BC Chefs’ Association (BCCA). There were over 500 guests in attendance and 10 restaurants showcasing their use of fresh produce into each dish. The evening was filled with food, silent auctions, a swag bag and swag box of fresh produce and more.
Below is the menu from each restaurant properties:
- Kampachi & Salmon sashimi (appetizer): scallion, apple, fingerling potato chips, sunflower sprouts, chilled white shoyu dashi
- Lamb (entrée): Lamb with Little Potato CO Fingerlings, sun choke, English Peas, Foraged Mushrooms, Fermented Wild Blueberries and apple Bordelaise Sauce.
- The Dark Chocolate Forest (dessert): Chocolate and moss, spruce infused milk chocolate mousse, chocolate soil, Meringue Mushrooms and pistachio streusel.
- Duck Two Ways (entrée): Sous vide duck breast in prosciutto, sherry duck glaze, and crispy skin sand. Duck, fois gras and porcini globe with oven dried tomato. This was served with purple potato, heirloom carrots, cauliflower crisps, and pea puree.
- Cucumber Panna Cotta (dessert): Cucumber panna cotta with Ambrosia apple, celery salad, mini gelato and lime syrup, and topped with meringue.
Acqua Restaurant and Bar at Executive Suites Hotel Metro Vancouver
- Star Anise Kumquat Duck (entrée): kumquat glace de viande, smoked red kuri squash, black ink crisps, shimeji mushrooms, pickled mustard fennel kimchi, crispy lotus chips, black garlic sesame puree, and fennel tops.
- Yuzu Meringue Pie (dessert): Meyer lemon, yuzu, dulche de leche, purple tapioca crisp, macerated berries, blueberry meringue.
- Maple Pumpkin Crusted Cod (entrée): Cod fish served on a bed of Rapini Apple Chutney Potato Pave, Roasted Beet, Butternut Squash and Corn purée
- Bannock Truffle (dessert): Coconut Dark Chocolate Potato, Beet Ginger IceCream on a wafer crisp topped with a Ambrosia Apple Chip and Blueberry purée
- Pig in the Cabbage Patch (entrée): Gelderman Farms roast pork loin, fried sauercraut, cauliflower and leek fondue, fingerling potato, and olive oil sous-vide grape tomato.
- BC Ambrosia Apple Pie Gelee (dessert): Sable tart, maple dijon Chantilly Cream, Apple Cider Tuiles, Contreau Caramel, and Mint Infused Strawberry.
- Fermented Pine Mushroom Medley (entrée): Celeriac, Housemade Pumpkin Seed miso farro, pumpkin seed Dukkah, pea puree, Celeriac puree, vegetable demi, smoked fingerling potatoes, pickled daikon, shaved fennel, compressed granny smith Apple.
- Strawberry Panna Cotta (dessert): Almond Cocoa Bin Granola, compressed strawberries, sorrel yogurt sherbet, minted skim milk whipped cream
75 West Coast Grill at Marriott Vancouver Airport
- Sous vide octopus (entrée): Tender octopus served with romesco and manchego cheese cannelloni, charred corn segments, sweet corn foam, avocado puree, mole sauce.
- Ambrosia apple gateau bisque (dessert): Walnut milk sphere, charred lemon curd, pistachio and green grape soil, fruit lather, apple fluid gel, amaretto berry variations.
- Scallops (entrée): Sundried tomato crushed baja scallops with blue skin baby potato filled with yam puree, along with asparagus, baby carrots and baby beet roots served atop red cabbages, miso puree and soy orange butter sauce.
- Chocolate Cake (dessert): Molten cake filled with chocolate and raspberry sauce, chocolate dirt, and whipped vanilla panna cotta with mango fruit gel drops, finished with crystallize pear chips and edible flowers.
The Wild Fig
- Red Beet Fused Dry Aged AAA Striploin (entrée): 35 days dry aged hormone free AAA Striploin, sweet potato roulade, baby nugget puree, baby beets, caulilini, cipollini, purple brussel, squash puree, nasturtium, dark mesh tuile, and Madagascar peppercorn sauce.
- The Real Taste of Banana (dessert): White chocolate banana mousse cake tube, cocoa butter, banana compote, hazelnut dacquiose, dolce de leche, fizzy fruit berries, and edible gold dust.
- Braised Pork Cheek (entrée): Sunchoke, Ambrosia, Sour Radish, Amaranth
- Rhubarb bar (dessert): Dehydrated Vanilla Meringue, Kombucha fluid gel
And the Winner is…
- White Spot: People’s Choice Award – Duck Two Way
- The Wild Fig: Best Entrée – Red Beet Fused Dry Aged AAA Striploin
- Vancouver Community College: Best Dessert Award – Rhubarb bar
- The Wild Fig: Best Table Presentation – Jungle themed table made from all vegetables and fruit
I was great seeing and judging those that stepped up to the plate and went above and beyond incorporating fruits and vegetables to their menu creations! Missed out on this year’s competition? Watch out for next year’s 21st annual 20th Annual BCPMA Healthy Chef Competition. For more information, visit https://www.bcproducebc.ca
I was invited by BCPMA.
