Restaurant Wars here in St. Johns?!  That's right St Johns Technical High School - Academy of Culinary Arts held their first ever restaurant wars!


This fundraising event features 18 students from the Academy of Culinary Arts in two teams for technical knowledge and skills competition in the Back of the House and Front of the House. Each team had three professional chef leaders, one for savory, one for sweet and one front-of-house director. Each team had one hour to cook, prepare and plate tasting plates of an appetizer, entrée, and dessert to paid guests. In addition, the teams provided a fully composed plate of each dish to three judges. The Front of the House students were responsible for decorating their display table along with a signature drink (non-alcoholic) and garnish.


There were special guests and chefs from all around the area to help with judging. The two teams were scored on sanitation, safety, Mise en place, cooking techniques, presentation, portion size, nutritional balance, ingredient capability, signature drink, teamwork, creativity, taste, texture and doneness.


Cajun Carnival's team consisted of a Hurricane cocktail, Mojito cocktail, Chicory coffee - Savory- Cool Cajun Chicken lettuce cups and Chicken Jambalaya - for their sweet - a Bourbon Street Bread  pudding.  Although everything tasted delcious, my favorite in this group was the Chicken Jambalaya - so deep and rich with flavor and spices.


Yokan's team consisted of a Yokan Cherry Blossom Mocktail- Chicken Sushi, Chicken Clear soup - Savory - Sesame Chicken Salad and for their sweet a white chocolate yuzu pie.  Their Sesame chicken salad I could eat everyday! Light and refreshing.


It was so nice to see these students from grades 9-11 so passionate about their trade. It was equally nice to see how they all worked together and how much the academy supports them and encourages them to share in their creativity.   How lucky are we to have such a devoted School for these students who are developing a trade that is not only a necessity but something we all enjoy! Food!   For more information you can contact St Johns Technical High School, www-sjths.stjohns.k12.fl.us   I love supporting and encouraging these talented students!

As you all know I love to hunt down some unique foods. I have seen this pasta made in a humungous cheese round and have been waiting for someone in our area to offer it on their menu. Well, my wish came true!  Bella Villa serves a version of this called Cacio n Pepe which is their 100% Italian grain pasta served al dente in a creamy sauce with black pepper tossed tableside in their signature cheese wheel. It was everything I expected and more! And as a bonus, I didn’t have to travel to Italy to get it! The pasta was so rich and velvety absorbing the nutty taste of the cheese along with just the right amount of cracked black pepper.  It is great by itself or you can add a protein, the garlic-sauteed spicy shrimp adds even more flavor if you love shrimp like I do!
Cacio e Pepe is a pasta dish from the cuisine of the city of Rome. Cacio e Pepe means "cheese and pepper" in several central Italian dialects.  All the ingredients kept well for a long time, which made the dish practical for shepherds without fixed abodes to be able to feed themselves and their families.


Fun fact: 
The Cheese wheel pasta (a.k.a. pasta alla ruota) is a style of pasta that is made tableside by mixing freshly cooked spaghetti, linguini, or any other type of pasta in a hollowed cheese wheel, most commonly parmigiano reggiano. A layer of cheese is scraped inside the wheel so it melts when the hot pasta is mixed in by hand.  Sometimes, the cheese is flambéed (i.e. lit on fire with a splash of alcohol like vodka or brandy) to induce melting. This variation made in a flaming wheel of cheese is appropriately called “flaming cheese wheel pasta”.