The sweet smell of molasses conquered sharper garlic and vinegar aromas from rival dishes as judges declared a winner in the pulse recipe contest held Jan. 13 during Crop Production Week.
Four finalists were chosen from 40 recipes submitted to the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. A Saskatoon hotel prepared the dishes and a taste test was arranged with three panelists: a scientist, a home economist and a chef.
Judge Al Slinkard, a retired University of Saskatchewan pulse crop breeder, praised the eventual winner, Kim Sothmann and her baked pulses casserole, saying “beautiful flavour, good texture, good smell, good for you and I’m having seconds.”
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Sothmann, who grows lentils, peas and wheat with her husband near Elrose, Sask., was represented by her daughter Susan, a university education student who said her mother is always flipping through magazines looking for recipes to find food her kids will eat.
“Hopefully if everyone eats more beans the prices will go up and everyone will be more healthy,” she said.
The audience preferred a different dish, selecting Irene Hagel’s summer bean salad as the people’s choice. Hagel said she eats a pulse meal every day because a doctor had warned her mother to eat more fibre to combat a stomach ailment.
Hagel grows beans organically in her farm garden near Choiceland, Sask., and last year harvested six gallons of beans from one bush plant. She said she usually picks the immature beans and blanches and freezes them for later use.
The other finalists were Janet Manderscheid of Bruno, Sask., who had a chickpea dip and Joanne Nichols of Tisdale, Sask., and her lentil shepherd’s pie.
The four recipes will be posted on the pulse growers website at www.saskpulse.com and will appear in an upcoming Team column.
