Murphy's Menu
Regina Murphy
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Glorious Spam!
Last fall I let you know about the State Fair Spam competition, and the results are now in.
A young girl from Hutchinson, Kansas, actually won her division! Isn’t that wonderful? Eight-year-old Lindy Britain won the national grand prize with her Baked Apples with Spam Streusel. Lindy is the daughter of Heather and David Britain and she has five siblings.
Lindy’s mom was quoted in The Wichita Eagle as saying that her family spends a lot of time at the State Fair each year and enters many of its cooking contests. "I actually limit the kids on how often they can practice recipes featuring Spam,” she said. "I don't want to eat it every week."
Lindy’s recipe was chosen from almost 300 entries across the country. For the grand prize, she won $2,000 cash from Hormel Foods and the title of “National Spam Kid Chef of the Year”.
Hosted by the Blue Ribbon Group, the judges are quoted as saying Lindy’s Spam apples were “... eye-catching and colorful. Her recipe is just eight ingredients and about eight steps to completion. The result was a highly creative entry with originality that drew much attention. The sweet aspect (sugar, apples and dates) was cleverly combined with the savory Spam, drawing on its rich taste, but not overpowering it.”
Spam recipes run in the Britain family: Lindy’s great-grandmother Estelle Schmidt won the national grand prize in 2000 with her Spam cupcakes. Lindy’s great-aunts won with Turkey Spam Sushi and Spam BLT Teasers. Quite the tradition!
LINDY’S BAKED APPLES WITH SPAM STREUSEL
5 large Braeburn apples
1 (12-oz.) can Spam classic, finely diced
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
3/4 cup chopped dates
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup apple juice
1 Tbsp. butter
Core apples and peel the top half of the apple, leaving the skin on the bottom half. Place apples in microwave-safe baking dish.
In a medium bowl, combine Spam, brown sugar, oats, dates and cinnamon. Fill the center of each apple with the Spam filling and place any extra filling around apples. Pour apple juice over the apples and filling.
Cut butter into small pieces and place one piece on each apple and the rest over the filling. Cover apples with plastic wrap. Pierce the plastic wrap in several places to allow steam to escape while cooking.
Place apples in microwave and heat on medium-high power for 15-20 minutes or until apples are tender. Spoon the liquid in the bottom of the baking dish over the apples before serving.
Lindy plans to place her winnings in a savings account for the future. Besides cooking with her family, her hobbies include dancing, singing and riding her bicycle. She’s an eight-year-old with a good head on her shoulders!
The lady who won the adult competition is Darlene Buerger from Phoenix, Arizona. She made pot pies with Spam, corn chowder and phyllo dough, and was selected from over 700 entries nationwide.
Darlene grew up with seven siblings and she said her mother kept Spam as a pantry staple. “Spam was a big part of our meal plan,” she noted. She continues the tradition with her own children and grandchildren. Her cooking style is generally “without a recipe,” adapting and tweaking her creations along the way.
Darlene is quoted in The Arizona Republic as crediting her win to the pot pie's comforting flavors: the creamy corn, smoked paprika, phyllo dough crust and, of course, the salty bite of Spam with bacon.
“I just started putting things I like together, creating a dish that brings out the best of Spam,” she said. “This year it worked.”
DARLENE’S SPAMILICIOUS CORN CHOWDER POT PIES
1 (12-oz.) can Spam with Bacon or classic Spam, finely
diced
1 med. onion, diced
1/2 cup melted butter, divided
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half
1/4 tsp. smoked paprika
1/4 tsp. chicken bouillon
1 cup frozen corn, slightly thawed
1/2 (16-oz.) package frozen phyllo dough, thawed,
refrigerated
In a large skillet, over medium heat, sauté Spam and onion in 1/4 cup butter until the onion is softened and the Spam is lightly browned. Reduce heat to low and add the flour; cook and stir for one minute.
Stir in the chicken broth and increase the heat to medium. Continue stirring as broth thickens. Add the half-and-half, paprika, bouillon and corn. Cook and stir for an additional one or two minutes or until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
Remove phyllo dough from the refrigerator. Working quickly, separate two sheets of dough and crisscross the sheets over four individual (4-inch) glass custard cups or springform pans. Gently press dough into pans (allowing the excess dough to hang over the edge).
Brush the bottom of the dough with melted butter. Repeat this process two more times with phyllo dough and butter. Pour prepared filling into the pans. Press excess dough over filling, brushing pastry with butter after each fold. Brush the top of each pastry with butter. Place pies onto a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until the tops of each pie are golden brown.
Remove pot pies from oven and let stand for five minutes before serving. Carefully remove pies from pans and serve with a nice fresh salad.
Other entries in the 2007 contest that received special note were Smoky Spam-osas, East-Meets-West Spam Rolls, and a Spam and Cheese Quiche. Oh! The endless possibilities!
Next week we’ll celebrate Mother’s Day recipes with former Emporian, and now Chicago cookbook author Connie Fairbanks.
I challenge you — I am putting out “the call” — for recipes using soyfoods! The United Soybean Board sent me all kinds of information about the “Wonders of Soy” and I’d like some orignal, local recipes to go with it. I’ll share your knowledge with the world on May 14, if you but send me a recipe by May 5!
Mail me at The Emporia Gazette, P.O. Box C, Emporia, Kans. 66801, or e-mail me at murphysmenu@yahoo.com.
Let’s get cooking!