The aroma of sugar and spices filled the room as contestants dashed from stove to shelf. A cart of possibilities was on one side of the kitchen and a stove of decision on the other. The competition was heating up, but no one was leaving this kitchen. Only one team can claim to be a champion and everyone was up to the challenge.

The Quick Fire Challenge.

Last Friday was the Culinary Arts class first Quick Fire Challenge this year. In the Quick Fire Challenge, the class must split up into different teams of around 2 or 3. These teams are only allowed the ingredients that are on the cart and any spices in the room. The dish could be an appetizer, entrée, or desert, but it must be completed in 30 minutes or less. They are judged on safety in the kitchen, plate presentation, and taste, among other things. The winners of this Quick Fire Challenge were Jamii Cole and Savannah Neighly.

“When I saw all the ingredients on the cart, I saw the pasta and thought ‘Oh, we should fill this with something.’” Cole said. “Then we just grabbed the hamburger meat.”

This winning dish was a large pasta shell filled with hamburger meat, diced jalapenos, paprika, salt, pepper, Cayenne, garlic, garlic salt, ricotta cheese and topped with a mushroom , whipping cream, and lemon juice glaze.

“It feels great to be the winner of the Quick Fire Challenge,” Cole said. “I want to be a chef so this is all pretty cool. We do a lot of caterings and stuff like that in this class so I’ve gotten to know a lot of people.”

Mrs. Peredes is the new teacher for the culinary arts class this year. She started teaching in January and it is her first year teaching at Canyon High School.

“This competition takes a lot of effort, planning and thinking to create,” Peredes said. “In my mind I’m thinking and going through what combinations can be put on the cart that I can group together that they will visually see and think ‘Okay, I can make something out of that.’’ 

Among the completed dishes were quesadillas filled with beef and pineapples, enchiladas with hamburger meat and chili pepper, sopapilla cheesecake, spaghetti with Italian sausage and a beef quesadilla filled with seared peppers and onions.

“We’re planning on many more competitions,” Peredes said. “I’m going to talk with the students and get their feedback. We got the idea from Top Chef on Bravo TV, but we’re going to look at what we can do in the next competition to make it more challenging and fun.”