Times-News

This sounds like an evening to avoid your own kitchen:

Students in the College of Southern Idaho's Culinary Arts program, the Hosteurs Club, will hold their ninth annual Italian Buffet fundraiser from 5 to 8 p.m. Oct. 9 in the Desert Building cafe on the CSI campus.

The menu: Sicilian chicken; Italian meatballs; spaghetti; penne ravioli; lasagna; alfredo, pesto and marinara sauces; salad bar including pasta salad; focaccia; lemon and orange cheesecake; biscotti; fruit; and drinks.

Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for children 5-12. Children under 5 eat free. All proceeds help the CSI Hosteurs Club members with their educational experiences.

Tickets sell out quickly, organizers say; they recommend buying in advance.

Call Tracie in the CSI Business Department office at 732-6458 or e-mail ttaylor@csi.edu.

Here's your chance to prove your corn bread prowess.

The Sawtooth Botanical Garden will host its annual Harvest Festival from noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 19, and featured this year will be a Community Corn Bread Contest, along with a chef chili cook-off. The garden is five miles south of Ketchum at 11 Gimlet Road and Idaho Highway 75.

Bring your famous corn bread - for free admission - and join to win. Prizes to be awarded to the top three recipes include a season pass to Soldier Mountain near Fairfield. Prizes were donated by daVinci's, Pioneer Saloon, Ketchum Kitchens, Blaine County Recreation District, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Company of Fools, Backwoods, Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber of Commerce and Soldier Mountain.

The festival also includes pumpkin painting, apple bobbing, sack races, farm animals, a cider press demonstration, horse bouncy house and dancing to the tunes of musical trio The Damphools.

Cost is $40 for a family of four, $15 for individuals or $10 for kids - or bring a corn bread entry for free admission.

Tickets are available in advance or at the door. Information or to enter: 726-9358. To enter the corn bread contest, call by Oct. 17 to sign up.

Twin Falls man's cornmeal treat takes baking honors

With his buttermilk-and-berries specialty, Joshua Spooner of Twin Falls was the blue-ribbon winner of Saco Foods' "Bake Your Best Brunch" contest at the Twin Falls County Fair.

Spooner started with a basic corn bread recipe from the Internet, then spiced it up with rum, coconut and other original touches, eventually arriving at the winning recipe.

"I kind of added to it and made it my own," he said Monday.

The dish usually gets a surprised reaction from his tasters. "They're not really used to a cornmeal dessert," Spooner said.

Participants entered the contest, which offered $175 in prizes, by creating a favorite brunch food that included one of the company's baking products. Courtesy of Wisconsin-based Saco Foods, here is Spooner's winning recipe:

Cornmeal Berry Pockets

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup yellow cornmeal

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cold butter, in small chunks

2 tablespoons Saco Cultured Buttermilk Blend

1/2 cup water

1 egg

1/2 cup coconut flakes

Splash of rum

1 1/2 teaspoon lime peel, finely shredded

1 cup blueberries

1 cup frozen mixed berries

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 cups powdered sugar

6-8 teaspoons lime juice

3 tablespoons almonds, chopped

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease 7-inch pie pan. In large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut butter into flour mixture to resemble coarse crumbs. Make a well in center of dough.

Mix the buttermilk blend with water separately and add egg and lime peel. Add to well in dough and stir with fork until moist.

Toss blueberries in 1 teaspoon cornstarch to coat. Add to flour mixture with rum and coconut. Stir the flour blend 3 to 5 turns until berries are incorporated.

Separate dough into halves. Press half into pie pan. Toss remaining berries with 1 teaspoon cornstarch and pile in center of the pan. Press the remaining dough over the top of berries.

Bake 15 minutes or until top is golden brown. In a small bowl, whisk lime juice into powdered sugar until drizzling consistency. Drizzle over warm pocket and sprinkle with nuts.

- Compiled from staff reports