Who's your award-winning chef? Chef Deb, that's who!
Chef Deb is the winner of The Heart & Stroke Foundation's 2008 Durham Region Chef Challenge!Going head-to-head with some of Durham's finest chefs, Chef Deb wowed the industry insider panel of judges with her amazingly delicious, low fat, low sodium dishes. The final round had Chef Deb creating—with just-revealed-start-the-clock secret ingredients—two incredible dishes in less than 20 minutes!
Says Chef Deb, "I entered the semi and final rounds with a pre-determined mindset. I wanted to demonstate how easy it is to reduce fat and sodium from one's diet without comprimising taste or the satisfying 'mouth feel' that comes with foods rich in animal fats and/or deep fried. To this end, I focused on East Indian and Mexican foods. I bumped up the flavours of my dishes using traditional Indian, Mexican and even Iranian spice mixes. Ponch Phoran, my homemade Tex-Mex rub and 'sour grape,' a little-known spice powder used throughout the Middle East, dialed up the flavour without adding any salt. I used extra virgin olive oil exclusively and in small quantities to 'dress' each dish. I think it was my deconstructed guacamole—made with low fat yoghurt cheese instead of full fat sour cream—that I used as a flavour-packed drizzle on my final dish that won the judges over."
For your free copy of Chef Deb's heart healthy recipes she created on-demand at the chef challenge, click "contact" and type "recipes H&S chef challenge" in the subject box.
Attention fellow foodies!
Chef Deb is working hard to custom-design a culinary caravan to Morocco with her Canadian foodies and students in April 2008. Interested parties should contact Chef Deb to be placed on her mailing list for updates about this incredible, life-altering trip. In the meantime, start whetting your appetite by checking out Chef Lahcen's website in Morocco at www.fescooking.com and visit www.argan3.com for information about Morocco's incredible "argan oil," prized for its culinary and holistic properties.And, don't forget to check out Chef Deb's Winter/Spring 2008 teaching schedule at Loblaws/The Real Canadian Superstore—click on classes for details.
Chef Deb goes "live" on Rogers Cable (Durham Region) TV's "Daytime" program.
Catch chef Deb's cooking segments between 11:30 a.m. and noon on the following broadcast dates:
- January 17, 2008
- February 18, 2008
- March 17, 2008
- April 14, 2008
- May 12, 2008
- June 16, 2008
