Bold Holiday Appetizer Takes Gold in U of I Recipe Contest
December 21, 2022
Bold Holiday Appetizer Takes Gold in U of I Recipe Contest
Dietetics graduate students Sara Schumacher and Sophia Raasch admit their initial attempt at creating an original recipe — whipped feta dip — was a disaster.
The cheesy mush they concocted lacked aesthetic appeal and a suitable texture — until, at a professor’s suggestion, they tried baking the feta rather than whipping it. That simple tweak transformed a flop into the winning entry in the 2022 Holiday Recipe Challenge.
As the judges’ choice in the 15th annual recipe competition golden, baked feta will undoubtedly grace the holiday dinner tables of many Vandal donors and advocates. As you are considering what to prepare for the holidays, visit the Advancement Services Holiday Recipes website for this year’s winning recipe, other entries in the recent competition and past recipes.
The competition is open to Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences undergraduates in food and nutrition and graduate students pursuing a master’s degree in dietetics. They must be enrolled in the Quantity Food Production and Equipment Lab class, which meets in the Carmelita Spencer Foods Laboratory. All the recipes entered in the competition have been posted on the university’s Advancement Stewardship website, along with recipes from previous years.
Schumacher, of Lewiston, and Raasch, of Troy, are both in the first year of the dietetics master’s degree program.
“After we figured out baking it was the way to go, it was just altering some flavors,” Raasch said. “We had a lot of people say, ‘This is so easy; I would take this to a party.’ It’s five minutes to prepare and five ingredients. People like that at the holidays, I think, because they are so busy.”
Contest rules require participants to submit recipes that are holiday appropriate and show Vandal pride. This year’s recipes also had to comply with the theme of the university’s current capital campaign, “Brave, Bold and Unstoppable.”
The recipe’s creators noted it features the university’s love of dairy and the honey, which lends it Vandal-gold color, is sourced locally from Moscow’s Woodland Apiaries. Cranberries and fresh basil lend holiday color. Shumacher and Raasch believe the unusual flavoring pairings and the method of preparation qualify as bold and brave.
“Just the idea of it: You’ve never heard of baking feta so just trying something different and just going for it was our unintentional bold move,” Schumacher said. “We had a lot of repeat customers coming back. I think they were surprised it all went together because it sounded like a weird combination of ingredients.”
The recipe calls for pricking an 8-ounce block of feta with a fork and placing it in a casserole dish. Drizzle the cheese block with orange juice and olive oil and cover the surface of the dish surrounding the block with cranberries. Bake for about 40 minutes at 400 degrees until golden brown, cool, garnish with orange zest and fresh basil leaves. Drizzle honey on the cheese and serve with crackers or pitas.
The competition originated in 2008, inspired by the university’s former first lady, Ruthie Nellis, who collected cookbooks. It became a tradition for food and nutrition and dietetics students to host a competition to submit the favorite recipe, though every year many recipes are worthy of sharing.
Students compete in teams of two or three and are expected to test their recipe at least three times, before trading recipes and attempting to cook entries from the competition to offer suggestions.
“Even though it’s a bit of a competition, they usually help each other out,” said Katie Miner, senior instructor with the Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences.
Miner is always amazed by the quality of the students’ recipes, and she finds the teams that struggle initially must often get creative with improvements, which makes their creations more unique and memorable.
“Everybody’s recipes were so different from each other, and everybody were so good,” Schumacher said.
About 20 university leaders and supporters comprise the judging team. During the second week of October, the judges tour the Niccolls building, home to the Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences, sampling and scoring every entry, based on taste, texture and creativity.
“I think donors and friends of the university like to see student projects and student involvement, and this is one way we can connect them with things the students are doing,” Miner said.
Published in Catching Up with CALS
About the University of Idaho
The University of Idaho, home of the Vandals, is Idaho’s land-grant, national research university. From its residential campus in Moscow, U of I serves the state of Idaho through educational centers in Boise, Coeur d’Alene and Idaho Falls, nine research and Extension centers, plus Extension offices in 42 counties. Home to nearly 11,000 students statewide, U of I is a leader in student-centered learning and excels at interdisciplinary research, service to businesses and communities, and in advancing diversity, citizenship and global outreach. U of I competes in the Big Sky and Western Athletic conferences. Learn more at uidaho.edu.