The duo of Hector Vega, sous chef at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., and ProStart student Ashley Casasola won MenuDirections’ 2019 Chef Culinary Competition on Monday.
This year, a noncommercial chef was paired up with a student from ProStart, a culinary arts program from the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation that provides mentorship and training to high school students looking toward a career in the food industry.
Using a basket of preselected ingredients, the four competing teams had an hour to prepare and plate a vegetarian dish. Each entry was judged on creativity, taste and presentation.
The winning dish featured handmade ramen noodles in a vegetarian broth, served with fried chickpeas with lime zest and charred tomato and portobello mushroom. A fried egg sprinkled with a Parmesan crisp topped the item.