How creative can you be with beans, peas, chickpeas and lentils? The United States LovePulses Product Showcase has shown that is possible to create some incredibly delicious dishes.
Tasked with making a mainstream, freezable produced based on traditional Rocky Mountain/South West regional cuisine from the United States of America, students from Canada, Malaysia and the USA have been busy in the kitchen, delivering some mouthwatering ideas ready to be served a plate. Below is a snapshot of those shortlisted.
The top 6 teams competing in the Student competition were:
Gnocchi Mountain Vension
A gnocchi made with green lentil flour and potatoes, with a fiery black bean, lime, and apricot cream sauce. (University of Guelph)
The Rocky Pea’s Southwestern Vegan Enchilada
Featuring a vegan gluten-free enchilada with salsa verde and Southwestern succotash meal made with chickpeas, black eyed peas, fava bean flour, green split peas, chickpea flour, green lentils. (Kansas State University)
Southwest Street Tacos
Two soft Native American style Navajo bread tacos with Bison Green Chile filling with dark red kidney beans, spicy refried lentils, topped with toasted red pepper salsa and cilantro-lime Greek yogurt sauce. (Southwest Minnesota State University)
Spicy Linguine Roulade De Pollo
A black bean and lentil pasta, chicken roulade with prune and lentil and roasted vegetables. (Taylor’s University, Malaysia)
Rocky Mountain Fire Roasted Ravioli
A three lentil pasta ravioli with squash, corn, lentils, and peas (Johnson & Wales University)
Three Sisters Harvest
Squash medallions made from sweet butternut squash, quinoa, garbanzo beans, green onions, cilantro, and a hint of tahini; Southwestern Lentil Stew with pardina lentils; and polenta (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
The Results
Following a thrilling competition, the Spicy Linguine Roulade De Pollo was declared the best dish. The Gnocchi Mountain Vension and Southwestern Vegan Enchilada from US universities (2nd and 3rd place, respectively) will be forwarded to represent the USA in the Global #LovePulses Global Development Showcase at the Institute of Food Technologists Conference in July later this year.
Notes:
- Competition participants were challenged to: “develop a proposal for a frozen retail, single serving, microwaveable meal utilizing a product of the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council in the entrée. The product should be based on Rocky Mountain/Southwest regional cuisine. Teams will develop both gold standard and the corresponding manufactured product formulations.”
- The #LovePulses competition was coordinated by the USADPLC and APA on behalf of the Research Chefs Association.
- The Research Chefs Association is a group of research chefs, food scientists, and other food industry professionals promoting the discipline of Culinology®, the blending of culinary arts and food science. The RCA’s vision statement is to “Create the Future of Food”.
- A special thanks to the former Director of Domestic Marketing, Mackenzie Lilwall, for securing funding for the #LovePulses competition.
- A special thanks to the generous sponsorship of Columbia Grain all US teams will be invited to share the products they developed at the student innovation sessions at the USA and Pulse Canada IFT booth.
By Jessie Hunter, USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council, American Pulse Association