By Emily Mathis
SDN Staff Report
July 1, 2010 - Savannah’s food queen, Paula Deen, held court at the Lucas Theatre Wednesday night as she announced the four winners of the Real Women of Philadelphia, a national cooking contest sponsored by Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese with Deen as the spokesperson.
The eight-week long cooking competition invited women from across the country to submit videos of them self creating and cooking recipes that use Philadelphia brand cream cheese for the chance to win a $25,000 talent contract. Winners will have the opportunity to host a weekly online only cooking show that will appear on her website www.PaulaDeen.com/realwomen, and possibly become TV food personalities, as well.
Of the more than 5,000 entries, 16 finalists were chosen (four each for appetizer, side dish, entrée, and dessert categories) based on personality, originality, appearance, and taste. The finalists were then flown to Savannah on Sunday in preparation for a cook-off that was held the next day, with the final four chosen Wednesday night.
On Monday, each woman cooked her respective cream-cheese dish for the competition’s judges - Ms. Deen, her Aunt Peggy, Robin Ross of Kraft Food’s Culinary Center of Excellence, and Lori Lange of RecipeGirl.com.
Two days later, the four winners were announced at the Lucas Theatre – one each from the four geographic areas of the country. They were Mandy Heaston of Seattle, WA who won the side dish category for her “Asparagus and Parmesan Cream Pastry”; Caryn Ross of Norman, OK in the appetizer category for her “Sassy Tailgate Sandwiches”; Sheila Cutchlow of Washington, D.C. who won the entrée category with “Joy Bundles and Rice”, and KC Quaretti-Lee of Venice, FL in the dessert category for her “French Apple Cake.”
“Those girls are me, 21 years ago in Savannah, Georgia wanting to take responsibility for myself,” Deen told a crowd of several hundred enthusiastic fans at the Lucas. Thousands more watched the announcement of the winners virally through the event’s live-stream, shown on RealWomenofPhiladelphia.com.
Since its launch the end of March 2010, 590,000 users have visited RealWomenofPhiladelphia.com. Deen said the online community, estimated at 220,000, has created a “sisterhood like you wouldn’t believe.”
The finalists all appeared to have had a great time in Savannah. For Debbie Fabre, a dessert finalist from Florida who has been unemployed since losing her job as a Christian school principle two and a half years ago, and who sent in 18 videos before being selected, the community of women has given her a renewed self-confidence in pursuing her passion. She represented a number of the contestants with a goal to become the next Food Network star, a success story that Deen embodies.
“When would I have ever done this? It’s something I’ve dreamed of for years, and Paula Deen opened doors,” Fabre said.
Although Fabre did not ultimately win, she plans to continue to pursue a cooking career by working on her blog and twitter pages. Fabre also plans to submit recipes for the Real Women of Philadelphia competition’s 80-day open call for cream-cheese recipes, set to begin soon.
For 80 days, The Real Women of Philadelphia competition will be giving away $500 to the best cream-cheese recipe of that day. The winning recipes will also be considered for inclusion in an upcoming cookbook the four winners are collaborating on. Winning recipes are available now on RealWomenofPhiladelphia.com.
Winning Recipes
Originally posted on RealWomenOfPhiladelphia.com)
Mandy Heaston’s Winning Side Dish Recipe – Asparagus and Parmesan Cream Pastry
• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cook time: 20 minutes
• Total time: 35 minutes
• Servings: 8
What You’ll Need:
• 8 ounce(s) of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough
• 1/2 cup(s) of grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 tbsp. of fresh lemon juice
• 5 basil leaves, chopped
• 1 pound of fresh asparagus (16 spears)
• 1 pinch of sea salt
• 2 tbsp. of olive oil
• 2 tbsp. of shaved Parmesan cheese
• 1 nonstick cooking spray
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Remove pastry dough from freezer and let thaw for 10 minutes.
3. While dough is thawing, wash and trim asparagus so it is 1
4. In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, grated Parmesan, chopped basil leaves, and lemon juice. Set aside.
5. Spread dough onto a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Cut into four equal rectangles and spread apart slightly on sheet.
6. Spread cream cheese mixture onto each of the pastry rectangles, not quite to each edge.
7. Press four asparagus spears onto each rectangle, alternating direction.
8. Sprinkle pastries with a pinch of sea salt and drizzle with olive oil.
9. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-22 minutes until pastries are golden brown.
10. Remove from oven, slice each pastry in half and transfer to serving platter.
11. Garnish with a sprinkle of shaved Parmesan cheese and serve.
KC Quaretti-Lee’s Winning Dessert Recipe - French Apple Cake
• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cook time: 35 minutes
• Total time: 50 minutes
• Servings: 8
What You’ll Need:
• 1 1/2 cup(s) of sugar
• 4 tsp. of water
• 1/2 lemon
• 6 apples
• 3 Eggs
• 1 cup of flour
• 8 ounces of butter
• 4 ounces of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 3 Optional Ingredients
• 8 ounces of Nuts and Honey Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 1 cup of Whipping Cream
• 1/4 cups of Powdered Sugar
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Prepare a caramel: heat 3/4-cup sugar with 4 teaspoons water when the sugar becomes light brown add the juice of 1/2 lemon and remove from heat
3. Coat the bottom and sides of a spring form pan with the caramel.
4. Peel, core and thinly slice the apples and arrange in an attractive circular overlapping pattern on the caramel.
5. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs with 3⁄4 cup sugar.
6. Add the flour, butter and Philadelphia Cream Cheese and continue beating until you have a creamy batter.
7. Pour over apples and caramel and bake for 35 minutes
8. Let cool slightly prior to turning over onto a decorative cake plate.
9. Optional: While cake is baking beat Nuts and Honey Philadelphia Cream Cheese until fluffy. Beat whipping cream until fluffy and then add 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Gently fold the whipped Philadelphia Cream Cheese into the Whipped Cream and chill well using the freezer if necessary. Top the warm cake slices with a spoonful of Philadelphia Cream Cheese/whipped Cream mixture and enjoy!
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