Table Talk Winning Recpies & Stories: Taste Traditions

The first in a series of slow food recipes and the stories that inspired them. This week: taste traditions.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be bringing you a set of recipes that employ good, clean, fair food, and how the cook feels that they embody those values. The recipes are the inventions of the winners of our Table Talk recipe contest.

This week we’re bringing you the stories behind the winners of the Taste Traditions category: recipes inspired by family or cultural cuisine. Here’s how the winners explained how they came to develop their tasty creations.

With her recipe for blueberry piergois, Martyna Hogendorf, the category’s first place winner, reminds us, “grandmothers have secret powers of creating magnificent meals”. Inspired by afternoons picking blueberries in Poland, Martyna and her family recreated the family recipe using local, organic berries from New Jersey. The magic of her grandmother’s recipes yields “the explosive purple color on our plates, and the sweet, tangy and rich flavor.” With blueberry season upon us, Martyna’s recipe serves as another way to take advantage of local, seasonal produce.

Click here for Martyna’s recipe for blueberry pierogis

More after the jump

Congratulations to the Table Talk recipe contest winners

We have our winners! Thanks to everyone who took the time to let us know how you cook with good, clean, and fair food in your everyday life.

On June 1 we put out an open call for recipes that inspire you to make use of experiences and memories of cooking, shopping, and eating with friends and family. Sixty-two of you entered the Table Talk contest to tell us the story behind your food. Without further ado, here are the winners!

Best on a Budget (under $5 per serving)
First Place: Jenny Sherman – Minnesota Fish Tacos
Second Place: Megan Harms-Feigal – Tiger Tacos (black bean & sweet potato tacos)
Third Place: Dianne Olsen – Root pancakes

Taste Tradition (family or traditional recipe)
First Place: Martyna Hogendorf – Blueberry Pierogis
Second Place: Lucy Verde Ortiz – Dandelion Greens with White Beans
Third Place: Nora Painten – Braised Lamb Shanks

Young Cook (recipes from people age 25 and under)
First Place: Rachel Nichols – Pickled Heirloom Tomatoes
Second Place: Naguine Bensimon Tree – Egg Tagliatelle with Heirloom Tomatoes, Ricotta, & Herbs
Third Place: Lisa Kelly – Stuffed Eggplant and Polenta Tower

Slow Food Done Fast (quick and healthy recipes)
First Place: Sarah Mooney – Spring Gnudies
Second Place: Claire Beorn Norman – Grilled Salmon on a bed of Apricot-Pistachio Pilaf
Third Place: Suellen Calhoun – Trout with Mediterranean Bean Salad

More after the jump