OXNARD : Festival Offers Variations on a Berry Theme

Judges of Saturday’s California Strawberry Festival Berry-Off spooned up cups of pink-tinted Summer Strawberry Gazpacho, plunged their forks into Very Berry Pork Chops and sipped California Strawberry Wine spiked with cognac.

Then they retreated to chairs to contemplate which dish of 18 finalists in the Berry-Off contest summed up the essence of strawberries best, a dish worthy of receiving the Most Outstanding Strawberry Dish of 1995 award.

The grand prize winner at the event, a prelude to the California Strawberry Festival on May 20 and 21, was a creation whipped up by Northridge resident Frances Richmond: a platter of egg- and cream-soaked French bread, slathered with strawberries and cream cheese, then baked, then topped with strawberry sauce.

The 18 final dishes were chosen from 398 entries--every one of them showcasing strawberries--received from 28 states. Most of the dishes were prepared by students in the Oxnard College School of Hotel and Restaurant Management from recipes sent in.

But a few of the creative forces behind the strawberry madness came to Oxnard to bring their recipes to life themselves. Among them was Farah Ahmed of Sunnyvale, who served up Cool Strawberry Chicken Salad with Warm Citrus-Spice Dressing. The spicy concoction won first prize in the soups and salads category.

“This is only the third contest I’ve entered,” the software engineer said.

Michael Morss of Oxnard, in his final semester of the culinary program, was assigned a recipe for strawberry wine entered by a New Jersey woman. He tested the recipes on neighbors, blending liquefied strawberries with seven different red wines before selecting an Italian red for the final version.

“I spent $120 figuring out the right wine to use,” Morss said, cradling a bottle of the blood-red results. The wine recipe also calls for half a cup of cognac. “Good cognac,” Morss said firmly. “Not the cheap stuff.”

One of the contest’s judges, Timothy Banning, the chef at Oxnard’s Radisson Suites Hotel at River Ridge, picked out a sentimental favorite that might make an appearance on the hotel’s menu someday.

“Those pork chops, ummm,” Banning said. “They were great.”

Dreamed up by an Alabama woman, the pork chops are marinated in balsamic vinegar and olive oil, sauteed, then served with a warm sauce of white wine, strawberries, almonds, green onion and fresh thyme.

“I wasn’t sure about the idea at first,” said student preparer Gary Billingsley. “But they came out really well.”