Get a Taste of Success
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Natasha Garcia prepares her Healthy Holiday Dessert Contest-winning recipe to be served at the COC cafeteria.
Irresistible smells often waft from Natasha Garcia’s kitchen.
Growing up, “there was always activity in the kitchen,” said the Planning & Development Services accounting technician. It was a warm spot where family members converged and cooked. As a college student, she interned one summer in a professional kitchen. In her own home now, she bakes fresh breads, and cooks dishes from scratch such as chicken pot pie and albondigas soup. Her family and friends are often drafted as taste testers.
On Wednesday, Garcia’s latest culinary creation will be available for County employees to sample. She recently won the County’s Healthy Holiday Dessert Recipe Contest with her preparation of a French dessert dish named pear-almond clafouti. The COC cafeteria will serve it starting at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
The contest, in its second year, poses a challenge to employees: create a dessert that is both healthy and delicious.
Garcia was one of 65 employees to give it a try.
She brought her own creative flair to her clafouti dish, a baked dessert with fresh fruit and what Garcia described as a light, soufflé-like consistency. Garcia started with a recipe she found in a co-worker’s healthy cookbook, but tweaked it to make it even healthier and tastier.
Since the contest called for low-calorie desserts, Garcia made a few substitutions to lower the calorie count further. She used more egg whites and less egg, as well as more orange juice and less liqueur. She used pears instead of the apricots called for in the original recipe. And she decided against mangoes or persimmons, after making samples of each and getting feedback from friends, family and co-workers. The tasters liked the texture and flavor of the pear best.
The judges obviously agreed, selecting her creation in a final round last month that included the top five recipes from each County group. Other finalists prepared lemon angel cake, peach betty, gluten- free zucchini chocolate cake and flourless brownies. The five-judge panel, which included chefs from the COC cafeteria as well as a few County employees, selected her dish based on both presentation and taste.
COC Commons Food Service Director Javier Alamanza said Garcia’s dish had “good flavor.” Her presentation was also polished and professional.
What does Garcia think about the cafeteria serving her dish? It’s remarkable, she said.
As the winner, she spent time this week in the kitchen at the COC preparing her dish to serve. She peeled and poached the pears on Tuesday, and planned to return Wednesday morning to finish cooking the 60 servings planned.
William Erese, the County’s wellness coordinator, said he was extremely pleased with how the contest went this year and that there are plans to expand it in the future.
As contest winner, Garcia received a few prizes including an electric juicer, which she brought into work to share with her co-workers. She said winning felt like a “team effort.”
“They’ve shown a lot of support,” she said. “Especially when it came to tasting.”