Lentil season means cook-off is upon us

It’s that time of year again when clever cooks will start sneaking lentils into every dish.

Organizers are accepting entries for the 2008 National Lentil Festival cook-off in Pullman. This year marks the 20th festival, which will be held Aug. 22 and 23.

There is a $1,000 prize for the first-place recipe, $500 for second place and $250 for third. Each recipe chosen for the preliminary cook-off will win $50.

All recipes are required to have at least 1/2 cup dry lentils or 1 cup cooked lentils and are limited to a maximum of 15 ingredients. Categories include main dish, breads, salads, soups, sides, snack and desserts.

Last year, more than 80 recipes were submitted to the contest, organizers said. The winning recipe was Linhda Sagen’s lentil and sausage stuffed mushrooms, called Fabulous Lentil Mushroom Poppers.

For more information on the festival, cook-off or a cook-off recipe booklet please contact Mary Barstow at (800) 365-6948 or (509) 334-3565.

Or write to: National Lentil Festival, 415 N. Grand Ave., Pullman, WA 99163, or e-mail: director@lentilfest.com.

You also can visit www.lentilfest.com. Applications for the cook-off are available on the Web site.

Connecting farms to chefs

Lora Lea Misterly is looking for a good home for local farm foods.

The Rice, Wash., farmer and cheesemaker has created a Web site to help connect the farmers who grow food to restaurants who want to put farm-fresh produce on their menus.

Misterly, owner of Quillisascut Farm, says a few years ago when she was trying to purchase local products using a small-farm guide, many of the growers were not prepared to deal with restaurants.

It’s equally frustrating for growers who are trying to sell their products to local restaurants, but are uncertain about whom they should contact and when.

The site she crated is a personal notebook of sorts – called a tiddlywiki – that includes contacts for farmers and chefs.

“The tiddlywiki, http://inwfarmtochef.tiddly spot.com/index.html, has some general information for farmers wanting to sell to chefs and suggestions to chefs who want local products; and how to work together to make it happen,” Misterly writes in an e-mail message, adding that she hopes it is the beginning of a larger registry of alternative markets for farmers.

Restaurant owners or farmers who would like to be included can register by sending an e-mail to rmisterly@ultraplix.com or by calling (509) 738-2011.