For the past six summers, Chef Challenge has been a hallmark event on the UBC Vancouver campus, bringing the community together for an outside party to celebrate local food and talent. This year however, the culinary competition moved online to uphold physical distancing due to the Coronavirus COVID-19.
The first-ever virtual Chef Challenge was held in July between two of UBC Food Service’s top chefs - UBC Okanagan’s Shelley Robinson and UBC Vancouver’s Darren Clay. Their challenge was to create a comfort food dish that highlighted local ingredients, while keeping it affordable and easy to duplicate for home cooks.
All in all the competition was a close one and the winning dish was awarded to UBC Vancouver’s Chef Darren Clay who swept 60% of the total votes. Foodies from the UBC community showed their support with 700 views on YouTube and a total of 105 votes submitted.
This was the first time that viewers were able to watch the chefs prepare their comfort food creations while following along at home. Moving the competition online helped to close the geographic distance between Kelowna and Vancouver and led to an exciting cross-campus kitchen battle between the talented chefs.
The recipes
UBC Okanagan
UBC Okanagan put forward a light, refreshing dessert: shortcake with strawberry mead sauce and whipped goat cheese. The dish highlighted strawberries, mead wine, red fife flour and goat cheese, all locally sourced from the Kelowna Farmer’s Market.
View the UBC Okanagan recipe
UBC Vancouver
UBC Vancouver’s comfort dish featured a kale crusted citrus salmon served alongside a scarlet frill and fennel salad, farro and yogurt dill drizzle. The components of the healthy meal used a variety of fresh greens freshly harvested from the UBC Farm.
View the UBC Vancouver recipe
Meet the Chefs:
We interviewed both chefs to learn more about them and what inspires their work:
Darren Clay, UBC Vancouver
Darren is the Sous Chef at Open Kitchen, in UBC Vancouver’s Orchard Commons Residence. Darren’s culinary background is far-ranging and diverse: from his culinary apprenticeship with Fairmont hotels, overseas experience in South East Asia and years teaching future culinarians at Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, he is never afraid to embark on a new challenge.
He joined UBC Food Services after assisting with numerous events at UBC Farm and seeing the progressive initiatives happening that left him inspired to get involved.
- What is your ultimate comfort food? This is a no brainer. Cheeseburger each and every time. That would be my last meal on earth. I get pretty excited about making burgers.
- What do you like to do when you are NOT in the kitchen? When I am not wrangling my five kids, I play ice hockey and love the solitude of a long bike ride with a killer soundtrack.
- In your Chef Challenge video, you offered many substitutions and tips that breakdown the recipe for home cooks. What is your favourite kitchen hack? A well-stocked pantry will make things so much easier. I always have a variety of oils, vinegars, canned beans, tomatoes, lemons, onions & garlic on hand as they rear their head in many a recipe.
- What is your go-to recipe after a long day? Pasta. I like to pull things from the far corners of the fridge and make some magic happen. I like creating layers of flavour in a single pan. The possibilities are nearly endless.
- What are you most excited about in the work that UBC Food Services is doing to support sustainable food systems? Where do I begin?! Where do I stop?! Hyper local produce (UBC Farm), Ocean Wise seafood, local suppliers and educating the next generation about the importance of where their food comes from.
Shelly Robinson, UBC Okanagan
Shelley is the Executive Chef for UBC Okanagan Food Services. A regular A regular TV, radio and celebrity chef personality, Shelley was the 2014 winner of Food Network’s Chopped Canada. Shelley has owned and operated two restaurants, a café and an artisanal grocery store. She is also the co-author of four cookbooks. She is a graduate of Dubrelle French Culinary Academy and Vancouver Community College. She serves as a role model for aspiring female chefs, and was recently awarded the Julia Child “legacy scholarship” from Les Dames d’Escoffier.
- What is your ultimate comfort food? I love fresh fruit, especially cherries, peaches and grapes. I grew up lucky enough to have these fruits right off the tree and vine, warm with sun and perfectly ripe. Simple dishes like fruit crisp, compotes and chutneys for BBQ items, jams and jellies on homemade bread make my tummy happy!
- What do you like to do when you are NOT in the kitchen? In the summer I’m in my kayak exploring local lakes, riding my bike around town, camping, growing food in my backyard (my tomatoes are off the hook!) and raising three dogs (two whippets; Brunello and Bene and one golden retriever; Biscotti!).
- What advice would you give to students that want to improve their cooking skill? Practice the same recipe many times until you know it inside and out. Doing the same recipe over and over helps you learn the nuances of cooking and how minor changes can affect the outcomes. Always read the recipe from beginning to end before starting.
- What is your go-to recipe after a long day? I always keep pre-cooked meals (that I’ve made) in the freezer for “those days”. Curries, stew, homemade perogies and pasta sauce — something I know I can add veggies or salad to and have a good nourishing meal without stress. My wife and I meal prep together and plan our meals during the week to ensure we always have time to relax together when we get home.
- What are you most excited about in the work that UBC Food Services is doing to support sustainable food systems? The really exciting thing for me is having the opportunity to cook with local items that are superior in quality, but also support our farming community. It is amazing to receive feed-back from our guests, the students, facility and staff at UBCO supporting our efforts. As a chef, having that personal relationship with the farmer is incredibly rewarding.
To catch the competition action and get the recipes, see utown.ubc.ca/chefchallenge