Cheese Contest |traditional Flavor |tillamook Cheese

Local Cook Wins Cheese Contest On Presentation, Flavor

Pat Freymuth never quits.

After coming up emptyhanded at this year's Pillsbury Bake-Off, she got right back into cooking-contest mode to search for something that could once again involve her two autistic children.

"The kids were so disappointed when I didn't win anything at the Bake-Off, and I didn't want them to get discouraged about cooking," she said. "I went online to find another contest we could work on as a family."

She found the Tillamook Cheese Macaroni and Cheese Contest and began noodling with recipes until she and her family came up with one they liked. When I went to judge the contest in Denver last week, I got to try Freymuth's creation, Ham-solutely Pear-y Good Mac and Cheese.

Tillamook had selected this recipe and two others from about 100 submitted from Colorado, and we would be selecting the winner at this regional contest. Unlike her experience in Orlando, Freymuth not only took the top prize of $1,000 and a year's worth of cheese products, but her recipe was hands-down the best tasting of the three we sampled.

Ham in macaroni and cheese is not all that unusual, but pears? Turns out, the sweetness of the pears is a pleasing contrast to the salt of the ham and cheese. Then there were the exotic spices: ginger, cardamom and nutmeg.

"It's a flavor you won't forget," she said.

She was right. The savory spices set the flavor apart from the other two entries, which stuck with mostly traditional ingredients. And the flavors were tied together with lots of gooey, stringy pepper Jack cheese.

Then there was the presentation. The other two contestants gave little thought to garnish or making the dish look pretty. Freymuth cut the top from a red pear and scooped out the inside to make a serving vessel for the mac and cheese, and she created tiny pear- shaped garnishes out of cheese and Black Forest ham.

Freymuth knew what she was doing because we first eat with our eyes, and the judges and I were staring at a feast.

Now that she's won the Denver contest, she'll join six other regional winners at the finals in Portland, Ore., June 23. The winner gets $5,000.

Here's her recipe. To see all the winning recipes, visit www. tillamookcheese.com.

Teresa J. Farney's column appears

Wednesday. Reach her at

636-0271.

HAM-SOLUTELY PEAR-Y GOOD MAC AND CHEESE

Yield: 8 servings

12 ounces elbow macaroni

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion

1 cup finely diced D'Anjou pear

1 cup finely diced smoked ham

1/2 teaspoon each ground ginger, cardamom and nutmeg

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups whole milk

2 cups shredded Tillamook pepper jack cheese, divided

2 cups shredded Tillamook Swiss cheese, divided

Procedure:

*** Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

*** Cook macaroni per package directions to al dente stage. Drain.

*** While macaroni cooks, melt butter in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and saut 2 minutes. Add pear, ham, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg and black pepper and saut 2 additional minutes, or until onions are translucent. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly over low heat until mixture is smooth and bubbly.

*** Remove from heat and stir milk into flour mixture. Heat over medium-high heat until boiling, stirring constantly. Once boiling, stir mixture 1 minute and remove from heat.

*** Stir in 1 1/2 cups each pepper jack and Swiss cheeses until melted. Add drained macaroni and stir until completely combined.

*** Pour into 3-quart casserole. Top with remaining cheeses and bake, uncovered, 20-25 minutes, or until bubbly. Serve warm.

Nutrition data per serving: Calories 584 (50 percent from fat); 32.7 g fat (sat 20.1 g, mono 9.5 g, poly 1.4 g); protein 29 g; carbohydrates 44 g; fiber 1.77 g; cholesterol 109 mg; sodium 1,070 mg; calcium 594 mg.

by TERESA J. FARNEY