Posted by The Corpus Christi Caller, TX on October 05, 2009 at 11:56:54:
CORPUS CHRISTI — Retired construction contractor Peter Halferty built a sandwich that won him $1,000.
The victory in the Mezzetta’s Make That Sandwich Contest isn’t the 72-year-old’s first prize for crafting new food, but it’s helping pay his wife Diane’s medical expenses. She’s in remission now with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, she said, after her treatment used up most of their retirement savings.
“I’ve been blessed for Peter to work so hard in his retirement to help,” Diane Halferty said. “He’s a great guy, and quite a cook, too.”
They’ve been using her expertise as a retired chef consultant who trained at Le Cordon Bleu to win as many recipe contests as they can.
“I’ve told Diane to forget the cookbooks,” he said, “let’s just go for the cash.”
Halferty gives his wife credit for suggesting that he swap chicken for pork in a Vietnamese banh mi sandwich, which they first tried two years ago in a New York restaurant. They agreed that chicken would work well with the Mezzetta products.
“We love the combination of Asian and spicy,” said Halferty, who moved to Corpus Christi 11 years ago. “Don’t know if my vegetables were the same, but I winged it hoping for the best.”
Halferty’s Banh Mi Chick sandwich was top winner in Mezzetta’s cold sandwich category against more than 3,000 entries. The specialty food producer, which opened in 1935 in San Francisco, is best known for domestic and imported peppers and olives.
“It is really unique with a mix of spicy and fresh tastes,” said Heather Innocenti, a judge for the contest. “It has a lot of hot, cool and sweet things going on. It’s a blend of French colonial, Indochina and Vietnamese flavors.”
The sandwich stood out among others, which were judged on ease of preparation, taste and catchy names, Innocenti said.
The Halfertys have won many food contests.
In 2001, his chipotle mashed potatoes won second place in the side dish category in Chile Pepper magazine’s first reader-recipe contest. His wife’s orange chili chicken with black beans won second place in the meat and poultry category. His sweet potato sliders recently were voted the best in a Louisiana cooking magazine, and she was a national finalist in 2006 in Elsie’s Family Favorites Recipe Contest sponsored by Borden Cheese.
Because of their success, friends want to come to their house for dinner, Peter Halferty said.
“But they’re intimidated,” he said, “about inviting us to their house for a meal after all our wins.”
‘Bahn Mi Chick’ Recipe
Prep Time: 15
Total Time: 15
Serves: 4
Ingredients
2 cups Mezzetta California hot mix vegetables, chopped
3 tablespoons liquid from hot mix vegetables
1 tablespoon sugar
1 large French baguette
2 tablespoons Mezzetta extra virgin Italian olive oil
1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce (Nam Pla) — optional
1 teaspoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons diced Mezzetta garlic stuffed olives, roughly chopped
½ red onion, cut into 1/4-inch rings
¾ cup packed cilantro sprigs
2 cooked chicken breasts from a rotisserie chicken, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 pieces Mezzetta deli sliced roasted sweet bell pepper strips
- lettuce leaves
Procedure
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees with rack in middle. Spoon out 2 cups California hot mix vegetables. Pour 3 tablespoons liquid from the jar in a medium bowl and whisk in the sugar. Combine hot mix vegetables with the marinade, stir and let sit for 10-15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat baguette on rack in oven until crusty, about 5 minutes. Cut off and discard round ends, then split baguette.
3. Mix together extra virgin olive oil, fish sauce and soy sauce and brush on cut sides of bread. Drain the marinated vegetables. In a separate bowl, dice the pepper strips, add to the mayonnaise and stir.
4. To assemble the sandwich, spread a layer of the mayonnaise mixture on the bottom of the bread, top the sandwich bottom with garlic stuffed olives, sliced onion and cilantro. Arrange the chicken, marinated vegetables and lettuce on top. Cut the sandwich crosswise into fourths.
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