Every week, your challenge is to create an eye-opening dish within our capricious themes and parameters. Blog your submission on Open Salon by Monday 10 a.m. EST -- with photos and your story behind the dish -- and we'll republish the winners on Salon on Tuesday. (It takes only 30 seconds to start a blog.) Please note that by participating, you're giving Salon permission to re-post your entry if it's chosen as a winner, and acknowledging that all words and images in your post are your own, unless explicitly stated. And yes, mashed potato sculpture counts as a dish. Emphatically.
This week, in honor of Labor Day, we asked for your shared-labor-of-love recipes.
THIS WEEK'S WINNER:
New Orleans Roast Beef Po' Boys by Theresa Rice: What could be a better food for Labor Day than an iconic American sandwich invented by union men to feed their striking union brothers? That is the story of the New Orleans po' boy, and Theresa not only tells that, but also of her time feeding Katrina volunteers and survivors, and offers a straight-from-the-French Market recipe for Creole roast beef po' boys, too.
THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY WINNERS:
Chile-Pork Tamales by Gavin Fritton: When a family tradition of making these soft, savory treats fell apart when his grandmother passed, Gavin decided to take up the holiday slack all by himself -- making tamales for a week for his family. You may not have to put yourself through that kind of ordeal, but you can learn from his generosity and make a small batch, one that will only take you one day.
Chocolate-Orange Scones by Linda Shiue: Taking the workers' solidarity roots of Labor Day seriously, Linda offers us a sweet breakfast treat inspired by her local Bay Area (by way of Spain) worker-owned cooperative bakery. Did you know that a socialist cooperative corporation is Spain's seventh-largest corporation? Now I do, too!
Homemade Fresh Pasta (with clams) by Lucy Mercer: With great pasta available most anywhere, making fresh pasta just sounds like an unnecessary chore. But it's surprisingly easy, and it's hard to match the delicacy and love of noodles made with the hands (particularly with the hands of very cute children), and Lucy shows us how.
PLUS, ALSO, TOO: THE EXCELLENT HONORABLE MENTIONS
Kirk Family Enchiladas by Kolika Elle Kirk: With four generations in the kitchen chopping, stewing, frying beans and rolling tortillas, this is definitely a family affair. So, out of respect for the other three generations involved, Kolika doesn't share the precise ratios of ingredients, but her description of how it all goes down is inspiring, tough old broads and all.
Apple Butter by Lisa Kuebler: Miss teenage sleepovers? Lisa's friends have a tradition, flannel PJs, wine, gossip and all, of getting together to giggle and pillow-fight (OK, I made that part up) under the guise of chopping and stirring for apple butter.
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AND NOW FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE:
Don't fret that summer is over ... because technically, it's still going on for a couple more weeks! So you may have put away your white shoes and started missing the kids during the day, but the summer fruits and vegetables haven't gotten the notice quite yet that they aren't supposed to keep booming.
Now that we've already featured tomatoes, eggplants, corn, peaches, watermelon, and rum, hot dogs and hamburgers (do those count as seasonal produce too?), here's one more chance for you to rock out with your favorite summer produce that didn't get its own Kitchen Challenge. Will you reach for your zucchini? The end-of-summer return of strawberries? Will Peter Piper pick you that peck of peppers he keeps promising?
Be sure to tag your posts: SKC end of summer (Please note that by participating, you're giving Salon permission to re-post your entry if it's chosen as a winner, and acknowledging that all words and images in your post are your own, unless explicitly stated. Adaptations of existing recipes are fine, but please let us know where the original comes from. And if you'd like to participate but not have your post considered for republication on Salon, please note it in the post itself. Thanks!)
Scoring and winning
Scores will be very scientific, given for appealing photos, interesting stories behind your submissions, creativity, execution and winsomeness.
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