Tickets for the Leader Holiday Dinner are now on sale.
The annual dinner, which benefits the Jefferson College Culinary Arts Program, will be held Friday, Dec. 13, in the Viking Room on the first floor of the Jefferson College Student Center, 1000 Viking Drive, in Hillsboro. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and dinner is served at 6:30 p.m.
Standard tickets cost $25 a person and include a six-course meal, live music, food demonstrations and a chance to sample and purchase the college culinary department’s infused vinaigrettes.
Tickets that include all of that, plus three drinks (beer or wine) from the Villa Antonio Winery in the Hillsboro area, are available for $40. To purchase a ticket, go to bit.ly/Leader-Dinner-2024.
Peggy Scott, publisher of Leader Publications, said it is best to purchase tickets early because the dinner sells out pretty quickly. The college’s culinary students and staff will prepare and serve the dinner, which will include a main dish chosen by the culinary staff and the five winning recipes from the annual Leader Holiday Recipe Contest.
The Leader Holiday Recipe Contest is open to home cooks of any age from Jefferson County, Eureka and Wildwood. Entries will be accepted until 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1.
Recipes may be entered into five categories: appetizer, soup, salad, side dish and dessert. Readers are welcome to submit a recipe in any or all the categories, up to a maximum of five entries per reader.
To be eligible for the contest, entries must include the following information:
■ The submitter’s full name and address.
■ A daytime telephone number.
■ Complete instructions for the recipe.
■ The recipe category.
■ Any information about where the recipe came from and why it’s special.
Judges will choose the top recipe in each category to win $50 cash. Those five recipes will be prepared and served at the dinner where diners will vote for their favorite of the five dishes, and that winner will receive an additional $250.
Recipes that are family favorites, that use ingredients in novel ways or that have a history or story attached are preferred. Recipes taken directly from websites or cooking shows will not score well.
Since its inception in 2014, the dinner, a collaboration between the college and Leader Publications, has raised about $26,000 for the Jefferson College Foundation. The money typically is used to send students to culinary competitions across the region.
The winning recipes and as many additional recipes as space permits will be published in a Holiday Recipe and Gift Guide special section in the Nov. 27 Leader paper.
Recipes may be submitted by email at news@myleaderpaper.com; by mail at P.O. Box 159, Festus, 63028; or in person at 503 N. Second St. in Festus. For more information about the contest or the Holiday Dinner, call the Leader office at 636-931-7560.
Last year’s winners were Smoked Salmon Pinwheels, an appetizer recipe submitted by Aubrey Bronskill of Eureka; Chicken Enchilada Soup, a soup recipe submitted by Terri Becker of Festus; Broccoli Crunch Salad, a salad recipe submitted by Helen Bollner of Fenton; Cheesy Hot Cauliflower, a side dish recipe by Catherine Poole of Imperial; and Pumpkin Crunch Cake, a dessert recipe by Lynne Doty of Imperial.
Attendees of the dinner chose Bollner’s salad as the grand prize winner of $250 and she donated her winnings to the culinary arts program.