To view the recipes prepared at the dinner, click here:
More than 150 guests gathered Dec. 1 for the annual Leader Holiday Dinner, a flavorful feast prepared by Jefferson College Culinary Arts students at the Student Center on the college’s Hillsboro campus.
The dinner, which quickly sold out, was sponsored by Leader Publications and the Jefferson College Foundation and featured a six-course meal, including five recipes submitted by the finalists in the Leader Holiday Recipe contest.
Proceeds from the dinner benefit the college’s culinary arts program.
At the dinner, a Jefferson College jazz combo performed, culinary students put on food demonstrations and guests had the opportunity to win more than 40 door prizes, which students in the Jefferson College Area Technical School made.
The culinary students prepared the five winning recipes, as well as a pork tenderloin entree, under the direction of Chef Garrett Miller.
Those five recipe contest finalists were Aubrey Bronskill of Eureka for her Smoked Salmon Pinwheels appetizer recipe; Terri Becker of Festus, who submitted a recipe for Chicken Enchilada Soup; Helen Bollner of Fenton for her Broccoli Crunch Salad recipe; Catherine Poole of Barnhart for her Cheesy Hot Cauliflower side dish recipe; and Lynne Doty of Imperial, who entered a recipe for Pumpkin Crunch Cake.
Each of the five finalists in the recipe contest received a $50 cash prize, and the diners picked the grand prize winner from among those finalists.
All five dishes garnered votes, but Bollner, 79, won the grand prize and an additional $250 for her salad recipe.
She asked to donate her grand prize winnings to the culinary arts program.
Bollner said she was ecstatic to learn her recipe, a favorite among her friends and family, had taken the top prize, adding that it made her day.
Those who attended the dinner said the food was good.
“All of the recipes were very flavorful and prepared well,” one diner said. “The broccoli salad was so different than I have ever had, and I thought it was the best combination of flavors.”
The recipe combined broccoli with crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, chopped red onion, mayonnaise, red wine vinegar and sugar.
“Everything was delicious,” another diner commented. “The pork was amazing, and the dessert was fabulous, but in the end, the broccoli got my vote.”
Several diners said it was difficult choosing between the broccoli salad and the pumpkin cake.
“Everything was so good,” wrote one diner who gave the cake three hearts and two stars. “I’m a sucker for sweets, so I went with the cake.”
Guests complimented many of the student servers for their knowledge of the recipes and their professionalism.
Since its inception in 2014, the dinner has raised more than $24,000 for the Jefferson College Foundation. The money typically is used to send students to culinary competitions across the region.