April 13, 2010. I’m not a competitive person by nature, but if someone told me to cook as though an all-expenses-paid trip to the Cannes Film Festival depended on it, I’d surely transform into an apron-wearing, whisk-wielding John McEnroe in the kitchen. While judging the semi-finals of just such a contest last week at the Louisiana Culinary Institute, I imagined the four student-competitors, so polite in front of the judges, doing heated culinary battle back in the kitchen.

The winner of LCI’s Race to Cannes competition will travel to France and join a culinary team to cater cocktail receptions, press luncheons, parties and other special events during the Cannes Film Festival. The team is hosted by the American Pavilion—a group that organizes the American presence at the film festival—and will also visit markets, vineyards and famed French chefs. The Race to Cannes is the brainchild of Charlie Ruffolo, LCI’s public affairs officer, and it’s yet another invaluable tie between Louisiana and her old country.

The three ingredients that the semi-finalists had to incorporate into their meals were rabbit, fiddlehead ferns, and amaranth. The folks at LCI let the judges know that amaranth was considered a super food for its nutritional value, and that tidbit was enough to launch me into Internet research. According to the Thomas Jefferson Agricultural Institute, amaranth was regularly on the menu for the ancient Aztecs and came back on the American radar in the 1970s. Health nuts sing the amaranth seed’s praises as it is unusually high in protein, lysine, fiber and iron. The best part? It’s crazy healthy, but it doesn’t taste like it. In fact, it doesn’t taste like anything at all. Sprinkle on food with abandon, I say. 

The three other judges and I made our way through four meals, taking copious notes along the way. Colt Patin’s blackened rabbit stir-fry with Cajun and Asian influences was up first, followed by T.J. McConnaughy’s meal of rabbit roulades in hollandaise sauce, grilled fiddleheads and succotash. The next bracket presented asparagus, fiddlehead, and rabbit sausage soup and a salad that featured plums and puffed rice from Michael Trombatore, against Nathan Roose’s rabbit terrine-topped waffle. At this haute level of cuisine, you’re not so much on guard for something that tastes bad, because you won’t find it. Rather, the game is to determine which combination of flavors and textures brings you to the highest heights of deliciousness while looking good on the plate.

By the slimmest of margins, McConnaughy and Roose emerged victorious and moved that much closer to making a French connection. A native of northern Michigan who’s currently employed by Nottoway Plantation, McConnaughy plans on playing a part in the ever-expanding foodie scene in Portland, Oregon upon graduation. Born in Ohio but raised in southern Louisiana, Roose recently graduated from LCI with very high honors and hopes to open his own restaurant in the next five to ten years. He currently manages Sammy’s Grill in Zachary.

The Race to Cannes finals take place at LCI on Wednesday, April 14 at 5 pm. Bonne chance to both chefs!  

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