Spasso: Turn the Tables Cooking Competition

Spasso – Food Blogger Cooking Competition

The new Spasso Restaurant, located in 3540 Main Highway in Coconut Grove turned the tables with a fun competition where it was the media who cooked for the chefs all for a great cause. “Media Chefs” were chosen to participate in the Turn the Tables cooking competition. Each Media Chef was allowed a partner of choice and the teams were presented with a mystery basket of ingredients, as well as a professional chef sidekick.

Each Media team cooked a dish for a panel of chef-judges. The winning team received a donation of $300 in their name to the charity of their choice AND a private dinner for four by Chef Gaetano Ascione. The private dinner for four is made extra special by being prepared at the Media Chef’s home. Exciting? You bet ya! The second place team won affogato for life at Spasso. Affogato is a cup of hot espresso sweetened with a scoop of house made vanilla ice cream.

After the fierce and exhilarating Spasso cooking competition, the tables were turned back and the chefs prepared an intimate dinner for the competitors including Calamaretti (fried calamari with herbs), Funghi pizza (wild mushrooms, goat cheese, basil pesto and white truffle oil), Polpettine (beef and veal meatball, blonde raisins, basil-infused tomato sauce), Ravioloni alla Doppia Crema (four-cheese stuffed pasta, tomatoes, touch of cream and parmigiano pesto), paccheri with burrata and tomato sauce, Fettuccine bolognese, Tiramisu and Tahitian Vanilla Creme Brule.

The Polpettine was a nice way to start off dinner. Spasso’s Polpettine is a beef and veal meatball. It includes blonde raisins and comes served over a bed of basil-infused tomato sauce. Veal adds only a very subtle flavor to the meatball but a very delicate texture. The blonde raisins add a touch of sweetness to the hearty beefy meatballs and plays well with the basil-infused tomato sauce

The Raviolini alla Doppia Crema was one of my favorite dishes served. The ravioli are stuffed with four different cheeses which are dressed in a parmigiano pesto. The ravioli themselves are rich and savory, you can’t go very wrong by stuffing four types of cheese into ravioli! The pargmigiano pesto added a decadence to the ravioli and nutty flavor from the parmigiano.

The cooking competition was a blast to participate in and honestly, an awesome event for Spasso to host. Best of all, this was all for a good cause, so in the end, there really is no loser… But let’s be real, there was a winner! The media teams who participated in the Turn The Tables cooking competition consisted of Virginia Gil (TimeOut.com), Jackie Gutierrez-Jones (UrbanDaddy.com), James/Ari (Hedonist Shedonist) – ha!, Kelly Blanco and Shelli Muniz (NBC6), Amy Reyes (Miami.com) and Trina Sargalski (Pinzur Communications).

The winner of Spasso’s Turn the Tables cooking competition were the beautiful ladies from NBC 6, Kelly and Sheli! The competition was actually very tight, according to our judges, but they snagged the win with a killer chicken dish! With a twist of tales, everyone tied for second place, so affogato for life it is for all of the competitors.