by Kelly Brooks, Reporter with the Queens County Advance. This article was featured in our local community newspaper.
Queens County resident and sous chef Dwight Dagley has been working at White Point for 16 years,
but he was not always the great cook he is today. “I started as a dish washer and worked my way up.
I started doing buffets, then line cook, and just kept going,” says Dagley. “It’s been a long time, but I enjoy cooking.”
Dagley says one morning as he was browsing the Future Shop website, something caught his eye: a contest to enter your own recipe for a chance to win kitchen appliances. “So I sat down and wrote up a recipe,” he says. “They emailed me back and told me I was one of the three finalists, and they’re going to send me to Toronto to do a cook-off competition.”
The recipe Dagley was required to submit needed to feature a fresh tomato based pasta dish, and incorporate one or more of the following harvest vegetables: zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, peppers or beans. The competition was a combined effort of Samsung and Future Shop, and would bring three every-day Canadians together to compete in a live cook-off in Toronto.
The trip to Toronto was all inclusive, and consisted of one round airfare trip for two, two nights accommodation at a Toronto luxury hotel, return ground transportation from the hotel to the Future, and one $500 Visa gift card.
Competitors would be battling for a set of state-of-the-art Samsung appliances, which included an induction range, dishwasher, microwave and Samsung’s unique 4-Door French Door Refrigerator, and the title of “Ultimate Recipe Challenge Master”.
It was also to be judged by Celebrity Chef Massimo Capra, who is best known for hosting the show Restaurant Makeover on the Food Network. He would critique the three dishes and choose one winner.
Dagley and his wife flew to Toronto Tuesday Oct. 12 so he could compete on Oct. 13. “A limo came and picked us up and drove us to the Future Shop to do the competition,” says Dagley. “Once we got there I had 30 minutes from the time I saw my stuff, until the time I finished.”
Competitors were required to cook the recipe they entered in the first part of the contest. Dagley’s competitors would be cooking a Prima Vera and penne, and an Italian sausage and penne. Dagley was to make a chili pasta.
“Thirty minutes isn’t a long time to make a dish,” says Dagley. “Especially with chili, because chili gets better the longer it cooks.”
Dagley says he remembers his mind being in a state of total chaos as he quickly prepared his dish. “It was pretty nerve-racking,” he says. “I was quite nervous, but it was fun too.” Despite the limited time frame he was allowed, Dagley had his chili pasta finished within the 30 minutes. He even made garlic bread to go with it. Chef Massimo then tried all three dishes, and made his decision. “He said it was a little bit different adding chili to pasta, so mine was different than the other two,” says Dagley. “He chose mine. I was quite surprised when he picked me.”
“I more or less went to have fun, I didn’t really go to win,” says Dagley. “But winning really helps.” Dagley is expecting to receive his prize within the next couple of weeks, and says he is very eager. “I’m just waiting to get my appliances, they’re really nice,” he says. “It’ll be fun working on all the new stuff because it’s top of the line Samsung.”
“Not too bad for a half hours work,” says Daigly. “It took me more time to fly there and fly back than it did to actually cook it.”
Dagley’s favourite part about cooking is simply trying the food he creates. “I like the taste of food,” he says. “There’s so many ways you can do food, and so many different variations of any dish that you can make.” He says he also loves how cooking is filled with discovery, and a way of constantly learning new things. “Food just goes on and on forever, because there are so many different styles, different countries, with different foods,” he says. “As long as you’re cooking, you’re always learning.”
Dagley says he hopes White Point will put his recipe on the menu, saying, “It would be kind of neat, especially because it won an actual prize.”
“Everybody else thinks I’m a superstar, but I’m still the same old me,” says Dagley. “If you have a passion for food, it comes out in the taste. That’s pretty much what I did.”
All of us here at White Point are very proud of Dwight and excited for him! Congrats from all of us.
Read this article on the Queens County Advance Website.
Just like the seasons, the menu’s at White Point are changing, thanks to the talents of Executive Chef Alan and his team. I recently asked him to explain what he’s serving up in the Seawatch Dining Room this summer, here’s what he had to say:
