One student made his grandfather’s favorite meal, another made one first perfected by her mom. And many simply made their favorite food, whether that was ramen noodles with a poached egg, a grilled ham and cheese with salad, or taco pasta. 

The second annual PantherChef competition was held Wednesday evening at the Powell Middle School culinary room and eight students, all finalists after their submitted recipes passed the initial test, were challenged to cook their chosen recipe within the allotted time and using ingredients readily accessible to the school district. 

The winning entrees will be served once this spring and be on rotation next school year and be served roughly a half dozen times. 

Park County School District 1 Board Chair Kim Dillivan, one of the night’s judges, said the students all made “very creative dishes” as he worked through samples of the various offerings, trying to channel some cooking show lingo — such as, “that really elevated the dish” — into his appraisals. 

Park 1 Nutrition Director Savannah Layland was likewise impressed, as she told the assembled group at the end of the night.

“This is a really scary thing to do, and I know how hard it is to have people watching you one-on-one, and this many people,” she said. “You guys are incredible and I really hope you all submit recipes again next year, because I think that I would make every single one of these at home and feed these to my kids.”

The contest was a tight one at each level. For the elementary school students, Graelyn Fluty of Westside Elementary School won with her chicken caprese sandwich. 

She chose the recipe, she said, because of her love of mozzarella and tomato skewers, her favorite snack.

“I looked through some of my cookbooks and I saw a mozzarella and tomato sandwich, and I tried to put basil and balsamic and chicken on it to make it a caprese chicken sandwich,” she explained. 

The attempt was clearly successful, with at least one judge musing about getting the recipe. 

At the middle school level Lejiend Martin won with her momma’s Spanish rice, which combined salsa, ground beef and more over rice for a nutrient packed meal. 

Why did she choose the recipe for her first competition? 

“Because when my mom made it, it was really, really good, and when the Panther chef thing happened, I was like, ‘I should enter this, because they don’t have Spanish rice on it,’” she said. “So I decided to enter.”

Students were given an hour to cook and while a couple took longer, Martin’s was one of the quickest to be finished, as was the winning high school dish. 

KC Nelson’s Korean ground beef and rice bowls, with broccoli to put on top as desired, was the pick for top high school recipe. 

It was Nelson’s second attempt at making it to the finals after submitting a different recipe last year. 

“I decided to mix it up,” he said. 

It wasn’t just fun for the winners — who received custom cutting boards — as all finalists received custom chef’s aprons and hats. And as the night wore on and more students finished, many wandered over to try fellow student’s entrees — Nelson went back for seconds of Gonzalo Anzurez’s victory loaf meatloaf, cooked by Anzurez’s mom Cindy as Gonzalo sat in his chair with recipe on his lap, studiously watching the cooking. 

She said Gonzalo spent a lot of time while in the hospital after being severely injured in a car accident pouring over recipes, and now likes to create his own versions, such as making muffin-sized meatloaf. 

“I’ve noticed that I don’t like meatloaf, because it’s dry, right?” he said. “But if we make it in those muffin pans, it’ll be able to keep the juices without getting too dry.”

While Anzurez found a unique spin on a classic dish, middle schooler CJ Cox’s dish was simply unique: cheeseburger salad, with a bed of french fries topped with ground beef, lettuce, chopped tomato and onion and a drizzle of Thousand Island dressing. 

Unique but not new: It was his grandfather’s favorite. 

“I did this because it was also my grandfather’s favorite meal, and he passed away [recently],” Cox said. 

It was a worthy tribute — judge Beau Fulton, a Park 1 board member, asked how Cox would eat it and the student told Fulton to put all the toppings on, and after Fulton added the dressing he praised the complete package. 

“It really works,” he said. 

Cox, in his chef’s apron and hat, struck a pose for the camera and smiled.