Announcing 2025 Pecorino Romano PDO Recipe Contest Winners
This summer, we partnered with Pecorino Romano PDO to challenge our community of chefs to celebrate the distinct flavor and versatility of Pecorino Romano PDO cheese. Check out the winning recipes here!
Photo: Cameron Whitman
Join us in giving a big congratulations to Chef Tae Strain of Burnt Hill Farm (Clarksburg, MD) for his winning Pecorino Romano PDO mandu! For his win, he’ll be receiving a $3,000 cash prize. Congrats, Chef!
As Strain describes, “Pecorino Romano PDO is such a versatile cheese. Outside of obvious pairings, it always makes me think of miso or other umami-forward Asian condiments. I see this dish as sitting right between Asian and Italian sensibilities. As a Korean American, dumplings are a personal passion, and I wanted to highlight Pecorino Romano PDO in one for its salty, umami, and rich qualities. Many components of the dish draw from classic moments: the cheese for salinity and umami to mirror the soy sauce; the chile oil as a nod to the spicy Calabrian versions often paired with olives in Italy; and the black vinegar and balsamic vinegar as distant relatives in their deep, caramelized acidity. At first, olives and mandu might seem like an odd pairing, but their salinity ties them to both the vinegars and the cheese. We use Pecorino Romano PDO in the filling to tease out its sweetness, and again on top to showcase its sharper, more traditional profile.”
Photo: Stephen Reccia
Photo: Jakob Layman
We’d also like to give a big shout-out to runners-up Chef Ben Ynocencio of Illata (Philadelphia, PA) and Chef Steve Samson of Rossoblu (Los Angeles, CA) whose recipes won’t be leaving them empty handed.
Ynocencio submitted grilled artichokes with clam beurre blanc, red wine vinegar-pickled grapes, fennel, mustard greens, a Pecorino Romano PDO-infused brown butter. “The inspiration behind many of my dishes is combining ingredients that don’t traditionally pair together, but with the connective tissue of the right ingredient, they can all taste good on the same plate. In this case, pickled grapes, mustard greens, artichokes, and clam stock do not sound the most appetizing together, but with the introduction of Pecorino Romano PDO through multiple applications, they flourish. Artichokes and grapes beg for the fattiness of the cheese to balance them out, and the use of clam stock in the beurre blanc adds a sweet salinity to the final sauce. Infusing the Pecorino Romano PDO rinds into the brown butter is key, as any opportunity to infuse fats with reinforced flavors must not be wasted. Overall, the dish would not be the same without the use of Pecorino Romano PDO,” says Ynocencio.
Samson submitted a pistachio-crusted Californian black cod with zucchini, Pecorino Romano PDO fonduta, tomato sauce, and basil. As Samson says: “This dish is an homage to the late summer bounty of both Southern California and Central Italy. I sourced all the produce from the Santa Monica Farmers Market: basil and squash from Coleman Family Farms, tomatoes from Valdivia Family Farms, and squash tendrils from Yao Cheng Farm. When I worked in Central and Southern Italy, I was surprised to see the old adage of ‘no fish with cheese’ ignored quite often. I feel that the rich oiliness of local black cod can more than hold its own with the nuttiness and salinity of Pecorino Romano PDO. The California pistachio crust further highlights this pairing.”
Recipe: Pistachio-Crusted Black Cod, Zucchini, Pecorino Romano PDO Fonduta, Tomato Sauce, Basil
