Bradford Elementary's Rockstar Chef Winner Billy Brigsten

Go figure, an actual chef won Bradford Elementary school's cooking competition. Denise Daigle and Carrie Iwankovitsch-Ross (wellness leaders extraordinaire) held a great contest and tasting and Chef Billy Brigsten stole the show! Chef Billy came to the kitchen of Bradford elementary school by way of the New Orleans restaurant world. He has now been the head of Bradford’s kitchen for five years and he tries to run it with the principles and inspiration that he’s learned from other chefs over the years. He uses as many fresh and local ingredients as possible, and is creative, healthy, and cooks with love. Though it’s hard to feed a cafeteria full of hungry kids on a school budget, he seems to keep everyone happy and satiated. Billy also cooks with his wife and does some catering. He and his wife plan to publish a cookbook soon. When we arrived at his kitchen, cups of beautiful, healthy fruit were going to the classrooms and kids were happy!

Billy’s recipe for vegan maki rolls is a perfect example of keeping things simple and interesting. This is sushi without the fish. We love that he introduces new flavors and combinations of food and also offers alternatives for even more protein choices , depending on your preference. He teaches us how to layer a maki roll not only literally but with flavor. Billy makes his own hummus for this dish as well. It's pretty easy and tastes so darn fresh you may not ever buy it packaged again. Nori is fun to work with as well and has trace amounts of all the good stuff (vitamins A, B, C, K and iron, zin, and magnesium). It even has a little protein and fiber. Billy is great at making healthy taste delicious, fresh and fun.

If you really want to impress your friends, buy yourself a five dollar bamboo rolling mat and give this recipe a try! It will take some practice, but the technique is well worth learning. Watch Billy teach us here. And go to the slide show for the recipe.