Owen has been a tad busy lately working on getting Digital Dish to the printer so I offered to take Paper Chef on the road this month and host it on his behalf. I'm hoping that he will actually have the chance to join in on the festivities and try his hand at paper cheffing. Add his creation to those that our honorable judge, Sam will be adjudicating on Monday.

And now on to the official business of Paper Chef:

Around Noon Pacific Standard Time on Friday, March 4th, I will announce the official list of four ingredients that are to be used, along with any other ingredients you choose, to make a dish and then write about it by Noon PST on Monday, March 7th.

Our impartial guest judge, Sam will pick the best sounding recipe to her, and the winner will be awarded the "Paper Chef" title for that month along with the honor of judging next month's installment of this competition.

Three of the ingredients will be randomly picked from the list and the fourth will be seasonal or trendy or in the news in some way. If the list of four is totally unsuitable (maraschino cherries, english mustard, liver and suet) then I will redraw randomly until it is conceivable to cook with all four ingredients.

Ingredient suggestions go to the Paper Chef forum on Is My Blog Burning up to midnight the day before the event. Ingredients that are NOT selected will be rolled over for a month and then removed. Anyone can suggest one ingredient not more.

No sign up is necessary to take part. Just send an email to me before Noon PST on Monday to point to your entry. I will pass a list of entries along to Sam that evening as well as posting a list of all entries here before Tuesday morning.

The ingredients that I will randomly choose three of the four ingredients from is:

anchovies, smoked paprika, chorizo, goat cheese, stale bread, yeast, tamarind, eggplant, lamb, chipotle en adobo, olive oil, cucumber, potato skins, chocolate, mustard, sherry vinegar, ground coriander, star anise chestnut paste, egg and almond paste.