Prepare, cook and present a three-course meal in one hour. That’s the task four Liberty High School students will have to complete during the 2009 Boyd Coffee ProStart Invitational in Olympia Sunday.

Liberty has sent teams to the annual invitational during recent years, but this weekend will be the first cooking competition for the four girls on this year’s Liberty team: senior Maile Mittas and juniors Anna Carlson, Emily Petryk and Marissa Harrell.

“Timing-wise they’ll do fine. It’s just kind of being comfortable with what they’re doing,” Zarah Matsuda said of her team’s prospects this weekend. Matsuda is Liberty’s foods and culinary teacher.

Mittas is a second-year culinary student. Her three teammates are first years. They were selected for the invitational because they were “the most serious” about the competition, Mittas said.

Of the four, Mittas is the only girl who doesn’t want to make a career of food. She sees food as entertainment and is steering toward a career in education and law.

She and her teammates were preparing for Sunday’s contest during Matsuda’s culinary class Monday.

“This is our first run-through. That’s scary because the competition is this weekend,” Matsuda said during Monday’s class.

Presented by the Washington Restaurant Association Education Foundation, the ProStart Invitational is a “pretty big deal,” Matsuda said.

Twenty-two teams from across the state are expected to compete in the culinary contest, and 18 teams in the management contest. Prizes include scholarships to some of the country’s top culinary schools. Two teams — the top finisher from both the culinary and management contests — will advance to the national ProStart Invitational in San Diego next month.

Matsuda is serious about preparing Liberty’s team for Sunday’s contest.

As former coach of a top-ranking culinary program at Kentlake High School, she is accustomed to coming out on top. During Matsuda’s four years of coaching, Kentlake’s culinary program typically finished in the top three at the ProStart Invitational. This is Matsuda’s first year at Liberty.

She set up Monday’s classroom to mimic expected conditions during this weekend’s contest.

Liberty’s culinary classroom is big, with ovens, fridges and lots of counter space. But during the run-through, Sunday’s team was confined to just a corner of the room.

The girls will have only two tables and two portable butane burners at the competition. Using that limited equipment, they will be tested on their knife, cooking and presentation skills.

During practice Monday, the team started by chopping apples for the salad and white chocolate for the dessert.

Matsuda kept time.

“Guys, you need to stop, and start clean-up and you need to start cooking,” she said after several minutes, ending preparation time.

Chopping ceased and whisking began. Hazelnuts and cuts of salmon cooked in pans and vanilla cappuccino mousse in pots atop the two burners.

Matsuda coached the girls as they scrambled through the kitchen in their white chef coats, knives and pans in hands.

Knives at your side so you don’t stab anyone, she said. And that hot pan of oil? Let everyone know you’re walking with that, she said.

Twenty minutes left. Then four.

“We need to start plating,” Mittas said.

She held the plates while Harrell dished up the veggies and salmon and drizzled a buttery lemon sauce atop the main course.

Only one of the desserts — a vanilla cappuccino mousse concoction — was plated in time, and only partially.

But Liberty’s team stayed positive.

“At least we got two out of the three,” Mittas said.

That’s good for the first run through, she said. The team just needs to nail down the “little stuff.”

The little stuff, like getting the chocolate chunks out of the mousse, perfecting the hazelnut tuile and plating all the food in time. On Monday, the team had two more practices before Sunday’s contest. Plenty of time to nail that little stuff, Harrell said.

“We need a little more practice, but I feel confident,” she said.

COMPETITION SUNDAY

A team of culinary students from Liberty High School will compete at the 2009 Boyd Coffee ProStart Invitational at 7 a.m. at the South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia Sunday.

The competition is open to the public. For more information, visit

Washington Restaurant Association Education Foundation

LIBERTY’S MENU

The competition requires teams to create their own three-course menu and cook and present that food in one hour.

TAKE A BITE OF THE NORTHWEST

Appetizer: Beecher Flagship’s cheese and asparagus salad, arugula, apple vinaigrette

Main course: pan-seared salmon, potato celery root hash, spring peas, herb salad, lemon burre blanc.

Dessert: vanilla chocolate mousse, white chocolate cup, hazelnut tuile.