Although chef and co-owner Patrick Lambert of Cowgirl BBQ and George Gundrey, chef and owner of Atrisco Café & Bar, are both extremely talented and versatile in their respective kitchens, there could only be one champion in last Thursday's Cook With the Chef Showdown at the Santa Fe Farmers Market.

About 150 hungry spectators turned out to watch the pair whip up appetizers using farmers market ingredients and other fresh fare. Both chefs walked into the competition knowing that they would have to utilize New Mexico-grown chiles and yak meat from the Taos Mountain Yak company (www.taosmountainyak.blogspot.com), but the judges — chef, writer and Santa Fe Community College instructor Rocky Durham; Il Piatto Enoteca & Farmhouse Kitchen chef Matt Yohalem; and myself — were allowed to throw in a secret ingredient from the Thursday market at the last minute.

There were only three vendors present the day of the competition: a sprout farmer, Taos Mountain Yak and Matt Romero of Romero Farms in Dixon and Alcalde (http://lanf.org/fm/vendor/romero).

Romero's offerings are always top notch, and while we considered throwing a major wrench into the competition by offering up a few of Romero's cantaloupes as the secret ingredient, we realized that, at some point, we were actually going to have to eat whatever the chefs made out of it in
45 minutes. Melon and yak smoothie, anyone?

No, we took the high road, and chose some of Romero's collard greens instead. The greens, which reside in the same family as cabbage and broccoli, can be prepared in countless ways, and they complement meats nicely.

Both chefs had the help of an assistant — and both were wise to bring grills. Each cooking station was equipped with just an induction burner for hot-cooking purposes, and, as is the case with all Cook With the Chef events, the audience at the competition expected a taste of the chef's dishes, and the chefs were happy to oblige.

Lambert's creation consisted of a small, grilled patty of ground yak meat served with a slightly sweet aioli; pickles he canned with his children after picking the cucumbers from his own garden; boiled collard greens flavored with a little of the pickle brine; and tomato jam made with Lambert-grown tomatoes and mild green chiles.

The dish had plenty of sweet overtones, and the tomato jam was out of this world! If you're trying to stay away from ketchup but love the flavor — or if, you're like me, you have an overabundance of tomatoes in your home garden and can't bear the thought of making another batch of marinara sauce — this jam is a great solution. Lambert gave the ingredient list away at the competition, and I've added cooking instructions here (Page C-1).

Gundrey's creation was a bit more technically involved, offering up three different takes on yak. This display of versatility and Gundrey's presentation pushed him a few points past Lambert for the win in the "Local Chile & Yak App. Attack." His scrumptious yak tamales were made with yak fajita meat, which was seared and cooked down with onions, garlic, yak stock and a little cognac. One of Gundrey's favorite green chiles, the NuMex Joe Parker, was incorporated into the tamales, and Gundrey grew them on his own land in Villanueva.

The restaurant business is so little work that I farm on the side," he joked during the competition.

Next up was a yak stroganoff made with sour cream and mushrooms and then stuffed into home-made vol-au-vents (small, hollow shells of pastry) with roasted Joe Parker chiles and collared greens, which were cooked with shallots, kosher salt, sugar, and yak neck meat in a tomato-y yak stock.

Third up was yak on a stick, which Gundrey described as "Simple yak on skewers with a mix of red chile and honey sauce [local honey from For the Love of Bees in Peñasco and Hatch red chile] wrapped in my Joe Parker chiles."

In a competition like this, only one chef can take home the bragging rights, but both of these gentlemen are champions in their own right.

They are die-hard supporters of the Santa Fe Alliance's Farm to Restaurant Project (http://santafealliance.com/farmtorestaurant/participants), and they support New Mexico growers as often as possible. In my Oct. 5 column, I stressed the importance of making responsible food choices and argued that supporting local-food economies is an act of revolution. Chefs like Lambert and Gundrey are relatively silent and humble warriors in the fight to put the control of our food and nutrition choices back into the hands of the people — and not corporations. Keep up the good fight.

Although as of press time the market's website didn't reflect this, Thursday afternoon markets at the Santa Fe Farmers Market in the Railyard have ended for the season. However, there are still regular markets 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Saturday and Tuesday.

Contact Rob DeWalt at rdewalt@sfnewmexican.com. or on twitter at twitter.com/sfnmTASTE.