Collaboration Kitchen is the most fun foodie event that most have never heard of! Some of the region’s best chefs are hosted at Catalina Offshore Products where a fish warehouse is transformed into a cooking stage for the night. Some past events we’ve been at included Chef Celebration, and Miguel Valdez. Tonight was all about Kat Humphus from Savory Made Simple. We first met Kat and were introduced to her amazing brand back in February when she was cooking up some fish at Catalina Offshore Products.

This event kicked off for most of the volunteers several hours before the guests arrived. We were able to help knock out the prep of cutting tons of fish, Cabrilla (a Grouper from Baja) and Salmon.

While the fish prep was underway, Amy was busy getting a butternut squash puree ready, and Sam was poaching some huge Mexican white shrimp in a vanilla-broth.

As the shrimp were finishing, Keiko and TJ made sure the salad was well dressed. Then a small team got the baby bok choy grilled up on the Plancha grills from Camp Chef.

As the plates went down, our team went to work! The first course was a vanilla poached Baja shrimp over butter lettuce salad with lavender pickled fennel, tarragon vinaigrette and brioche croutons.

Next up was a miso and soy-glazed Cabrilla with baby bock choy, yuzu and mandarin compote, pickled chilies and black sesame seeds.

Then it was time for the all-time favorite fish break. Tommy got out a beautiful Yellowtail and showed us all how he’s the master at breaking down a fish in no time! Then Ken, Man With a Pan, helped slice up the fish for everyone to enjoy with a yuzu-wasabi sauce. It’s always fun to watch the flock of people descend on the fish with fork-in-hand.

After the break, dishes resumed with a crab and mango salad with tamarind, water chestnuts, scallions, cucumber and crispy lotus.

Then we took another quick break to let everyone know the reason for the evening, giving back to the needy. Tonight all proceeds went to San Diego Youth Services who work to end homelessness, prevent delinquency and school failure, break the cycle of child abuse and neglect, and promote mental health and addiction recovery.

Our final dish of the night was a Salmon with pistachio-dill chimichurri over creamy farro with butternut squash puree and roasted beets.

A final surprise at the end was the new-arrival, WooBar, a frozen cheesecake on a stick. They brought two flavors, a caramel-vanilla coated in dark chocolate, and a maple-bacon with milk chocolate.

If you’d like to learn more about this amazing event, be sure to subscribe to Pinn’s Plate and follow Collaboration Kitchen for future events. None of these events would be possible without all of the volunteers who come together every single time, and a special thanks to Catalina Offshore Products for the seafood and Specialty Produce for all the produce. Last but not least, head over to Savory Made Simple and see how easy it is to bring premium local, healthy ingredients into your home, and help feed the homeless at the same time!