Last Saturday, Whole Foods Market at Kahala Mall held a Cooking Challenge for three of its chefs and one cooking-obsessed amateur to determine who could make the best dish based on local products in an hour's time, give or take, under some pretty tough conditions.

The challenge took place on the wide sidewalk in front of the store: no running water, electrical plugs difficult to get to, no pantry within reach so everything had to be lugged out to the four tables at which the contestants worked. The contestants dealt with it, but it wasn't easy; it would have daunted TV's "Top Chef" challengers.

The four were:

• Arin Antonio, who grew up in Honolulu, attended Kapi'olani Community College's culinary school and has divided his cooking time between Hawai'i and Alaska, working for Chef Mavro here and the El Capitan Lodge on Prince of Wales island there. He also did a stint at the foodie mecca Green-briar resort in West Virginia. He works in the Whole Foods kitchens.

• Lauren Johnson, originally from Morehead, N.C., graduated from prestigious Johnson & Wales culinary school and moved out here to work on her uncle's Big Island organic farm before joining Whole Foods' chef team.

• Colin Sato, who grew up in Kaimuki, went to Kapi'olani Community College and has worked at Alan Wong's Restaurant. He's a Whole Foods chef now.

• Girish Varna, whose family is from Kerala state, India, was the only non-chef; he works as a payroll benefits supervisor at Whole Foods. He described himself as an enthusiastic home cook and a "semi-vegetarian."

It was, as these events tend to be, chaotic, late-starting, the audience milling about among the shoppers entering and leaving the store, the judges circulating among the tables, peering into pots, asking questions.

Speaking of judges, I was one, along with Melanie Kosaka of Share Your Table, chef Frank Leake of Kapi'olani Community College (who recently led Team Hawai'i to victory in the national American Culinary Federation student team awards) and Azure chef de cuisine Jon Matsubara.

Varna had the quote of the day when he described the mango in coconut-yogurt sauce he was making: "It's my grandmother's grandmother's recipe," he said. "Don't tell my mother I'm doing this."

The range of dishes was impressive. Besides Varna's mango stew, there were Antonio's "fish and chips," actually a very sophisticated oil-poached fillet with fried Okinawan sweet-potato chips; Sato's delicate gnocchi sauteed with Italian sausage and a mushroom marsala sauce; and finally, a spicy coconut and sophisticated Thai seafood salad by Johnson.

Judging was tough, and we were quite serious about it. In the end, Antonio's Fish, Chips and Dips triumphed: oil-poached opah with creamed smoked lomi salmon relish, scallion oil and Okinawan sweet potato.

The fish was delicate, the idea of a lomi salmon blended with sour cream creative (though to be honest, I wasn't sure about it) and the Okinawan sweet-potato chips a nice foil (though there could have been more of them — you got three one-inch chips!).

Antonio got a $500 Whole Foods gift certificate and the others got goodies from the Whole Foods merchandising inventory. And attendees got to taste the dishes, and see what can be done with local products, and what those products are.

The day convinced me again of two things I already knew: That chefs can cook in a manner and under conditions that would defeat you and me in a minute, and that they don't know how to write a recipe. Ingredients appeared that weren't in the recipes, techniques were not explained and the measurements in the recipes given to judges weren't followed. One bystander, watching Antonio throw ingredients into various pans haphazardly, said, "You don't measure?" "No," said Antonio, adding, without waste of words, "Eyeball."

You might want to try the recipe. I didn't care much for the sour cream addition, but I think I'd like to try it with Greek yogurt instead, something a little tart to counteract the richness of the oil-poached fish and the heavy cream. If you don't feel confident of deep-frying, you can skip the chips. And don't overdo the salmon or it will overpower the opah. If you have any left over, use it as a dip. It's important, in oil poaching, to control the heat, so you need an instant-read thermometer. Antonio used a cool technique to keep a constant eye on the temperature of the oil: He twisted duct tape around the thermometer wand and strung the tape across the top of the pan so the thermometer was suspended into the oil without touching the side of the pan or dropping into the oil.

FISH, CHIPS AND DIPS

• 2 (4-ounce) fillets of opah (moonfish)

• 1/2 cup olive oil, divided use

• 3 tablespoons slivered shallots

• 1 1/2 cups chopped scallions (divided use)

• 1 cup diced smoked salmon

• 1 cup diced local tomatoes

• 1/2 cup diced Maui onion

• 1/3 cup sour cream

• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

• 1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped

• 1/4 cup slivered local scallions

• Salt

• 1 Okinawan sweet potato, sliced very thin

• Vegetable oil for deep frying

• 2 1/4 cups olive oil for poaching

Marinate opah in 1/4 cup olive oil, shallots and 3/4 cup scallions for two hours.

In a bowl, combine salmon, tomato, onion, sour cream and lemon juice. Whip cream and fold into salmon mixture. Cover and refrigerate.

To make scallion oil, place remaining scallions in a blender with a sprinkling of salt and drizzle in 1/4 cup olive oil while blending at high speed until emulsified. Set aside.

Slice sweet potato very thinly using a mandoline or Japanese slicer and deep-fry in 350-degree vegetable oil for 3 minutes. Set aside, sprinkling with salt.

Place poaching oil in a deep, heavy pan, heat to 200 degrees and poach fish for 8 minutes.

Place cold lomi relish at center of plate, top with a fillet, drizzle scallion oil about and scatter chips.

Makes 2 servings.

• Per serving: 950 calories, 73 g fat, 26 g saturated fat, 155 mg cholesterol, 900 mg sodium, 34 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 4 g sugar, 43 g protein

More recipes are at www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/honolulu.