Cooking with Bill Marriott

Are you the “top chef” in your family? Bill Marriott is looking for those with culinary chops to enter his cook-off challenge.

J.W. “Bill” Marriott, a Bethesda resident and executive chairman of the Bethesda-based Marriott International hotel chain, announced the challenge Monday on his “Marriott On The Move” blog. He’s asking cooks to prepare a meal and send in a photo and the recipe for their culinary creation to newsroom@marriott.com, or to post the photo and recipe on Marriott’s Facebook page.

The rules? Stick to the following ingredients:

• roasted chicken
• baby spinach
• grapes
• horseradish
• ripe pears
• almonds

The challenge, according to Marriott, originated with a company competition that was inspired by Bravo’s “Top Chef.” Marriott chefs in European cities were given a black box full of ingredients and challenged to whip up a gourmet dish, according to the blog post.

Chefs from the winning Forest of Arden, a Marriott Hotel and Country Club in Birmingham, England, traveled to Bethesda to visit the Marriott test kitchen, cook up their creation and participate in a day of company community service.

"This began as a contest among Marriott European chefs," Marriott said. "I want to open it up to all cooks. Be creative with the ingredients."

Bill Marriott, of the famed company and assumed the role of executive chairman this year, will choose the winner.

The deadline for submissions is Aug. 15th. And the prize? Marriott himself will give the chef with the top dish a congratulatory phone call.