One of the shows David and I love to watch is a show on the Food Network Channel called "Chopped".
On the show, four chefs compete to create a unique, delicious, and visually appealing dish incorporating 4 mandatory mystery ingredients. The show begins with four competitors competing in an appetizer round and at the end of the round professional chefs critique and judge the dishes and "chop" their least favorite dish/chef. This continues for the entree round, and finally a chopped champion is crowned at the end of the dessert round.
Our friends Greg and Nicolle, who introduced us to this gem, decided to host a "Chopped" party and have spouses compete against spouses in each round.
Three couples were each assigned to bring the mystery ingredients for one of the three rounds. Then couples had to pick which dish they would compete in out of a hat (any round but the one that they provided the ingredients for to prevent any unfair advantage).
David and I ended up drawing the appetizer round and were the first ones to compete!
The pressure was on! After the rules were explained, the mystery basket ingredients were revealed to us and they were:
Asparagus, prosciutto, egg noodles, and Miso paste (picked out by the Sherwoods). And GO!
Immediately a timer of 30 minutes is set and David and I are off to the kitchen to create something incorporating all these ingredients! After only 1 minute had elapsed Finley bumps his head on the table and needs to be consoled. Then I realize he also has a stinky diaper. So the timer is paused while we attend to his needs. This actually turned out to be a good thing. It gave me a few extra minutes to gather my thoughts and decide what to prepare. Unfortunately it was also advantageous to my opponent David!
Natalie's appetizer:
Pretty soon we were back at it! I immediately decide to incorporate the ingredients into a pizza (pizza crust pre-made and provided by Greg in the fridge). Once I have committed to this I realized that the "pantry" (i.e. the Sherwoods refrigerator and pantry) didn't have any pasta sauce in it. I had planned on mixing a little of the miso paste into it to tone it down and use it as the pizza sauce. Well I had to just go with what I had! Instead I mixed a little sour cream into it and spread it on the pizza, topped it with cheese, asparagus (after boiling and chopping it up), and the prosciutto. Then I popped it in the oven and worked on the egg noodles. I was hoping the egg noodles would have been easily toasted to create a nice crunch on top of the pizza. I toasted them, but they were still pretty hard and not quite the consistency I had hoped for...oh well...time was ticking and I had to throw them on top of the pizza. Now I just need the crust to cook in time before I had to plate! Meanwhile...
David's appetizer:
David was focused on making crepes. A recipe that he had memorized prior to the competition. He put a lot of love into those crepes and I must admit I was a little worried because they looked and smelled so good. As the clock started to wind down I realized that David may not get all the ingredients on his plate and things were starting to look up again.
And here is my final product to present to the judges! Looks pretty good eh?
It didn't taste too bad either. The miso paste was pretty strong, but the topping seemed to work. I still wish I had some pasta sauce to tone the base down!
And here is David's appetizer. Unfortunately he was only able to plate the crepe and one of the four mystery ingredients, the prosciutto or "Bruschetta" as David kept calling it. We let him go ahead and throw everything else together to allow the judges to taste what he had prepared, but it would weigh on their decision.
And here is what he ended up serving the judges: a homemade crepe filled with broiled asparagus, grilled prosciutto, raw egg noddles, and topped with a miso/cream sauce.
Then it was time for the judges to dig in!
I must brag, most of the judges finished my dish, while David's was deemed inedible.
In the end David was chopped due to lack of plating the mystery ingredients and not cooking his egg noddles. The judges were impressed with his homemade crepes and that they didn't stick to the pan, but the flaws could not be overlooked.
So I won my round against David! Woot Woot!
The entree round was next up!
This was the round that David and I provided the ingredients for and Kip and Bridget had to cook. And our ingredients were: pork loin slices, Amish spinach noodles, hot and spicy peanut butter, and eggplant (all purchased at our local farmers market). Thirty minutes on the timer...and GO!
These two judges were very serious and got straight to work!
Apparently the peanut butter we picked out was super spicy! Whoops. Ha ha ha.
Chef Bridget prepared for us breaded pork loin with roasted vegetables, pasta, and bread. The pork was delicious, but we couldn't taste one of the mystery ingredients very well (the hot and spicy peanut butter). The veggies were also cooked to perfection, but there was a lack of sauce on the plate to tie everything together. But adding the bread was a great idea!
Chef Kip presented us with pork pasta jambalaya! While his vegetables were a little over cooked, the sauce he created had a lot of flavor and the peanut butter was really highlighted in his dish.
It was a tough call this round because both dishes were delicious. In the end we decided that Chef Bridget was to be chopped and Kip was the champion of the entree round. This round was much closer and tighter of a race than the appetizer round :).
And finally it was time for the hosts to get a taste of their own medicine!
Greg and Nicolle competed in the final dessert round. Their ingredients provided by the Nelsons were: marshmallows, phyllo dough, mangos, and cinnamon (a little too easy if you ask me). Thirty minutes on the timer and GO!
Greg immediately began chopping and got right down to work!
Master Chef that Nicolle is she took a few minutes to gather her thoughts before she put her plan into action.
And here is Greg's dessert: Mango/Marshmallow ice cream with a phyllo crisp and also (not pictured) a phyllo dough with mango and marshmallow inside, both topped with Cinnamon. All the judges were very impressed with Greg's ambition to make ice cream and that it turned out so firm. The flavors were very clear and the pastry was delish!
Nicolle prepared for us a celebration of summer! This included a strawberry/mango custard and a pastry filled with Nutella, graham crackers, and marshmallows . . . kind of like a s'more. Both items were simply divine. And we kept wanting to go back for more!
It was a tough call between these two dishes...but in the end Greg was chopped.
Here are the three chopped champions!
We had a lot of fun, ate some really good and interesting food, and made a complete mess of the Sherwoods' kitchen! It was a fun night filled with intense competition, a race against the clock, and showcased our mad cooking skills (or lack thereof).
By the end we were exhausted but had so much fun! Thanks again for this great idea and for hosting Greg and Nicolle. And David is already talking about taking me down next time :).
Good luck my friend, good luck.
