Chopped Episode #9 – On the Road

Chopped #9 is very late being posted. We took it on the road over Easter weekend and I’ve been swamped and too busy to post my results.

We took Chopped to Chris’s Parents house – we even had them suggest a few ingredients for me to try out.

Mystery Ingredients

Turnips, Pretzels, Cod and Mascarpone Cheese

Insert Picture here… OOPS! I got so excited to do this meal I forgot to take pictures of the ingredients!!!

My Thoughts? I’ve never had turnips before, this would be my 1st time ever cooking cod and what the heck am I going to do with Pretzels??

Research completed, supplies bought and I am so ready to go!

Appetizer: Turnip and Green Apple Salsa.

I diced the turnips and green apples then added a little red onion, hot sauce lemon juice and salt/pepper. Let it set for an hour and served with Tostitoes

My thoughts? HOLY COW delicious! Freaking amazing. I never thought I’d ever eat a turnip but I swear the next poker party I throw – this will definitely be on the menu. It was wonderful and we scraped the bowl clean! A definite success in my book!

Turnip & Green Apple Salsa

Dinner: Pretzel crusted Cod with a Pea & Carrot Pasta

I coated the cod with crushed pretzels and fried it – not much exciting about that.

For the Pasta – I took the peas, carrots, and diced onions and slow cooked them in chicken stock, after I cooked the pasta I threw the pasta in with the vegetables and then added cream cheese and mascarpone cheese to make a nice sauce.

My thoughts – Freaking amazing! The cod was cooked perfectly. And tasted great. The pasta dish??? Another bowl completely wiped clean. In fact, we had to fight Becca for seconds and thirds because she refused to hand over the pan! Another amazing success. This will be added to my “to do again” recipes. So delicious.

No Can Haz

Pretzel Crusted Cod with Pea & Carrot Pasta

Dessert: Strawberry Granita with Chocolate dipped strawberries and chocolate dipped pretzels

I pureed fresh strawberries and made a simple syrup with mint. I then added mascarpone cheese (and a few other ingredients) then chilled the concoction in the freeze for a few hours. I served this up in a cup with the strawberries and pretzels.

My thoughts? Eh, I need a do over – The mint overpowered the entire dish. I didn’t like it at all. The strawberries and pretzels were great but.. I definitely need to work on my granita:(

Strawberry Granita with chocolate covered berries/pretzels

So Chris… What’s your thoughts? Taste? Presentations? Creativity.

Chopped #8 – Blogging this one before the flavors of success leave me…

Mystery Ingredients: Corned Beef Brisket, Puffed Pastry, Sweet Peppers, Chow Mien Noodles.

Mystery Ingredients: Puffed Pastry, Chow Mien Noodles, Sweet Peppers, & Brisket

My thoughts: Well, it’s a lot easier than the previous week and I’d say this was a “cheat” week since Chris and I discussed this week a couple times before the actual purchase of items. I’d already known about the brisket and puffed pastry before Thursday – already knew what I was going to do with them – so.. all in all, I knew this week would be pretty easy…

Research completed, items purchased and I’m so ready to kick butt.

If you notice in the picture of the mystery items…the brisket is missing. Yeah, well, I got a little too excited and used it before I thought to take the picture. MY BAD!!

Appetizer: Stuffed Sweet Peppers

This was all my own creation! I stuffed the peppers with a mixture of ricotta cheese, Italian blend of cheeses, chorizo and chopped onions. I placed the stuffed peppers in a baking dish and then covered them with the remainder of the cheese mixture.

Stuffed Sweet Peppers

My thoughts? Amazingly good! I should have baked them just a bit longer as the peppers are just a bit too crunchy for my taste but, the flavor was wonderful – definitely a repeat in my book! And the cheese mixture was beyond yummy!

Salad: I made a salad with mixed greens, shredded carrots,sliced sweet peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, cheese and the chow mien noodles. Dressed it with plain old balsamic dressing.

Boring Salad

My thoughts? – Eh, it was a salad. A cheat to use the sweet peppers and noodles. Nothing more, nothing less

Main Course: Beef Brisket with Potato Knish.

I slow cooked the brisket all day in a mixture of beef stock and water (and the little packet of seasoning that came with the meat). I made a potato knish from scratch – mashed potatoes cooked with garlic and chopped onions, mashed with butter and heavy cream. Used the puff pastry, added the mashed potatoes with a little extra fresh chopped onions. Sealed it up in a little “pocket” and brushed with an egg wash.

Corned Beef Brisket with Potato Knish

My thoughts: The brisket – my first ever taste of it – was pretty good – though a little too salty to my taste. It was fall apart, melt in your mouth yummy though. The knish? I liked it. I forgot I wanted to add shredded cheese to it before I put it in the oven but… it tasted pretty decent – though the dough was just a bit under cooked. Definitely something I want to try again and experiment with.

Dessert: Cinnamon & Sugar pastry with Fresh Strawberries and whipped cream

I rolled out the puffed pastry and coated the top of it with a mixture of cinnamon & sugar and… crushed chow mien noodles. I pulverized the noodles and mixed them with the cinnamon & suger (and a little butter) and smothered the tops of the pastry – then baked until nice and fluffy.

I coated chopped strawberries with sugar and set it aside to give me that yummy strawberry juice. I poured the strawberry mixture over my pastry and topped with whipped cream

Cinnamon & Sugar Puffed Pastry with Strawberry Topping

My thoughts? Well.. it looked pretty. I’ve never worked with puff pastry before – it was very dry and very flaky. But.. if you ate all three components together it tasted pretty good. You’d never know the noodles were the topping! Definitely a do over for me. I want to practice working with puff pastry and see if I can do better the next time.

Overall? Overall I think the night was a complete success. The food was tasty and definitely edible. A far cry better than last weeks mess. Definitely could use improvements but… these will for sure go into my success column.

So Chris, what do you think? Taste, Creativity, Presentation?

Chopped #7 – Wow.. I need to get this one in immediately before the tastes leave my pallet.

Mystery ingredients: Hard Boiled Easter Colored Eggs, alfalfa sprouts, cornish hens, jelly beans. Yes, Chris has decided to celebrate Easter early with this wonderfully themed ingredient dinner.

Chopped Mystery Ingredients

My thoughts: Well, at 1st it was – “I give up!” There was no way I could do this. I mean, yeah, it’s chicken for goodness sake but still, what the heck could I do right?

Research completed, supplies bought and I’m ready to go. Cockiness resurfaced, I can do this!

Appetizer: Deviled Egg on a bed of alfalfa sprouts.

What can I say? It describes itself.

Deviled Eggs on a bed of alfalfa sprouts

My thoughts? Yeah, It’s lame, making a deviled egg and placing them on a bed of sprouts but hey, I’m in the mood of the theme and thought it would be cute. I’ve made deviled eggs a million times. I tried something different, added a few different spices and… BAM… It sucked! Too much mustard flavor -almost to the point of being inedible. Well, it was for Becca. Chris, bless his heart, went back for seconds and thirds. I myself, didn’t touch them.

Salad: Spinach & Spring greens with sliced cucumbers and alfalfa sprouts. I chopped everything up, added some chopped eggs and created my own little dressing. The dressing consisted of egg yolks, dijon mustard, lemon juice, olive oil, salt pepper and paprika.

Boring Salad with Alfalfa Sprouts and chopped hard boiled eggs

My thoughts – Alfalfa sprouts have no flavor but I really don’t like the texture. My salad dressing was just a tad bit too overpowering that I ended up switching to Balsamic dressing. HORRIBLE! How does one screw up a salad folks?

Dinner: Baked cornish hen and asparagus with tangy/smokey dressing.

Baked Cornish Hen and Asparagus with Tangy/Smokey Sauce

My thoughts? The hen was overcooked just a tad though it did have good flavor. How would I know? Well, I took one taste of it, agreed it tasted like chicken and then had to swallow a few times because the thought of eating a hen made me gag. What the heck is my problem? Maybe because it was served on a plate whole? I go for chicken breasts, de-boned usually – can’t do legs and thighs and wings have just recently started to gag me out.

I overcooked the asparagus just a bit, was able to choke down 4 stalks before I again started to gag, don’t know why. I used the same dressing I created for the salad for the asparagus – added chopped eggs and capers to finish off the plate. The dressing actually went better with the asparagus than the salad but.. again – couldn’t finish…

and on to dessert…

Dessert: Jelly Bean Biscotti

Yes, that’s right, I made biscotti from scratch. I don’t consider that a cheat at hiding or using the jelly beans, do you??

My thoughts: It was easy, but it was hard. I’m a decent baker as long as it’s something I really KNOW. I’ve only had biscotti once before and have never made it. And to add Jelly beans??? I thought that was pretty cool.  It was hard and stressful but the end result was pretty cool. I like them!

Becca refused to eat them, but Chris ate quite a few. Are they really suppose to be that hard though? Sheesh, I don’t know.

Overall – dinner sucked and I am seriously considering ordering a damn pizza. I was really excited about this dinner because I thought I had it made with the biscotti and who the heck screws up chicken?? ME ME!! It sucked, I’m depressed and I’m hoping Chris gives me a major reprieve next weeks and gives me something easy. My cockiness has ended – this sucked royally!

So Chris.. What’s your thoughts? Taste, creativity, presentation?

Chopped #5 – Piece of cake! I went out of my box, tried some new stuff and totally kicked butt.. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Here we go…

Secret Ingredients: Mole Sauce, Tilapia Fillets, Jar of Ruby Red Grapefruit slices, Orzo

Secret Ingredients

Thoughts? Never tasted them, never cooked them, no clue what the heck I’m going to do with them.

Research completed, supplies bought and I felt confident I could kick ass on this meal. I’m going a little out of my safety areas. I’ve got a lot of prejudice against these items because….well…just ewwww! But. Here we go…

Appetizer: Mole Pork roast tacos.

I took a pork roast and threw it in the crock pot with the mole, french onion soup, water and of course – garlic/onion powder. Slow cooked it for 5 hours and then shredded it. I warmed up some tortillas, placed the pork, mole sauce and chopped tomatoes on the tortilla and served.

My thoughts? Well, mine were minus the tomatoes cause.. eww, hate them but the tacos?? HOLY COW DELICIOUS! Becca complained all day the smell was horrible, I myself wasn’t really enjoying the smell or the little dips of fingers in the sauce while it cooked but once completed? HOLY COW  is was great. The pork was melt in your mouth yummy and the mole sauce had just enough kick to make you take notice. Definitely something I will make over and over again. The only issue I really had was when I opened the jar and the top part of the mole was liquid and as I pushed my spoon into the muck it was this grainy powdery smelly crap. I was so terrified this was going to ruin a perfectly good $10 pork roast. Good thing it didn’t.

Dinner: Orzo stuffed peppers and pan-seared tilapia with grapefruit glaze.

I partially cooked the orzo in chicken broth. I chopped up a can of whole tomatoes and added grated zucchini and parmesan cheese to the mix along with garlic and cayenne pepper. After mixing all this together I stuffed it all in my peppers and then baked in a pan with the left over chicken broth,then added more parmesan to the top to crisp up at the end. The fish, I lightly coated it in seasoned flour and cooked it in the pan- simple and easy for my 1st attempt at fish.

Orzo Stuffed Peppers, Pan Seared Tilapia with Grapefruit Glaze

My thoughts? Another winner! The taste was amazing, and for someone who hates green/red/yellow peppers I loved the flavors! I was a little concerned with the “look” of it before I cooked it but it came out perfect and oh so yummy. Becca was at first disappointed with the lack of “meat” in her stuffed peppers but after the 1st bite she seemed to enjoy it. Since I’d already had the pork for appetizers and the fish for main course, I thought it’d be a little crazy to have hamburger added to the peppers – don’t ya think?

The fish – I was REALLY nervous on this. First, because I hate fish, or really, just leery of it. I don’t like the fishy taste, I can’t handle having the eye balls stare at me and it’s just…icky to me and I’m terrified I’ll poison us because I didn’t cook it enough. But, the pieces we bought were beautiful (not an eyeball or scale in sight) so my confidence kicked in and though I found a simple way to cook it I think I did a pretty good job. My Grapefruit glaze was a fluke. I found a neat recipe that sounded good but then I hated most of the ingredients – so I took out a few of the “gross” ones and added a touch of this and that to make it to my liking. I’m not real keen on the taste of ginger but it was pretty good in my glaze and went well with the grapefruit.

Final touch…. Grape fruit mimosas.

I filled a glass with a mixture of triple sec and grapefruit juice and added it to the champage.

Red Grapefruit Mimosa

My thoughts? EWW! I didn’t like it. Whether it was due to the grapefruit (which I hate) or the dry champagne, I think I’ll stick to my orange juice mimosas and keep the grapefruit out of them.

So, overall. The meal to me was an absolute amazing success. I loved the fish (even ate half of Becca’s) and the rest of the meal was beyond yummy. I think all these recipes will be added to my collection (minus the mimosas). I am so ready for next weeks ingredients. I’m having fun and enjoying the different foods I never thought I’d try. GO CHRIS!!

So Chris? What’s your thoughts? Taste? Presentation? Creativity