Chopped: Home Edition

Chopped is a show where 4 chefs battles one another using ingredients that are unknown to them until the time of the battle.  The chefs must create an appetizer, entree and dessert.  One chef is eliminated after every round.  My woman set up a Chopped Arena for me and here is how it went.

Round 1 ingredients: 2 boiled eggs, 1 hash brown, and Swiss cheese.  There was an ingredient that I could use in any round but only once being English Muffins.

With 20 minutes on the clock I had to decide fairly quickly what I was going to make with these ingredients. I decided on a Deviled Egg Potato Hash.  I cooked the Hash brown, cut it and added the cheese.  Then added that to the removed eggs yolks and placed that mixture inside the egg whites.

Success

Round 2 ingredients:  2 filets of Tilapia, diced clams, Tostitos cheese and Sour Cream.

After finally opening the can of clams (stupid can opener), I decided to put them in a pot with lemon juice, honey and some red wine.  Additionally I had a pot with frying oil going just in case I had to fry something.  For the tilapia I really didn't have a clue what to make, so I threw it in a pan and thought about rice.  I knew rice would take too long to cook so I threw in some grits. I mixed the sour cream with a spoonful of a sort of Indian bouillon and just hoped that it A) tasted good and B) the grits cooked in the time allotted (30 minutes).

After the timer struck the 30 minute mark and I plated the dish I was informed that I forgot an ingredient.  The damn CHEESE!  I had completely forgot about it.  If this was the real show I surely would've been chopped, unless they liked my dish enough to keep me.

There was still another round to go.  The dessert round.  I've never been a big "I can make dessert" guy so this was going to be tricky.

Round 3 ingredients: 2 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate, a fruit strip (mango), and Tostitos.

First I was thinking cover the Tostitos in chocolate but that didn't solve the mango fruit thing strip problem.  I decided to make a simple syrup and hoped that the fruit strip would break down in it in the process and infuse the flavor.  I made a double boiler and melted the chocolate.  At this point it was a waiting game.  I grabbed some cupcake holders and poured some of the chocolate in them then I crushed some of the chips and sprinkled them on top then added another layer of chocolate.  Put whipped cream on top and placed the mango syrup on top of that.  While the dish was successful I was a bout 3 minutes too late.

This was a great challenge with very difficult but usable ingredients.  Besides some major missteps I believe I did fairly well.  Thanks to my woman for setting it up, it was definitely fun and nerve racking at the same damn time.

Thousand Dollar Knives

DRAG