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Food

Top Chef Vegas!

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Here we meet for another week! I am excited to see how everyone does. Tim Love will be judging and between knowing what he does and seeing the teaser, I think we are in for a good episode!

Quickfire Challenge:
As the chefs walk into the kitchen there is Tim Love! The quickfire ingredient was cactus due to a audience poll (57%). They just has to make a dish with it. The winner gets $15,000. The bottom were Ash, Michael, and Ron. The top was Laurine, Mike I, and Mattin. The winner was Mike I.
Elimination Challenge:
Well, the cactus was a foreshadowing….The chefs have to prepare a high-end lunch outdoors for 2 dozen cowboys. They are going to stay the night at the ranch to familiar themselves with it. They will start cooking the next morning but they have to shop before they go. They get to sleep in little tents for the night with an outhouse. They have fire pits with cast iron pans with camp plates. They also have a couple prep tables.
I was shocked they all wore their chef jackets to cook in. I am wondering if any of the chef who are making ceviche are going to get dinged for not cooking. It seems that people might be waiting to long to get stuff on the grills.
Mike I: Pork Gyro with Apple and Fennel Tzatziki
Eli: Tuna Sandwich with Sun-Dried Tomato Mayo and Radish Salad
Laurine: Sauteed Artic Char with Tomatillo Salsa, Corn Salsa and Grilled Potato
Ash: Grilled Chicken Paillard with Corn Succotash
Mattin:Ceviche 3 Ways-Salmon with Apple, Spicy Tuna and Cod with Corn
Robin: Grilled Romaine Salad with Drunken Prawns and Spicy Chicken Sausage
Bryan: Roasted Pork Loin, Corn Polenta, Dandelion Greens and Glazed Rutabaga
Jennifer: Snapper with Duck Confit, Daikon, Carrot and Tomato Water Salad
Ashley: Seared Hailibut with Avocada Mousse, Bacon, Tomato and Braised Romaine
Michael: Dashi with Miso and Mirin Cured Black Cod and Watermelon
Ron: Coconut, Lime, Mango and Tuna Ceviche and Haitian Coconut Mojito
Kevin: Roasted Duck Breat with Mole and Tequila Marinated Watermelon
Service and Judging:
Chef Love said Mike I’s was good but not interesting. They liked Laurine’s. Padma thought Eli’s needed more flavor and a rancher said the bread was hard. The cod ceviche was fishy and Tom spit out something off the plate and said it was raw. They thought Robin’s dish was bad. The prawns tasted of clorine, Robin didn’t taste her prawns until after she served them. Gail could tasted the bacon grease in Ash’s succotash. Chef Love thought that Bryan’s dish was well thoguht out and tasted good. Bryan’s plate looked so yummy! Gail liked Jennifer’s slaw. They thought that Ashley’s dish was the best she had cooked to date. Ron’s was the best of the ceviches but the cocktail stunk. Gail said that Michael’s dish was delious and Love said it was unexpected. Kevin’s duck was well cooked.
So Laurine, Michael, Ashley and Bryan were called back to judges table first. The winner was Bryan! Then Robin, Ron and Mattin were sent back. Robin says how she wanted to play off steak. How did that have anything to do with what she made. She got slammed on the prawns. Mattin said he was suprised to be there. Tom said how the cod was raw. Ron’s ceviche and sauce were both sweet. Tom also talked about how bad Ron’s drink was. Ron said he didn’t drink but didn’t want to let the coconut go to waste. They said without the drink he may not have been in the botton. The judges talked about how Robin knew it was bad and didn’t do anything with it. But Mattin didn’t know why he was there. In the end Mattin was sent home.
See you next week to see who will fly and who will flop.

Food

Vegas Baby!

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So where will this week lead us? Will the top 3 remain the Voltaggio brothers and Jennifer? Let us jump in and find out!

Quickfire Challenge:

Daniel Boulud is waiting with Tom as our chefs show up. They are going to have to do the snail challenge. They have 45 minutes to make a dish with escargot as their protein. Someone will win immunity with a bonus and someone will be kicked out. Mattin may have a bit of an unfair advantage. A few of the dishes were “interesting”. The top 3 were Mike, Kevin, and Jennifer. The winner was Kevin so he has immunity. The bottom 3 were Jesse, Ashley, and Robin. They are getting a 2nd chance. They get 20 minutes to make 1 amuse bouche out of whatever they find in the kitchen. The loser will go home. Robin made a soup for her amuse where as the other 2 do appear to be a bite. Tom and Boulud were not really happy with any of the 3. They were all good ideas but not executed right. The chef with the worst was Jesse. I have to say I am not all that surprised. She has been riding the bottom the whole time.

Elimination Challenge:
We are faced with a knife draw that Kevin is not participating in. Each knife has a classic French sauce on it or a traditional French protein. They will be working in pairs with 1 sauce and 1 protein. They will then serve to a table of French chefs, including the French chef of the century Joel Robuchon. Kevin will not be cooking but instead will eating with the French chefs. One of the teams is Jennifer with Michael V. I think that is the team to watch. Mike I wants to do a new take on Bearnaise and wants to do it deconstructed. Ron says he has done frog legs a lot before and has French training. Robin is worried about reheating her lobster without it getting overdone. Ashley is totally letting Mattin take the lead since he is French. I have a feeling that it may backfire. Hector was having issues getting the steak to temperature.

Michael V and Jennifer- Rabbit and Sauce Chasseur
Mike I and Bryan- Trout and Sauce Bearnaise
Ashley and Mattin- Sauce Veloute and Poussin (young chicken)
Eli and Laurine- Lobster and Sauce Americaine
Hector and Ash-Chateaubriand and Steak au Proivre
Robin and Ron – Sauce Meuniere and Frog Legs

Service and Judging:
Ron and Robin go first and it wasn’t a big hit. They thought it was a tough dish but the legs weren’t quite right. Then up goes Mike and Bryan. Their dish seemed to be a big hit. Then Eli and Laurine’s dish was up. The lobster was tough. They say it is ok but not quite right. Then Mattin and Ashley are up. The chicken was bland and the sauce was to much bacon. Then Jennifer and Michael V served. It was once again a hit with perfectly cooked rabbit. Hector waited late to cut the beef and it was bloody. They knew there wasn’t enough sauce on the plates. The judges didn’t like how the meat was cooked, the lack of sauce and how the meat was cut.

First up to see the judges were Bryan, Mike, Michael and Jennifer. The winner was Bryan with his trout. His extra prize was to work at Robuchon’s restaurant for a week. Next up was Ashley, Mattin, Hector and Ash. The chicken was seared and dried out. The veloute was closer to a gravy. The judges didn’t like all the bacon and thought there should have been an asparagus veloute. Ashley had suggested it but Mattin had shot it down. They wanted more au poivre sauce and they didn’t like how the meat was cut. Bouchon pointed out that the meat should have only been cooked a half hour so there should have been plenty of time.

In the end Hector got sent home. It had been pointed out that the beef was the easiest dish and he didn’t do it well.

Food

Hell’s Kitchen Recap

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As we head into this week’s episode I think Dave is going to remain on top but I think that Suzanne will be the next red person to leave.

Ramsay starts talking about his French training. Our challenge is that each team has to produce 4 crepes. 1 each for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. Then he demo’ed 1 crepe. I had never seen a crepe that big being made. They made them on a big flat surface with a little spatula. They all had a hard time making the physical crepes. JP helped Ramsay judge this challenge. The guy’s breakfast crepe was pretty but to spongy. The girls wasn’t a pretty but was overall better. Tenille’s crepe didn’t look very good and it was very spicy. Andy’s looked very plain, similar to the girl’s breakfast crepe. The boys won lunch. The blue’s dinner crepe was huge and Ramsay said it tasted good. When asked what was in the crepe, Suzanne went on a huge diatribe on crepes, them being street food, etc. Both teams won a point on dinner. Dave’s dessert plate looked horrible and Ramsay didn’t even try it. The girls’ dessert crepe was delightful and they won.

So for service that night they are adding some French dishes like escargot, frog’s legs and crepes. The guys have to prep both kitchens. The girls are going to a surprise. They are going to learn mime. The girls also go to the best French restaurant in town.

While both teams were finishing up prep, Andy sliced the tips of 3 fingers off on the mandolin. So Any got taken away to get fixed but they don’t think he would be back that night.

Then service begins. Andy comes back right in the beginning of service but unfortunately he doesn’t seem to know the menu. Dave is starting his team off with good risottos but Sabrina’s were bland. Ramsay brought over Dave’s for Sabrina could compare. Then Sabrina made a good one and Ramsay was yelling at her about being consistent. Then Andy made ugly crepes. Kevin stepped in and helps Andy with the crepes. The girls were flying, working together and keeping time with each other. Then Suzanne screwed up and threw everyone off. Dave was working on meat and so he let Andy make his own risotto. When Andy couldn’t make his risotto, Dave did it both and seemed to be doing it well. Now Suzanne was slicing lamb a minute and a half before it was to go up. So then Suzanne had to start the table over. Andy then started making salads wrong. Suzanne finally had lamb to take up but they were cooked wrong. Sabrina keeps adjusting the recipes to her way and not Ramsay’s, he was hot as she messed up the frog legs. Ramsay tossed Andy out of the kitchen. So the guys were left with 3 in the kitchen. Then back in the red kitchen, Suzanne over cooked an entire pan of lamb. He then tossed Sabrina and Suzanne out for being inconsistent. Then Tenille and Ariel were left alone in the kitchen to finish with just Heather’s help (sous chef).

Since neither team was complete Ramsay didn’t have a winner. The blue and red team had to come to a consensus as to which 2 chefs to put up. Ramsay emphasizes that they need to work together and be sensible. I think next week will be the merge week. Andy doesn’t want to go up. Suzanne said she messed up a pan trying to get it all right. The decision was Andy and Suzanne. Suzanne can’t figure out why she is up. She says she puts up good food and wins challenges. Then the discussion comes up of what they have to do to guarantee Suzanne getting tossed. It was said that if Andy went up he would go home. So they were debating putting Suzanne and Sabrina up.

In the end they put up Suzanne and Andy. Suzanne says she should stay because she can cook every station. So Ramsay asks Tenille. Tenille says they are better without her even if that means they are short. Andy said he was bad because it was his cutting hand that got hurt. So Ramsay sent Andy home. Then he sent Suzanne to the blue team. Man, did they not look happy.

This is going to be fun! Se you next week!

Food

Zucchini Corn Cakes

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Who doesn’t want a yummy way to get veggies into your diet? I need to get more serving myself not to mention teaching my kids to eat and like them. I saw a recipe for these in a magazine and tweaked it a little bit.

Zucchini Corn Cakes
Ingredients:
1 box of Jiffy cornbread mix
1 cup of shredded zucchini, microwaved and drained or frozen and drained
1/2 cup + splash of milk
1 egg
1/8 tsp of pepper
Procedure:
Mix all the ingredients together. Let sit for 3-5 minutes. Then fry up like pancakes with a touch of oil. You can fry it in more oil and it is delicious but not as good for you.
How easy is that?!?!

Food

Top Chef Vegas!

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I have no witty banter so let’s just jump into this week’s Top Chef!

Quickfire Challenge:
Mark Peel and Padma are waiting with a table full of potatoes. They have to create an “out of this world” dish with potatoes. Now I don’t feel to bad because there are all kinds of potatoes on the table. Chaos ensues in the kitchen. Preeti blanched her asparagus in Ashley’s water for her gnocchi. With 13 minutes left she had to start water over. I am interested to see if the odd dishes win (sweet potato custard, risotto) or the traditional (vichyssoise or gnocchi). The bottom were Eli, Ron and Jesse. The top are Jennifer, Ash, and Ashley. The winner was Jennifer and now she has immunity. She seems to be riding pretty high. Mike I. thinks it is favoritism but how with a new judge?

Elimination Challenge:
A Commander from Nellis comes in to give the challenge. They had to go to Nellis where the Thunderbirds train. They have to create a meal for 300. It is 1 team with 4 hours to cook. They don’t know their ingredients or to see the kitchen until they show up day of the challenge. They decide to set it up with Jennifer being the chef of the kitchen since she has immunity. Then everyone else pairs up and each pair takes a dish. When they get into the kitchen they find it as a traditional military kitchen with lots of canned good, no individual pots and stoves. So they all evaluate what they have to cook but they are having issues allocating resources. But Jennifer was doing a great job helping allocate all the kitchen resources. She also was keeping the chatter down.

Once they were done with the cooking they went to the site to set up. It was kind of crazy. They set up to 2 sets of serving stations. Michael V was very specific on how he wanted his dish served and he wanted it all cut as they served it. Then we begin!

Service:
I really don’t know about being in the middle of the Nevada desert with chili and chowder. Bryan and Mattin’s beef was good and pink in spite of being held. Preeti and Lorreen’s pasta salad was boring and salty. The chili was good and spicy. The chili was a bit thick but good. Gail says she doesn’t mind the hot dishes but the hot and heavy cream was a bit much. The pork shoulder and potato salad seemed to be a hit. The pork belly was a huge hit but their salad wasn’t good. Tom thought the shrimp was under cooked. Mark Peel thought the bread pudding was a little dry but Tom and Gail liked it.

Judging:
So first up for the judges was Mike, Michael, Eli and Kevin. Kevin did the pulled pork with his family recipe. Tom thinks the slab bacon braised was cool. Mike and Michael have worked together before and that helped. Michael did the bacon, where Mike did the salad. The winner was Michael. When I heard that he did the bacon basically by himself I was sure he was going to win. Then the judges wanted to see Preeti, Lorreen and Mike (again). Mike was hot. I think once the judges knew that Mike did the shrimp salad on his own, he was on the chopping block. The shrimp wasn’t cooked all the way and that was a big deal. Tom said that Mike seemed pissed and Mike said he was. Mike said he was trying to help the team and didn’t have to do it. They told him that is did the dish and they had to judge him on it. Gail also pointed out that it was bland and without seasoning. Tom wanted to know whose idea the pasta salad was. Neither Lorreen nor Preeti took credit. Gail said that it didn’t seem creative. Preeti asked if the chowder was more creative. They said no but that the chowder was a better version. Tom called the girls on just trying to get by and that was all they wanted. Lorreen seemed to know that it wasn’t a good dish but she said that she forgot it was a competition. Preeti on the other hand thought it was a good dish. In the deliberation Gail pointed out that the judges didn’t ask them to team up.

In the end Preeti was sent home. In her exit she said that this year’s competition was tougher than the other years. I think she might be right. So let’s see who will get cut next week! Next week we are have the 2 elimination week! Things are going to be exciting!

Food

Hell Fires Keep Burning!

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So we are doing the taste test today! I love this one! Andy was talking about his special taste buds that taste things no one else can. We will see if he can measure up to his talk. Kevin guessed that clams were spinach. Sabrina said tuna but at least it was fish. Andy thought that avocado was boiled coconut. The girls won!

The girls’ reward was to go to Opaque to dine in the dark. The guys’ punishment was to hand make fruit sorbets (including taking fruit delivery) and then to shine the glassware. Dave had to sort frozen berries and Van had to see tons of pomegranate. Their lunches were blended plates of food, like risotto with scallops and duck.

The girls want Suzanne out. I don’t know if they want her out enough to sabotage themselves but they want her out bad.

Then we launch into service. Tenille is doing apps and running the reds. While Andy is doing garnish and running the blues. Tenille tells Suzanne that her scallops are to dark and Suzanne ignores her and is right. Kevin is doing the apps for the blue team. Both teams start well. The chefs have to serve the sorbet palate cleansers tableside. Kevin left Van on his apps while he did the sorbet and Van put up bland risotto. Amanda was on garnish and is messing it up while she is telling Tenille that she doesn’t need help. Andy was coordinating for the team and wasn’t clear as to what was next.

Then we get to entrees in the red kitchen. Sabrina is on meat and Suzanne is on fish. Sabrina tells Ramsay that it will be 4 minutes and Suzanne is ready to go. But then lamb comes back. Sabrina said that she pushed it out to soon because of Suzanne. So Ramsay handed Sabrina the plate and kicked her out to eat it. When someone asked Suzanne what happened she said nothing. Nothing?!?!? You are now down a person and that person is on meat. This is ridiculous. Then Tenille got put on the meat and she said 3 minutes. Then Suzanne said 2 minutes and Tenille called her on it and stuck to her guns. Andy said that he was 3 orders short on mashed potatoes. But they made them stretch. Then Suzanne holds everyone up with her fish and then she messed up the fish and everyone had to start over. Then she starts cleaning up her station while she was cooking. Then Andy ran out of potatoes. Dave ran in got the potatoes ends to make some more. How did Andy not start some more when he knew he was almost short on the other order. The red team’s fish station was sinking quick. Amanda tried to help Suzanne and thought she was finishing a piece of fish and put it up half done. Then Suzanne hung Amanda out to dry on it.

The winner was the blue kitchen because Dave bailed them out. Tenille was the best of the worst. So she had to come up with 2 to put up for elimination. I think Tenille should say the only person who should be tossed is Suzanne. Suzanne doesn’t understand why everyone is mad at her. Tenille ended up nominating Suzanne and Sabrina. But Tenille made it clear that she thinks that Suzanne is the weakest link. Then Ramsay called Amanda out. Ramsay doesn’t like Amanda and I think it is just because she so soft spoken. Suzanne said she was just pushing and everyone said that wasn’t true. Then Ramsay asked is Amanda could win it and she said she could. He tossed Amanda out. I can’t believe he did that! Suzanne should have been tossed!!!!!!

Well, maybe next week. A girl can hope.