Chef Monsta: I cook, therefore I blog » Top Chef

Tracy Bloom: Rosie O’Donnell?

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:12:22 +0000

Top Chef’s most recently dumped cheftestant bares a striking resemblance to Rosie O. Separated at birth?

Rosie O’Donnell:

Ina’s Summer Gazpacho

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:46:34 +0000

Have you been watching Season 7 of Top Chef? So far, the contestants haven’t blown me away, but Wednesday night’s challenge was quite clever and entertaining. In the Elimination Challenge, the chefs were asked to take part in Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign to fight childhood obesity. They had to prepare school lunches for 50 students with a budget of $130, keeping it nutritious while tasty. Why didn’t they make gazpacho? That’s what I would have done- all the veggies you could ask for to make sure our fat American kids get their vitamins. Here’s a twist on Ina’s gazpacho recipe for your tomato-loving-pleasure.

Ingredients:

1 English cucumber
2 red bell peppers
4 plum tomatoes
1 red onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups tomato juice
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Roughly chop all the vegetables. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not puree or you will have baby food!

First goes the cukes…

Tomatoes…

Garlic and red pepper…

Red onion…

Add the tomato juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper to your vegetables. Mix well and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Gazpacho!

Separated at Birth: Top Chef Masters Edition

admin — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 22:43:27 +0000

Two celebrity chefs who could be long lost brothers:

Rick Moonen, Top Chef Masters Season 1 & 2

Rick Bayless, Top Chef Master Season 1 Winner

The Chili Challenge 2009

admin — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:37:03 +0000

I would like to begin this story by saying I have never made chili [I have made stews before]. My buddy asked me this morning if I would like to participate in a chili cookoff this evening, so natch, I said yes! I knew I needed beef, onion, beans, and heat…..but I researched some chili recipes to see what else would go down. As a huge fan of Top Chef (and Masters), I asked myself: WWRBD? [What would Rick Bayless do?] He is the number one Mexican chef in the country and a frequent winner on Top Chef Masters. Rick told me to use pinto beans and dried Ancho chillies, so I listen. At the supermarket however, there were no Ancho chillies so I bought Ancho paste instead, and figured that would suffice for my heat component in my first chili ever.

Here is what I ended up creating. The details for the actual cookoff will follow the recipe.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 diced onion
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 lb ground beef
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp cumin
2 red bell peppers, diced
1/4 c vegetable stock
1 can 15 oz pinto beans
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp Ancho chili paste
1 tbsp Siracha chili sauce
1 tsp hot paprika (or cayenne)
1/4 c semolina flour (to thicken)
more salt and pepper, to taste

Chop up onion and garlic, heat up vegetable oil.

Saute onions and garlic.

I seasoned the beef with cumin, salt and pepper, then mixed/pounded the seasoning in there.

I was feeling crazy, so I made it into a giant meatball. Saute meat over medium flame.

While meat and onions are browning, dice up 2 red bell peppers and add to meat mixture.

Add 1/4 c veg/chicken stock.

I whipped up a “spicy sauce” to add for my heat component. Please note that I know one should use fresh jalapeno, habanero peppers, or Ancho chillies but I got excited by the Ancho paste and wanted to spice it up with some international ingredients. I mixed the paste with some Japanese chili sauce (Siracha) and some hot paprika from Israel. I drizzled a tsp of olive oil into the mixture and whisked it into a sauce, then added it to my meat and peppers. *Please note that this spicy sauce matches my red nail polish perfectly.

Add 1 can of diced tomatoes.

I then added 1 tsp of sugar to balance out the bitter tomatoes.

1 can of Pinto beans are added…

Followed by some Semolina flour as a thickening agent (also provides texture, since semolina is a grainy flour).

And here is the dish!

So we went over to my buddy’s apartment and there were three of us in total who had made chilies! We had 4 judges (friends, of course) and a score card that judged 4 categories: taste, heat, appearance, and overall score. Each category has a potential of 5 points to be scored= maximum of 20 points to be had. (Very Top Chef Masters, if I do say so myself).

Moral of the story: I did learn that chili is cooked low and slow to develop flavors. Next time I make it, I will definitely keep that in mind so a richer color could result.

And the winner was………..Chef Monsta! Moi! With 67 points….Second place came in at 58 points and third place at 51.

My first chili EVER is a prize winner! [Although there actually was no prize] It was great fun, and definitely a Tuesday night to remember.

Lean, Mean, Meatball Cuisine

admin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:46:26 +0000

A leaner, lighter version of traditional Spaghetti and Meatballs. I try and cook lighter in the summertime, so I modified this classic dish into a healthier, protein rich-er dish!

Ingredients:
For Meatballs:
1 lb ground turkey
1 egg
1/4 c breadcrumbs
4 tbsp cumin
salt n pepa
fresh basil and flat leaf parsley, chopped

1 c quinoa
1 1/2 c water, for boiling

Sauce:
1 head of garlic, chopped
1 c canned diced tomatoes
1/2 jar sliced roasted red peppers
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cayenne or hot pepper
salt n peppa

Here are the ingredients!

Put ground meat into a bowl.

Add chopped basil and parsley

Meat mixture: 1 egg, chopped herbs, salt, pepper, cumin, and breadcrumbs

Combine the mixture with your hands, get in there!

Make balls out of the meat (duh, meatballs)

In a large pot, brown meatballs in hot olive oil.

While the meatballs are browning, make a tomato sauce. You can use store-bought if you like. I chopped garlic, added a can of chopped tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and salt, sugar, cayenne pepper, and pepper. Cook over medium flame.

Once meatballs are browned, it is time to add the sauce.

Add sauce to larger pot of meatballs to continue cooking for 5 minutes on medium heat.

While the meatballs are cooking, measure 1 c of quinoa. For every cup, add 1.5 c of water for boiling.

Serve meatballs and sauce over hot quinoa.