A Royal FLOP (flopped, challenge 2)

Here's what Chef Josh picked out as Chef Leah's four Mystery Ingredients:

Vanilla wafers, pickled asparagus, pork loin and a lovely large plantain. 

Eww. 

I had no idea what to do. 

I seriously walked back and forth and back and forth across the kitchen for 30 minutes before I started anything.  I had to peel the plantain to see what it was like since I'd never handled a raw plantain before.

It looks like a banana but it has the consistency of wood.  Hard and tough.  Not like a banana at all.

The only thing I knew I had to do from the beginning was crush the vanilla wafers.  I grabbed a meat mallet and went to town.

Then I started pounding on the meat because I already had out the meat mallet and that seemed like a good thing to do. 

Plus it gave me more time to think about what I was going to do next.

The asparagus. 

My next goal became to hide the asparagus in my dish as much as possible.  When I opened the jar they smelled disgusting, and they were mushy as heck.  Definitely hide the asparagus.

I decided to make a fresh pineapple salsa with red onions, red bell pepper and the asparagus.  Hopefully the other salsa ingredients would drown out the asparagus. 

I stuffed the salsa inside the pork.

Now it was time to incorporate the vanilla wafers.  I rolled up the meat log and patted the vanilla wafers on top to make a crispy crust.

I stuck the pork in the oven.

Time to tackle the plantain.

The only way I've ever eaten plantain is fried, so I decided I better try to fry it.  I chopped the plantain and dipped each piece in egg, then in crushed vanilla wafers mixed with cornstarch, then in egg again, and finally in shredded coconut.

I dropped them in the hot oil and crossed my fingers that it was somewhere near the right temperature, whatever that was.

Each batch had to fry for 6-7 minutes to get the plantain soft enough to eat.  It did not turn out like the fried plantains of my dreams.  They tasted okay but were still really tough.  And DRY.  

The meat didn't turn out much better.  I pulled it out of the oven and went to slice it, imagining a beautiful bright salsa swirled inside the meat. 

But no, it just looked like a pile of disgusting mush.

My beautiful crispy vanilla wafer crust?  SOGGY.  Sog sog soggy.

Please don't tell Chef Ramsay.  Please.

At this point I was doubled over, laughing so hard in the kitchen that Josh came over to make sure I was okay. 

I mixed a little maple syrup into some sour cream to try to salvage something good..."maple syrup fixes everything" is my motto. 

But it didn't really help.  Just added to the overall goop effect of my dish.

Roast pork stuffed with pineapple and asparagus salsa 

with coconut fried plantains and maple sour cream

Chef Leah...MAJOR FLOPPED!


It actually didn't taste as bad as it looks.  The salsa inside the pork was pretty tasty (the pineapple definitely drowned out the pickled asparagus), and I must say the pork was very tender after all that tenderizing. :)  

But the fried plantains sat like a rock, let me tell you.

Chef Josh has definitely won the FLOPPED challenge.  Hands down.  Way to go, Josh!

And I was reminded why I LOVE RECIPES! :)

Bon Appetite!

Flopped, Challenge 1

Chef Josh took over the kitchen for our first FLOPPED challenge!!!

Here are the four mystery ingredients Chef Leah picked out for him:

Butternut Squash

Raspberry Iced Tea

Chuck Steak

Tomatillos

Chef Josh felt clueless when the ingredients were unveiled; he had no idea what he was going to do with them.  But then he saw that we had tortillas in the fridge and it all came together for him.

He chose to stir-fry the squash with sliced onions in some olive oil, salt and pepper.

He then cooked the steak strips in a raspberry tea reduction with about a teaspoon each of chili powder and paprika.

He decided to make a salsa with the tomatillos...combining them with onions, salt and cumin.

As a finishing touch he added a handful of hominy to the salsa for excitement and added texture.  (Yes, we are still trying to use up that huge can of hominy!!)

We were both really excited with the final result.  It was delicious. 

The tea gave a nice sweetness to the steak and salsa.  The meat and the onions were cooked perfectly.  The squash could have been cooked a tiny bit more but it was very flavorful.  We both agreed the salsa would have been even better with a kick from some spicy peppers but we didn't have any.

Chef Josh didn't FLOP at all!  It was awesome!!!

Tea-Infused Steak Fajitas with Grilled Onions & Butternut Squash

Served with Tomatillo, Raspberry Tea & Hominy Salsa

 My husband rocks!

Just wait till you see what he just brought in the door for ME to cook!!!

FLOPPED. The Mystery Ingredient Winter Weekend Cooking Challenge

Josh and I are a little bit addicted to watching cooking shows.

Our favorites are anything featuring Gordon Ramsay, and our very favorite was his show Master Chef.  In case you didn't see it, it was an exciting competition between hundreds of home cooks from across America.  They had to complete all sorts of crazy cooking challenges and as the weeks went by they slowly get weeded out. The final winner, a darling 21-year-old Mississippi girl, won $250,000 and a cookbook publishing deal.  Sweet.

Lately, since we're all caught up on Ramsay's shows, we've been watching back episodes of Chopped.  It's not nearly as good as Master Chef but it's still fun to watch.  In Chopped four chefs compete against each other and try not to get "chopped" from the competition.  They each get four crazy ingredients and have to create a meal out of them that will impress the judges.

Every time we watch these shows we dream of beating all the other chefs.  And since we probably never will we decided to make our own challenge. :)

And since we're not really so sure about our on-the-fly cooking skills, we're calling it...

FLOPPED.

Meet the contestants:

Chef Leah grew up in Southern Vermont.  She grew up helping her mom cook.  While she loves to bake, cooking dinners (especially meat) sometimes overwhelms her.  Her specialties are brownies, waffles and pancakes.

Strengths for this challenge:
Has experience cooking lots of different types of dishes, is familiar with a wide range of ingredients, has a cute apron.
Weaknesses for this challenge:
Relies to heavily on recipes, is sometimes afraid to take risks, freezes under pressure. 

Chef Josh grew up in Chicago, IL.  His cooking career began when he got married and wanted to give his wife a break.  His specialties are spaghetti, curried rice and sugar cookies.

Strengths for this challenge:
Is very inventive, thinks out of the box, is not afraid to take risks, loves trying new flavors.
Weaknesses for this challenge:
Has somewhat limited cooking experience, believes cumin belongs in everything.

Meet the judge:

Chef Knox is a recent graduate of Gerber 1st Foods Academy of Green Beans and Pears. 

And he is a world-renowned critic of rice and oatmeal cereals.


CHOPPED. The Rules.

On separate nights each chef will go to the store and pick out 4 mystery ingredients for the other chef, who will then make a meal out of those ingredients.

The total cost of the four ingredients must be less than $10.

All four mystery ingredients need to be incorporated into the meal.

Any other ingredients we have in the kitchen can also be used.

Internet searches and cookbooks are not allowed.

The winner gets to cook all the family meals for the rest of our lives!

JUST KIDDING.  There isn't really a winner, we just want to give our creative cooking skills a workout.


Please stay tuned for FLOPPED, Challenge 1.