Round 1, Challenge 3: Ground beef, pears, pearl barley and Roth Buttermilk Blue Cheese from the Green County (Wis.) Tourism council
Tim Hoffman
My biggest struggle was that I only had two days to figure this mystery basket out as I was on my Disney(honey)moon. Also the blue cheese. I don't eat it - not a fan - so I had to figure out how to use it as a replacement to cheeses that I normally cook with and have other people taste it. I based the menu thinking of my Nanna's way of cooking. She was Italian. The barley was an interesting twist but I did not want to go the traditional route and do a soup. So I decided to go outside the box and do a play off traditional risotto. I hope it pays off!
Emily Geddes
When I first opened the bag, I thought, "oh no blue cheese ... one of three ingredients that I don't like." But even as I drove home I got excited thinking of how well the ingredients could go together. I really had to narrow down what I wanted to include in which part of the meal. I actually had to make a chart to help me discern what ingredient would be best where since there were so many good combos. (Not the problem I expected to have.) When experimenting with different versions of the recipes, I got to the point of adding the blue cheese and thought, "well here we go …" After I tasted it I was so surprisingly happy with how it turned out. Even those who don't favor blue cheese would actually like this!