Final Round 2 matchups elicit creative recipes from cooks vying for spots in finale
In Challenge 11, home cooks Craig Brannan of Lake Villa and Teresa Fiocchi of Mundelein found bourbon, courtesy of Binny's Beverage Depot; smoked paprika, boneless beef chuck and pearl onions in their secret ingredient bags.
In Challenge 12, cooks Martha Garmon of Palatine and Christina Anderson-Heller were given salmon, courtesy of Zeigler Chevrolet of Schaumburg, white miso, soba noodles and eggplant with which to get their creative juices flowing.
Today, we hear from these cooks about their dishes, inspirations, trials, thoughts and more.
Next week, we'll hear what the judges thought about recipes submitted by cooks in Challenges 11 and 12 and who will be going on to the live cook-off finale Nov. 1.
Enjoy!
Challenge 11
Craig Brannan thrilled with resulting flavor profile
I opened the challenge bag as soon as I got in the car and found there was a bottle of small batch bourbon. I was thrilled to read the list of other ingredients: boneless chuck, smoked paprika and pearl onions.
When I got home, I immediately poured myself a small sample of the Bourbon and started thinking about how I wanted to use the ingredients in a unique way that would highlight the flavors of the featured items. The obvious choice was a pot roast in a rich dark sauce but I also considered a chili or a kicked up beef stew. I looked at the list again and focused on the smoked paprika and thought about skewers of beef char grilled with Spanish flavors throughout. I prepared Spanish Beef Skewers with Three Pepper Bourbon Sauce and Spanish rice.
I knew that this cut of beef is best when slowly cooked in liquid at a low temperature and that marinating it would not be enough, so I used jaccard - a hand-held meat tenderizer and increased the time the meat marinated. The flavors were able to penetrate the meat and the acid in the marinade tenderized the beef without slow cooking. I trimmed the meat and cut it to size, made the marinade, tasted, added a little more salt, pepper and lemon juice and it was perfect!
Sauces are my thing and I wanted to create a slightly sweet and tangy sauce that had a great bourbon flavor. After some trial and error, I ended up with a bourbon sauce that I know I will use often in the future - sweet, tangy, a hint of paprika, caramelized onion with the finish of the beautiful bourbon flavor. I used the pearl onions and smoked paprika in Spanish rice recipe, started the grill, assembled the skewers and seared them resulting in a fantastic aroma. After a couple of minutes on each side they were perfectly cooked and it was time to plate. My taste testers loved the combination of Smoked paprika and bourbon and, as expected, the bourbon sauce was a hit. The beef was tender and juicy with good Spanish flavors and the rice complemented the dish. The finished product far exceeded my expectations and the flavors were unbelievable.
Teresa Fiocchi goes with a memory as inspiration
The recipe that I prepared is Bourbon Beef & Dumplings which was inspired by several different food memories. When I was young, my mother made a version of Hungarian goulash that had a large amount of paprika in it, so I knew the chuck roast could handle the paprika. When I was first married, I tried to duplicate Julia Child's famous Beef Bourguignon (which is when I learned that my husband was not a fan of any food resembling a soup, stew, pot roast or casserole). Lastly, it was my love for a really good pot of chicken and dumplings!
I was excited about the chuck roast because it's a piece of meat I grew up eating and if cooked properly it can really elevate a simple meal into something special. I was a little anxious, however, about the bourbon. I've cooked a lot with wine and even some vodka, but I don't think I have even tasted bourbon prior to opening up this bottle. I was also looking forward to experimenting with pearl onions since I mostly use shallots when cooking. I was surprised to learn that pearl onions come in several colors - who knew? I often see recipes that require frozen pearl onions, so I also wanted to incorporate those into my recipe as well. I think the combination of a fresh onion caramelized at the beginning of the process, and then adding the frozen pearl onions with the peas toward the end added additional flavor and texture to the dish.
Nothing feels more like fall than having something on the stove, in the oven or even in the crock pot cooking low and slow all day. I knew this recipe was going to quickly become a family favorite when the smells alone lured the kids into the kitchen throughout the afternoon and my husband asked for seconds. I love to serve dishes family style so being able to cook this entire meal in one pot, and then place the pot right on the table to serve to my family was perfect for the way we cook and eat in our kitchen. Even more exciting, is that the next day I was able to take the leftovers and serve them again on top of egg noodles and create a new meal out of leftovers.
Challenge 12
Martha Garmon makes cooking soba noodles fun
My husband loves salmon and I like to grill it over citrus because the citrus helps to keep the fish moist and gives it great flavor. I prepared Citrus Grilled Salmon with Crispy Soba Noodles and Eggplant “Fries.”
I have actually cooked with all of these ingredients in the past, however, not all at the same time. The first side dish I made was an eggplant salsa and although it tasted great, it looked like someone had thrown up on the plate. Next, I made a grilled eggplant and mushroom dish that had a lot of flavor but it looked pretty boring. When I was grilling the eggplant for the final dish, I realized it looked like french fries so I decided to make it as “fries” and add a dipping sauce
When I came up with the idea to fry the noodles, I wanted to make a “nest” of noodles, but it was too hard to eat. I tried frying them individually and making a nest of the broken up noodles. Just to be fancy, I made a “cracker” of the noodles for a garnish. My biggest surprise in the process was how fun it was to fry soba noodles into different shapes.
For the fish, I used my go-to method for grilling salmon, but added a marinade that incorporated the white miso paste. The salmon came out amazingly from the very beginning so I never changed that recipe. My husband has always compared all salmon dishes with a memory of an amazing salmon dish he had years ago. For the first time ever, he told me that this salmon was the “best he ever had.” That was huge! After his reaction, I have a feeling I'll be making salmon this way on a pretty regular basis.
When I was shopping, I had a very hard time finding sake for my sauce. When I saw the Pink Grapefruit Ginger Sparkling Sake I thought, “Why not?” and I was surprised at how well it worked, especially with the lemon slices. (Ginger ale works well as a substitute in a pinch).
This whole experience has been a blast and I hope I do well enough to make the next round.
Christina Anderson-Heller goes for simple sophistication
About 12 years ago, my husband and I visited friends in Japan and it was on that trip that I discovered my love for noodles, soy and fresh ginger. For Challenge 12, I made Asian Roasted Salmon & Eggplant with Soba Noodle Salad.
Asian style noodles are good all year round, whether warm in the winter or cool in the summer. Since we are experiencing a bit of an Indian summer this year I decided to do a cool salad of noodles, topped with roasted eggplant and salmon, and finished with scallions and ultra thin radish. The second I read the ingredients I knew I would do Asian flavors with some roasting. I have tricked my husband and his friends into eating many vegetables simply by roasting them, so I decided to roast the eggplant, too.
I really thought about grilling the salmon and eggplant, but I settled on roasting both to appeal to those cooks more comfortable with an oven. I also thought about broiling the salmon to give it more color, but wanted to keep the 'one step process' of roasting the eggplant and salmon at the same time for the sake of ease in the kitchen. One of my favorite surprise ingredients in Asian marinades is grated pear - I love the natural sweetness it imparts - so it's in my marinade recipe which can double as a dressing. I wanted to top my dish with very thin slices of radish and sliced them on the thinnest setting (1/32”) on my mandoline but it still wasn't thin enough. I guess it just goes to show that trusty tools like a good knife can't be replaced. Soba noodles are not the most beautiful ingredient, but pops of color from the fresh radish, scallions, and lime give this comfort-dish-with-a-twist a fun side - just add chopsticks.
It was fun playing with this recipe to make it delicate and flavorful, sophisticated yet simple as well as something that can be easily prepared on a weeknight or a great dish for a group of friends on a Saturday night. Everyone asked for seconds, and that's how I can tell if the recipe is a success.
- Jacky Runice