Contestants react to Round 2 ingredients
Round 2 of the Cook of the Week Challenge proved challenging indeed for four of our “Elite 8” cooks.
Let’s hear what they said about the challenge ingredients.
Fortune Fish halibut fillets, zucchini, lemon curd and ramen noodles
Cate Brusenbach: My first reaction to my mystery ingredients was pure delight! I love halibut. Preparing fish is a specialty of mine. The roasted pumpkin seeds I used to encrust the fillets gave them such a wonderful flavor and a nice texture.
The ramen noodles, while I’ve eaten them in soup of course, made me scratch my head. I decided to use them in a variation on a slaw. Zucchini adds a mild crunch and freshness and wonderful color, and knew that if I julienned it and added shredded carrot it would be beautiful. Using the lemon curd and yogurt as a dressing for the ‘confetti’ was a great choice.
Knowing that I could only include eight additional ingredients to my original four made me really think about how to highlight the flavors and textures. It was hard to choose them, but they all make sense and work well together.
Oscar Menoyo: My first reaction to the ingredients was that lemon curd is traditionally a dessert-oriented condiment. Upon pondering how it would successfully crossover to main dish arena I had an enlightened moment. The halibut, zucchini and ramen noodles would certainly welcome the flavor of lemon in any form. It was a matter of complimenting the sweetness of lemon curd with just the right amount of smokiness and heat. Porcini mushrooms, smokey by nature, and hot peppers would do that. Add the robust flavoring of garlic, onions, parsley and a good quality vegetable stock along with assorted bell peppers and all you need is noodles to rest everything on to create a wonderful dish.
Quaker Oats Old-Fashioned Oats, Rose Packing Co. Canadian bacon, grapefruit and goat cheese
Jamie Andrade: I personally am not a big fan of Canadian bacon, all I kept thinking about was breakfast, and how much easier it would be if it was plain old bacon. Then at least I could have done a play on a carbonara pasta. Then, light bulb. I knew exactly what direction I was going in. It turned out light but savory at the same time, and the toasted oats add a balanced texture. Overall, I was very happy with the final dish.
Michael Lalagos: My first reaction when I read the ingredients was, what am I going to do with grapefruit? I thought I could make a breakfast dish using all the ingredients, but then thought that it’s an easy way out. I wanted to challenge myself a little bit, so I began thinking about a savory dish that all the ingredients could be used in. Pork is a favorite ingredient of mine, and stuffed pork chop is a hearty dish that I could use as the main protein and concept the ingredients around it. Using the grapefruit was tricky, but it came in helpful, because the acid in the reduction helps cut the richness of the goat cheese in the stuffing. Using only eight additional ingredients was also challenging, but I had one left to use on the green beans, and think they serve as a good side to the pork chop.