Cooks let their creativity loose on secret ingredients
In Challenge 5, home cooks Greg Zielinski of Arlington Heights and Chrissy Christian of Hoffman Estates were faced with cocoa powder from Morkes Chocolates, turkey breast, eggplant and capers.
In Challenge 6, cooks Chris Copeland of Elgin and Teresa Fiocchi of Mundelein were given avocado oil, courtesy of Ellyndale Foods, ground beef, spinach and millet.
Today, we hear from these cooks about their inspirations, trials and errors, thoughts, feelings on the ingredients and more.
Next week, we'll hear what the judges thought about recipes submitted by cooks in Challenges 5 and 6 and their final decisions. We'll also offer essays from cooks in Challenges 7 and 8, the final challenges in Round 1.
Enjoy!
Chrissy Christian's meatballs, 'birdseed salad' impress judges
I made gluten-free meatballs with roasted red pepper sauce, and a millet and sautéed veggie salad.
I was excited to get started and came up with my ideas pretty quickly. Cooking was fun and exciting, and I found that going with my gut was best. I thought a salad of flavorful veggies with fresh herbs would complement the millet, and I wanted the flavor of the spinach to be subdued so I added it to the meatballs. I also wanted the meatball to be gluten-free, and the millet allowed that.
I have never had avocado oil or millet. My husband and I actually poured some oil in a bowl and tasted it using our fingers and found it has a really nice, mild flavor. I had heard of millet but, after Googling it, I was totally surprised to find out it is most commonly used as bird seed! I told my friends this is my birdseed salad recipe! It has a really nice nutty flavor, is easy to chew and not funky at all. I cooked it in chicken broth, too, so that added some nice flavor.
After adding olives to the salad and more spices to the meatballs, my testers liked both. I was going for more Mediterranean flavors, and I like this meal because the recipes can be flexible. If you don't like eggplant, you can add zucchini instead; you also can make the meatballs spicy if you prefer.
The surprise ingredients were are good mix of familiar and new. And now that I know that millet is gluten-free, I will definitely be adding it to a lot of my meals so my sister-in-law can have gluten-free versions of some things I make. I liked having my friends, family and neighbor help me work through this whole process.
Greg Zielinski uses slow cooker to make healthy stuffed red peppers
I prepared Slow Cooker Stuffed Red Peppers because I like using the slow cooker, the ingredients were perfect for this recipe and red peppers are highly nutritious.
Paired with a salad, this makes a simple and satisfying meal.
I was unfamiliar with avocado oil and millet but, after some research, I learned both ingredients have great health benefits. I like the clean, rich taste and high smoke point of the avocado oil and will definitely be using it in the future. Millet is my new favorite grain; it is versatile and quick and easy to cook. I tried cooking it a few different ways and was surprised at how much I liked the flavor and texture of this grain.
In my recipe, I toasted it before cooking, and it resulted in a mellow, nutty flavor that complemented the ground beef wonderfully. My tasters were also surprised at the flavor the millet added to the dish.
My one worry is that while the dish has some great flavors, stuffed peppers are not the most photogenic dish to shoot or to plate. I found the experience to be interesting but with some pressure in the mix of tasks and emotions. I had to learn about unfamiliar ingredients, figure out how to compose a recipe using the challenge ingredients and incorporate all into a recipe worthy of the competition.
Teresa Fiocchi uses familiar techniques to create new tastes
Every year on my husband's birthday he requests the same meal: Veal cutlets, roasted potatoes, asparagus and a chocolate cream pie.
I save the veal for his birthday so that it's always a special dinner, but throughout the year I make variations of that meal with chicken, knowing I can play with ingredients to create different tastes but also keep it familiar enough to please everyone in the family. I knew I could probably apply “chicken” cooking techniques to the turkey so the dish I prepared is Turkey Milanese with Eggplant Cocoa Caponata.
Other than turkey sandwiches, or the occasionally substitution of ground turkey for ground beef, the only time I think of turkey breast is Thanksgiving. Fresh turkey breast was not that easy to find at the grocery store, and I finally found both turkey tenderloin and turkey breasts - which became my “cutlet” - at the third store! The cocoa powder was exciting because I love using cocoa powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, or a combination of the three, in savory dishes to add a warm earthy flavor to the dish. Being Italian and marrying into an Italian family, eggplant caponata is familiar to me and was the perfect use of the eggplant, capers and cocoa powder all in one dish. More importantly, I love that this is a recipe that can be made ahead of time, lasts up to 10 days in the refrigerator and can be used in a variety of ways.
Being a home cook and putting dinner on the table seven nights a week for a family of six, I appreciate a recipe that can be used in multiple meals but does not taste like leftovers!
My family, made up of my biggest fans and critics, is used to testing my recipes, patiently eating their way through all the variations of both the turkey and caponata. I changed the ingredients, the size of the diced vegetables, the herbs and finally did a trial run of following the written instructions. The final presentation of my recipe is a true interpretation of how I cook, and it is a meal I would put on my dinner table.
Overall I am very excited about this stage of the competition; I have had a few “what have I gotten myself into” moments, but I love being in the kitchen and challenging myself.
Chris Copeland shares healthy, kid-friendly turkey burger
I decided to make turkey breast burgers with slaw, eggplant fries and cantaloupe sorbet with chocolate sauce - a versatile, healthy and kid-friendly menu.
The burger mix can also be made into meatloaf, and the fries are fun and will entice kids to eat vegetables. The sorbet serves as a palate cleanser for next the course and incentive for kids to finish the meal.
This is a great meal to encourage kids to help in the kitchen, and I believe if kids are included in planting, harvesting and cooking, they will be more willing to try all kinds of foods and will be healthier.
The ingredients were great, but the eggplant needed some thought to make it kid-friendly. I am not a big fan of eggplant, either. But the test batch of fries was so good I ate them all and had to make more! The fries can be reheated in broiler, but be very watchful as they burn easily - I can attest to that!
Testing was a little difficult as no one was off work simultaneously, but my testers enjoyed the food and also got a bonus - a meal for the next day. It was a great experience to challenge myself and my creativity. The hardest part was using ingredients and methods readily available and easy to apply to anyone, anywhere.
There are so many different flavors and textures you can add that imagination is everyone's best tool. Plating was a dilemma, as people choose to eat food with their eyes first, so a cook must consider color, placement and visual appeal.