Master Chef III Video Recap

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Master Chef IV: Sweet Autumn Abundance

October approaches. The harvest season is upon us once again; a time for celebrating the bounty brought forth from mother earth and a time of wonder amidst the beauty and charm of autumn!

A great many foods are now available in abundance.  A Master Chef should always look to take advantage of whatever the local market is able to  supply.  Among the variety of squash, apples, and turkeys, grocers this time of year now stock a cornucopia of Halloween Candy. 

With this in mind, I present:

The Fourth Challenge

Each participant will construct a dish that includes as one of its ingredients; *Halloween Candy*.  This ingredient can play a minor role in the dish, or it can be a featured ingredient.  It can be included in the cooking process, or it can be used as garnish.  It doesn't matter how its used so long as the majority of contenders agree that said ingredient is in fact Halloween Candy.

Postscript

This challenge does not mean that all dishes should be desserts.  Far from it.  A true masterchef should be able to bend an ingredient to their will, while at the same time respecting the spirit of the ingredient.   I look forward to many creative applications of candy in the cooking process.

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Additionally, I propose a new scoring system that codifies the values that Master Chef hold fast to.  I've modeled it after the Iron Chef scheme.  A contender can earn a maximum of 20 points from each judge.

The points break down as follows:

5 points for honoring the intent of the Challenge

5 points for honoring the judges sense of Style

10 points for honoring the judges sense of Taste

The scores will be tallied and averaged as in the past.  The winner will be the contender with the highest average score.

Jessica's Amazing Curry Chicken with Red Lentils

by Jessica McGuire

2 lb boneless chicken breast

1 cup red lentils

1/2 lb to 1lb of tindori vegetables

1/2 of chopped large red onion

red chili powder

cumin

Vindaloo curry paste 

sugar

kosher salt

vegetable oil

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Rub chicken with chili powder, cumin and sugur or vindaloo paste on both sides.

Slice tindori into halves and sprinkle liberally with cumin and sugar and coat lightly with vegetable oil. Chop red onion(i only used half but if I could have used the whole onion, depends on how much you want).

In a metal pan lined with foil arrange the onions,chicken, and tindori.

Cook in oven for 45 minutes to an hour or until chicken is tender.

About 10 or 15 minutes before chicken is ready, begin the lentils. Rinse them off first. In a pot boil 2 cups of water with 2 or 3 pinches of course salt. I found 2 cups of water to every 1 cup lentils worked well. When water is at a low boil add in lentils. Watch them closely and add a few more pinches of salt. They should only take between 8 to 12 minutes or so. Do a few taste tests while they cook to monitor their progress. Drain and serve with chicken.

Fried Taro Ice Cream

by Krystal Wolfe

1 gal Taro Ice Cream

4 cups Panko Bread Crumbs

1.5 cup Shredded Coconut

4 Eggs

4 Tsp Sugar

2 qt Soybean Oil

Dry Ice

1. Take an ice cream scoop worth of ice cream and roll into a ball.

2. Cover in plastic wrap.

3. Put over dry ice for approximately 20 minutes or until firm.

Repeat the above steps for each ball.

4. Place on the table two bowls or single use pie pans.

5. In one pie pan whisk together sugar and eggs until the mixture is consistent.

6. In the other pan combine the panko bread crumbs and coconut. Ratio used depends on taste i used about a 3:1 ratio of panko bread crumbs to coconut.

7. Remove one ice cream ball.

8. Roll ice cream in eggs and thoroughly coat.

9. Roll in panko and coconut mixture and thoroughly coat.

10. Cover ice cream ball in plastic wrap.

11. Put over dry ice for approximately 15 minutes or until the egg, panko and coconut have solidified.

12. Heat soybean oil to 400 degrees F.

13. Remove one ball from plastic wrap.

14. Place in oil for approximately 15-30 seconds or until coating is golden brown.

15. Remove from oil.

16. Serve.

Ribbon-Of-Lime Teacake

by Glen Parker

Cake

2 1/4 cup AP Flour

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp salt

1 egg, beaten

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

Lime Gel

1 cup fresh lime juice (not keylime)

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

2 1/2 tbsp corn starch

Vanilla Icing

2-3 tbsp lime juice

1/2 cup powder sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1)  Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease and flour a two-piece springform pan at least 2 inches up sides.

2)  Prepare Lime Gel

Make a slurry of cornstarch and 3 tbsp water in a cup, mix well. Mix lime juice, water, sugar, cornstarch slurry in sauce pan. Cook over medium high heat until boiling, stirring often. Boil one minute. Remove from heat and cool to near room temperature. A fan will speed this process.

3)  Prepare Cake

In large bowl, combine flour and sugar.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside 1/2 cup mixture for topping.

For batter, stir baking powder, soda, nutmeg, and salt into remaining crumb mixture.  Make a well in the center.

In small bowl, combine egg, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Add egg mixture all at once to nutmeg mixture.  Stir just until moistened, batter should be lumpy.  Set aside 1 cup batter.

4)  Build the cake

Spread remaining batter onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of springform pan.  This step is messy.  I recommend liberal use of parchment paper and cooking spray to help spread the batter. Carefully spread the lime gel on top. Spoon reserved batter into small mounds on top of the gel.

Sprinkle with topping.

5)  Bake the cake for 45 minutes.

6)  Prepare icing

Stir together lime juice, vanilla, and enough powdered sugar to form a loose, drizzling consistency.

7)  End Game

Let cake cool completely before serving for a set center, or while warm for a more liquid center. Drizzle with icing. Cut and serve.

Apple Turkey Burgers

by Denise Parker

1 lb ground turkey

1 cup applesauce, divided

1/4 cup fine chopped onion

1/4 cup fine chopped red pepper

salt & pepper to taste

6 onion rolls

Combine turkey, 1/2 cup applesauce, onion and pepper in a bowl.

Form burgers into 4 inch patties, and cook over medium heat to 160F,

about 3-4 minute.

Lightly toast onion rolls.  Server burger topped with 1 Tbsp applesauce.

Cuban Market Arroz con Pollo

by Scott Wurzel

5 Chicken Legs (labeled "Meat" at my market)

3 cups long grain white rice

Adobo seasoning, bitter orange flavor

1/2 spanish onion

3 Red and/or Green Peppers

3 Cloves Garlic

1 tsp annatto powder

4 oz can tomato sauce

12 oz cheap beer (Corona)

2 Bay Leaves

4 cups chicken broth*

Salt and Pepper

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Coat chicken with olive oil, pepper, salt, and Adobo seasoning.  Add a little more oil to a large, high-sided pan and put on medium heat.  Brown chicken on all sides and then remove from pan. Do not drain the drippings from the pan. Reduce heat to medium-low and add all the onions and garlic, about a quarter of the peppers, and the annatto.  Cook for a minute and stir in tomato sauce.  Continue until vegetables are soft.

Pour in rice and stir until the rice is coated evenly in the sofrito.  Cook for about 5 minutes.

Pour in beer and stir, then add in the rest of the peppers and add the chicken back into the pan. Raise heat to medium. Add broth, stir well, and bring the mixture to just under a boil.  Reduce head to medium-low and cover.  Cook for 35 minutes without peeking.  If all the liquid hasn't absorbed after 35 minutes, cook an addition 5 to 10 minutes.

* La Teresita Grocery does not sell chicken stock (only bouillon), so this is homemade from ingredients acquired at the store.

Master Chef III Concludes

If there were any questions that desserts could be competitive, the third challenge answered that with an firm "yes."  The top two spots were taken by sweets with the new Master Chef Glen taking the "cake."

Some of our best recipes yet will be posted this week.

Master Chef Field Trip

The Sauce Boss is coming to Skippers Smoke House on October 3rd at 8 pm.  Who's in? 

"ONE MORNING IN THE EARLY 70'S, THE SAUCE BOSS WALKED OUT OF HIS HOUSE AND FOUND A 1933 VINTAGE NATIONAL STEEL GUITAR in his front yard. That lead him down the Blues path. Deep in the shed, he penned “Let the Big Dog Eat.”  Years later he combined his blues with his hot sauce in a big pot of gumbo, made right on stage. Singing the recipe, he mixed his music and cooking together into a new medium."

Make sure to bring some extra cash for planet gumbo.