Master Chef V: Feed These Kids!

A daunting task is before us: food for children.

The Challenge:

Make a kid friendly dish that is also appealing to adults. 

Scoring:

1-10 pts from the adults.

Bonus Points:  Up to 2 possible bonus points.  1 point if you can convince at least one child to try the dish and 2 if at least one child likes the dish.

Thus, a perfect score would be 12.

Look at 'em!  They're hungry!  One has already resorted to eating his own fingers!

Update: Master Chef V will take place on Sunday January 25, 2009.  Huzzah!

Sweet and Sour SweeTart Stuffed Cabbage

by Erica Cooksey

2 pounds ground chuck

2 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup long-grain rice, parboiled for 3 minutes

1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 medium onions, diced, divided

1 extra-large head green cabbage (4 to 5 pounds)

1 cup SweeTarts, ground in a spice grinder (I left out the grape ones)

Dark brown sugar

Fresh lemons

1 box (~28oz) Pomi strained tomatoes

Canola oil

Saute one of the onions in a bit of oil until translucent but not brown and let cool. Combine with ingredients 1 through 5. Set aside.

Dip the whole head of cabbage in a big pot of boiling water until the outer leaves are soft (see recap video for my technique). Pull it out, peel off the outer leaves, and repeat this process until you get to the inner leaves that are too small and crinkly to stuff. Shred the inner leaves, and remove the center rib from the outer leaves.

Sprinkle some of the shredded cabbage in the bottom of a casserole dish. Roll up a little oval of meat in each large cabbage leaf, and place atop the shredded cabbage.

Uh I hadn't slept much so I forget how I did the sauce exactly but just saute the remaining onion and dump the strained tomatoes on top, bring the whole thing to a boil, turn down the heat, and add a bunch of salt, brown sugar, lemon juice, and about 2 tablespoons of SweeTart powder until it the sauce has a good balance of sweet and sour. I think I used about 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 2 lemons, but I'm not sure. You'll be fine, I promise.

Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls and bake covered at 375 degrees for about an hour or until the master chef timer goes off. Serve over kosher pareve mashed potatoes.

Crimson Gore Gelatin

by Kelly Campana

1 bag candy eyeball gum

2 boxes red jello mix

2 cups water

14 ice cubes

1) Bring 2 cups water to boil ( in micro or strove top)

2) empty jello mix into large mixing bowl

3) mix in boiling water till well dissolved

4) add ice cubes 

5) mix until ice cubes are completely dissolved (try to create a bubbly/foam while mixing)

6) pour into portion cups

7) drop in eyeballs (make sure they make cur-plunk noises)

8) arrange in fridge with mini fan for circulation

9) wait about 2.5 hours or until jiggly to serve

Reese's Pieces Thai Peanut Sauce

by Krystal Wolfe

1 cup reese's pieces

1 tbl olive oil

1/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk

4 oz chopped ginger

3 cloves chopped garlic

1/2 tbl fish sauce

1 tbl soy sauce

3 tbl Cholula hot sauce

1. Add the reese's pieces to a food processor.

2. Add 1 tbl olive oil.

3. Use food processor until the candy has a grainy consistency.

4. Bring a medium saucepan to medium heat.

5. Add 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk to the saucepan.

6. Add the reese's pieces to the sauce pan.

7. When the recce pieces are melted add the ginger and garlic.

8. Lower to low heat and cook for approximately 5 minutes.

9. Add fish sauce, soy sauce, and Cholula hot sauce.

10. Take off burner and let sit for approximately 20 minutes or until mixture thickens.

Serve with chicken or over a salad.

Another Master Chef Event

I'm considering a few more music / food gatherings for those interested. 

On November 29th the Empty Hats will be at Saturday Morning Market in St. Petersburg.  They are a great little Celtic band.  The market opens at 9 a.m. but I'm not sure when the band plays.  I suggest meeting up about 10:30 so we can listen to some music and get some fresh vegetables and swag before it closes at 2.  This event should be very kid and dog friendly.  Check the link above for directions as the Market has moved.

Master Chef IV: Video Recap

Bit-O-Honey Pumpkin Cake

by Denise Parker

170g (about 6 oz) Bit-O-Honey Bars

1 cup canola oil

4 eggs

1 can (15-oz size) pure pumpkin

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups all-purpose flour

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 ounces butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups confectioners' sugar

For the pumpkin cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13-

by-9-inch pan with nonstick spray.

Freeze the Bit-O-Honey Bars for 10 minutes. (Don't forget to unwrap them before freezing.) In the food processor, chop candy bars coarsely. Set aside. (For a quieter solution, put the froze candies in a ziplock bag and hit it with a hammer.)

In a large mixing bowl, using electric mixer, combine the oil and eggs, and mix 30 seconds on high. Add pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Mix on medium 1 minute, scraping down sides of the bowl. Add the baking powder, baking soda and flour, and mix on low 30 seconds. Fold in the chopped candy bars.

Pour the batter into a prepared pan and bake 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

For the cream cheese frosting: In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Mix in the vanilla. Add the confectioners' sugar and beat until thoroughly incorporated.

Special Dark Mole Poblano Chicken

by Scott Wurzel

6 chicken thighs

1 yellow onion, quartered

3 cloves of garlic

5 roma tomatoes, halved

1 4 oz can chilis in adobo sauce, divided into 2 oz sauce and one chili

1/4 c olive oil

2 tsp Chinese five spice powder

2 tbl whole cumin seeds

2 tbl sesame seeds

3 tbl black peppercorns

4 Hershey's Mini Special Dark

4 Hershey's Mini Special Dark Mr. Goodbar

Salt

Ground pepper

Toast cumin, sesame seeds, and peppercorns until sesame seeds are a light brown.  In a grinder, combine toasted spices with the five spice powder and finely grind.

In a food processor, combine onion, garlic, tomatoes, chilies and sauce, olive oil, and chocolate bars.  Add spices and process until smooth.  At this point it will look a little like salsa, but once exposed to heat it will come together.

Salt and pepper chicken thighs and then brown in a skillet over Medium heat.  Once the chicken is browned, pour the contents of the food processor into the pan and cover.  Reduce heat to medium low and cook for 25 minutes.

Serve with rice.

Peep Wings

by Glen Parker

1 lb frozen chicken wingettes

1/2 C Texas Pete hot sauce

1/4 C Butter

1/8 tsp salt

1 packet Taco Bell Mild sauce

12 pumpkin shaped Peeps (approx 5 classic Yellow Peeps)

Peanut Oil for Frying

0)  Heat oil in deep fry pan to 350F

1)  Steam wings for 20 minutes to render out some excess fat. Evacuate wings to bowl lined with paper towel.  Remove as much moisture as you can.

2)  In medium sauce pan, combine hot sauce, butter, salt, Taco Bell sauce, and Peeps over medium-low heat.  Stir often with whisk until Peeps and butter completely melted. Remove from heat.

3)  Fry wings in small batches 2-3 minutes, until skin crispy.  For better results let oil reheat to 350F between batches.

4)  Toss wings in sauce, serve immediately.

Master Chef IV: Parker Dynasty Established

Another Parker, another dessert!  Congrats to Denise for winning the fourth Master Chef competition.  Her pumpkin spice Bit-O-Honey spiked cake perfectly captured the spirit of the competition and the season.

Watch the blog for this and other spooky-good recipes.