Chopped

 Hey Friends!  Have you ever watched the show "Chopped" on Food Network?  That is our recent television obsession.  We set up the lap top in bed before we go to sleep and Hulu an episode of "Chopped" before we drift off to dream land.  One night, before I drifted to sleep, I mentioned that it would be fun to do a "chopped challenge" at home with Matt.  Matt ran with the idea and the next day we had ourselves a little challenge!  If you have never heard of "Chopped" here is how it is described on Wikipedia: 
"In each episode, four chefs compete. Their challenge is to take a mystery basket of ingredients and turn them into a dish that is judged on their creativity, presentation, and taste with minimal time to plan and execute.^[1][2] The show is divided into three rounds: "Appetizer", "Entrée", and "Dessert". In each round, the chefs are given a basket containing between three and five ingredients, and the dish each competitor prepares must contain each of those ingredients. The ingredients are often ones which are not commonly prepared together. For example, in "Yucca, Watermelon, Tortillas," the episode which originally aired on February 10, 2009, the appetizer course boxes contained watermelon, canned sardines, pepper jack cheese, and zucchini.
The competitors are given access to a pantry and refrigerator stocked with a wide variety of other ingredients. Each round has a time limit: twenty minutes for the Appetizer round (thirty minutes in some season one episodes), and thirty minutes for the Entrée and Dessert rounds (some episodes gave the chefs 40 or 45 in the entrée round to allow them to handle whole large poultry, e.g. turkeys, geese, or ducks; another gave the chefs fifty minutes in the dessert round). The chefs must cook their dishes and complete four platings (one for each judge plus one "beauty plate") before time runs out. After each round, the judges critique the dishes based on presentation, taste, and creativity. The judges then decide which chef is "chopped," that is, eliminated from the competition. Thus, by the dessert round, only two chefs remain. When deciding the winner, the judges consider not only the dessert course, but the entire meal presented by each chef as a whole. The winner receives $10,000.
An episode of Chopped takes 12 to 14 hours to tape, with deliberations after each round taking about 90 minutes.^[1] While contestants do not know the ingredients ahead of time, they are given a tour of the kitchen at the start of the day and some preparation, such as pre-heating ovens and bringing water to a boil, are done in advance of each round.^[1] According to host Ted Allen, the show "was originally meant to be taped at some guy’s mansion with him and his crazy Chihuahua. A stuffy fellow in a tuxedo was to host, and the losing chef’s dish was then fed to the dog...it was too much for Food Network."^[1]"

 We set out to make two courses.  I selected the items that Matt would use to prepare the Entree Course and Matt selected the items I would use to prepare the Dessert Course.

 Matt's items: Frozen Fish Sticks (yuck!), Semolina, Canned Water Chestnuts, and Butternut Squash.

 Matt rolled out with a few surprises and ended up making a very yummy meal.

 He had 40 minutes to plan, prep, and cook the food.  His semolina battered onion rings were to die for!

 Many pots, pans, bowls, and utensils were dirtied in the process, but the results were phenomenal!

 In honor of Cinco de Mayo, Matt rolled with a fish stick taco, spicy cream sauce, a salsa of squash and water chestnuts, and he brought it home with semolina battered onion rings!  It was ACTUALLY edible and tasted pretty darn good!

 The Dessert Round:

 Mandarin Oranges, HOT Peppers, Hersey's Milk Chocolate Kisses, and Prepackaged Trader Joes Ginger Snaps!

 Roasted Pepper.

 The competition with the clock was intense...and yes, I always cook wearing a scarf (not really!)

My final product: Mandarin oranges dipped in a chili pepper chocolate and drizzled with an orange glaze. A fluffernutter made with cookie butter (homemade with the gingersnaps) and marshmallow fluff and grilled to perfection topped with some chili chocolate and a bit of orange rind.

What a delicious meal and we had SO much fun! 

Come and visit me and we can duel it out in the kitchen too :)

Enjoy today!