Chopped Championship Continued

Greg is learning Andrew's judging techniques...

Meal #3: Greg
Ingredients required: assorted bread pieces, mascarpone, kohrabi, and horse radish jam

Mascarpone scrambled eggs with arugula kohlrabi pesto on horseradish jam toast served with a personalized orange kohlrabi juice shot

Meal #4: Kip
Ingredients required: assorted bread pieces, mascarpone, kohrabi, and horse radish jam

Roasted kohlrabi ham and cheese omelet with strawberry mascarpone french toast casserole

Meal #5: Meghan
Ingredients required: habanero peppers, brussels sprouts, sparkling apple cider, candied orange peel

Butterfly shrimp on shaved brussels sprouts served with apple citrus habanero dipping sauce

 (also served with chicken because Liz is a wimp)

Meal #6: Kevin
Ingredients required: habanero peppers, brussels sprouts, sparkling apple cider, candied orange peel

Stuffed pork chops and habanero applesauce with a spicy candied orange peel risotto and sauteed brussels sprouts

Kip and Maddy took this opportunity to exit the judging and competing

Dessert Finalists

Dessert #1: Greg

Ingredients required: condensed milk and Cadbury chocolate spread

Toasted coconut macaroons and chocolate coconut martini

Dessert #2: Andrew

Ingredients required: Macadamia nuts and circus peanuts

Vanilla macadamia nut shortbread cookies with vanilla spiked cocoa and circus peanut whipped cream


Dessert #3: Kevin
Ingredients required: Eggnog and cream cheese

Tiny Tim's Christmas eggnog pudding


So, time is officially up (for glasses and for the competition)

Over $200 later (which, we figured, is only $5 per person per meal, so not really that bad at all), plus we made up $25 in lottery tickets....

... an absurd amount of eggs and calories were consumed.

Piles of old photos and albums were poured over.

And finally....

The winner is... GREG!

BANZAI!

The Game of Family Dysfunction

We debuted the Horbal family game today. Lots of exciting events occurred, including 2 costume changes by Kevin, the airing of many grievances, and my complete inability to do even 1 push-up.

Maddy is tired of us now.

Chopped Championship

Greg contemplates his meal ideas...

And so it begins:

Christmas Chopped Championship 2011

The rules are as follows:

1. Each person chooses a meal for which to purchase 2 ingredients. 3 meals + 6 people = 4 ingredients per meal, collaboration optional.

The Breakfast Basket

Liz purchased kohlrabi and horseradish jam. Meghan purchased mascarpone and assorted bread cubes.

The Lunch Basket

Kip purchased boneless skinless chicken breasts and mozzarella cheese. In an unexpected turn of events, Greg also purchased boneless skinless chicken breasts and wasabi peas.

The Dinner Basket

Kevin purchased habanero peppers and sparkling apple cider. Andrew purchased candied orange peels and  brussels sprouts.

2. Each contestant chooses a meal to cook for from a hat. The meal picked will consist of all 4 ingredients assembled in the previous round. 

Round 1: "Lunch"- 12/24 PM

Liz (first) vs. Andrew

Round 2: "Breakfast"- 12/25 AM/early PM

Greg (first, early round) vs. Kip (second, late round)

Round 3: Dinner- 12/25 PM

Kevin (first) vs. Meghan

3. The winner of each face-off will enter the dessert championship. Each dessert item (1 item contributed per member) will be written on a card and passed (Pollyanna style). Winners will be required to use the item they end up with after the exchange. Losers will get to impose their ingredient on a winner, thus creating 3 sets of dessert pairings with which finalists will need to cook.

Possible Dessert Items

(Cadberry chocolate spread, circus peanuts, cream cheese, egg nog, condensed milk, and bonus item: leftover Volt coffee cake)

Meal #1: Liz 

Ingredients required: boneless skinless chicken breast, mozzarella cheese, and wasabi peas

Risotto with shaved garlic chicken and a warm caprese salad with wasabi pea puree. 

Meal #2: Andrew

Ingredients required: boneless skinless chicken breast, mozzarella cheese, and wasabi peas

Chicken and Waffles

Described in his own words:

Stay tuned for tomorrow's continuing coverage!

December 22

Took a half day at work and left for PA around 1:00. We encountered some strange foggy weather on the first bay bridge tunnel:

Maddy assumed her usual car riding position:

The second bay bridge tunnel (in Maryland) was very beautiful:

We arrived at Andrew's way-cool apartment...

...then headed to Volt.

 (Courtesy of www.voltrestaurant.com )

We are big fans of chef/owner Brian Voltagio, Top Chef contestant and runner-up from Season 6. We saw him!

(Courtesy of http://www.voltaggiobrothers.com/)

We took a quick pit-stop at the bar and I had a nice hot buttered rum.

We sat in a private room in the "conservatory" of the restaurant.

I was too engrossed in the meal to take pictures until the end, but here is a copy of the menu. (We had a choice of two 6-course options). Andrew and Anthony got the wine pairings and I got to try each one.

KITCHEN MENU

sashimi of fluke 

cucumber flowers, cara cara orange, radish, ginger, cucumber

morgadio, albarino “legado del conde,”rias baixas, spain, 2010

goat cheese ravioli 

bartlett pear, golden sage, cippolini onions, garlic chive

eric bordelet, pear cider, “poire authentique,” normandy, france, 2010

halibut 

laughing bird shrimp, sea grass, butternut squash

muga, viura/ malvasia blend,rioja, spain, 2010

squab 

buckwheat groats, shiitake mushrooms, quince, orange braised leeks

domaine brazilier, rose, coteaux du vedomois, france, 2010

pineland farm beef strip loin 

kholrabi, hedgehog mushrooms, curly kale, cheddar

condado de haza, tempranillo, ribera del duero, spain, 2007

textures of chocolate 

white chocolate ganache, chocolate caramel, raw organic cocoa, chocolate sorbet  

michel chapoutier, banyuls, languedoc, france, 2008

This meal was ridiculous. And expensive. (Although there were 7 of us and Andrew reminded us we should consider it the price of a bowl game ticket rather than a meal.)

Whew! At least they gave us complimentary coffee cake!

Honestly. Best. Meal. Ever. And I've had some good ones!