TOP CHEF Round 6

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From the old FoodNetwork TV show Ready, Set, Cook our contestants will be using a basket of ingredients. All the ingredients must be used and you have only a basic pantry of these items.

PANTRY ITEMS
Spice Rack - any spice
baking powder
baking soda
Flour
corn meal
white bread
Milk
Eggs
Oranges & Lemons
Sugar - white & brown
Water
Butter
Oil - vegetable & Olive (EVO)
white vinegar
red wine
onion
garlic
Mayo, Mustard, ketchup, hot sauce & peanut butter

You do not have to use all the pantry items.

TASK BASKET
Pears
2" thick pork chops
fingerling potatoes
fresh bunch carrots
fennel bulb and tops
fresh beets, tops attached.

ONLY the ingredients listed may be used. They may be used more than once to prepare one meal. We expect some outrageously good recipes this round which will be due [b]Monday, May 18, 9 PM. Someone will be going home.

[WAW4Tide]

So literally nothing 'green'?

[BAMAFAN IN NY]

	Quote:	WAW4Tide
	So literally nothing 'green'?

Depends on how old your white bread is

Also read, "tops attached"

[rolltideroll202]

Bayou I have 2 questions. You said oil in the pantry. What kind of oil? Or can we use any oil?

Also the clear this up. Is vanilla a spice?

[bayoutider]

	Quote:	rolltideroll202
	Bayou I have 2 questions. You said oil in the pantry. What kind of oil? Or can we use any oil? Also the clear this up. Is vanilla a spice?

Vanilla is a spice if you use whole bean.

vegetable oil and olive oil. I should have typed it that way.

[WAW4Tide]

What about herbs? Do those fall in the spice category?

[bayoutider]

	Quote:	WAW4Tide
	What about herbs? Do those fall in the spice category?

Dry herbs

[TideRollsInVa]

Beets, darn beets. I once recommended that our Supply Officer aboard the USS Eisenhower be denied his next promotion for wasting tax payer $$ for serving beets at every meal. I'll figure something out.

[TheOysterMan]

Ok, I had to be a little creative this week, so here is my best shot. I know it’s a large pantry, but I’ve never really been limited to items I had to use. This was a big challenge for me. Here goes:

My Menu for this round consists of the following:

Carrot Fennel Soup
Roasted Pork Chops with Fingerling Potatoes and Beet Glaze
Bread Pudding with Pear Sauce (man I really wish I could use Rum for this…dang pantry lol)

To make the Carrot Fennel Soup, I needed Vegetable stock, so I will have to make this from scratch:

Begin by chopping up roughly into the same size:

1 large white onion
2 Carrots
4 Fingerling Potatoes
1 Fennel Bulb with tops
2 Beets.

Place in stock pot and add

1 Tbsp olive oil
Pinch salt
Pinch pepper
2 Tbsp Dry Thyme, chopped

Bring to a boil, and then strain liquid. Chill liquid.

Carrot Fennel Soup

1 pound carrots chopped
1 fennel bulb, cleaned and chopped
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ½ cups vegetable broth (see above recipe)
½ teaspoon dry thyme chopped
Pinch salt
Pinch pepper
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Pour oil into stock pot. Add carrots, fennel, onion , and garlic. Sautee until onions are cooked translucent. Add vegetable broth, cover pot, bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until carrots are tender (about 10 min). Stir in thyme, salt, pepper, and milk. Cooke for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat. Blend in small batches in blender until smooth.

Roasted Pork Chops w/ Beet Sauce and Fingerling Potatoes

(2) 2” thick pork chops
Butter
4 Fingerling Potatoes, sliced
1 medium Vidalia onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 beets, sliced
Zest of one orange
1/4 cup of red wine (merlot is my preference)
Salt
Pepper

Place 1 teaspoon butter in sauce pan and heat. Season pork chops with salt and pepper and place in pan. Sear on both sides for 2-3 minutes each. Remove chops and place in greased baking dish with Potatoes. Place in 350 degree oven and cook until juices run clear in chops (probably around 25 minutes depending on oven). In sauce pan used to sear pork chops, add one tablespoon of butter and melt. Add sliced onion, minced garlic, sliced beets. Cook until onions are translucent. Add orange zest and stir through. Add 1/4 cup of red wine. (If you have never deglazed a pan, remove pan from heat first, as this has a tendency to flare up.) With wooden spoon, make sure all “goodies” on bottom of pan are scraped up in sauce. Add another 1 teaspoon of butter to thicken up sauce. Reduce heat and simmer until thick.

Plate up chops and potatoes together, sauce over chops. I would suggest keeping the tops of the beets and using them for garnish.

Bread Pudding w/ Pear Sauce

Pudding:

1 # of White Bread
3 1/3 cup of milk
5 eggs
2 1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons cinnamon
2/3 cups melted butter
1 vanilla bean, grated finely

Cut Bread into small squares. Whip eggs til foamy. Mix all ingredients except bread. Add bread a little at a time to absorb mixture. Mash bread until very fine. Place in greased pan. Cook at 350 degrees covered with aluminum foil for 20 minutes. Uncover and cook for additional 25 minutes. Let cool and cut into squares.

Sauce:

½ # butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
3 pears, slightly over ripe, chopped to the same size.

Melt sugar by adding just enough hot water to make it into a creamy mixture. In separate pan, add 1 tablespoon butter and slowly cook down pears until they are a mushy consistency. Add rest of butter and sugar mixture. Cook on low heat until very creamy. Add egg yolks and immediately remove from heat.

Serve squares of pudding with spoonfuls of sauce on top.



Whew! That was interesting. Hope my efforts pay off!! Enjoy!

[derek4tide]

Wow, tough one this week. I dug deep into my memory to come up with a couple of favorites and 1 new one. I love stuffed pork chops and pears, so I will start off with my entree and use an old favorite.

Pear Stuffed Pork Chops

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon chopped onion
1/4 cup butter
3 cups fresh bread crumbs
2 cups chopped pearsl
1 fennel bulb, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 (2 inch) thick pork chops
dash of ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil


DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large skillet saute onion in butter until tender. Remove from heat. Add the bread crumbs, pears, finely chopped fennel, salt and gound pepper. Mix all together. Cut a large pocket in the side of each pork chop; season inside and out with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon pear mixture loosely into pockets.
3. In skillet, heat oil to medium high and brown chops on both sides. Place browned chops in an ungreased 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake for 30 minutes longer or until juices run clear.

6 servings

Roasted Carrots and Golden Beets with Fingerling Potatoes

Ingredients
6 golden beets
6 carrots
¾ lb. fingerling potatoes
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt

Dressing
2 talbespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3 talespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon tarragon
pinch of salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Directions
1. Scrub your beets and carrots clean and remove the green leafy stems from the beets. Coat with olive oil and sea salt and place on tray or roasting pan. Then place in the oven and cook until fork tender, about 45 to 60 minutes. About 15 minutes later, do the same thing with your fingerling potatoes (coat with oil and season with sea salt) and then cook in oven with carrots and beets until tender (about 30 to 35 minutes).
2. Remove carrots, beets and potatoes from oven and let cool. For the beets, rub the skin off and cut off any unsightly marks. Cube the carrots and beets and place in a bowl. Cut your fingerling potatoes into bite-size pieces and add them with the carrots and beets.
3. In a small bowl, whisk all the ingredients to make the dressing together until well blended and creamy. Drizzle over carrots, beets and potatoes and toss to coat well. Refrigerate if you’re not serving it right away.

4 servings


Derek's Golden Pear Sorbet

Ingredients
6 fresh pears, diced (5 cups)
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice - frozen
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Directions
1. Combine diced fruit and orange juice in blender or food processor. Whirl until smooth. Add sugar; whirl. Stir in grated peel. Freeze in ice cream maker, following machine instructions. To make sorbet extra smooth, allow sorbet to stand out of freezer for at least 30 minutes before serving.

4 servings

[TideRollsInVa]

I offer the Judges a taste of the old with my Firehouse Chops, a recipe from the days before Sweet Baby Ray’s or any other bottled BBQ Sauce. Fifteen minutes of prep and frying and they could respond to a 4-Alarm call while the dish was baking. The plate I offer will have a chop sitting atop a potato pancake, with a bed of “Greens”, topped with the magic of caramelized beets and fennel and a sweet, juicy pear with a vinaigrette dressing. Just think, all these years I was under the impression that beets grew in a can, pickled. Now I am a beliver!

Firehouse Chops

Ingredients:

4 – 2” thick bone-in pork chops
Flour
Veg oil
1 small onion, minced
1 cup ketchup
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp chili pepper
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp white vinegar
water

Directions:

Coat chops with flour and brown lightly on both sides in oil over med-hi flame. Place chops in an ovenproof casserole dish. Sprinkle onion evenly over chops and cover with ketchup. Sprinkle dry ingredients evenly over individual chops and drizzle vinegar, evenly over dry ingredients. Add about 4 Tbsp of water to the dish around sides of chops. Cover and bake at 325 degrees for 1 ½ to 2 hours, until chops are tender. Baste no less that every 30 min with pan juices.

Fingerling Potato Cakes

Ingredients:

1 lb. fingerling potatoes, unpeeled
1 small onion
2 carrots, peeled outer skin
2 eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp bread crumbs, created from white bread dried in warm oven
1 Tbsp corn meal
2 Tbsp milk
Clove of garlic
Salt & pepper
2 Tbsp Veg. Oil

Directions:

Grate potatoes, onion and carrots into large bowl. Add all other ingredients, making a thick batter. If necessary, add additional corn meal to thicken until you can pick the batter up and form in your hands. Form into 4 pancakes.

Heat pan with 2 Tbsp of oil, add the pancakes, not to crowd the pan. Cook on both sides until golden brown and thoroughly cooked. Keep warm in a warm oven, on paper towels.

Grilled Fennel – Beet and Pear Salad with Vinaigrette Dressing

Ingredients:

2 Large fennel bulbs, w/tops
2 large beets, w/tops
olive oil
2 Large pears
4 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup white wine
1 garlic clove, pressed
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp sugar

Directions:

Remove and set aside leaves (greens) from fennel and beets. Wash both types of greens thoroughly to remove any sand. Slice damp leaves crosswise !/2 inch, toss to mix and set aside to dry. Remove and discard fennel stalk and beet hanging root. Cut beets ½ inch thick slices, brush with olive oil. Cut bulbs, lengthwise, ½ inch thick, brush with olive oil. Over med-hi flame, grill beets and fennel 6-8 min per side, until tender. Remove and allow to cool. Cube the beets, julienne the fennel.

Slice pear lengthwise and remove pit. Mix together butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Lay pear halves on individual foil. Fill pits with the butter mixture and wrap with the foil. Grill on med-hi for 10 min or until pear halves are tender. Remove from heat.

Dressing - Heat ½ cup olive oil, ¼ cup lemon juice and garlic, salt and sugar for 5 min over low heat, add wine and simmer additional 2 min. Wisk well before serving.


Plating the Meal

Place a Potato Pancake on a plate and top with a chop. Arrange a bed of the greens to the side of the chop and center a pear half on the bed. Place equal portions of the beets and fennel over the pear and greens and drizzle with the warm wisked dressing.

[Ditchdoc]

Italian Pork Chops With Potatoes and Fennel

6 Bone in Porkchops
Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 Pound Fresh Fennel fronds Coursly Chopped
2 teaspoons of Rosemary
2 Carrots peeled and Chopped
2 Yellow Onions chopped
6 Cloves of Garlic Chopped
1/4 (+) cup of Olive Oil
1 cup of wine
2 cups ketchup
2 Pounds fingerling potatoes halved or wedged if needed.
Water to Cover all ingredents
2 Fennel Bulbs minced and lightly roasted in a dry pan.
2 Tablespoons of Hot Sauce

Season Chops with salt and pepper and set aside. Combine carrots, garlic, and half the fennel fronds and chop together, add Rosemary. In a large and heavy skillet, or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add chopped vegetables and saute' until softened, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a bowl. return pan to high heat. Add chops and sear on each side for a golden brown color, adding oil as needed. as chops become ready, transfer them to a plate.
Return chops and vegetables to pan add wine and cook until wine reduces but does not totally evaporate. Add ketchup, remaining fennel fronds, potatoes, and enough water to cover all of ingredients. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce heat and simmer until meat and potatoes are tender and sauce has thickened, about an hour or so. Check ever so often, and add more water if sauce gets to thick before meat and potatoes become tender. Taste test the sauce. If you feel it needs more fennel flavor add the minced and toasted fennel bulb. Season with salt and pepper, and plate, sprinkle lightly with hot suace.

Roasted Beets With Sauteed Beet Greens
1 Bunch of beets with greens
1/4 cup olive oil divided
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 tablespoons chopped onions
1/2tablespoon of red wine
1/2 tablespoon of vinegar
salt and pepper to taste.

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Wash beets well.leaving skins on but removing the greens. Rinse greens removing any large stems, and set aside (the greens not the stems). Place beets in a medium roasting pan and toss with two tablespoons of olive oil. If you really wan to peel the beets, it's easier to do so once they have been roasted.
2. Cove and bake 45-60 minutes, or until you can slice through the largest beet easily, with a knife.
3. When the roasted beets are almost done,heat the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium / low heat. add garlic and onion and cook for a minute. Tear the greens into 2"-3" pieces and add them to the skillet. Cook and stir until greens are wilted and tender. season with salt and pepper.

Plate greens and roasted beets, giving a light sprinkle of vinegar and red wine.

Serve with with Red Wine.


For Dessert

Peanut Butter and Pear French Toast:

Pear halves, 8 small or 4 large
1/3 cup of peanut butter
8 Slices of firm white bread
2 large eggs
1/4 cup of milk
1 to 2 tablespoons of butter
1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon of brown sugar
2 cups of simple syrup divided.( equal parts sugar and water cooked down over low heat, stirring constantly until sugar is completely dissolved.)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup butter

Cut pears into 1/4 slices and set aside.
Spread 1 teaspoon of peanut butter onto each slice of bread ( one side only). Place pear slices onto peanut butter side of 4 slices of bread. Take the other four slices and put the peanut butter side down onto pears to make a peanut butter and pear sandwich.
In a medium bowl combine milk, eggs, cinnamon, brown sugr, and a 1/4 cup of simple syrup. Whisk until blended. Melt some butter in a skillet, over medium heat. Dip sandwiches into egg mixture evenly coating both sides. Cook sandwiches 1-2 minutes each side, until golden brown. Cut each sandwich diagnally into quarters. Take the rest of the simple syrup, adding lemon juice and orange juice to make a tangy syrup to serve with the toast.

[WAW4Tide]

Round 6

This was a tough challenge for me because two of my initial ideas had to be scrapped and one greatly modified due to our stable of ingredients. I guess that is why it is called a challenge. Sorry for the abundance of little add on recipes, but they were necessary to make the dishes.

Grilled Pork Chops with CBR Reduction and relish
I thought about stuffing the chops because I do like stuffed pork chops, but in all honesty I think that stuffing for this recipe would have subdued the flavor and the texture. This sauce is really good IMO, so it really pops with that grill flavor. This recipe is for 4 chops.

4 2 inch thick bone in pork chops (marinated overnight in a Ziploc bag with ½ a cup of white vinegar, ½ cup of orange juice, juice of one lemon, 1/8 cup of olive oil, 5 smashed garlic cloves, 2 tbs sugar, salt and pepper)
Spice Rub:
1.5 tbs ground mustard
2 tbs brown sugar
½ tsp old hickory salt
½ tsp curry powder
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ancho chile powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tbs Crazy janes mixed up seasoning
1 tbs fresh black pepper

Combine together until well mixed.

2 cups of coarsely chopped red beets
2 cups of coarsely chopped carrots
Dried rosemary, salt and pepper

Arrange the beets and carrots on baking pans and sprinkle with salt, pepper and dried rosemary. Roast on 300 degrees until they begin to get fork tender. Remove and let cool.

½ stick of butter
1 large onion medium chopped
4 cloves garlic smashed
1/8 cup olive oil
2 cups of good red wine
¼ cup of vinegar

Put the butter, onion, and garlic in a pan and cook for 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent. Add the olive oil and cook for another minute. Pour the pan into a heavy bottomed sauce pot and add the wine and vinegar. Meanwhile in a blender add the roasted carrots and beets as well as the juice of 2 oranges. Blend thoroughly. Strain the mixture and blend again. Strain a second time and add this mixture to the wine and onion mixture. Allow this mixture to reach a boil, and then let simmer for 10 Minutes. Take this mixture and blend then strain and return it to the sauce pot. Bring to a simmer and allow to reduce for the next 30-40 minutes, until the consistency is noticeably thicker. Remove from heat.

Relish
1 cup medium diced red beets
1 cup medium diced carrots
1 cup medium diced pears
½ cup medium diced onions
¼ stick butter
salt and pepper

Place all of the ingredients in a sauté pan and cook together until they are all tender.

Remove the pork chops from the marinade and allow the excess liquid to drip off. Pat them dry with paper towels and then cover generously in the spice rub. You want to make a crust to envelop the meat. Grill over medium high heat for 5 minutes a side and then move them off of the flames and let cook indirectly for another 5-7 minutes. Reheat your sauce. Serve with the relish on top of the chop and then drizzle the sauce over everything.

Fennel and Potato Gratin
I would use cheese in this dish, were it available, but due to the limited pantry you are going to need to make bread crumbs. I will include a recipe, but if you want to use your own then by all means do so. These will be served individually in ramekins. This should make 4.

Breadcrumbs:
1 loaf of white bread (crusts removed and sliced)
½ stick of melted butter
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion salt
1 tsp black pepper

Lay the slices on a baking sheet and brush butter on them. Sprinkle salts and pepper on each slice. Bake in an oven on 200 degree heat for as long as it takes for the bread to begin to form a crunchy top. When it does flip brush with butter and salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the bread and cut into medium coarse chunks with a knife not a food processor.

1 fennel bulb thinly sliced
1.5 pound fingerling potatoes (peeled and thinly sliced0
½ onion
1 cup milk
½ cup mayo
8 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
1 tsp turmeric
¼ cup flour
Salt and black pepper
½ stick butter (melted)

In a bowl combine the butter, mayo, milk, turmeric, salt, pepper, and flour. Whisk together. In each ramekin, layer the potatoes, fennel, onion and garlic. Press down so that they will combine with each other. Divide the liquid mixture evenly in each ramekin. Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove and add the bread crumbs, then bake for another 15 minutes. Serve hot in the ramekin.

Grilled Pears with Homemade Caramel Crumble
This is a really simple but delicious dessert. You will need to make the caramel, so I am including a recipe for that as well. This is the way in which I have made caramel, except that I use cream not milk. You can just melt butter and sugar together, but I like mine to be a little more fluid to use with other things.

Caramel:
1 cup sugar
¼ cup butter
2 tbs water
2 tbs milk

Cook the sugar and water in a sauce pan until the sugar begins to turn dark. Add the butter and cream and continue to cook and whisk until it has reached a smooth consistency. Allow to cool, store it and re-heat as needed to serve.

Crumble:
1 cup flour
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tbs cinnamon
1 vanilla bean split in half and seeds removed-you only need the seeds
½ stick butter melted

Combine all ingredients until well mixed and lay flat on a baking sheet. Bake at 325 until the mixture begins to harden, and then with a spatula just move it a around so that all parts of the crumble will harden. When you have done this remove and allow to cool.

2 pears halved and pitted
¼ cup of orange juice
¼ cup sugar

Take each pear half and dip it on the cut side in orange juice, then dip it in the sugar. Place on a grill over medium heat and cook for 5 minutes. The sugar will crystallize. To serve, spoon some of the crumble into the pear half, and then drizzle with caramel.