The latest episode of Chopped was titled “Untrained, Undaunted” and amateur cooks were put to the test.  Now this should be interesting!  Let’s see what Laureen has to say in her recap this week.

CHOPPED – Season 13; Episode 17.  Aired Sunday, February 24, 2013  A3A6YN2ZV43B

“I missed you! Did you miss me? I was out of town last weekend and didn’t get a chance to watch the new episode of Chopped (Season 13, Episode 16). I was actually hanging out with friends and fellow CCC’er, Catherine Wilkinson, at her fabulous home in Arizona (and I’m not exaggerating—her home is gorgeous—and her kitchen reminded me of the Ree Drummond’s kitchen at The Lodge at The Pioneer Woman’s ranch! Absolutely spectacular!). Anyway, back to Chopped. Catherine and I actually tried to tune in to watch the episode on Sunday night, but the combination of a slight time change (Arizona doesn’t observe daylight savings time) and a few glasses of wine proved to be too confusing for us. I did, however, catch a rerun later in the week. I was actually not impressed enough to even write a review. Turns out it was a “second chance” episode. Four previously defeated Chopped competitors competed for the $10,000 prize. They were given octopus, fava beans, cactus, cookies . . . it wasn’t exciting. Really—let’s move on.

So tonight—this is what I’ve been waiting for—the first amateur edition of Chopped! Titled as “Untrained; Undaunted,” the episode was being teased as “amateur cooks are put to the test, having to work with sushi in the appetizer round; and, for entrées, they must use ostrich fillets and blueberry wine.” Finally! An amateurs’ edition! I know a few CCC’ers applied and auditioned for Chopped amateurs and didn’t get cast (including me!), so I was, of course, curious to see who they chose to compete. I still think a “Competitive Cooks” episode (or series) would rock . . . but I digress.

The competitors were Kevin Rooney, who just happens to be the Mayor of Wyckoff, New Jersey. (A politician who cooks? We’ll see.) Andrian Ashby, an administrative assistant from Queens, New York. Adrian wants to win the $10,000 so he can go to culinary school and open a small restaurant or start a food truck. Maureen Sanchez is a stay-at-home mom from Illinois. And finally, Michael Press is from White Plains, New York. Michael is the president of his own “high-end” jeans company, and he loves to throw fancy dinner parties.

The judges were Alex Guarnaschelli (my favorite!), Chris Santos and Geoffrey Zakarian. Here we go!

The mystery basket for the appetizer included pickled watermelon rind, a sushi platter, kohlrabi and bacon bits. If you ask me, those ingredients are just asking to be made into a funky ceviche. But no one asked me. That’s why I’m sitting at home reviewing these amateurs and they’re in the Chopped kitchen getting their sauté on.

The Mayor decided he was going to do a “stir fry”, but leave the fish raw. So he stir fried the kohlrabi with some soy and the pickled watermelon. Not real exciting. No real transformation of the ingredients. He served it all up in a big ol’ “boat” of a romaine lettuce leaf.

Michael-the-Jeans-Guy doesn’t like sushi. He seemed at a loss about what to do with the fish. I’m thinking he doesn’t like fish, period. He concentrated on the kohlrabi and coated it in panko with the bacon bits and then pan fried it. Adrian made fish tacos. He made a sauce to top the tacos with the pickled watermelon and apricot jam. He cooked the fish and threw it all on a corn tortilla. I noticed right away that he didn’t grill or steam or warm the tortilla at all. The tacos looked disjointed.

Last, but not least, home cook Maureen took the sushi apart and used the rice to make a rice cake. She pureed the kohlrabi and made what she called “fake wasabi.” I didn’t get her dish or the presentation. I guess it passed muster with the judges, because she made it through to the entrée round. It was Adrian and his fish tacos that got chopped. The judges thought it was creative, but just didn’t work, especially with the “raw” tortilla.

On to the entrée. The remaining three cooks were given ostrich fan filets, (unidentified) fish roe in a tube, purple asparagus and blueberry wine. Not surprisingly, all three cooks took a similar approach with the ingredients. They all made seared or pan grilled the ostrich steak. Michael and Maureen both sliced the ostrich into thin-ish slices, but The Mayor actually cut his steaks into big meaty hunks. The hunks definitely worked better. They all made some sort of sauce/reduction out of the blueberry wine, and they all served the asparagus fairly simply on the side after roasting or grilling. Michael was the only one who really cooked the ostrich correctly—both Maureen’s and The Mayor’s ostrich was overcooked. Part of the problem was the thin slices. It was Maureen who got chopped. Even though she took the extra step to peel the woody ends of her asparagus (Chef Zakarian was impressed), the overcooked ostrich and the lack of flavor in her sauce (and the lack of sauce on the plate—you could barely see any sauce!) did her in.

And then there were two. The Mayor and Michael-the Jeans-Guy were left to battle it out over dessert. Inside the mystery basket the cooks found cinnamon chips, baby red grapes, Earl Grey tea leaves and pound cake. Well, it was obvious . . . at least to the two cooks . . . French toast fest!!! My pet peeve—in stereo! I suppose there wasn’t much else they could do with those ingredients. Wait, what about a trifle? Pound cake pops? No, just pan perdu. The Mayor boozed his up with some bourbon in the custard. That’s a plus. Both had difficulty melting the cinnamon chips. They used butter, which caused the melted chips to glob up and seize. They both had to really doctor up the melted chips to get a smooth sauce. Michael called his a “cinnamon caramel.” The Mayor made an interesting sauce with the grapes. He infused it with the tea and added chopped almonds for texture and crunch. He also added goat cheese at the end—I’m not sure how. He said the goat cheese represented “butter,” like you would usually find on French toast. It seemed a little weird to me. Michael’s finishing touch was a whipped cream that he infused with the tea and then added some orange zest for some zing.

In the end, it was the Mayor’s boozed up “Sweet and Savory” French toast earned him the title of The First Amateur Chopped Champion! The judges loved his grape reduction with the tea and almonds and they called his desserta “more French toasty.” It’s hard for me to get excited about French toast. I guess it’s hard for the judges to get worked up about it, too. “More French toasty” was pretty much all they had to say. Although Scott Conant did say that Michael’s whipped cream tasted like baby aspirin. Remember the orange flavored chewable aspirin? I laughed out loud.

Well, I have to admit, I was a little disappointed with this first episode of Chopped Amateurs. Maybe I’m just a little bitter that I didn’t get to compete. Maybe. Anyway, I’m not sure whether there are other amateur episodes to be aired, or if this was a one shot deal. I hope there are more. And I’m still hoping they’ll come a calling and round up a batch of amateur competitive cooks! Who’s with me?”

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