Noelle Myers recaps the 6th episode of season 5!

Top Chef Masters wasted no time getting started this week.  The guest judge for this week’s Quickfire was Mindy Kaling.  Mindy was a movie buff and especially fond of romantic comedies.  Each chef had to choose a movie ticket.  On the back of each movie ticket was the title of one of Mindy’s favorite romantic movies.  Each chef had 30 minutes to prepare a dish based on that movie.

Sue drew the movie, Knocked Up.  She decided to make something that a pregnant woman might crave and created salty cayenne chips and pickles, with vanilla ice cream and dark chocolate.  Mindy and Curtis both liked this dish, and Mindy chose it as one of her favorites.

David’s movie was Sweet Home Alabama, and he made southern grits with fried duck, slow roasted tomatillo and chili threads.

Neal drew Vicky Christina Barcelon, and was inspired to make Mediterranean sea bass and lobster with chili and pepper broth.  Mindy loved the spicy depth of flavor and declared this dish to be one of her favorites.

Bryan had to make a dish for the movie Mystic Pizza.  Mindy really wanted pizza, but Bryan wasn’t going to try and make pizza from scratch in 30 minutes.  So he made a dish that was a twist on one of the famous pizzas from the pizzeria in the movie – poached oysters with burratta, prosciutto, kale, migas and oyster broth.

Sang didn’t like the movie he drew – When Harry Met Sally.  He found Sally to be an annoying person and a picky eater.  He remembered how she talked about apple pie a’la mode, so he made apple pie compote with dates, Chinese cookie crumble and vanilla ice cream.  Mindy didn’t think it lived up to her expectations of apple pie a’la mode, and was disappointed.  This was one of her least favorite dishes.

Jen drew the movie Roman Holiday.  She had never seen this classic with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, so she felt at a loss and just chose to do a Rome inspired dish.  She presented an insalata de frutti de mare with poached scallops, foccacia crostini and a romanesco sauce.  Mindy felt that she could have done better, and the theme just wasn’t there for her.  This was not one of her top pics.

Douglas drew Midnight in Paris, which he was very excited about.  He thought back to his first date and really got into the theme.  He created a simple dish of scrambled eggs and caviar with pommes frites.  Mindy loved the thought behind the dish.  Scrambled eggs are something you cook for someone you love.  Caviar is for impressing someone, and the pommes frites tied it all back to Paris.  Mindy chose Douglas’ dish as her favorite, and his charity, Greendog Rescue, received $5000.

When we left Top Chef Masters last week, Douglas was without a sous chef.  A new sous chef has stepped into battle for Douglas in the Battle of the Sous Chefs from week to week.  This week, David’s Sous Chef, Chris won the Challenge of the Onion, so David had immunity for the Elimination Challenge.  Sue, Neal and Jennifer’s Sous were on the bottom, so they had a penalty during the Challenge.

Just as Curtis started to explain the Elimination Challenge, Yo Gabba Gabba danced in singing their songs.  Yo Gabba Gabba helped children focus on healthy eating, so the Elimination Challenge had to do the same.  The Master Chefs had to make a dish that was both delicious and nutritious for kids.  They had two hours to prepare enough food for sixty guests, mostly children, from the Boys and Girls Club.  Two Chefs were eliminated at the end of the challenge.

The Chefs each chose one of several things that children don’t normally like to eat.  David got first pick off the table, which contains avocado, cauliflower, liver, spinach, anchovies, cottage cheese, stinky cheese, mushrooms, beets, melons, eggplant, and fava beans.  David chose avocado, Sang picked cauliflower, Neal took spinach, Sue grabbed the cottage cheese, Bryan wanted the beets, Jen snagged the melons (cantaloupe and honeydew) and Doug went for the eggplant.

As soon as everyone had chosen their ingredient, Curtis told the Chefs that they would all have their Sous Chefs for the last thirty minutes of prep time…all except Sue, Neal and Jen that is.  Sue, Neal and Jen also had to incorporate brussel sprouts into their dishes as their penalty for the Sous Chef Battle loss.  All of the Sous Chefs would also be present for serving the food.

After two hours in the kitchen, it was time to get the party started.  Little children and Yo Gabba Gabba arrived ready to start eating, along with several parents and the Judges.  Curtis, Gail, Ruth Reichl, and Francis Lam were judging.

Jen made a melon yogurt parfait “sandwich” with pickled brussel sprouts and mint.  Sang made teriyaki chicken meatballs with cauliflower foam and sweet pickled cucumbers.  Neal served pasta with brussel sprout and spinach bolognase.  Douglas decided to enhance the eggplant’s natural sliminess and its umami flavor, and created an eggplant jelly with crispy rice.  David had a major disaster in the kitchen and burned a major component of his dish.  Instead of his original idea, he served avocado, yogurt and white chocolate mousse with gingered fruit ratatouille.  Sue hid her cottage cheese in mac and cheese with maple glazed brussel sprouts and bacon.  Bryan took his beets, and made ruby beet sorbet with toasted granola and vanilla yogurt dome.

After the party, Curtis called Douglas, Neal, and Sang to the Judge’s Table.  They had the favorite dishes of the night.  Douglas was more than a little surprised that he was in the top three, as was everyone.  Neal had the best dish of the evening, and he won $10,000 for his charity, Alex’s Lemonade Stand.  Neal was excited to win money for fighting childhood cancer, but also mentioned that $10,000 wouldn’t go very far, that can be the cost of one treatment.

Bryan, Jen, and Sue were the bottom three contestants this week.  After some deliberation, Sue and Jen were told to pack their knives.  Just as they were saying goodbye to their fellow Chefs, Curtis arrived with some surprising news.  Sue and Jen will be allowed to cook one more time!  On Battle of the Sous Chefs, Sue and Jen will battle it out between themselves, and ONE of them will get to return to the competition.

Next week, things get a little fishy as the chefs compete for the grand prize of $100,000!