Chopped

A few weeks ago my sister Lisa and I participated in a "Chopped" competition at my school. Chopped is a competitive cooking show on Food Network. I watch it often, and show it occasionally in my catering class. One of my seniors who is planning on going to culinary school wanted to host a live competition in our classroom for her senior project. She organized it beautifully. She chose 3 teams, each a teacher at NVHS and a partner of their choice to compete in a 30 minute entree round using 4 secret ingredients. One team was chopped after that round, and the remaining 2 teams competed in a 30 minute dessert round with another 4 secret ingredients. The winners of the dessert round were crowned the "Chopped Champions".

Preparation: A few days prior to the competition, Charity (my student), sent us each a letter disclosing the secret ingredients and listing all available items that would be at our disposal in the stocked pantry. In the meantime, she purchased all the ingredients (and was able to use a few staples from my pantry) and literally transformed my classroom into a Chopped studio. We even had a little audience to add to the pressure and intensity! She put together baskets for each of the teams, we spent hours in the kitchens getting them organized for the big event,  and her ENTIRE family (mom, dad, sisters) showered her with support and helped us set up tables, took pictures, made refreshments, and cleaned up. Finally, once the judges showed up it was time to get cooking!

The Competition: I chose Lisa to compete with me because I knew she would bring so much to the table...and she certainly did! Our entree ingredients were sole (a small white fish), french bread, sweet potatoes, and pomegranate juice. We served a baked, parmesan breaded sole, roasted sweet potatoes with a balsamic pomegranate glaze, and mixed greens with a similar balsamic pomegranate dressing topped with french bread croutons. It was superb, and we made it to the dessert round! For dessert, the secret ingredients were fresh mango, coconut milk, blue corn tortilla chips, and cayenne pepper. We put together a mango bread pudding and cooked it in individual ramekins for the judges. The sauce over the bread pudding was so incredibly delicious, and to top it off we incorporated the tortilla chips by grounding them up and adding butter, cinnamon, and sugar for a streusel topping. A dollop of real whipped cream, and it really was SO delicious. We ended up winning the competition! The bread pudding was truly sublime, and I feel like all of our food was full of flavor, technique, and of course love! It was nerve racking, stressful, and tough, yet so much fun! Both Lisa and I are chomping at the bit to do something like it again :-)