Top Recipes from the Most Recent Loser on Top Chef. More Top Chef Recipes.
The cheftestants packed up and moved on last week. Texas is a big place and they’re not going to promote the whole state by staying in one place — so it was time for Dallas, but not before a little theatrics. The Quickfire involved a stop on the highway, courtesy of a burly state trooper, to cook a dish using a campfire burner with very limited ingredients, including canned tuna and chicken. Delightful. The chefs got a reward in the elimination, cooking for some of Dallas’ high society folks; it’s true, they exist.
But who packed their bags and gave ES a recipe from their personal collection?
Lots of wine, lots of friends, lots of food… what can be better than a big dinner party? Being the convivial hostess that I am, I’m constantly gathering friends together for festive meals. I love experimenting with new dishes and ingredients, but sometimes I’m looking for a reliable go-to recipe — especially when I’ve gotten a bit ambitious with my guest count. In scenarios like this, I have an easy pasta recipe I’ve perfected over the years that guarantees dinner party success. Every time I make this I receive nothing but rave reviews. Not trying to brag, y’all, I’m just being honest.
If you’re having a load of guests over for the holiday season, give yourself a break and make a gigantic pot of this rigatoni with gorgonzola and sun-dried tomatoes. It’s simple and quick to put together, but the flavor is richly layered, and the vibrant colors of the tomatoes and basil lend a lively aesthetic to the dish.
On the second night of our Philadelphia adventure, the intrepid ES crew was treated to a feast at JG Domestic, Iron ChefJose Garces’ farm-to-table restaurant anchored in the bottom of Cira Center. Supposedly a small plate, made-to-share type of joint, we found that most of JG’s offerings were fairly large and satisfying… not that it didn’t stop us from trying almost everything on the menu!
But… BUT…
There is one item that stands above the rest. I’m not even saying it outshines everything at JG Domestic, I’m saying it outshines almost any meat-based appetizer I have ever eaten. And trust me, there have been a bounty of them in my years as an insatiable epicure.
Allow me to introduce you to the Hudson Valley Potted Duck with foie gras mousse and orange gelée, served with cornichons and crostini.
It’s America’s favorite meal — the state fair! Every year, the fairs across this great land compete with each other to invent bigger, badder, greasier fair food. But after Texas stepped up its game last year with deep fried beer, this thing hit a whole ‘nother level. The 2011 state and country fair foods have been more insane — and more amazing — than ever. Here are our top 10 favorite finds.
10. Chocolate Covered Corn Dog – Orange County Fair
Could there be anything more American than dipping a hot dog in batter, deep frying it and eating it off a stick? Why yes, there could be. You could cover it in chocolate and put sprinkles on top, a treat that was found at both the OC Fair and neighboring San Diego County Fair. My Burning Kitchen has more on food at the San Diego fair. (Photo: www.myburningkitchen.com)
9. Deep Fried Kool-Aid – San Diego County Fair
In another strong showing for California’s other great fair — and originator of last year’s hash brown covered hot dog, San Diego debuts what is surely the trashiest food ever conceptualized. It’s just unclear why they didn’t wrap it in bacon. (Photo: Cuttlefish)
8. Deep Fried Butter on a Stick – Iowa State Fair
Texas may have invented deep fried butter at their own fair a few years back, but Iowa thought to put it on a stick. See, America, we can do great things when we work together. Yes, this involves frying an entire stick of butter, and yes, you simply have to watch the video for full effect.
7. Buffalo Chicken in a Flapjack – Texas State Fair
The first of several entries from the Lone Star state, this monstrosity is a chicken strip, coated in pancake batter and jalapeño bread crumbs, then deep fried and…you guessed it — eaten on a stick. (Photo: State Fair of Texas)
6. Red Velvet Funnel Cake – Florida State Fair
Funnel cake has fallen behind on the list of outrageous fair foods recently. After fried beer and fried Coke, plain old fried dough starts to look pale by comparison. But this year we saw funnel cake get a new southern fried twist that injects some new life into it…and probably injects all kinds of chemicals too. Why eat fried dough when you can eat red fried dough? (Photo: Bob B. Brown)
Growing up in England nettles were a large part of my childhood, whether I liked it or not — and I generally didn’t. This wretched plant caused many a tear in my household, its stinging leaves leaving immense pain that lasted for hours, with little sympathy from my parents as I was usually up to no good in the garden or local park, causing said sting.
When I saw nettles at the local farmers’ market here in D.C., I jumped at the chance to fight back, to serve justice to this leafy plant once and for all. There’s very little you can actually do with nettles, the most obvious was soup, but in these late spring months it seemed a tad too warm for that. I settled on pesto, a simple and versatile sauce that I could use in many dishes.
One of the first things I ever learned to cook was Stove Top stuffing. When my college roommate and I discovered Stove Top, we could not believe how easy it was to basically replicate the stuffing that our moms took so many hours making on Thanksgiving. Culinary skill-less as we were, even we could figure out how to boil water and butter in a dorm room hot pot, add stuffing mix, and fluff with a fork. Actually, I still haven’t figured out exactly what the last direction means, but I digress.
While I still make Stove Top for a late-night snack now and again, I’ve often wondered why it so rarely shows up as an ingredient, aside from the odd post-Thanksgiving stuffing pizza. But why not? I can think of many a meal that could stand to benefit from a tasty bread-and-butter mixture poured on top. First case in point: shepherd’s pie. While this is one of my childhood favorites, I barely make it myself because it’s such a pain to have to boil and mash potatoes before you even really get started cooking. Of course it’s great if you have leftover potatoes, but…I rarely find myself with leftover anything. So my newly invented version of shepherd’s pie subs out the potatoes and replaces them with a thick coating of stuffing. Give me one good reason why not.
