And the winnner is… AMY KRITZER OF WHAT JEW WANNA EAT!
Congrats, Amy, on your second win! Thank you Pola, for participating, and Will, for hosting! Also, I'd like to thank Google Local Austin for sponsoring this event. We'll see you all next time!
It's going down tonight, live over G+ hangout! This event is the third in our series of online cook-offs. The theme this time around is MYSTERY. Will Burdette, our fantastic host, has selected a handful of surprise ingredients for each cook to work with. Google Local Austin, our awesome sponsor, sent sealed boxes out to the cooks who have promised not to open them until we are live on air.
When the cook-off begins, we'll each have forty minutes to make one tasty dish using all three of Will's mystery ingredients. We can also use any ingredients in our kitchen. I'm expecting the pantry items to vary quite a bit, since each cook will be at the mercy of their own shopping habits and cooking style.
Who is Cooking
Amy Kritzer of What Jew Wanna Eat – Amy is a returning champion, having won our first cook-off, the Thanksgiving Leftovers Challenge. Amy is a blogger, food writer, and instructor living in Austin, Texas. Her blog, What Jew Wanna Eat focuses on modern Jewish cooking. In addition to being a MMD Online Cook-Off veteran, Amy hosts her own series of cooking hangouts. Visit her YouTube channel to check out past broadcasts.
Pola M of An Italian Cooking in the Midwest – Pola was born and raised in Italy, but now resides smack-dab in the middle of the United States. While studying for her PHD, Pola still takes the time to eat well, sharing her recipes and culinary adventures through her blog. We're excited to welcome Pola to the MMD Online Cook-Off family!
Mary Helen Leonard of Mary Makes Dinner – That's right, I'm cooking too. I love a good challenge. For those of you who are meeting me for the first time, Hi! I live in Austin, Texas, and write recipes for delicious things like veggie tacos and gourmet ice cream. I also teach classes over G+ through ChefHangout.com. I started this series because I love competitive cooking and G+ hangouts seemed like a great opportunity to do that more often. Now that you're here, I hope that you'll check out the rest of my site.
Who is Hosting
Will Burdette of No Satiation – Will produces a weekly podcast that pretty much geeks out over food. Will's podcast is seriously great, so be sure to check it out. You can even get it on Itunes. (Fancy!) When Will isn't hosting wacky web events or recording his thoughts on food, you can find him at the University of Texas, knee deep in the world of academia.
About Our Sponsor
We are thrilled to be sponsored by Google Local Austin! the winner of our Surprise Ingredient Cook-Off will win a copy of The Flavor Thesaurus by Niki Segnit, and a $30 gift card to Amazon.com, courtesy of Google Local Austin. If you're watching and interested in learning more about Hangouts, Austin events, and information about Google+ Local in general, add them to your circles or follow @GoogleLocalATX on Twitter.
The secret ingredients turned out to be: Fennel Seeds, Canned Pineapple, and Dried Chipotle Peppers.
Amy made Fennel Crusted Ribeye Over Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Grilled Pineapple, Baby Portobellos, Pickled Cabbage and a Smoked Chipotle Red Wine Sauce. "I whipped the sweet potatoes with pineapple juice for sweetness, and a little Greek yogurt, butter, and salt and pepper and used this as the base for my dish. Then I sautéed mushrooms in olive oil with pineapple juice, salt and smoked chipotle pepper. In the same pan, I sautéed the pineapple rounds dusted in crushed chipotle pepper and then sautéed the ribeye steak that I crusted with salt, pepper, crushed smoked chipotle pepper and crushed fennel seeds and put this on top of the potatoes. I added red wine to the pan and reduced this down, mounted it with butter, and seasoned it with smoked chipotle pepper and lemon. I plated the mushrooms on top of the steak, and garnished with the pineapple rounds, pickled cabbage, cilantro, green onions and the red wine sauce."
Mary Helen made her own version of Texas Caviar, a sweet and spicy bean salad. She started out by simmering the pineapple juice with fennel seed and dried chipotle. The sauce was used to dress a bowl of black eyed peas, diced pineapple, red onion, diced apple, cilantro, and basil. The salad was topped with a pinch of salt, a squirt of lime juice, sliced avocado, and toasted fennel seed.
Pola made Braised Red Cabbage with Blood Orange Chipotle and (invisible) Pineapple and Turnips. The dish is red cabbage braised with bacon, turnip and pineapples, flavored with fennel seed and dressed with a reduction made by cooking the juice of a blood orange with 2 chipotle peppers cut in half.
How to Vote
Leave a comment on this blog post naming your favorite cook/dish. The participant with the most votes by midnight CST on April 18 will be the winner. I'll announce the winner soon after.
Future Cook-Offs
If you'd like to participate in a future cook-off, please let me know! Check out my Cook-Off info page to learn more.
In Memory of Allen Stern
We'd like to take a moment to recognize the passing of our friend, Allen Stern. You might remember Allen from our last cook-off, Raw Food Rock Stars. Allen took first place with his beautiful zuchinni pasta dish. Allen was a great guy who will be sorely missed in our community.