Master Chef

So on January 17th, Matt and I traveled up to Kansas City, MO for my Master Chef tryout, an amateur cooking competition that will be airing on Fox, under the tutelage of Chef Gordon Ramsey (Hell's Kitchen). The entire week prior to the audition was spent experimenting on the perfect dish to impress the judges. The trick was that the food was going to be served at room temperature. One of my favorite dishes to make is gnocchi with pumpkin or butternut squash and asparagus in a cinnamon/brown sugar glaze topped with pine nuts.


However, Background: I have a passion for lobster. It is by far my absolute favorite thing to consume. I felt that I had to use lobster if I were really representing my tastes in food. That, along with my Italian background instantly made me want to do a gnocchi dish. I made countless batches of gnocchi dough. I still have about 5+ lbs of Russet potatoes leftover. All in all, it became pretty apparent that these guys wouldn't taste so hot served cold. Especially because I was also planning a tequila lime butter sauce. Cold butter sauce. Not so Yum.

So... lobster. Cold/room temp. dish. Hmm. What I ended up doing was absolutely perfect. I knew all along I would be limited the day of the competition by what cooking I could perform in a hotel room kitchen. I decided to do a Thai dish that is meant to be served cold, and I could still use my beloved goong mang-gorn (lobster in Thai). After quite an expensive trip to the local Asian Market, I whipped up a delicious homemade peanut sauce for the Thai noodles, and a homemade ginger-lime vinaigrette to top the fish. This "practice run" made enough for over 10 servings, so I haphazardly solved my problem of limited cooking ability on the day of the audition... my sauces were done! All that would be left to do that day would be to cook the Thai noodles, and to purchase and cook a live lobster.


I brought my own lobster pot, along with all of the above ingredients, incase I spilled my sauces! (which I have been known to do). I separated them into multiple containers to lessen my chances, but I didn't want to have a repeat Asian Market expense, or any time setbacks. Two burners allowed for the lobstah cookin' up front, and the noodles going in the back. It worked out beautifully.


The dish came out great! I topped it off with some julienned carrots, red peppers, shallots, and scallions, and both white and black sesame seeds. I arranged the lobster with his claw meat intact, and created a little "lobster monster" to make the plate more fun. I also read that in Thailand, chili peppers are used for garnish quite often, so I made a flower out of a little red pepper and added a sprig of cilantro for color. I was really excited!


The audition went well... I got a 5 minute TV camera interview with Laura, one of the show's producers, prior to showing off my beautiful plate. (I was told that was only the second interview she did that day!) The judge loved my plate. He said the flavors were very complex and that he'd be very happy to be served that in a restaurant. Then came the food knowledge quiz. Because I did a Thai dish, he made up some questions instead of using the pre-worded ones on his sheet. When he got to "What kind of rice would you use in a Thai dish?" I wasn't quite sure what he was looking for at first. India uses long grain, Spain medium... is that what he wanted? The grain? So he proceeded with "It's also a type of flower, AND a Disney Princess. Now you're speaking my language! "OH! JASMINE!" I knew that! So I heard back from them. Now I am tasked with making a DVD of myself cooking my signature dish and "being myself." That is a project that will have to wait until at least tomorrow... an ER shift calls today, but I can't wait to make it again (mostly so I can eat another lobster!!) Bon Appetit!