Top Chef Chicago--Episode 2

I'm sitting here eating a delicious Lean Pocket and I'm reminded that I watched the second episode of Top Chef Chicago last night.  It was great!  Sometimes people tell me that I should audition for that show, and I totally would, but to be honest, the chefs on it are so talented and have much more experience and training than I do...  But maybe one day.

Anyway, for the Quick Fire challenge, the chefs had to make a dish in 30 minutes using fresh ingredients from a local farmer's market.  Oh, and they were only allowed to use FIVE ingredients aside from salt, pepper, sugar, and oil.  Wow!  Actually, I think I could handle this challenge; it's basically all about keeping it simple, fresh, and delicious, something I'm pretty good at.  Mark won the Quick Fire challenge, so he was granted immunity from elimination.

After they drew knives (that's how they set-up teams or pick orders), the chefs were told of their Elimination Challenge: to cater a party for 200 people at the Lincoln Park Zoo.  The twist: each team must highlight and utilize ingredients that are part of the diet of a zoo animal--bears, gorillas, lions, etc.  Interesting...  It was an exciting challenge as they only had three hours of prep the day before the event.  Some teams messed up by trying to cook things the day before and then re-heating them at the event; other pitfalls included mushrooms stuffed with blueberries (sick!) and soggy celery chips (ew!).  In the end, Andrew wins the challenge and Valerie is sent home.  

Final Thought: How DUL does this recipe sound?