Feb Chopped Challenge Results: Champion is: #8 Got Blaze! (Voting is Closed)

Entry 1

The intent here is to mimic Frank’s Famous Fried Platter – A bar treat from a bar you may know.



The finished platter includes Ribeye Steak Fingers, Fried Pickles, Fried Mushrooms, Fried Green and Red Tomatoes and Onion rings. Three dipping sauces accompany the fried treats.



Fruit fritters were served as a dessert.



Here are most of the ingredients:







Three dipping salsas were made. They include a white sauce (bottom right) made with ground wasabi peas, finely chopped cucumber, sour cream and mayo.



There is a bright red salsa (top right), made with chopped tomatoes, chopped cucumber, chopped fruit cocktail, diced red onion, green onion tops, diced jalapeno pepper, lime juice, a touch of rice wine and salt.



The dark red sauce (left side) has ketchup, finely diced cucumber, soy sauce, and whole wasabi peas.







Fruit cocktail and cucumber fritters were made for dessert. They use fruit cocktail, cucumber, fruit cocktail juice and pancake batter. They were served with a powdered sugar dusting.







All of the other foods were dipped in an egg and milk wash and then dredged in a ground wasabi pea, flour and panko crumb coating before frying.







These are the cooked fritters. They are light and crispy with a nice fruit flavor.







And here is the platter of bar food. From the center front and going clockwise you will see fried red tomatoes, onion rings (above the red tomatoes), fried green tomatoes (to the left of the red tomatoes), fried mushrooms (partially visible behind the onion rings), fried dill pickles and the ribeye steak fingers.







Everything here goes very well with cold beers and good friends.

Entry 3

Here is my submission, sorry that some of them are blurry, i don't have the steadiest hand...



Started with the ingredients shown above in addition to a few other seasonings and spices. I decided i was going to make a cucumber wrapped sushi roll topped with grilled ribeye steak (steak was marinated in a ponzu/sriracha.





I was worried about how the cucumber roll was going to work so that was the first piece i made.



For the sauces, i ground up the wasabi peas and mixed it with a blended up sauce of fruit cocktail, sriracha, and ponzu sauce (this sauce went really well with the final dish).



this is how the steak came off the grill (Perfect to me!!)



this is how the plate came out. Cucumber roll filled with imitation crab meat, rice, and avocado topped with ribeye steak with a hot fruit sauce and wasabbi paste. The side dish was a cucumber/crab salad in ponzu.



i had a little of the ribeye lip left over so i chopped it up and added it to the salad. this picture came out blurry which is a shame since it made the prettiest picture imo.

Entry 5

Wife and I took advantage of the timeline we have for the chopped challenge and my homebrew roots. As soon as the fruit cocktail ingredient was nailed down here's what we did.

I took a can of fruit cocktail, 1 can of crushed pineapple, and a pound of sugar and made some "wine".


Next, we took the wasabi peas and threw them in the food processor. Mixed with sour cream to make sort of a traditional horseradish style steak sauce.


Then we took the cucumbers and cut them as fancy as my knife skills would allow. Hollowed the cucumbers out and stuffed them with the wasabi pea mixture.


The ribeye getting some cast iron love. Salted only on the counter for an hour. Seared each side for 1 minute each, then into the oven for 4 minutes per side at 350.


Then added some wine to the pan that the steak seared in as well as some baby bella mushrooms. Let those simmer until done.


Stacked strips of ribeye on top of the stuffed cucumbers and then topped with the mushroom and wine sauce.

Final Product:

Entry 7

I hereby submit my spin on Steak Frites for public scrutiny and ridicule.

FMy first thought when I saw the list of ingredients was, "Hot damn, STEAK! I'll grill a steak and have a side salad of fruit cocktail, cucumber and wasabi peas."

Putting serious thought to it, I figured I could try to take advantage of the wasabi peas using the traditional beef/horseradish sauce pairing. I changed my mind because I'm not all that fond of beef with horseradish sauce - I just think that horseradish is so strong that it often covers the flavors of the beef, itself. We're talking ribeye, here... Either go big, or go home! I ended up choosing to to Steak Frites, or "steak and fries", but putting my own spin on it. The wasabi peas and cucumber had me leaning towards doing this with an Asian flair, so that's the direction I went in. I made Steak Frites with my own spin: steak with a soy sauce glaze and cucumber fries battered and fried in wasabi pea flour. I used the fruit cocktail to sweeten both the glaze and the dip I made for the "frites".

The main ingredients - I went with a two inch thick ribeye. Clearly, the 2" thick ribeye steak is going to be the star of this show, but I chose it because I wanted a piece of meat that would stand up to the strong flavors of my Asian glaze.



I chose to grill the ribeye steak with a glaze I made with soy sauce, pureed fruit cocktail, fresh ginger, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes.


While the steak was cooking, I created a batter for my cucumber wasabi fries by combining powdered wasabi peas with flour. I then removed the seeds from my cucumbers and sliced them into 2 inch pieces that were approximately the size and shape of a french fry.


I let the steak come to room temperature and then seasoned t with salt and pepper. I grilled the steak over direct heat for 2-3 minutes per side and then finished it on the grill over indirect heat. I then set it to rest for 10 minutes.


While the steak was resting, I dipped the cucumber fries in my batter and deep fried them. I created a dip for the fries using mayonnaise, stone ground dijon mustard, pureed fruit cocktail, rice wine vinegar, and hot sauce.


After the steak was properly rested (10 minutes), I plated the steak with the cucumber fries that I sprinkled with more powdered wasabi peas.


Time to eat Steak Frites!


The fries turned out really good, and my kids all enjoyed them, although they thought it was kind of weird, at first. The steak was AWESOME, though. The glaze was very tangy, but didn't overshadow the real star of the meal - that big ol' ribeye.

Entry 9


House made tahini wasabi peas.





Sous vide ribeye at 131 for four hours, 148 egg yolk for one hour, simulating steak tartare, even though it's cooked.
Intended on utilizing the cocktail can as a mold, which didn't turn out too well, looking for a steak tartare look, even though the beef is cooked.
Entry pic:

Fork shot showing creaminess of egg yolk.

That is everyone, 9 entries!!

Good luck everyone.

Fap

I know who my #1 is. I'm a creativity whore so its mostly about that for me.

I have to decide on 2 and 3.

How does one vote that quick!?

1) Entry 8 -- Holy shitballs. Should easily be in the top 2 in everyone's list, IMO. I think this is one of our best entries ever.
2) Entry 6 -- Love it. Never would have thought of it.
3) Entry 5 -- Highly creative and good use of the cucumber.