Iron Chef!

Iron Chef Matt Presents Three Dishes!

The Iron Chef Cook Off went down tonight in West Linn, OR. Here's a quick recap of ingredients and dishes.

The required ingredients were as follows:
- mango
- chicken
- cocoa powder
- havarti cheese
- potatoes
- tomatoes

My quick three dishes:

Appetizer:

- Mini BLTs with fried havarti cheese

These were a hit and won me "best side dish/appetizer". Stuck the cheese in the freezer to get it real nice, cold and hard for frying. Cut sourdough into half-slices, without the crust. They were all identical and the perfect few bites. Went with the regular BLT recipe, subbing spinach for lettuce. As far as secret ingredients, killed two birds with one stone. And who can't resist bacon and fried cheese?!?


Main:

- Chicken breast stuffed with Mango salsa and oven potatoes

Overcooked the chicken a little bit and the potatoes didn't turn out as crisp as I had hoped. They were red potatoes instead of russets, which I am used to. Not my best dish. Should have stuffed the chicken with cheese and covered with the mango-basil salsa. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Dessert:

- Mini Mochas

I was having a hard time figuring out what to do with the cocoa powder. Never really used it before and I didn't want to put it on the chicken (maybe I should have in hindsight!). Mini Mochas came to the rescue. Whipped up some espresso and added some sugar (a decent amount) and cocoa powder. Then heated up some half and half and milk, added it all together and divided them into five mini espresso cups. Placed them on a plate and sprinkled paprika (for color only) onto the plate for presentation points. It was actually a nice complement to the meal and good use of the ingredient. I was pleased, especially since I made it up as I was going along.

And the winner is...

ME! By one, literal point. Out of over 300 points. Apparently I am good in the miniature (BLTs and mochas), while struggling in the main dish. That's what saved me.

Things learned:

preparing three dishes, creatively, in under an hour (which didn't quite happen) is very hard. Especially with just two burners. Lots of running around, a few minor burns and hopefully no cross contamination from the chicken ;) And a huge mess afterwards.

Also, fried cheese is freaking delicious! It was the first time I had fried cheese and it turned out pretty well. Add it to my BLT anytime! A nice little trick/technique to wow the judges, I think.

My gracious opponent, Danielle, wowed us with some bananas foster after we had all eaten the different dishes. Great stuff! If you weren't here, you missed out!