Paper Chef 31: Ingredient Time!
Jul 2nd, 2008 | By Hank | Category: Uncategorized | Comments | 9 Comments |It is time for the July edition of Paper Chef, the blog contest in which you pit your culinary skill against your fellow foodies in a competition unmatched since the Dawn of Time!!! Whose cuisine will reign supreme? OK, that’s Iron Chef, and they only get an hour to cook.
You get nearly a week. Design and execute an original dish — or an original take on a classic — using the FOUR secret ingredients, blog on it, photograph it and make it look all pretty and nice and yummy, then let Ilva, the mysterious Swedish Chairwoman of Paper Chef, know on the Paper Chef blog.
Deadline: Tuesday at midnight.
Ilva will then post a roundup of the entries, which I, as the June winner, will judge. I will be looking for recipes that work, presentation, taste (or appearance thereof), and originality. Past winners have gone on to fame and glory. Several now own a mansion and a yacht. After my June win, I was offered an island in the Dodecanese (I think it was Island No. 14).
NOTE: All of the above was horseshit, other than the fact that I will judge and by what terms.
Now, on to the mystical ingredients. They are…
- Fresh Oregano
- Walnuts
- Chickpeas or chickpea flour
And the wildcard ingredient, devised by me, is…A FISH STEAK! Yes, you can use any of the following: swordfish, marlin, thresher or mako shark, mahi-mahi, white seabass, sturgeon, yellowtail or baby seal. OK, no baby seal. If you want to use something other than a steak from one of these fish, lemme know beforehand.
Allez Cuisine!
Hank, great ingresients, I love the fish steak touch! Thanks!
Whew! Sounds challenging!
Should the fish steak remain whole or can it be cut in any way?
Fish steak – this is Dallas, we can catch cat fish.
This has the makings for a very interesting dish. And wow a mansion, a yacht and an island in the Dodecanese . . . OK!
Sounds fun! I’m ready!!
I have been so looking forward to this and seeing what the ingredients are. This one’s going to take some thought!
Halibut steak?
Natashya: Yep. You can cut it into chunks, puree it or whatever. It just had to be a fish steak when you brought it home.
Lulu: You betchya you can use halibut. One of my favorite steaks — can’t believe I forgot to mention it!
Hi, I sort of misread the list and got myself some yellowfin and not yellowtail.
Will I still be allowed to join?
magnus
But of course, Magnus! I love both fish, and both fish make excellent steaks…
And for anyone out there who is wondering whether the fish they have will be OK, the main point is this: It has to be a fish steak, not a fillet and not a whoel fish. It can be the cross-cut steaks you see with salmon, or the slab steaks you see with tuna, swordfish or halibut.
Hope this helps!