As the winner of last month’s Paper Chef, I get to judge this month’s edition. And unlike the last time I judged, there were plenty of entries this round. A couple were a bit off, but most were good and a few were more than good! The required ingredients were: fresh oregano, chickpeas or chickpea flour, walnuts and some sort of fish steak.

• Magnus from Amersterdam seared tuna, then served it with deep-fried chickpea flour “polenta” and topped it with a classic salmoriglio sauce, which just happens to be a walnut-oregano sauce commonly used on swordfish in the Mediterranean.
• Natashya, who lives in her kitchen with puppies, made a salmon steak Moroccan style, with another classic Mediterreanean seafood sauce that often employs oregano: Chermoula.
• Andrew the Scottish Cow chose the chickpea flour route and made walnut-farinata crispies to go with his braised tuna steak, which also had stewed chickpeas.
• Tricia from Jonski Blogski made two dishes, one with a fascinating hazelnut-chickpea flour naan bread, then another, simpler dish using a fish steak and a chickpea-oregano-spinach saute, topped with walnut oil and walnuts.
• Murasaki Shikibu made a baked swordfish recipe with all the ingredients happily swimming together.
• Mike from Eat Me! made a trout salad with chickpeas, dressed with a walnut-oregano sauce.
• Yannic made a chickpea flour sauerkraut strudel (?!) with curry-caramelized walnuts, topped with an oregano sabayon. Apparently Yannic is a vegetarian, so no fish. Very interesting use of the remaining ingredients, however.
• Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything at Least Once used swordfish in a warm salad — this being summer, salads are on everyone’s mind — and, like Magnus, fell into my nefarious trap by using salmoriglio sauce.
• Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups kept the fish salad theme going with a tuna steak served atop spinach with chickpeas, walnuts and oregano, both of the latter also used to garnish the tuna.

On to the judging. Many of the dished looked good. I would happily sit down to eat all of them, even the intriguing-yet-slightly-scary sauerkraut strudel. When was the last time you heard “strudel” paired with “sauerkraut?” So style points — and the originality category — go to Yannic.

I must admit that after I saw the three random ingredients, I purposefully laid a trap by adding the fish steak: I love salmoriglio sauce, and wanted to see who would go there for Paper Chef. Obviously two of you did.

Problem is, Paper Chef being the virtual equivalent of Iron Chef, I really wanted to see someone take salmoriglio someplace new. Maybe a strained, homogenized puree, maybe as a flavored butter, or even — gasp! — a foam! I guess what I am saying is that in this competition, if you do a classic, make it yours. Let none of this be construed to say that the salmoriglio dishes looked in an way un-tasty…

So OK, we’ve established that most of these dishes looked yummy-licious. On to presentation. Magnus, Mike and Andrew win this one easily, and really Magnus’ dish beat those of Andrew and Mike. We eat with our eyes first — and only, in this virtual world.

So that really leaves technical skill. Again, Magnus’ dish is up there, but so are those of Andrew and Tricia, who made nutty chickpea flour flatbreads. Sorry guys, but in the technical department, making a salad is a tough one. Yes, you can win this category with a salad, but it ain’t easy.

In the end, it was between Magnus and Andrew. Does Magnus get whacked for carting out a standard salmoriglio? Is Andrew’s dish strong enough to overtake Magnus’ superior presentation? Whose cuisine reigns supreme?

It is…

ANDREW, of the Scottish Cow! Why, you say? Well, I agonized over this one, and the bottom line was this: His dish was nearly as technical as Magnus’ — that Andrew got his braise perfectly matters a lot — was nearly as pretty, at least appeared to be a bit more flavorful, was more original (I’ve seen chickpea flour “fries” before, but never the walnut-chickpea flour socca), and was a more balanced meal.

Fear not, Magnus — your dish was awesome, and you won the People’s Choice Award.

Thanks to everyone who participated this month. See ya in August!