Chopped

One of the things we've been doing since being in Hilton Head is watching the show "Chopped" on Food Network.  Grandpa and Cannon are adicted to this show.  Well we come to find out when the Cunninghams came that the girls also like that show.  I had jokingly said before the girls came that Cannon and Grandpa should have their own "Chopped", but it was game on when the girls found out about this idea!

After much discussion, it was decided that Grandpa and I should be the chefs while Hannah, Sydney and London would be judges and Cannon was the host.  Grammie and Emmy were the studio audience. In case you don't know this show, the premise is that 4 chefs start the competition, they are given a mystery basket with four obscure ingredients and they have a set time to come up with a dish that is creative and palatable.  In the real show they have to do an appetizer, main course and dessert.  One chef is "chopped" after each round.  In our modified version, we had 40 minutes for an entree and 30 minutes for a dessert.  We only found out who was chopped after both rounds were complete.

Hannah, Sydney, London and Cannon really got into this game!  They took a lot of time coming up with lists of adjectives to describe food, deciding what the mystery ingredients should be, shopping with Grammie for the ingredients and setting up the kitchen.  They were bubbling with excitement!

So at 2:30 on Tuesday, Grandpa and I were summoned to the kitchen to begin the game.  We were given an apron, a clean towel, half of the sink, half of the stove, one oven and a mandate to share the other things in the kitchen. 

With the judges lined up at the counter and a giant counter clock ready to go, we were given the command to "Open the basket!"

Inside for the main course we found fresh shrimp, lasagna noodles, Sprite and a horned melon!

The timer started and we set off in motion, not sure quite what to make, but pulling our ideas together quickly.  The forty minutes we had to make our meal went so fast, but we both finished with 30 seconds to spare. 

The peanut gallery

Time's up!

The results?

Grandpa made a chopped shrimp, horned melon and panko crumb hash with pureed lasagna noodles boiled in Sprite risotto. 

I made pumpkin seed encrusted shrimp drizzled with a Sprite and horned melon sauce with rolled lasagna noodles served with a Parmesan/Sprite cheese sauce.

Yes, believe it or not, the judges did taste the dishes...and enjoyed them! (Cleaned the plates, really)

We were again sent out of the kitchen while they set up for the second round.  After 20 minutes we were called back in and again given the command to "Open the basket!"  This time we found marshmallow cream, Fruity Pebbles, veggie chips and won ton wrappers.  This time we only had 30 minutes which seemed too much, but again flew by.

Grandpa made a tower which started with crushed veggie chips, then a "cookie" of Fruity Pebbles and marshmallow cream, then a fried fig tart (with fresh figs from his tree and won ton wrappers) topped with a fancy cut strawberry.  The fried fig tarts were really yummy!

I made a duo of won tons: one stuffed with Fruity Pebble marshmallow cream and one stuffed with ice cream (I made it the day before).  On the side I served a ball of fried ice cream crusted in crushed veggie chips.

After much deliberation we found out the results.  I won the entree course, Grandpa won the dessert and we both won overall champion!  What a fun way to spend the afternoon!