Culinary Central

So this episode was by far the best one for me all season! We went back to the basics for this episode! Our first Mystery Box challenge was a true challenge on combining a surf and turf into a uniform and concise dish. I wanted to highlight the prawn and the Bison. I realized after the last couple of challenges that I wanted to prove to the judges that not only can I cook well but with creativity. I realized that ideal way to cook is simply with a level of integrity that elevated the main ingredient. I made a prawn bisque using the shells of the prawn and made a pan sauce for the bison using the sucs from the pan. In the end I finally ended up in the top 3. I was sandwiched between Adrian and Jennifer both of which won 2 mystery box challenges! Jennifer wins the mystery box challenge for the 3rd time!

She has the privilege of not only choosing the childhood memory from the judges, but also creating more of a personalized relationship with the judges. I was hoping that she wouldn't choose the tomato soup simply because I just did a play on it wi the prawn bisque. In my tomato soup I started with coring out the heirloom tomatoes, seasoned with salt and black pepper, and placed it dictky into the oven at 400F for 20 min. I then placed bacon into a hot pan and added in diced shallots. I then deglazed with bourbon and then took the bacon bits out and reserved them for garnish. I let the bourbon reduce by 2/3 then added in the heirloom tomatoes and red peppers that I roasted then peeled. I added heavy cream, and vegetable stock. I combined using a hand blender and strained through a chinois. I garnished with Gouda, sautéed mushrooms, bacon, and diced roasted red pepper. I think made a spicy red pepper Coulis and cooled the dish down by making a 3G Sandwich ( Gouda, Gruyere, and Goat cheese) with bacon and roasted red pepper. With less than 15 minutes in the clock I used a circle cutter to replicate the shape of the sandwich to the shape of the soup bowl and cut my finger on the cutting board. I instantly knew due to serve safe that I couldn't use anything on the board. I had to redue the entire sandwich/ bacon included as well as plate using my left hand.

In the end Tracy and I led the group to the next challenge. For more information- visit my website at www.suzysingh.com and follow me on Twitter @chefsuzysingh

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