Battle Chili Pepper: The Knight-Lieberman Hut, September 18

The turnout was great and the food was even better. This was a lot of fun to host, thanks to everyone for coming and bringing their A-game. We missed a few regulars but saw some new faces as well.

Jack had fun meeting lots of people

It was Sam's birthday :)

 

Now for the dishes...

The Winner: Sarah and Keith's habañero pineapple pork. Nothing needs to be said about the festive plating, but what pictures can't convey is how beautifully tender the meat was, and how well-balanced the seasoning was. Fantastic work.

2nd Place: Jen and Ben's habañero cheesecake wontons. These crispy shells burst with spice and flavor. A surprising amount of heat was balanced by the creaminess and sweetness of the lime cheesecake. Gorgeous plating, too!

I don't have photos for the 3rd place winner and the honorable mention...

3rd Place: Guille, JP and Sam's unbelievable and quasi-unpronouncable spicy passionfruit tequila cocktail. This drink was completely unique, I've never tasted the combination of flavors in it before. There was candied ginger and jalapeño, I believe, sitting very subtly behind the sweet cold refreshment of the passionfruit. It was stunningly orange, as well.

Honorable mention: Donny's chicken enchiladas. A credit to the dish. All the elements you'd want: green chili, melted cheese, fall-apart tender chicken, and in the perfect proportion.

Jon and Esmé's bacon "hatch cups" with chili-shallot confit. This was the most intricately plated dish I've yet seen at an Iron Chef. The bacon cups had to hold a dollop of delicate shallot concoction without spilling. They were like woven baskets of flavor. Jon, I'm forgetting the exact phrasing you used to describe the dish; I'll update if you remind me.

Rachel's champignons fumes ét sauce chili. Really excellent thin Thai chili sauce on these nicely-cooked shrooms.

Dave's Jimmy Nardello-olive tapenade. The color of this was incredible, because he made it with bright red sweet frying peppers straight from the farmer's markets. Delicious, salty and hearty.

Derek and Kindall's chocolate-coated, ricotta-stuffed yellow peppers. A totally surprising dish. The yellow peppers were still raw, and added a nice crunch to this unexpected dessert.

Robin's inspired chili-rhubarb pie (unforgettable due to his running entrance, carrying a nearly red-hot cast iron pan that must have burnt a hole in his passenger seat)

Jessie's moist, irresistable "Peaches 'n Steam" peach-habañero cupcakes

Derek and Kindall's jalapeño hush puppies with jalepeño tzaziki. They look good, don't they? They were, too. Spicy, crispy-fried cornmeal with a cooling dipping sauce.

Thanks to Keith and Jon W. for the photos! I some other outstanding dishes that aren't shown above, due to a lack of planning on my part:

• Andrea and Tabitha's veggie enchiladas, the spinach counterpart to the honorable mention above
• Clay and Erica's lime-jalepeño cookies, which were an incredibly successful last-minute effort

Congratulations again to, well, everyone. I ate enough for 4 people, and I usually only eat enough for 2. Great work.

Battle Basil: Sunday, July 11 at Chateau O'Neill

Another one in the books, ladies and gentlemen. A great turnout and a great cocktail—Lisa's basil Collins—led off a night of excellent and quite creative responses to the ingredient of record.


It's been great fun to watch the Iron Chef guest list evolve. The process is very organic (which we approve of in all contexts), and it's always exciting when new arrivals return and become regulars. Next time around, I resolve to spend more time talking to people I don't know already.


Finally, one observation unrelated to the Iron Chef event itself... I have got to visit New Orleans. I've never met anyone from there who wasn't also an evangelist for the city.

Enough of that, let's Big Easy on to the photos.

1st place: Max's basil ice cream with strawberries and a balsamic-honey reduction

I'll be honest, the recipe for the ice cream and the idea for the pairing came straight from the Tiramisu' blog. I did come up with the idea for basil ice cream on my own, at least! The balsamic reduction was simply vinegar and honey. The strawberries were... strawberries.

2nd place: Sarah and Keith's Thai basil scallops
Machu Picchu look out, you haven't seen food this good since you were a functioning city in 1572.

3rd place: Liz's strawberry galette with basil whipped cream
Really nice strawberry flavor, and plating that my cell phone camera cannot do justice.

honorable mention: Dave, Uppie and Andrea's tomato-cucumber-melon CSA magic salad
Those tomatoes were on the vine this morning.

Jon M.'s basil pork chorizo tacos
He made the chorizo from scratch, folks. That is dedication.

Kindall's baguette with goat cheese, roasted red pepper and fresh basil
A simple dish that really let the ingredients shine.

Derek's savory basil cookies with olive bruschetta
I really liked this one. Nice texture on the "cookies," which were like thin slices of croissant.

Rachelle and César's basil-lime sorbet
Tons of refreshing lime flavor in this dessert. Plus, they were smart enough to keep it in the freezer so it didn't melt.

Esmé's southwestern watermelon salad
Esmé said that she liked the juice best, and while I agree that it would make a great cocktail with tequila, this surprisingly spicy salad was also delicious "dry."

Not pictured: Jon W.'s basil shooters, and anything else I might have missed. Thanks to Keith for upgraded photos, much better than my original shots!

Battle Lemon: May 15, 2010 at casa Schwall-Weigand

Battle Lemon was a memorable Iron Chef gathering! The outstanding quality of the dishes and the wonderfully deep field of competition would have made sure of this in any event, but I'm sure none of us will soon forget the experience of "flavor-tripping" on Keith's miracle berry tablets. Anything that can turn a lemon into a complete dessert is surely a blessing, but I'm not sure I'd drink a miracle berry beer again.

'Nuff said. On to the photos.

1st Place: Lisa's Lemon Icebox Pie
Not pictured: whipped cream; people eating the crumbs.

2nd Place: Max and Elizabeth and Amy's Lemon-Cream, Pea and Langostino Pizza

3rd Place Tie: Derek's Hummus

3rd Place Tie: Jon M.'s Flatbread

Jessica's Greek Soup

César and Rachelle's Mint-Lemon Chicken

Kindall's Lemon Curry Potato Salad

Keith and Sarah's Miracle Lemon Cheesecake

Erika and Josh's Lemon Fried Rice

Meeting and greeting in the kitchen

Enjoying the fruits of our labors

We're all looking forward to the next event!

Iron Chef Tucson

Well met, fellow guerriers of goulash! This blog is a simple companion to our ongoing culinary competition, meant to catalogue the lovely dishes and to provide something in the way of digital laurel for our champions.