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!