Paper Chef #13!

UPDATE!!!

This is really big/important/fun news. Our judge for the occasion has decided to award real fun prizes, has broken the event into five categories with lots of fun side dishes/categories and all in all has taken the whole event to a new level!

It is time to get going on this month’s Paper Chef! For those who know the score, here are the ingredients for this month plus a reminder to go visit the Two-Minute Noodle Cook to check on judging issues.

Ingredient 1: Rice
Ingredient 2: Carrots
Ingredient 3: Anchovies
Ingredient 4: Something from the other side of the world that helps make this dish a celebration for you. Write about how you picked that and why in your write-up!

This month we are celebrating a major holiday season and a special ‘other side of the world’ edition of Paper Chef being judged from Down Under, hence the fourth ‘ingredient’ listed above.

As a reminder, here are the ‘rules and regulations,’ which I prefer to think of as something akin to the pirate code of Captain Jack Sparrow and thus ‘more like guidelines.’

For absolutely only the fun of it and for no other reason whatsoever, the Paper Chef challenges each and every one of you reading this to let loose your culinary imagination and make up a dish of your own. Loosely based on the ideas of the Iron Chef, fond TV favorite in the US and Japan, and on the British show Ready, Steady, Cook! (fond favorite in the UK), the Paper Chef is all about creativity and constraint, challenge and cooking.

About a week before the event opens, I post an ingredient list from previous events here at Tomatilla! Older ingredients fall off the list, as does anything that actually got used in an event. Those ingredients are ‘banned’ for a month just to prevent the choices being cream and chocolate and cream and chocolate and cream and chocolate and…you get the idea. Any reader of the blog here or at the IMBB forum can nominate a new ingredient (one only please) and it can be anything within the bounds of good taste (both kinds). Three ingredients are chosen at random from the final list and the host (usually me but not always) picks one more ingredient that is topical or seasonal or that suits our whimsy. Then you get a weekend (Friday Noon to Monday Noon) to make up a recipe, cook it and post the recipe to your blog. Then post a comment here or send an email to owenl1998 at yahoo dot com to be included in a roundup. The previous month’s winner gets to be judge (and is ineligble that month) and gives out whatever kinds of awards they like.

I’ve had lots of questions about things like photographs. Photographs are NOT necessary to take part. Nor is having you own blog – I’ll be happy to post a recipe for you if you want. However, it is clear that having a nice photograph will help influence the judges – if they see it looking good it is a lot easier to imagine it tasting looking good…

It is also absolutely OK to substitute if you just cannot find an ingredient or if you or someone who will eat the dish has an allergy – just try to substitute with something close to the original to remain in the spirit of the occasion.< The times are always the first Friday of the month, Noon PST until the following Monday Noon PST. However we aren’t sticklers for timekeeping here – a little late and any excuse will do. A LOT late and you’ll have to have a really good and creative one to do with cats pushing bowls off counters or the like. Past event roundups and winners are here: Paper Chef #1: Cilantro, Ginger, Almonds and Winter Squash

The winner was Curried Chicken and Squash Soup with Meyer Lemon.

Paper Chef #2: Potatoes, Savoy Cabbage, Chicken and Lemon

The winner was Lemon Chicken Egg Rolls with Citrus Dipping Sauce.

Paper Chef #3: Wheat Flour, Cinnamon, Creme Fraiche and Oranges

The winner was Very Posh Cheese and Biscuits.

Paper Chef #4: Eggplant, chocolate, stale bread and pomegranate.

The winner was Cocoa-Pomegranate Roast Chicken with Eggplant Stuffing.

Paper Chef #5: Prosciutto, sherry vinegar, green garlic and goat cheese.

The winner was Garlic chive and Goat’s Cheese Ravioli with Sherry Vinegar Reduction and Prosciutto Shards.

Paper Chef #6: Ricotta, strawberries, almond paste and white chocolate.
The winner was Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote with Ricotta-White Chocolate Gelato and Scented Madeleines.

Paper Chef #7: Buttermilk, Dates, Honey and Eggs.

The winner was Feta Souffle with Walnuts, Dates and Feisty Greens.

Paper Chef#8: Cheddar cheese, olives, spinach and either potatoes OR cream, not both.

The winner was Warm Spinach, Cremini, and Kalamata Salad with Creamy White Cheddar Dressing.

Paper Chef #9: Chilli, Peach, Flowers and Something Local.
The winner was a Stuffed Pork Loin.
Paper Chef #10: New Orleans version with beer, tomato, sausage and shrimp.

The winner was Stephen‘s Beer-Boiled Shrimp Po’ Boy.

Paper Chef #11: Autumn edition with duck, pears, ginger and nut butter.

The winner was Belly Timber with Ravioli dell’autunno with Sliced Anna Kiwi, Duck Soup with Chicken, Pistachio Ginger Flavor and Nutty* Duck risotto with Ginger and Caramelized Pear.

Paper Chef #12: Lamb, oranges, basil and fish sauce Edition.
The Winner was The Two-Minute Noodle Cook with
Bush Tucker Lamb Parfait with Orange Basil Seed Champagne Jelly and Whitebait Tapenade Sauce.

14 Comments

  1. A great ingredients list, Owen…but it got me wondering: where exactly is “the other side of the world” from here…and, the internet being the most amazing place, I found this website that can answer that question for everyone!

  3. I did a reflection around the equator and ended up in China where I hear the fried scorpions are especially good!

  5. I would strongly suggest that there are good things to eat in the ocean…

    …but remember – this is for fun – do what YOU want!

  6. As 2-minute Noodle Cook suggested, there are many ways find our own personnal ‘opposite of the world’.. for for the scorpions, look at
    these    , don’t they look delicous? I tried them, as would most tourists visiting China, and I can attest that they are good although a bit greasy.

  7. Eating delicacies overseas is normally exciting and enjoyable for many. However, please *DON’T LOOK* at the picture above as it may upset. Noodle’s rule of thumb for travelling: eat only freshly cooked vegetables!

  8. I didn’t mean to upset anyone… I personally don’t see much of a difference between shrimps and scorpions. Magictofu’s rule of thumb for travelling: enjoy everything that is not morally wrong and that you usually can’t get at home. In that sense, eat scorpions but not Pandas in China.

  11. I made a great dish, but it wont be posted until tuesday night! Aurrrrgggg.

    (My long winded excuse involving a case of chocolate bars, a freak snowstorm in LA, a unicylist and a blown out tire would just bore you…)

    -XOXO
    Rachael

  12. OH, and the opposite side of the world to me seems to be (though that map was confusing) Somalia. Interesting because by most standards the most beautiful people in the world live in Somalia, and the most beautiful people in America? IN LA. LOL.

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