Chopped: Brook Trout, Rhubarb, Dried Strawberries | Full Episode Recap | S13 E8 | Food Network

0:03 Welcome, chefs.

0:05 Thank you.

0:05 Thank you.

0:06 There are three rounds: appetizer, entree, and dessert.

0:09 Each course has its own basket of mystery ingredients.

0:12 You must use every ingredient in the basket in some way.

0:16 Also available to you, our pantry and fridge.

0:19 If your dish doesn't cut it, you will be chopped.

0:24 Chefs, please open your baskets.

0:26 And we've got brook trout, rhubarb, dried strawberries, and lemon verbina.

0:35 I'm going to do pan seared trout.

0:37 I'm going to make pan seared trout with an arugula salad.

0:41 I'm going to make orange zested trout

0:44 tempura with the rhubab dried strawberry sauce.

0:49 Ice is really key to make look crispier.

0:52 I have these heads.

0:54 I decide I'm going to pan seerear the trout and make

0:57 a fume of the heads which is very simply a fish stock.

1:01 To be put into a position where I couldn't cook was amazingly traumatic.

1:06 As soon as I could I was in the kitchen just trying to move

1:10 my body trying to get myself back

1:13 and winning chopped would validate that for me.

1:16 Lemon verbina has a little bit of a peppery flavor to it.

1:20 So balsamic to make everything pop just a little bit.

1:23 So, I grab some calamata olives and I dice some

1:26 of the lemon verbina because it's got a little tardiness.

1:28 So, they're going to balance each other really well.

1:30 I don't serve any less than perfection.

1:33 I decided to let the fish continue to sear

1:35 in the pan until the very last minute.

1:38 We're looking at 1 minute left.

1:39 She has no plates.

1:40 I want to bring her plates behind.

1:42 Behind behind

1:42 and chef's one minute left and with under a minute, Courtney goes to get plates

1:48 behind.

1:50 I just quickly pan fry the verbina to kind

1:54 of be a little bit more textural on the plate.

1:58 Please plate your food.

1:59 Please plate your food.

2:00 Please give us something.

2:01 Please.

2:03 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.

2:14 Time is up.

2:15 Chefs.

2:17 Chef Jimmy.

2:18 I made a pan seared trout lettuce wrap with a drunken strawberry relish.

2:23 And as you can see, I almost took down half the building.

2:26 Whoa.

2:26 Hello.

2:31 I like the format of it actually.

2:32 It's simplistic and my fish is perfectly cooked.

2:36 Thank you, Chef Courtney.

2:37 It's an arugula salad with a strawberry and lemon verbina vinegrett,

2:42 bacon and rhubarons and panser trout.

2:45 It's completely utterly delicious.

2:48 Thank you to Chef Ako.

2:50 This is orange zested trout tempura with the lemon bambina duba puree.

3:02 Of the dishes I've eaten so far today,

3:04 you're the one that I think has brought out

3:06 the actual flavors of the basket ingredients the most.

3:09 Thank you very much,

3:10 Chef Nathaniel.

3:11 We have a pan seared trout with a lemon

3:13 verbina fume and dried strawberry rhubarb compost.

3:21 That broth is awesome.

3:23 Really flavorful.

3:23 I mean, the combination of acidity of the rhubarb

3:27 and the sweetness of the strawberries work really well.

3:29 Whose dish is on the chopping block?

3:38 Chef Courtney, you've been chopped.

3:40 Chef Jimmy, Chef Aiko, Chef Nathaniel, please open them up.

3:45 And for the entree round, you must use Scottish red leg partridge,

3:50 peanut butter, taffy, lassinato kale, and red curry paste.

3:57 You get 30 minutes to make your main course starting now.

4:02 This side I'm going to make grilled partridge with charred kale.

4:04 So, I heat up coconut milk with the red curry paste,

4:08 star anise, and a little bit ginger.

4:11 I'm making a crispy partridge leg with a partridge sausage mixture.

4:18 Chefs, I'm calling the 2-minute warning now.

4:20 2 minutes.

4:22 I want to bring some clunchiness.

4:24 So, I add pine nuts and pink pepperc

4:27 corn to peanut butter toffee to make garnish.

4:31 [Music] You are really running out of time now, chefs.

4:36 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.

4:47 That is it.

4:48 Time's up.

4:49 Chef Ako,

4:51 I made partridge two ways with coconut red

4:54 curry sauce with the green apple and kale salad.

5:00 Can you tell us about the two a bottom breast?

5:03 It's pan seared and the legs are put in a fryer.

5:07 You manage to cook the legs perfectly, but the breast is overcooked.

5:14 Next up, Chef Nathaniel.

5:15 Today, I have a crispy partridge leg with a lassinado

5:19 kale wrapped partridge meatball and a sweet potato kale hash.

5:28 [Music] I thought this was great.

5:31 Thank you.

5:32 And finally, Chef Jimmy.

5:34 Today, I prepared for you a grilled partridge

5:37 with charred kale with a curried peanut butter drizzle.

5:41 It's really beautiful.

5:42 Yeah.

5:42 I don't know what it tastes like, but this is a great presentation.

5:44 I love it.

5:45 It's beautiful.

5:49 The grilling of the partridge, I love it.

5:52 We really got that grill pan nice and hot.

5:54 Whose dish is on the chopping block?

5:57 [Music] Chef Timmy, you've been chopped.

6:09 Chef Aiko, Chef Nathaniel, are you ready?

6:13 Yes.

6:13 Yes, sir.

6:14 Are you nervous?

6:15 A little bit.

6:17 A lot.

6:19 I wish her the best.

6:20 However, I'm here to win.

6:21 Sorry, Ako.

6:23 Please open your baskets.

6:26 And you must use Dolce de Leche, pineapple, sesame seed buns, and apricot paste.

6:36 30 minutes on the clock and time starts now.

6:43 It's very important to me that my final dish is solid.

6:47 Given the theme of the rest of my courses,

6:49 it seems only prudent to make a dumpling.

6:52 So I have to start rolling out the buns to stuff

6:55 them with apricot paste and a dolce de leche mascar bone.

7:00 I put pineapple, ginger, apricot paste and salt and pepper.

7:07 My dad, he always told me, "Whatever you do, take risk.

7:11 Don't be safe." I like smokeoky fruits for dessert.

7:17 And Kiko is using the smoke gun.

7:19 What is she smoking exactly?

7:21 Pineapples.

7:21 Smoked pineapple.

7:23 Smoke is a tough thing in dessert.

7:25 It is very easy to oversmoke food.

7:28 2 minutes left on the clock, chefs.

7:29 2 minutes.

7:31 My dumpling, which is the star of the plate, is opening up.

7:35 The only thing I can do is mask it with whipped cream.

7:39 Oh my god.

7:40 Nathaniel's taking the last minute and a half to whip cream

7:42 by hand when he could be doing that in the machine and plating.

7:45 I do not use electric beers for whipped cream.

7:48 Am I not a professional?

7:51 All right, watch the clock, chefs.

7:54 Not much time left in this round at all.

7:57 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Time's up.

8:08 That's it.

8:14 Chef Nathaniel.

8:16 I have a toasted sesame seed dumpling of dolce de leche mascarpon

8:21 and apricot with a grilled pineapple cafier lime and mint salad on top.

8:30 I love the presentation.

8:31 Thank you.

8:32 It's fun and whimsical.

8:33 And finally, Chef Ako, I made cocoa bread cake with a smoky pineapple.

8:42 I would have never picked chocolate to be part of this basket,

8:45 but the chocolate really goes nicely with the pineapple.

8:48 Whose dish is on the chopping block.

8:52 [Music] Chef Ako, you've been chopped.

9:02 And that means, Chef Nathaniel Zimmit, that you are the chopped champion.

9:07 Congratulations.

9:08 Thank you very much.

9:09 Thank you, Chef.

9:11 What are you feeling right now?

9:13 All in all, lucky.

9:15 Very lucky.

9:18 Been a day.

9:19 Been a year.

9:19 No.