Valerie Bertinelli has enjoyed many wonderful summer meals on the shores of the Pacific, and she's welcoming the warm weather with an Italian-style backyard beach party with her family. She makes Fried Clams with Tartar and Cocktail Sauces, Antipasto Pasta Salad and Mom's Perfect Sub Sandwiches. For dessert, she creates Watermelon Agua Fresca and Frozen Fireworks.
Tom Papa heads to Cleveland, the "Pierogi Pocket" of America, to bake up some serious comfort food, like Old World-style rye bread for the city's favorite mile-high corned beef sandwich and, of course, cheesy potato pierogis. In Little Italy, he makes a cloud-like cassata cake with mountains of whipped cream and strawberries. Chef Jonathon Sawyer shows Tom how to make the pot pie of his dreams with half a bone-in chicken in buttery blitz dough, and then he caps off his trip with a classic Hungarian dessert of sour cream dough, raspberries, walnuts and chocolate.
Four chefs tackle a takeout takedown in this thrilling battle. The baskets are packed with go-to, to-go choices like pizza in the first round. In the second round, the chefs must make a Chinese specialty work with an Italian cocktail. Then, a tower of something sweet and a cup of something bubbly are part of the puzzle for the dessert round.
Mock meat and an unusual green powder set the level of difficulty high in round one, and an Italian-Japanese mashup ingredient in the entree round threatens to mess up the chefs' plans. When the two remaining competitors find something called frog eye salad in the dessert basket, they both have their eyes on the prize, but only one can achieve their dream.
The competitors find a prized member of the onion family in the first basket, ramps! But will the flavorful wild leeks play nicely with the other mandatory ingredients? An organ meat and an Italian treat are in basket two, then the two chefs who make it to the dessert round get a popcorn-flavored candy and a citrus-flavored stalk.
Four talented chefs are ready to compete in the Chopped Kitchen, but there's something peculiar about the huge, elaborate cake in the appetizer basket: It's made of beef! In the second round, a strange twist on a classic Italian dish tests the competitors' creativity, and the two remaining chefs are challenged to make desserts using a mayo that may be tricky to incorporate.
As the competition kicks off, the chefs are challenged with making appetizers using a delicate herb and a playful take on potatoes. When the chefs get a strange Italian street food in the entree basket, they must do as the Neapolitans do. And the judges hope the Dutch baby pancake and sour plums in the dessert basket will spark some delicious creativity.
Ina is hosting a surprise dinner party with an Italian theme for a friend. She's sharing her dinner party know-how and strategies, from menu planning and shortcuts to setting the scene with the help of a florist. Recipes include Parmesan Crisps, Rossinis, White Bean and Arugula Salad, Balsamic Roasted Beef, Parmesan Fennel Gratin and for dessert, Limoncello and Ice Cream.
Four bakers bring their lofty dreams to the bakery as they try to bake themselves into the stratosphere. One competitor has a creative spin on an Italian favorite while another draws on French inspiration with a rustic macaron. Buddy Valastro is then left having to decide if it's a savory dessert or a pie that should be available to all of America.