Four new competitors are ready to commit to a tournament that stretches their strategic planning abilities as well as their cooking skills. Every basket has just three items, and a live auction determines what each chef scores as their fourth ingredient. In this preliminary battle, one chef spends a ton of money to secure a favorite ingredient for his appetizer dish, raising expectations that he should be able to ace the round. Will his dish deliver? The chefs open up the second basket to discover a weird burrito, and the most promising auction item seems to be some lovely mushrooms. Then, all eyes are on the last two competitors as they race to make desserts using a fruit, booze and some pastries from the basket, plus the two very different items from the auction. Only one chef will advance to the Name Your Price tournament grand finale!
Inspired by the bounty produced in nearby Sonoma and Napa counties, Guy Fieri asks his chef friends to make a meal with local wine as the star. Alex Guarnaschelli uses both red and white in her pecan- and breadcrumb-stuffed mushrooms, and she makes a surprise dessert of lemony cake bursting with juicy grapes. Marc Murphy prepares a cucumber-tomato salad with basil vinaigrette and a delicate stuffed quail with crushed potatoes cooked in flavorful garlic confit. Jonathan Waxman uses his culinary wizardry to turn cheap red wine into a mouthwatering wild boar ragu, and he roasts a succulent whole duck with chanterelles and a Cabernet Sauvignon sauce. Finally, Michael Voltaggio makes the unlikely pairing of wine and cherry cola in a delicious Kalimotxo cocktail, and he serves up perfectly seared bacon-stuffed scallops in a delectable green grape and yeast sauce over cauliflower.
It's a Valentine's Day celebration with plenty of chocolate on this episode of The Kitchen. The hosts prepare a romantic meal with Geoffrey Zakarian's Dark Chocolate Mousse, a tender filet mignon with mushroom red wine sauce from Katie Lee, and two mouthwatering side dishes from Marcela Valladolid and Jeff Mauro. The Kitchen crew gets crafty with new ideas for valentines made out of chocolate, including adorable chocolate kiss critters and edible chocolate vessels. A master chocolatier joins in on the fun with a silky-smooth dark chocolate truffle recipe and out-of-this-world flavors to spice it up! Geoffrey caps it all off with his take on a chocolate martini.
Mentioned in this episode:
Strawberry Chocolate Bark