Top Moments of Chopped After Hours: Leftovers

Chopped judges Chris Santos, Geoffrey Zakarian and Scott Conant take on an appetizer basket of leftover ingredients.

Episode: We Love Leftovers!

Related To:

Double-Duty Dishes

In their first time in the After Hours kitchen, judges Scott Conant and Geoffrey Zakarian, along with judge Chris Santos, face off with a basket of leftover ingredients: prepared lasagna, a hamburger, a fortune cookie and steamed broccoli. "Let's see what we can do," Chris says, excited about what's ahead.

Sneaky Maneuver

Since the guys are friends as well as colleagues, they waste no time in playing well-meaning jokes on each other while cooking. Just minutes into the competition, Chris and Ted scheme a plan to hide Scott's burger patty from him while he's away in the pantry. "Someone stole my hamburger!" Scott exclaims later, before Ted advises him to look beneath his cooking station.

Sicily Meets Philly

Geoffrey is quick to begin work on a hearty sandwich, his Italian-style interpretation of a Philly cheese steak with Gorgonzola cheese and fried capers. "Everything I do is spectacular," Geoffrey jokingly tells Ted.

Mindful Cooking

"For me it's very important to do something that's practical for the home cook," Scott explains, setting off to prepare a big-batch frittata complete with burger meat and broccoli.

Lasagna 2.0

Chris opts to prepare what he names "a lasagna croquette," made with the lasagna filling and a fortune cookie coating. He adds, "I'm going to make a meat sauce," which will house the meat from the burger.

Lessons Learned

Although he's overseen countless Chopped battles, Geoffrey receives an unexpected lesson in the rules of the Chopped kitchen from Scott, who jokingly reprimands Geoffrey for utilizing the prep space of the workstation next to him, which Chopped chefs aren't allowed to do. "Look at the space you're taking up," Scott tells him. "Clean it up over here."

Well-Conceived

Once time is called, the group comes together to taste each other's finished dishes, and Geoffrey deems Scott's family-friendly frittata "a home run." Chris tells Scott of the latter's offering, "For the time that you had, that's a big portion."

Shining Sauce

The star of Chris' dish is his meat sauce, as Geoffrey explains: "The sausage and the tomato is like fat and vinegar. The combination is, like, fantastic." Ted adds, "What a great way to totally reimagine old lasagna."

Controversial Cookie

Host Ted is known for telling competitors that they can feature as much or as little of a mystery ingredient as they like so long as it's used. Geoffrey takes that knowledge to heart, featuring only the paper fortune in his sandwich, sticking it with a toothpick atop the bread wrapper. Scott praises Geoffrey for his use of capers, but Ted wonders about Geoffrey's use of the fortune, "Is that OK with you guys?" Ultimately, they agree to give him a pass.