Chopped!

This past Saturday, Andy and I hosted a "Chopped" party. What is a chopped party you say? Well its a party in the theme of the fun "Chopped" show on the Food Network.

When we sent out the invitation for the party, we gave a list of ingredients that the attendees needed to make up a dish with.  Our list was : Spinach, Basil, Citrus, Salmon, Goat Cheese, Siracha, Chocolate

The dishes that were made needed to include at lease 4 of the ingredients.

We had 5 dishes, and surprisingly enough nobody brought anything similar. We had each couple "plate" their items, because you know presentation is part of the judging criteria. Then we dug in.

Our first dish was a crustless quiche that Nathania made. It included goat cheese, spinach, siracha, and basil. It was accompanied by toast and a butter that included basil and siracha.

This was our only Salmon dish of the night. It was a quinoa cake that included siracha. The cake was topped by goat cheese with cracked black pepper, salmon marinated in lemon, and a lemon wedge.  It had a good kick, but was oh so good.

A tasty pesto was also part of the evening. It included spinach, basil, lemon and was topped by some crumbled goat cheese. It also had some sundried tomatoes and garlic. It was yummy.

The most involved dish award goes to our friends Carissa and Kevin, who brought a chicken dish that was served over a bed of rice, with warm spinach and goat cheese. They also had lemon and basil in the dish. Carissa even went the extra mile and brought her own presentation plates!

Our contribution to the night was a dessert. I made a crusty cookie wafer thing with chocolate, butter, graham cracker crumbs, and some chopped pecans. I added some sugar and lemon to a marscapone and goat cheese layer to make it sweet, and then I topped it with raspberries and some fresh cut basil. It was tasty.

Now, I'm sure you're all dying to know who won right?

We decided to have two winners. First the Chopped champion, determined by Andy and I, and then a peoples choice award, in which everyone voted.

Our peoples choice award was given to....

Carissa and Kevin with the Rice and Chicken dish.

And our overall Chopped Champion went to Krista and Kevin with the Salmon Quinoa Cakes.

Apparently to win you have to have a significant other whose name is Kevin...

The party was super fun, and a silly excuse to get together with some friends.

What did you do this weekend?

 

Sarah