[Robbie] I'm here to honor Tuscan cuisine.
[Pat] I've forgotten more about Italian cuisine
than a lot of people probably have learned.
[Sabrina] I am the queen of Emilia-Romagna.
[Antonello] This competition is
very personal to me.
[Ted] Which region will reign supreme?
We are putting the nation's best Italian chefs to the test.
Mamma mia, perfecto.
[Scott] The grand champion is going to walk away
with $25,000.
Bring it, baby. Bring it!
[Alex] It's not going to be enough
to just cook the best in the room.
It's not just what we cook.
-[speaking Italian] -It's who we are.
Can these chefs bring the brilliance?
[Antonello] They're gonna think that I'm crazy.
My apologies!
There are so many different ways you can really mess it up.
You realize that those flavors have
-nothing to do with each other? -Yeah.
Yeah, okay.
[speaking in Italian]
I don't know what that means.
Yes, baby, come to me.
[speaking in English] I think this basket bullied you.
[Alex] You've got 30 seconds!
-You're making a vinaigrette? -[indistinct]
[man] I think this is really where the magic of Italy meets
the harsh reality of Chopped.
[Ted] This is Chopped: Battle Italiano!
[Scott] You can't have modern Italian cuisine
without Emilia-Romagna.
[Shelby] There's a microclimate there
that just makes the produce incredible.
[Scott] You think of Bolognese,
you think of Tortellini in Brodo.
[Joey] The factory where they produce the Reggiano Parmesan is
a holy experience.
[Sabrina] When you sit down at a table in Emilia-Romagna,
it's coming home.
I am the queen of Emilia-Romagna.
I know what the judges want.
I live with one.
My husband is from Emilia-Romagna,
and in fact, he said,
"Don't bother coming home if you don't win."
It's very important for me to follow
what's already perfect.
I lived in Emilia-Romagna.
I spent a lot of time with the nonnas and the zias
making panini,
house-made breads,
house-made sauces, you name it.
When I know that I want something, I go for it.
I never do anything half-assed.
I'm gonna bring all of my knowledge,
all of my skills
to my other chefs.
[Napolitano] I am bulletproof in the kitchen.
My standards are super high.
I've lived in Italy.
I've worked in Italy,
living and breathing the cuisine of Emilia-Romagna
for nearly two decades.
I've loved this cuisine for so long
that I have this stamp
of the Consorzio del Prosciutto di Parma
tattooed on my neck.
I am absolutely psyched
to jump into this competition with both feet.
This is my passion,
and there's nothing that that basket can
give me that I'm afraid of.
[Shelby] They're gonna underestimate me.
They're just gonna see this smiley girl,
and they're not gonna see me coming at all.
Balanzoni time.
I was in Bologna for a year.
I'm a classically-trained Italian chef,
and I did my apprenticeship with Lidia Bastianich
and then worked my way up through those kitchens.
I kind of can play
with where I want to take Italian food.
Sometimes it's very traditional,
and sometimes I'm going off the deep end.
Emilia-Romagna has my heart.
Just like, fills my soul.
This is what I'm best at.
My family is Italian, Sicilian,
and they're obsessed with food.
So that got passed along genetically.
Italian cuisine is simple,
beautiful plates, honored,
not put into a machine and taken out with tweezers.
Put it right in there.
When I went to college in Emilia-Romagna,
I studied in a castle in Scandiano.
I became just enamored with the Reggiano Parmesan,
the balsamico from Modena,
the prosciutto di Parma.
It's all coming together.
I'm in my late 50s. This is it.
I got to punch this chance.
I got to land that punch.
-[Ted] Hello, chefs. -[Alex] Hello.
-[Scott] Hey, chefs. -Buon giorno.
[dramatic music playing]
Now, the four of you all share a reverence
for the incredible Emilia-Romagna region.
Food known as being hearty,
elegant, and diverse.
We can't wait to see your take on it.
Are you ready to demonstrate knowledge of that region?
-[Joey] Yes. -I was born for this.
- [Napolitano] Cento percento. -Of course.
The preliminary battles of this Battle Italiano tournament
each center around a specific Italian region.
Four winners will face off in the finale,
and one chef will win $25,000.
Well, let's find out what's inside these.
Open them up.
-Whoa! -[all exclaiming]
Okay.
[Ted] And you've got eel.
A classic of Emilia-Romagna.
Oh, my...
[Ted] Chard.
[Joey] This is awesome.
[Ted] Prosciutto.
What?
[Ted] And frozen lasagna.
Ingredient makings of a great dish.
This round is 20 minutes.
Time starts now.
[Shelby] Behind.
[Ted] Alex, Scott,
you are joined by a special guest judge,
a prominent Italian cuisine authority,
and the host of Ciao House on Food Network with Alex,
Chef Gabe Bertaccini.
-Welcome, sir. -Thank you, Ted.
Thank you, guys, for having me.
Yeah, I'm behind.
The Emilia-Romagna region is
a favorite for food history fans,
with cities like Parma,
birthplace of Parmesan cheese
and Bologna,
where pasta Bolognese come from.
You know, it's a very rich region,
and so with that comes products
like Parmigiano Reggiano, prosciutto.
In Parma, we have
the beautiful balsamic vinegar.
It's food that is very refined.
[Alex] Emilia-Romagna, big dairy region.
Isn't it a sign of wealth
to have cream or milk or Parmigiano-Reggiano?
Like, you don't have
cows hanging around all of Italy.
[Gabe] You're absolutely correct.
And that's not something you find traditionally
in the poorer South, right?
[Alex] These ingredients generally are
so a part of the fabric of American cooking.
But I think now this Chopped tournament is
taking them into the light and showing
what kind of nobility they actually have.
[Sabrina] This is exciting.
My first time working with eel.
At least they're not alive.
[Sabrina chuckling] That's true.
Sabrina, what are you making over there?
[Sabrina] An eel stew.
[Ted] Love that.
[Sabrina] This is a saltwater eel.
-[Ted] From the Adriatic. Yeah. -Right.
Fatty.
It's such a beautiful fat content.
[Gabe] And that's why it lends well
to actually a soup or stew.
I think Chef Sabrina
with the idea of a stew or soup,
I mean, she knows.
[Shelby] Coming down, behind.
[Sabrina] Brodetto is a fish stew
that's very typical
from the coastline of Emilia-Romagna.
I'm making a brodetto di anguilla
with chard,
prosciutto, and crostini.
I have onions and garlic.
I slice up the prosciutto,
which is gonna add some salinity.
The chard, that's gonna add some brightness.
I'm adding spicy peppers
to give it a little spike.
Typically, a brodetto will take two to three hours
to build all these flavors,
and I'm trying to do it in 20 minutes.
Looking good, looking good.
Let's go.
I love cooking eel.
I'm going to take it off of the bone.
I'm going to sear the skin,
and I'm going to braise it in balsamic vinegar,
to represent one of the classic ingredients
of the Emilia-Romagna region.
I'm making seared prosciutto,
blackened lasagna,
chard pesto,
and braised eel in balsamic vinegar.
Lasagna, when it's caramelized, is really flavorful.
As a kid, we used to all fight over
the burnt lasagna parts.
[Alex] Is Joey cooking bacon or pancetta?
[Gabe] No, I think that's the lasagna.
That frozen lasagna is frozen hard.
[Scott] Yeah, but you want to be able
to kind of rummage through
and pick out what you want to utilize inside of it.
I mean, it's really difficult.
Certain ingredients in Emilia-Romagna
that are revered,
Prosciutto di Parma is one of them.
One of the best prosciuttos in the world.
It's the leg of the pig. It's cured.
Very sweet, salty, has this umami flavor.
All right.
Prosciutto di Parma.
It's a gift and a curse,
because the best way to eat prosciutto is
just to eat it as it is.
Alex, what are we up to?
I am making
an eel and prosciutto frittata
with Swiss chard.
Okay.
[Napolitano] In Emilia-Romagna,
frittata is a perfect way to kick off a meal.
I'm rendering the prosciutto down
to extract some of that beautiful pork fat.
I put my prosciutto
and cheese from the lasagna,
eel, and Swiss chard mixture
into my eggs,
mix it up.
Open oven.
That Swiss chard is pretty big.
It's super lemony.
What would be the most Emilia-Romagna-y thing
that you could make?
In Emilia-Romagna, we actually use
chard as a roll.
[Shelby] At my first Italian restaurant,
I made sarma,
a stuffed cabbage roll, pretty often.
So I'm going to treat the chard the same way.
Shelby, how are we?
[Gabe] What are you making?
I'm making an eel and meat sauce sarma
with the Swiss chard.
-Love that. -[Scott] That's exciting.
[Shelby] So I start chopping up the eel,
and I throw it in a pot
with some red wine vinegar.
The fatty mouthfeel of the eel
with a little bit of the acid will go nicely
with the salty pork.
Cook my chard.
So I'm blanching the chard leaves
just to cook them a little bit.
I'm shocking them immediately in an ice bath,
sauteing some garlic and prosciutto together,
and then I'm adding the Bolognese filling.
Tastes like lasagna.
So I'm grabbing a can of tomatoes
to kind of cut
some of that saltiness from the frozen lasagna.
Five minutes to get it done, chefs!
[Shelby] I'm down behind.
[Joey] I checked my lasagna.
It's burning in the pan.
[Gabe] Look at the lasagna.
Great idea at the beginning and then burnt.
[Joey] I can't honor Emilia-Romagna
with blackened lasagna.
All of the hard work
and all the sweat that I put in in the 40 years
in cooking Italian food,
I don't want to just go to one appetizer
and get knocked out.
I have so much more to show the judges.
[Joey] I can't honor Emilia-Romagna
with blackened lasagna.
I want to get rid of it,
but the clock's ticking.
Do I want to change something that I don't like,
or do I just stay with what I have?
I think it'll be fine.
I'm going to leave it on the plate.
[Sabrina] No cheese in my stew.
The sauce from the frozen lasagna is
going to add a little bit of a denser tomato,
and I'm trying to cut it with my knife.
It's frozen solid.
I get through, but then trying to find
chunks of sauce
is a real challenge.
Chefs, three minutes on the clock.
[Sabrina] Heard, three minutes.
[Napolitano] I check my frittata in the oven.
Everything is setting up great.
Alex might have a good strategy.
You know, take those eggs
and kind of throw all the basket ingredients
into that frittata.
And it harmonizes. It makes a unified dish.
[Napolitano] And then I move on
to a very simple Swiss chard salad
with some prosciutto.
[Shelby] I'm gonna get my Sarma rolled.
I like the stuffed chard roll.
It feels very Emilia-Romagna.
[Shelby] I'm working on a little frisée salad.
Got my pine nuts toasting.
Adding that with parsley and lemon is very Italian.
[Joey] I'm going to make this beautiful chard salad
with just a basic oil and vinegar.
It's going to add relief to the saltiness
and the heaviness of the eel.
Woo!
Take the rest of the chard and make a chard pesto,
pine nuts and garlic and cheese.
A little over one left.
-Alex's frittata. -[Gabe] Look at that.
-[Alex] Nice! -That frittata actually looks
-really good. -[Scott] Wow!
-[Ted] That's beautiful. -[Scott] Alex, bravo.
Look at that!
[Sabrina] On top of the brodetto
as a finishing element,
I'm blending up some parsley with extra virgin olive oil,
but it's not coming together.
[Ted] 30 seconds, chefs.
-[Alex] Oh, my God. Sabrina's making a vinaigrette. -[Scott] In 30 seconds.
-[Ted] Right now. -You've got 30 seconds!
You're making a vinaigrette?
[Gabe speaking]
[Sabrina] It's getting very stressful,
and I'm struggling to get it on the plate.
[Ted] All right, wrap up the work, chefs.
Appetizers are due in ten,
nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three--
-[Scott] Let's go, chefs. -[Ted] ...two, one.
-Time's up. -[Scott and Alex] All right.
[Joey] You're amazing. You're amazing.
-[Napolitano] You killed it. -Frittata killer-boy.
[indistinct conversation]
[Joey] I'm up against some really tough,
great, talented chefs.
Their dishes look phenomenal.
I only hope that if I swing, it goes over the fence.
[Shelby] The concerns are definitely timing.
So normally, you have a lot more time
to make sarmas.
It usually simmers for about 45 minutes.
I hope I did Emilia-Romagna proud.
Chefs, you have arrived at the chopping block.
Your first Emilia-Romagna basket contained eel,
chard,
prosciutto,
and frozen lasagna.
Chef Sabrina, please tell us about your appetizer.
We have Brodetto di anguilla,
which is an eel stew.
Chef, you have feelings about Emilia-Romagna?
My heart is in Emilia-Romagna.
I lived there for five years,
and we just bought an apartment in Cesena,
which is my husband's hometown.
[Ted] That's fun.
Yes.
How do you think you Emilia-Romagna-ized the basket?
Brodetto di Pesce is
very common along the coast of Emilia-Romagna.
[Scott] Love the idea.
This Brodetto is spectacular.
I think the eel itself is cooked beautifully,
and that development of flavor that you got
from those onions and the prosciutto together
by sauteing them.
There's that beautiful texture of the Swiss chard.
Thank you.
And, you know, great usage of the lasagna.
You used the tomato part of it,
and it adds a nice little color.
You didn't overdo it, you know,
with too much tomatoes.
Very well balanced.
[Alex] If I'm nitpicking,
the brodetto has got a little grease on it
from the parsley sauce.
Next up, Chef Joey.
Well, it's sort of like insieme,
which is everything was connected.
I made seared prosciutto,
chard pesto,
and braised eel
in balsamic vinegar to stay connected to Emilia-Romagna
and the burnt lasagna.
Chef Joey, in this competition,
you kind of want to create the bite for us, you know,
because I'm not really finding the cohesion
that you're explaining to us.
That eel with the balsamic is very convincing.
Having worked in Emilia-Romagna restaurants,
there's versions of that that I've had in the past,
-and it's good. -Thank you, Chef.
[Scott] And I really like the flavor on that pesto.
There's a really good amount of garlic in it.
Yeah, but I don't really understand the lasagna.
By searing it, it ends up just tasting burned.
Okay.
Next up, Chef Alex.
I made an eel and prosciutto frittata
and a little Swiss chard and crispy prosciutto salad
on the side.
[Ted] What was your inspiration in doing this?
Well, as living and working in Emilia-Romagna,
I was the only foreigner.
So part of when I knew I had, like, made it is
when they let me make family meal.
-[Ted] Mm-hmm. -[Napolitano] And I made frittata.
[Ted] So they were suspicious of you
until you proved yourself?
They had to make sure
that the American knew how to cook.
Well, Chef, I got to tell you, this is delicious.
I think it's a great way to integrate
all those ingredients together.
But I'm not necessarily discerning
the eel inside the frittata.
[Alex] Yeah. Where's the cheese
from the lasagna?
Something about eggs.
Like, they're subtle, but they also...
-They're like... Yeah. -They cover it.
-They're like a quilt, you know? It's like... -[Scott] Mm-hmm.
[Alex] But I like the use of the chard.
[Gabe] Just like Scott say,
it's difficult for me to taste the eel,
the different elements, you know?
But I really love the salad.
I think it adds acidity
and the saltiness of the prosciutto.
I think it was a good use of the basket ingredients.
-Thank you. -[Ted] All right.
Finally, Chef Shelby.
I have prepared for you
a sarma
with an eel and prosciutto Bolognese filling
and a little frisée salad
with gremolata and pine nuts.
I used to make sarma when I was living in Bologna.
One of my closest friends from Bologna allowed me
to stay with his family for a year
and kind of stage all around.
[Scott] Wow.
That's a good friend.
He is.
Chef Shelby, the eel wrapped in the chard,
it's a really good idea.
And I love the addition of the nuts.
There is something here you're doing that's very Italian.
And I think you maybe took the wrong turn
with the lasagna.
You deciding to add
the San Marzano tomatoes on it,
and all I taste is tomato.
I think maybe grabbing a fresh tomato,
that would have really pulled away from the canned note
that already existed in the lasagna.
-You doubled down-- -Yeah.
[Alex] ...on something that ends up being
like a big bully in the schoolyard.
That Swiss chard, you didn't cook it long enough
in the boiling water.
And then by shocking it the way you did in that ice,
I feel like it really took away
a lot of the inherent flavor.
[Shelby] Based on the judges' feedback,
I didn't really represent the region or myself well
in this first round.
[Joey] I was trying to sear the lasagna,
and I burned it...
bad.
And that didn't go over with the judges.
Only three chefs get to keep cooking
in our Battle Italiano.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
[tense music playing]
[Ted] Chef Shelby, you've been chopped.
Chef, you know, you had a really great idea.
Unfortunately, we really feel
like the tomatoes got the best of you.
And also, that Swiss chard was just really watery
and it lost a lot of its flavor.
And unfortunately, Chef, that's why
we had to chop you.
Thank you.
-Good luck to you, Chef. Be well. -[Gabe] Thank you.
I'm bummed.
I'm disappointed.
I know I could have done better.
From this experience, I'm taking away
that I still have more to learn,
and that's the beautiful thing about food is,
like, you're never done.
You can always get better.
[Scott] You guys are cooking good food.
We're very passionate about all things Italian,
as you are, right?
And of course, we're judges, so we're going to critique.
But you all know what you're doing.
Whoever is going to win this thing needs
to crush this next round,
really bring it.
Keep making big, bold choices.
Thank you, chefs.
Chef Joey, Chef Sabrina, Chef Alex,
second basket is waiting for you.
[exclaims]
Whoa.
[Ted] You've got Bolognese potato chips.
[Napolitano] Bolognese chips.
[Ted] Dried porcini mushrooms.
Oh, yes.
Porcinis are a harvested, foraged mushroom
and are really a gem of Emilia-Romagna.
[Ted] Veal chops.
You don't have to do much to this.
[Ted] And balsamic vinegar.
This is a very special balsamic vinegar.
It's aged for a very long time.
It does not showcase well if it's heated.
This is a 30-minute test of your talents.
Clock starts now.
-[Scott] Come on, guys. -[Napolitano] All right, let's go.
-Go! -All right!
Right behind you.
[Gabe] The thing I'm really excited about is
the veal.
[Scott] When it comes to Emilia-Romagna,
I think you can do a scallopine.
[Gabe] I had some of the best veal Bolognese
in tagliatelle, in Emilia-Romagna.
And, you know, it's a white sauce with mushrooms,
little chips on top, a crunch, some balsamic.
[Alex] So, the Bolognese potato chip,
I guess, tomato and meat-sauce-flavored chip?
Kind of vinegar-y.
A little barbecue-y.
That Bolognese sauce is from Bologna.
[Joey] Tagliatelle Bolognese is
a famous dish of Emilia-Romagna.
We're making a veal Bolognese,
with tagliatelle
and a flavor bomb of ricotta,
porcini, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
To the flavor bomb, I chopped the rehydrated mushrooms,
trying to grab a little bit
of that energy of Emilia-Romagna
and the Bolognese
that's been made for hundreds of years
and incorporate it into my own interpretation of it.
[Sabrina] Did somebody grab the Parmigiano?
Thank you.
[Alex] What do you do with the dried porcinis?
I add them to stocks when I'm making risotto.
It'll add that smoky terroir depth.
[Gabe] Risotto in 30 minutes.
That's a real challenge.
-It can be done. -It can be done.
[Napolitano] The first thing that I think of
when I see dried porcini mushrooms
is risotto.
Executing a perfect risotto shows
the attention to detail
that I really want to highlight.
-Hi. -[Napolitano] Hi, Chef.
[Alex] Are you making risotto?
[Napolitano] I am making risotto. I'm doing it.
[Alex] What do we have? Arborio, white wine?
-Shallot, butter, white wine. -Dry porcini risotto?
-[Napolitano] Dried porcini with beef stock. -Beautiful.
And I'm just going to serve it with a roasted veal chops.
The porcini and the rice really say
Emilia-Romagna.
This looks beautiful.
I love it.
[Sabrina] I've had Braciole alla Bolognese,
a pork chop stuffed
with prosciutto Parmigiano
before in Bologna.
And it's typically breaded and fried.
I'm going to do a twist on that
to make Braciole alla Bolognese
with a porcini mushroom sauce
and lemon balsamic spinach.
[Joey] I'm making a tomato sauce
with shallot and rosemary
and whole tomato.
[Alex] Joey is making a Bolognese.
[Ted] Okay.
[Gabe] On that note, the real Bolognese
in Emilia Romagna, it's actually tomato-less.
It's a white Bolognese
and it has celery, carrots, onions.
And you're also starting
with the celery, carrot and onions.
Correct. You're not adding them at the end.
[Ted] That's the first thing you do.
That's my concern.
I think this balsamic that's on the table right now,
traditional balsamic vinegar,
maybe 75 years old.
They make this grape juice,
put it in barrels,
and then the barrel is decanted into smaller barrels
as it evaporates,
and it becomes more concentrated
and sweeter and so developed.
[Alex] My mother said, in Emilia-Romagna,
they used to wear necklaces
with the little vial,
and you would put it on your food.
The interesting thing would be
to see how they use this balsamic--
-[Scott] Yeah. -[Gabe] ...because it's a perfect ingredient
by itself.
That should go at the end of the dish,
a couple of drops,
and that's it.
-And then it's-- No heat. -[Ted] And no heat.
[Napolitano] Check my veal chops.
They're a nice medium rare.
Start basting it.
[Gabe] Chef Alex is just basting
the veal chop with balsamic and butter.
How do we feel about that?
Well, why don't you tell us how you feel?
I don't feel well about it. I don't think he should--
That's a finishing balsamic.
-Come over here. -It's just going to be acidic.
-Come here. -It's not going to be good.
-I love you. -Thank you. Thank you so much.
I love you. I love you.
[Sabrina] For the porcini mushroom sauce,
I chop up the mushrooms,
I sauté them with a whole clove of garlic,
and get those toasted.
And I'm adding some of the stock that I've created
with the porcini mushrooms and the veal,
and that's gonna help build the flavor.
I'm crushing the potato chips,
and those are gonna go into the broth to thicken it.
Five minutes to get it done, chefs!
[Alex] Do you notice how Alex is whipping
his rice so much to almost emulsify it all?
That wave is called all'onda.
You need that wave inside the risotto
so that you identify the right consistency.
If you're in a kitchen full of Italians
and they're making risotto,
you'll hear it yelled, "All'onda".
All'onda. Like the wave.
[Scott] Get it on the plate, chefs.
All right, get those plates in shape, chefs.
-[Sabrina] Heard. -[Ted] Ten,
nine, eight,
seven,
-six. -[judges exclaiming]
-[Ted] Five, four. -[Scott] Let's just get it done.
[Ted] Three,
two, one.
Time's up. Please step back.
[sighing] All right.
[Sabrina] I'm feeling pretty confident
about the dish,
but I'm worried about the texture
of the sauce.
I had to throw in the potato chips as a thickener,
so it's a little bit grainy,
but hopefully they can see through that.
[Napolitano] I think that both of my co-competitors are
strong chefs to beat.
I took the risk to make a risotto
because the reward of great risotto is worth it,
and I think that'll put me ahead of the competition.
Chefs, that Battle Italiano entree round saw you cooking
with Bolognese potato chips,
dried porcini mushrooms,
veal chops,
and balsamic vinegar.
Chef Sabrina, please tell us about your entree.
So I prepared a take
on the Braciole alla Bolognese.
It's stuffed with speck and Parmigiano.
It's a twist on a classic preparation
from Bologna.
[Scott] Chef, I feel like this is something
you would have on a menu
at a local trattoria
in Bologna.
This mushroom sauce,
the flavor from the porcini is great.
I like that little touch of balsamico on the plate.
There's an authenticity to it, which I appreciate and I like.
But this sauce is
a little over-reduced and broken.
I wish that that sauce would have
some sort of relief.
Even finish it with cream.
-Where is the potato chip, Chef? -[Sabrina] It's in the sauce.
-It's in the sauce. -[Scott] That's it.
That's the problem.
I saw that the sauce was reduced.
I added water at the end,
but it wasn't enough.
This is refreshing for me,
I think, to take a really noble cut of meat
and you really turned it around
into something completely different.
And I like the way you simply slid
a few ingredients
into the center of the veal
and let it speak for itself.
Thank you.
[Ted] Next up, Chef Joey.
It is a veal tagliatelle Bolognese.
[Alex] I get a taste
of those Bolognese chips in there
and the balsamic.
I think the mushrooms actually fared really well
in the way that you integrated them.
And ricotta contributes a creaminess.
Thank you, chef.
I'm really happy you got pasta here.
Tagliatelle is an iconic pasta shape
from Emilia-Romagna.
I appreciate it. Thank you.
I agree, and I keep eating it.
So, Joey, we saw you making the sauce.
And the base of any Bolognese
in Emilia-Romagna is
carrots, onion, and celery.
The caramelization is the first layer of it, right?
Then on top of that, you put some sort of meat.
[Scott] I agree. The steps that you took
to achieve this
could have been a little bit better, right?
But...
love the texture of the veal.
Thank you, Chef.
Finally, Chef Alex.
This is a veal and porcini risotto
with a balsamic-glazed veal chop
and some chips for texture.
I think you did a really good job here
with the risotto.
And I like the flavor.
I like the hint of the mushrooms.
Thank you.
The potato chips, great crunch.
I think that's fantastic.
I think great idea.
My biggest issue is
that the glazing your veal
with the balsamic, it's sacrilegious.
[dramatic music playing]
[Gabe] You know, you don't cook it down.
It's just not what you do.
It's a aged balsamic.
It's an expensive ingredient.
The key to success was restraint.
[Scott] Yeah.
The balsamic vinegar to the veal
tensed up this meat.
It's very tough, this veal.
And I think there could have been
an integration of that potato chip a little bit better.
Yeah. Yeah.
Thank you, chefs.
I'm feeling a little worse
than I was after the first round.
I took some risks
that maybe were a little unsound.
[Joey] Alex had a tough critique.
He used balsamic vinegar, which is really expensive.
You only just use little drops.
And he actually cooked with it.
And Gabe got pretty upset about it.
[Ted] Whose dish is
on the chopping block?
There's room in the dessert round
for only two chefs.
So...
whose dish is on the chopping block?
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ted] Chef Joey, you've been chopped.
Judges.
[Gabe] Chef Joey,
you know, you were very audacious
making veal Bolognese sauce,
something that usually stews for hours,
you know, in just 30 minutes.
We wish you would have started
the whole ragu with the mirepoix,
and that really would have developed flavors.
And so we had to chop you.
Thank you.
-Thank you, Chef. -[Joey] Thank you.
-[Alex] Good job. -[Joey] Good luck.
[Joey] Thank you.
I had a great time. No regrets.
I tried really hard,
and I gave my best effort,
and...
today wasn't my day.
Chef Alex, Chef Sabrina,
you've both done an excellent job keeping
this celebration of Italian cuisine exciting.
[Napolitano] Sabrina has the skills to pay the bills.
If I'm gonna win this, I need to nail the dessert rounds.
[Sabrina] Alex is a very strong chef,
and being able to execute very exquisitely,
that's going to be tough.
Here's your dessert basket.
Let's see what you got.
-[Sabrina chuckling] Oh, my God. -Whoa!
[Ted] And you've got
a Parmigiano-Reggiano chiffon cake.
Very well made, but very challenging.
A very dessert-y ingredient.
[Ted] Amarena cherries.
Amarena cherries are sour cherries
that have been candied.
[chuckling] Oh, my God, what am I supposed to do?
[Ted] A sugar pumpkin.
[Napolitano] Beautiful.
[Ted] And fennel.
This is going to be a very challenging round.
Full steam ahead for 30 minutes.
Clock starts now.
-[Gabe whoops] -[Alex] All right!
-[Ted] Go! -[Gabe] Come on, guys.
[Alex] Let's do this!
-Let's move it! -Bring it home.
[Alex] Battle Italiano!
[Alex] I think this basket is
really savory fundamentally, and hard.
[Napolitano] Right behind.
[Alex] My mom loved a cannoli cake,
and maybe I'd go get ricotta
and do, like, layers of ricotta
-and cherries-- -[Scott] Yeah.
...and pumpkin could be good.
[Napolitano] How's the cake?
[Sabrina] The cake is interesting.
A little bit savory, a little bit sweet.
I really felt in that first round
that Chef Sabrina went
typical Emilia-Romagna trattoria.
And then in the second round,
Alex made some pretty big mistakes
utilizing that balsamic the way he did.
In order for Alex to win this,
he's really got to crush it.
[Napolitano] Emilia-Romagna is the star
of the Italian culinary landscape.
And I've taught this cuisine to so many people
that it really is part of me.
And it would mean so much to me
to be able to represent Emilia-Romagna in the finale.
Chef Alex, what are you going to do with this basket?
I am going to make
a little candied fennel and sugar pumpkin.
Starting with some pine nuts and orange,
make a little zabaglione,
and dress some toasted shards of this cake.
The sweet anise flavor of the fennel
and the straight sugar vegetable flavor
of the pumpkin are going to harmonize well.
To balance out the mostarda,
I'm adding amarena cherries for sweetness,
as well as that sour flavor.
Sabrina, come stai?
I'm attempting to make
a zuppa inglese sbagliato.
[Gabe] Ooh.
That is mistaken English soup.
[Gabe] It's an English soup trifle.
It's a layered dessert, almost like a parfait.
[Sabrina] I will be layering chocolate fennel gelato
with a sugar pumpkin
and pistachio crema
and amarena crumble.
Emilia-Romagna, known for Parmigiano-Reggiano.
You know, it's a beautiful cheese.
Sweet and sour and salty
and tangy and funky.
In the shape of a cake,
it just takes a whole different meaning.
[Scott] It's dry and salty.
But Parmigiano-Reggiano, amarena cherries,
that's a great marriage.
Chefs, 14 minutes on the clock.
-14 minutes. -14 minutes, heard.
[Napolitano] Zabaglione is a light custard.
Get my egg yolks and put them in a bowl
with granulated sugar
and the amarena cherry liqueur.
[Scott] He's making a zabaglione?
Yeah, he's making zabaglione right there.
You've got to whip those eggs
-for so, so long. -[Gabe] Usually that's a whole other...
[Ted] If you walk away from that,
-you're going to have cooked eggs. -[Alex] You get an omelette.
-[Gabe and Alex] Yeah. -You don't need that.
[Napolitano] I know that I'm taking a huge risk,
but the payoff will be great.
[Scott] Fennel is one of those fabulous Italian ingredients.
It has a great,
really sweet anise flavor to it.
I would love to see this made
into some kind of gelato.
[Gabe] Oh, beautiful.
[straining] Okay.
-Five minutes to go, chefs. -[Napolitano] Five minutes.
[Sabrina] So the Amarena crumble is going
to fulfill the sponge cake element
of the traditional zuppa inglese.
The cake is a little bit savory,
so I know I can cover that up
with a little bit of the Amarena syrup.
[Napolitano] Whisking with one hand
and tossing the mostarda with the other hand,
so I don't have too many hands to go around.
[Sabrina] Not yet.
[Alex] Alex is in the double boiler.
That's a little hot for me.
It's too hot.
[Napolitano] My double boiler is a little bit too hot.
I'm feeling a little nervous.
I've never seen anyone
-actually make a zabaglione-- -[Gabe] Something else.
...that works in the Chopped kitchen.
I'm, like, so worried.
[Napolitano] If this zabaglione overcooks,
there's no going back.
[Napolitano] My double boiler is a little bit too hot.
[Scott] I've never seen anyone
-actually make a zabaglione-- -[Gabe] Something else.
...that works in the Chopped kitchen.
I'm, like, so worried.
I know that I only have
a few more minutes of whisking,
and I just have to double down
and finish.
Oops. [chuckling] It's not ready yet.
Every time I go back to check the gelato,
it's still not set.
And this is really, really wearing
on my nerves right now.
Behind.
I really want to make my friends and family proud,
so I have to get everything on the plate.
[Alex] 48 seconds left,
and she is in front of that ice cream machine,
sweating it out.
[Sabrina] I check on my gelato,
and it's finally ready.
Is the zabaglione done, Alex?
-Yes. -[Gabe] Yeah?
All right, final seconds of the final round.
-[Alex] Let's do this. -[Ted] Ten,
-nine. -[Scott] All right. Let's go.
-Chefs, let's get it done. -[Ted] Eight, seven.
-[Alex] Let's do this final push! Let's push it out. -[Ted] Six, five.
-[Ted] Four. -[Gabe] Let's go!
[Ted] Three,
two, one.
-[Ted] That's it. -[Gabe] Great job.
-All right. -Great job.
-[Sabrina laughs] -[Napolitano] Oh, yeah.
[Sabrina] Wow, that was definitely
the most nerve-wracking round,
checking the gelato all the time.
But in the end, it came out delicious.
Sabrina is a killer.
Right now, I think whoever wins is gonna win it by a nose,
and it's gonna hinge probably
on this round.
[Ted] Chef Sabrina and Chef Alex,
for the dessert round, we gave you
a Parmigiano-Reggiano chiffon cake,
a sugar pumpkin,
Amarena cherries, and fennel.
Chef Alex, what do we have?
All right, I made for you
a Parmigiano-chiffon cake
with a sugar pumpkin mostarda
and cherry citrus zabaglione.
The zabaglione is cooked perfectly.
You know, you're just a really good cook.
Thank you, Chef.
[Alex] The pumpkin is very artfully cooked.
And then you have the dried fruits
and the hint of cherry coming through.
I mean, I have to tell you, Chef,
that pumpkin fennel caramelization,
it's really something.
I'm eating the zabaglione
with this beautiful amarena.
-I think it's great. -[Scott] I agree.
But that Parmesan cake is really savory.
It has that Parmigiano funk,
which isn't helping you at all.
[Ted] All right.
Finally, we go to Chef Sabrina.
This is a mistaken version
of Zuppa Inglese Sbagliato,
which is chocolate fennel gelato
with sugar pumpkin and pistachio crema
and amarena crumble.
You know, you have so many great components here
that would have worked so much better
if it was like a trifle with layers.
-Okay. -[Alex] Yeah.
This isn't composed.
But the gelato has spectacular texture to it.
[Gabe] Chocolate fennel gelato,
it was delicious.
I like the sugar pumpkin
as the custard portion of a trifle.
I mean, so smart.
But the Parmigiano-Reggiano cake,
it's actually fairly salty.
This whole dish needs
some sort of relief in the sweetness.
Okay, you did right by Emilia-Romagna.
Please hold tight for word
on who has won a spot in the finale.
Thank you, chefs.
Judges, a culinary journey through Emilia-Romagna.
What was the most delicious stop
on the tour?
I really got excited by that first round.
-I felt like it was an invitation-- -Yes.
-Yep. -...to the region of Emilia-Romagna.
I think that round is
really where Chef Sabrina shined.
I mean, that Brodetto,
the flavors that she was able to develop
in such a short time were amazing.
I agree. Utilizing the prosciutto,
having that lasagna, and just using tomato
-didn't overwhelm the flavors. -[Gabe] I agree.
The brodetto was a little oily
because of the extra virgin olive oil.
Alex's frittata, I thought
that was clever gameplay.
But the eggs were kind of
ruling the roost.
And so eel and the lasagna took the back seat.
Yeah. What I really liked was the little chard salad
-with crispy prosciutto that he had. -[Alex] Yeah.
In the entree round I actually really liked
that Alex made a risotto.
[Gabe] I think it's great.
Where he lost me is
when he took the beautiful balsamico di Modena
and decided to glaze the veal chop.
It really seized up that veal,
and it became really, really tough.
So Chef Sabrina drizzled that balsamic
around the exterior of the plate,
and I think that was a really good place for it, honestly.
[Alex] I think Sabrina kind of made pasta
by turning the veal into a ravioli.
[Scott] The veal was really nice,
stuffed with Parmigiano-Reggiano.
And she utilized those Bolognese potato chips
to thicken that sauce.
And it just didn't work out
-to her advantage at all. -No.
-Yep. -The sauce was reduced
-way too much. -[Gabe] Very true.
[Napolitano] Right now, I'm feeling good
about my technical proficiency
in all three rounds.
I'm most proud of making
a perfectly-set zabaglione,
which is extremely difficult to do.
[Sabrina] It was great competing against Alex.
I think he's a great chef.
But I truly believe
that I am the one
who represents Emilia-Romagna the most.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ted] Chef Alex, you've been chopped.
Judges.
Alex, in your first round, the frittata was a great play.
But I think we were left hunting for that eel.
Your risotto was well made.
And it was such a bold risk.
But the veal was unevenly cooked
with that balsamic glaze.
And it just really didn't come together as a dish.
And so we had to chop you.
I understand. Thanks a lot.
It was a great day.
- Grazie mille, Chef. -[Napolitano] Thanks a lot.
[Napolitano] The best part about being on Chopped
has been cooking alongside other chefs
that are passionate
about the same thing I'm passionate about,
regional Italian cuisine
and the cuisine of Emilia-Romagna.
No regrets.
[Ted] And that means, Chef Sabrina Tinsley,
you are the Chopped champion.
-[Ted] Congratulations. -[in English] Well done.
[Sabrina whoops]
You will return for our Battle Italiano finale
as one of four culinary virtuosos vying
for the $25,000 grand prize.
[Sabrina] I made it to the finale.
I'm feeling a sense of pride
because I'm representing the region
that I'm so passionate about.
And I really think
Emilia-Romagna is the best region in Italy.
-[Gabe] Yeah. -[Ted] Thank you, Chef.
[Sabrina] Nothing is going to get in my way
of earning that $25,000.
[Gabe] There are so many different ways
you can really mess it up.
Holy cow.
[Josh] I am born ready for the Battle Italiano.
[Pat] Veneto was on the main stage today.
Mama mia. Perfecto.
-[Alex] What are you doing? -Oh, my God, look at that.
-[Alex] What are you doing? -Oh, no.
That was a huge mistake.
Looks cooked.
This basket bullied you.
I'm gonna be platin' tootin' in about 35 seconds.
[Scott] What we're seeing here is the Tuscan dream
meets the Chopped kitchen.