[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, perfetto.
[Scott] The grand champion is going to walk away
with $25,000.
Bring it, baby. Bring it!
[Alex] It's not gonna 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 apology!
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 know what that means.
Yes, baby, come to me!
I think this basket bullied you.
[Alex] You've got 30 seconds!
-You're making a vinaigrette? -Keep it together.
[Gabe] I think this is really where
the magic of Italy meets
the harsh reality of Chopped.
[Ted] This is Chopped:
Battle Italiano!
[Josh] When you're in Puglia, you know you're in Puglia.
All these beautiful seafoods
that you can't really get anywhere in the world.
[Preston] Puglia does something better
than most parts of Italy.
[Mario] It reaches these backgrounds
of thousands of generations.
[Antonello] The kind of cuisine that I did
with my grandmother when I started cooking.
I was only eight years old.
[Preston] I couldn't be more excited.
I've always loved cooking.
When I turned 10, I asked for Emeril Lagasse's
new set of pots and pans.
I grew up fishing.
I've got a strong connection to the water,
which is something that Puglia is known for.
My style of cooking is
using classic ideas from all over the world,
but using pre-Michelin techniques
to help elevate those.
I've got this competitive drive
that I've taken with me through division one sports.
I've got this three-Michelin star classical training in food.
Those together is going to make me quite a threat.
Are you ready?
Nobody is going to have
the eye for detail that I have.
Nobody's going to have the drive that I have,
because I hold myself to a standard
that most chefs don't hold themselves to.
My style of cooking is very rustic,
in-your-face bold flavors.
My father was born
in the southern region of Italy,
and Puglia stood out to me
because you can eat in Puglia today
and see
how a grandmother lived 100 years ago.
These chefs are never going
to see me sweat in the kitchen.
I'm going to come in, and I'm going to just cook.
[Josh] I am born ready for the Battle Italiano.
A lot of my dishes are inspired by seafood
and all of the fresh pastas which you find in Puglia.
Puglia is one of the most interesting parts of Italy.
They have the longest coastline in Italy,
so they're mostly shellfish and seafood.
Working in Nolita,
the biggest concentration
of Italian restaurants in New York,
has given me the opportunity to really immerse myself
in the original cultures of Italian cuisine.
[Antonello] Traditional, traditional, traditional.
I repeat this three times
because I love only traditional cuisine.
Pay attention, okay?
This competition is very personal to me.
I lived in Puglia for 41 years.
It's not for money.
It's not for the show. It's not to be on TV.
It's very personal.
I think these other chefs, maybe, you know,
they can do their best.
They are amazing chefs.
I'm pretty sure they are.
But I am Puglia.
Ciao, chefs.
-[Josh] Hello. -[Mario] How are you?
-What's up? -Ciao.
Thank you for joining our Battle Italiano.
-Oh, yeah. We're here to crush it. -Absolutely.
Prontissimo.
The four of you share a passion
for an incredible Southern Italian region,
Puglia,
known for its beautiful farm-fresh,
and coastal ingredients.
Now, the preliminaries
of this Battle Italiano tournament
each focus on a specific Italian region.
Four winners representing
each of those regions face off in the finale.
And somebody will win $25,000.
I think my name's already on the check.
I accept cash. I am Italian.
Let's find out if you can do Puglia proud
with whatever you find in these.
Open them up!
And you've got an octopus sandwich.
[Preston] This is amazing.
-[Ted] Broccoli rabe. -[sighs]
[Mario] Rapini, hell yeah. Perfect Puglia.
And my favorite. Yeah.
[Ted] Mussels.
[Antonello] Mamma mia.
This is heaven.
-[Ted] And olive oil frosting. -Olive oil frosting?
I don't think I've ever seen
an olive oil frosting in Puglia before.
Perfect. Wow.
That is Puglia. Proper.
This is the best basket ever.
The very short 20-minute first round starts...
-now. -[Alex whoops]
-[Scott] Let's go. -Come on, guys!
-[Alex] Let's do this! -[Scott] Let's go!
[Josh] Behind, behind, behind.
Alex, Scott, you're joined by a special guest,
Italian cuisine authority and host of Ciao House
on Food Network with Alex, Chef Gabe Bertaccini.
-Welcome, Gabe. -Thank you for having me.
What makes the cuisine of Puglia stand apart
from the three other regions in this tournament?
You are at the heel of the boot.
You know, you have fishermen coming off
the porto every morning, throwing the fish.
The ingredients in these baskets really speak
to Puglia as a whole.
-The mussels and the octopus. -[Ted] Mmm.
[Scott] You can even use the bread
with that octopus sandwich.
And broccoli rabe, I mean, there's just nothing better.
[Alex] After traveling for Ciao House,
I really think my heart belongs in Puglia.
I'd like to get transported a little bit
by the choices these chefs make.
I want to feel a little bit like
-we are in Puglia. -[Gabe] Yeah.
[Antonello] I worked in some of the best restaurants,
but I have to tell you something.
The best experience was
with my grandmother and my mum,
because they were the best chef
I have ever met in my life.
Chef Antonello.
-Yes. -What are you building?
-What are you making? -[Antonello] Allora,
we call this impepata di cozze in Bari.
It's a cozze...
-Mussel-- -[Antonello] Black mussel soup--
-[Scott] Yeah. -[Antonello] ...that we do
with tomato, garlic,
a little bit of peperoncino.
I'm combining with the octopus
because we do also Polpo alla Luciana
that is done in the same way.
When you go on the beach, there is the man
that grill the octopus and put in a sandwich,
and you eat just right there.
It's very good.
Polpa alla luciana is just octopus with parsley,
-fresh tomato. - [Mario] Coming down. Back.
[Antonello] To break the acidity of tomato,
you need to use sugar or milk.
In this case, I will use the olive oil frosting.
[Alex] So, the olive oil frosting is
like a buttercream frosting.
-[Scott] Yeah. -[Alex] So it's rich and fluffy,
but it is fruity.
[Mario] I'm going to use the olive oil frosting,
butter,
and shallots to make an emulsion.
-[Scott] Chef Mario. -[Mario] Yes, sir.
[Scott] What are you building, Chef?
[Mario] I'm going to call it a village stew.
So I'm taking all the ingredients.
I'm going to add the octopus right in at the end.
Beautiful.
[Gabe] Let's talk about polpo,
the octopus.
I mean, such a beautiful ingredient.
You could take the octopus,
a little bit of olive oil, a little bit of garlic,
it's already done.
By the way, you could have made a chilled seafood salad here.
Like an octopus carpaccio, sliced down,
and then use that olive oil frosting
to sweetness.
[Josh] Normally in Puglia, their first course is crudo,
or raw sliced fish.
So I definitely want to move in that route
with the ingredient.
Coming down the back. Coming down the back.
-[Scott] Chef Josh. -[Josh] Yes.
[Scott] What are you building, Chef?
[Josh] I'm going to make a traditional dish
called Polpo in Saor.
So I'm going to use some mussels
and some octopus
and cook them in a garlicky chili vinegar sauce.
-Beautiful. Yeah. -That sounds delicious.
Coming back down.
Polpo in saor is a traditional kind of Southern Italian sauce
that they use to mask old seafood.
I could highlight this basket
with a very rich, aggressive, poignant, acidic sauce
with a ton of vinegar.
-[Scott] Chef Preston. -Hi, Chef.
What are you building, Chef?
[Preston] We're doing some steamed mussels,
a little bit of octopus in nduja broth,
and a crostini
of the whipped olive oil frosting
and a little bit of ricotta.
Nduja is an uncured Calabrian pork sausage
that adds a really nice depth of flavor to mussels.
To build this broth,
I'm going to break down the shallots and garlic.
And then I add the mussels, put a lid on it,
and continue building those layers of flavor
that I'm looking for.
[Antonello speaking Italian]
Chefs, you got 8 minutes left!
-[contestants] 8 minutes, Chef. -Eight minutes.
-Plenty of time! -All right. Make it happen.
[Mario] As a nod to Puglia, I'm going to insert
some chilies into this stew
to give it that spice that the Puglians love.
Ooh! That's spicy.
It would mean the world to me to represent Puglia.
My father was born down there.
I have an understanding
of the people in Puglia, the cuisine, the food.
[Scott] The real technique of broccoli rabe is
called affogato, which is "drowned."
When you get it from someone's nonna,
it's got to be falling apart,
like, you could puree it.
[Antonello] I'm going to make a pesto rapini
because, honestly, I don't see
any broccoli rapini boiled inside my soup.
I mean, the judge,
they're going to think that I'm crazy.
Chefs, you have just 4 minutes left
-on the clock. -[Preston] 4 minutes, Chef.
4 minutes, 4 minutes.
If you see, Chef Josh just took hot vinegar
-and poured it in the bottom of the bowl. -[Gabe] Yep, yep.
But you smell that vinegar, right?
-[Gabe] Oh, my God. So much. -I mean, that's going to permeate
-everything on that plate as well. -[Gabe] Yeah.
[Scott] It permeates the air.
-That's concerning. -Oh, this is very concerning.
[Josh] So I try my garlic chili flake vinegar sauce,
and it's a little bit on the sour acidic side.
-[Mario] Coming back. -[Josh] Time's ticking away pretty quickly.
If I am not able to fix this,
it's something that's going to get me chopped.
[Mario] Coming down the line. Back.
Back.
[Josh] When I notice that the sauce is
sitting a little bit on the acidic side,
my first thought is
I need something sweet to balance it out.
[Preston] Coming down. I'm fine.
[Scott] Chef Josh piping that frosting
directly inside that vinegar,
that's concerning.
[Mario] Back. Back.
I take a look at my competitor dishes.
I see this frosting all over the place.
But, you know, it's...
maybe the judges, they like it.
[Gabe] Antonello is going rustic, Puglian style.
[Antonello speaking Italian]
And then Chef Josh,
high-end finesse, you know,
-modern-style cooking. -[Scott] Yeah.
[Antonello speaking Italian]
I have a lot of time.
[Alex] Antonello is kind of like how I imagine
Gianni Versace in the '70s.
He's got this man of mystery
and pepperoncini.
Chefs, you have a single minute to get this done.
[Scott] One minute left, chefs. One minute.
[contestants] One minute.
[Scott] Get it done. Let's go.
Make sure you taste everything,
looks pretty.
[Preston] The stock is reduced.
I really like the flavors,
but I notice there's not a lot of broth left.
So I just grab the vegetable stock
to hopefully give me something that I can scoop and serve.
[Antonello] I have the plate already done there,
and I'm waiting that they finish.
They are so slow.
-Behind. -My stew, I think it needs a fresh component to it.
The quickest thing I saw was a orange.
[Ted] Chefs, it's the end of the first round.
Crunch time.
Ten, nine,
-eight, seven... -[Scott] Let's get it done, chefs.
-Come on, guys! -[Ted] ...six...
-What happened? Let's do this. -[Ted] ...five,
-four, three... -[Alex] Come on!
[Ted] ...two, one.
Time's up.
-[Alex] All right. -Yeah, great job.
[sighs]
That 20 minutes was tough, huh?
Yeah.
I'm excited for the judges to taste,
like, a different approach to flavor
than I think what the other chefs did.
So I'm excited to see
if those risks will pay off for me.
[Mario] Worried about my competition.
I wish I could have done
something a little bit more elegant than a stew,
but stews represent Puglia perfectly.
[Ted] Chefs, you have arrived at the chopping block.
You've made appetizers
inspired by the Puglia region of Italy
from an octopus sandwich,
broccoli rabe, mussels, and olive oil frosting.
Chef Preston, what did you make?
It is some steamed mussels
with an Nduja and octopus broth
and a crostini with whipped ricotta
and a little bit of that olive oil frosting.
What's your connection to Puglia?
[Preston] I worked on yachts.
We were based just right across the way from Puglia.
And we spent quite a bit of time
inside of Puglia as well.
And it's one of the areas of Italy
that I fell in love most.
[Gabe] You know Italian cooking.
You know exactly how to use Nduja with cozze.
You know, there is a funkiness,
and then you have that hint of, like,
oh, Adriatic sea from the mussel.
[Preston] Thank you, Chef.
Did you cut the octopus up?
-Yeah, Chef. Yeah, Chef. -[Gabe] Very small, or?
'Cause I don't have any.
[Alex] I do have some, yeah. Very little.
Do you have octopus?
I'm looking for it right now.
I don't have any.
Oh, here's some.
It's, like, really on the bottom,
-all chopped up. -[Gabe] Mm.
[Alex] It's really soulful
and hearty without being heavy,
but add more of what was in the basket.
Yes, Chef.
The mussels are cooked perfect.
-I think there's always-- Yeah. -They really are, aren't they?
I think you used too much vegetable broth in here,
and you lost a lot of that beautiful essence
of what the mussels are.
-Yes, Chef. -[Ted] Chef Josh.
I made a vongole and polpo in saor.
So it's a traditional Puglian dish.
So they're using a really vinegar-based sauce.
I've been working in Italian restaurants.
We do these regional wine dinners,
and Puglia is one of the regions
that we focus on a lot.
[Alex] Mussels were beautifully cooked,
and I think that really speaks to Puglia.
That speaks to the freshness.
Yeah, Chef.
Look what you give us. You know, almost fine dining,
small little pieces, kind of very curated dish.
And then that vinegar.
I mean, I'm like a big vinegar guy,
but we need some relief.
I think it's just-- it's a little too much.
Yes, Chef.
[Gabe] I think that was a miss
with the olive oil frosting
and also with the broccoli,
but very innovative and beautiful plated.
Thank you, Chef.
-You got a lot going on in this dish. -[Josh] Yeah.
It's just a little hard on the vinegar.
I like the super sour, like...
attachment to seafood.
[Scott] And I get that,
but I think that everything has
to identify that balance.
-Yes, Chef. Thank you. -Chef Mario.
So this in front of you is a Puglian village stew.
Very spicy.
Put a little rapini salad on the side
with lemon and malt and salt.
I can see the spirit of Puglia in this.
Your broth is wonderful, really delicious.
[Mario] Thank you, Chef.
Your mussels are cooked beautifully.
I like the broccoli rabe inside the brodetto.
I don't like
the usage of the orange zest
because it becomes
almost like this backdrop of a creamsicle
or children's aspirin.
And where's the olive oil frosting in here?
So I made like a beurre monté
with the olive oil frosting and shallots.
[Alex] Great sauce.
You made frosting disappear
-in your dish seamlessly. -[Scott] Yeah.
[Gabe] You actually cooked down the broccoli.
I say, in Italy, we cook vegetables perfectly,
and then 50 minutes more.
Where did you discover your passion for cooking?
I lost my mother when I was 16.
My mom was from the north of Italy,
so she was very pretentious, very "Champagne this."
Not knowing what I wanted to do in life.
My mom cooked. I cooked with my mother.
So let me get into cooking.
So there was a little fine-dining restaurant
right up the road.
Learned everything, became a lead,
and moved on from there.
-Well, I'm sorry for the loss, Chef. -Thank you.
Next up, Chef Antonello.
-Ciao. -Buongiorno.
Allora, I made
an impepata di cozze alla luciana.
So it's a cross
in between two traditional recipes
from Puglia.
We don't add so many ingredients
usually in Puglia.
On fish, especially when it's fresh, okay?
Because we don't want to contaminate those flavors.
[Gabe] Chef, you are from Puglia,
-clearly. -Yes.
-And where in Puglia? -[Antonello] I lived there 41 years.
Provincio di Bari, Putignano.
I started to cook
when I was eight because I had two choices.
One, wake up at 5:00 a.m.
and go to work the land with my grandfather.
Or wake up at 8 o'clock and cook with my grandmother.
So I like to sleep. So basically,
that how I started to cook.
[Gabe] Antonello,
[speaking in Italian]
[in English] I want more of that broth. You know?
[speaking in Italian]
Right? I want more of that broth.
It's just so good.
Great mussel.
Amazing use of the broccoli rabe.
I love that you just made pesto,
and it worked for you.
Grazie mille, Chef.
[Alex] You put the shell
halfway in your mouth to get that meat,
and then you get the other flavors.
It doesn't feel like a Chopped basket.
It just feels like a plate of food
that I would sit down and eat.
There's a certain elegance to this.
I love the broccoli rabe pesto that you have over the top.
It really did maintain its beautiful green color.
[in English] Yes, Chef.
[Preston] Overall, I feel pretty good.
But cutting that octopus into smaller pieces
kind of hid it in that broth that I made.
[Mario] Everything was really good,
except for putting the stupid orange zest on top.
So I wish I could have gone back
and not put the orange zest on top.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
[exhales]
[Ted] Chef Josh, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef Josh, ultimately it came down to the vinegar.
The dish became too acidic to be enjoyed.
Because of this reason, you have been chopped.
Thank you. Thank you guys so, so much.
Even though I'm not moving forward in the competition,
I think this is just one stepping stone
in a really long, expansive career for me.
Chef Preston, Chef Mario,
Chef Antonello, dive into these baskets.
Go for it.
[all exclaiming]
Whoa.
This is going to be rough.
[Ted] You've got Assassin's spaghetti.
[Antonello] Spaghetti all'Assassina.
It's a special pasta that we do.
[Ted] You also have eggplant.
[Mario] Eggplant, the vegetable of Puglia.
Yes, sir.
[Ted] Lampascioni.
[Antonello] Lampascioni,
the worst ingredient you could give me.
Very sour.
[Ted] And leg of lamb.
Leg of lamb
in 30 minutes?
[blows raspberry]
[Antonello] Let's see how we can manage
these ingredients.
[Ted] Half an hour to make main dishes.
-Clock starts now. -[Scott] Let's go, chefs.
-Let's go. -Let's do it.
Can I get a meat grinder, please?
Please, the meat grinder?
[Mario] Leg of lamb is one of those ingredients in Puglia
that they braise for 24 hours.
You have to grind it.
There's no way I'm searing it in a pan
and getting it tender enough.
[Ted] Well, judges, Puglia is known for its seafood,
but they also grow plenty of vegetables,
such as eggplant, and they braise a lot of lambs.
[Gabe] As soon as you just drive like 30 minutes in,
the cuisine completely changes
to a more mutton man,
you know, shepherding sheep.
[Scott] That is a very specific countryside cuisine.
We want that love of the ingredients
with the spirit of Puglia inside these dishes.
[Mario] I'm taking a very modern approach
to this dish.
I'm going to grab some cream,
garlic, and a little bit of saffron
and make a steeped cream.
Saffron's probably never been in Italy,
but will go together to where you're like,
"What is that weird flavor in here?"
Mario, what are we doing?
So it's going to be spaghetti
with, my parents used to call it crusted lamb
or crusted meat.
I'm going to char the lamb super, super hard,
add that with saffron cream,
and then I'm going to make a eggplant pan sauce over here.
Saffron? Okay.
You realize that those flavors have
-nothing to do with each other, right? -Yeah.
-Yeah, okay. -[Alex] Or Italy, I might argue.
This is going to be either, like, a success
or just, like, a full-on dive.
[Preston] First thing that comes to mind is
using fresh cavatelli,
something that's found just about everywhere in Italy, including Puglia.
I'm making cavatelli with a lamb ragout
and sweet and sour eggplant.
This leg of lamb, it's really, really lean.
I'm gonna grab some pancetta
to hopefully add some fat.
I'm adding vegetables to this meat grinder
to quickly get all of these ingredients into a pot
so I have more time on the heat.
I plan on masking some of that gaminess
with a little bit of mascarpone cheese.
[Antonello] This basket present
a lot of complication.
The only thing that is pretty normal is the eggplant.
[Scott] Who doesn't love eggplant?
I always have these memories
of my grandparents making caponata
-and things of this nature. -[Gabe exclaims]
But there are so many different ways
you can really mess it up.
It absorbs. It's a sponge.
[Alex] And terrible if undercooked.
-[Gabe] I agree. -[Alex] It's like--
it's like chewing on someone's shirt.
I agree.
[Antonello] I'm making a traditional lamb ragout
with crunchy eggplant on top.
Antonello, what are you doing with the eggplant?
Allora, I wanna do a crunchy part on the plate,
so I wanna fry the eggplant.
I don't like to use the fryer.
I am an old-fashioned Italian, you know?
I found my new boyfriend. I found him.
I need that it's crunchy, you know?
I don't know what he said. I don't care.
[Scott and Alex] It doesn't matter.
[Antonello] I feel a lot of pressure
being the only chef from Puglia,
because it's Puglia competition.
If I lose, that is my scary.
[Ted] Chefs, you've got 10 minutes to get it done.
I don't know how many Americans are familiar
with lampascioni.
It's a very specific onion from the south of Italy.
It's like a pickled, bitter onion.
Really yummy as aperitivo,
but fairly easy to integrate.
The flavors are...
they're right there.
Puglia is very, very traditional.
They're stuck in their ways,
but I think that food can be elevated.
[Preston] I'm going to tamper down
the really harsh lampascioni
by making an agrodolce
for my sweet and sour eggplant.
[Ted] He's reducing the onions in vinegar?
-Yep, balsamic vinegar. -[Scott] Oh.
[Alex] And Antonello just added
a tablespoon of sugar
to a bowl with those onions
-and is just letting them sit there. -[Gabe] Interesting.
The lampascioni was sitting there
to take out all of the acidity and the sour.
[Gabe] Chef Antonello, he's just so calm.
-[Alex] You know, like, you're in the kitchen. -[Gabe] What's going on?
[Scott] I'm waiting to see Antonello
with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
[indistinct conversation]
"Hello, the ragout will be done in 30 minutes, all right?"
-[Scott] That's right. -"We'll be back."
-[Scott] That's right. -[Ted] All right, chefs, you have five minutes.
[Gabe] Five minutes.
-[Alex] Assassin's Spaghetti-- -[Gabe] Yeah.
[Alex] ...which is essentially
the pasta, raw, cooked in the sauce.
I mean, do you make spaghetti with spaghetti on it?
[Scott] I'll tell you what I would make.
I would make a frittata.
I would sauté some of that eggplant,
mix it with that pasta, add an egg,
and then create a little bit of a tart.
[Gabe] Chef Preston is actually frying
the spaghetti all'assassina.
I think this is really where the magic of Puglia meets
the harsh reality of Chopped.
[Ted] Two-minute warning, chefs.
[Antonello] I'm going to take the spaghetti all'assassina,
I'm going to blend them with another little bit of tomato sauce
so I can make the thickness
of the ragout.
It must be so hard as an Italian for him to do
-what he's doing. -[Ted] 30 seconds, chefs.
[Mario] I'm using the spaghetti assassin
as the actual spaghetti in this dish
because it was perfectly undercooked.
So a nice 30 seconds in this hot ragout,
and it'll be perfect.
-Let's do this! Finish strong. -[Scott] Let's go, guys.
[judges cheering]
-[Gabe] Come on. -[Ted] Wrap it up, chefs.
Your entrees are due
in ten, nine,
eight, seven,
-six, five-- -[Alex] Come on. Let's do this!
-Come on. Let's go. -[Ted] ...four,
-three, two-- -[Gabe] Last finish touches.
-[Ted] ...one. Time's up. -[Alex whoops]
-Wow. -[Gabe] Great job. Wow.
What a finish.
[speaking Italian]
A little harder than the first one, huh?
[Antonello] I tried to give
some Puglia vibe on my dish
because I wanted the judge feel
the traditional Puglia cuisine.
[Mario] The saffron going into the cream is
not traditional at all, but it's a Puglia dish.
I set myself aside from the other two chefs.
Chefs, you've made entrees using
Assassin's spaghetti,
eggplant, lampascioni,
and leg of lamb.
Chef Antonello, please tell us about your dish.
I made a traditional lamb ragout
with crunchy eggplant.
Chef, I saw you take that spaghetti all'assassina
and puree it with the tomatoes.
Did that break your heart?
-Honestly, yes. -[Scott] Yeah.
[Antonello] But if I have used
-those spaghetti like spaghetti-- -[Scott] Yeah.
I would have not respect myself
for the rest of my life, honest.
[Scott] You did a good job hiding it.
The lamb is cooked beautifully.
It has a nice amount of tomatoes inside,
so that sweet acidity is working very nicely.
The lampascioni, I don't mind the bitterness.
The problem is we get a big chunk of it,
and it's just--
it's like getting a raw garlic clove.
But I think you have a way of taking a Chopped basket
and making it feel like regular cooking.
Thank you, Chef.
There's something oddly familiar
about this dish.
It's like being invited to my grandmother's kitchen
on a Sunday, and, "Here you go, Gabriele."
My biggest concern is
you had this idea of crispy eggplant,
but what happened is
because they were cooked
or "fried" past the point,
it really-- it's a lot of oil
that doesn't have a good flavor.
Next, Chef Mario.
So, growing up,
my grandmother always told me if you do a pasta,
everything should live inside your pasta.
So I did spaghetti all'assassina
with charred lamb ragout.
You did create something very cohesive.
The cream really kind of chilled out
a lot of the flavors.
I think it takes care of the bitterness
of those lampascioni onions.
So I think it worked well for you in that regard.
But there's a little bit of a contradiction
that happens here for me.
The lamb and the saffron and the mint take me in one direction,
and then those other flavors
from the basket take me in another.
So it's almost like there's a little bit of a divide.
I think that the consistency of the ragout,
it's really good.
You know, but I think this basket bullied you.
You went a little North African,
North Italy,
then you went down back to Puglia.
That cream kind of helped you out.
But also, Italian cuisine,
it's not just what we cook,
-it's who we are. -Yes, Chef.
[Scott] Mario, at first glance, this dish looks like
something you would get from an Italian nonna.
It's rustic and beautiful.
But...
you don't put saffron and cream together
and call it Pugliese.
-It doesn't work. -Yes, Chef.
Finally, Chef Preston.
This is a lamb ragout with sweet and sour eggplant.
I think that you achieved something good with the lamb
in such a short amount of time.
Thank you, Chef.
With the mascarpone,
it almost becomes like creamed lamb.
Thank you, Chef.
[Gabe] It's really yummy. The spaghetti all'assassina,
you made this crunch,
which I like.
-So, nice play on that. -Thank you, Chef.
That eggplant is...
kind of similar to the onion,
where it's just really cooked down.
When you cook caramelized sugar,
-it becomes bitter. Right? -Okay.
So that kind of doubled down the bitterness.
-Yes, Chef. -You know, otherwise,
-a good job. -Thank you, Chef.
The eggplant and the onions were a little bitter.
Antonello is a force to be reckoned with.
I think it's either me or Mario.
[Mario] I definitely think I could be on the chopping block.
It's very challenging in making a dish
that would make Puglia proud, make you stand out,
and also something that's unique to yourself.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
[suspenseful music playing]
[dramatic music playing]
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
[Ted] Chef Mario, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef Mario, we love your passion for food,
but adding saffron took us far, far away
from Italian cooking,
and so we had to chop you.
Yes, Chef.
Thank you.
-[Ted] Thanks, Chef. Be well. -[Scott] Great having you, Chef.
[Mario] I wanted to go all the way,
but this is definitely just the beginning.
Good to meet you guys.
[Antonello] I respect Chef Preston Paine
because he loves Puglia.
But I am Puglia,
and I have to win this competition.
Dig in.
-Uh-oh. -[laughs]
Nightmare.
Yeah. It's going to be tough.
[Ted] And you are working
with focaccia pugliese,
prickly pear...
[Antonello] That is a good fruit.
I don't know if it's a good dessert.
Yeah, not feeling good.
[Ted] ...burrata...
Burrata.
[Preston] Burrata, wonderful.
-[Ted] ...and almonds in the shell. -Almonds.
[sighs]
Almonds in the shell suck.
It's very labor-intensive
to try and get these things out of the shell.
It's one of the hardest stuff I have ever seen.
Oh, man.
[Ted] 30 minutes restored to the clock.
-Time starts now. -[Alex whoops]
-[Ted] Let's go, chefs. -[Gabe] All right, guys.
[Scott and Gabe] Last round.
[Gabe] The most important round.
-[Scott] Here we go. -[Alex] Andiamo.
Andiamo. Let's go, guys. Let's go.
[Alex] Either of these competitors would
be worthy of a slot in the finale.
And to that end,
it's gonna come down to what happens in this round.
[Gabe] Chef Antonello is from Puglia,
but Chef Preston has
this risk that he likes to take.
Chef Antonello sometimes is playing
a little bit more safe.
[Alex] Preston, what are you making?
[Preston] Chef, I'm gonna make kind of a zeppole.
I'm gonna use some of the pizza dough.
I'm gonna make a little preserve
with some of these cactus pears
to put on the bottom of that.
You're making zeppole with the pizza dough?
Yes, Chef.
Zeppole is not made from pizza dough, Gabe.
No. You make a zeppole dough, yeah,
which is a sweeter dough.
Almost like a brioche dough.
[Preston] I want to try and stuff the zeppole
with a really nice, creamy burrata filling.
Burrata is mozzarella cheese,
and you fill it with cheese curds
and heavy cream,
and it's called a stracciatella.
I take the stracciatella out of the burrata,
adding a little bit of mascarpone.
[Scott] People seem to really crave burrata.
I mean, it's always the best-selling appetizer.
[Gabe] Burrata can always go sweet or savory.
[Alex] We could be talking about a savory dish
with this dessert, with that focaccia Pugliese,
a yeasty bread.
It's got tomatoes in it
and that beautiful burrata cheese.
Let's make a sandwich.
No. Sorry.
I love you.
You know what's delicious?
Burrata with truffle honey.
Antonello, what are you making?
Allora, I'm making a crumble with--
I'm using the focaccia,
and then I wanna create a jelly
with the prickly pear.
I'm going to use the burrata to make
the prickly pear to don't be so sweet.
[Gabe] Very inventive, right? A crumble?
[Preston] Focaccia is a bread that's native to Puglia.
It was invented there.
The first thing that comes to mind is
an additional textural component
to add on top of the zeppole.
I pull out the soft inside of that focaccia,
and that goes straight into the oven
to hopefully get crispy.
And I also wanted to add those almonds
that are in the basket.
Man, this sucks.
[Alex] It's really hard to do little things
like shell nuts
when you're under this kind of pressure
and the stakes are so high.
[Ted] 19 minutes left on the clock, chefs.
[Antonello] A little bit of a caramelized flavor.
[Gabe] The difficult thing about prickly pear is
-the seeds. -[Scott] Yes. Yeah.
Those seeds are so small,
-and they're not pleasant to eat. -You can't chew them.
You don't want to chew them.
[Preston] I check on this coulis
made of prickly pear and strawberry.
I don't like the texture
of the seeds,
so I'm running that through a chinois.
My best friend.
The flavor of the prickly pear is outstanding,
even like this.
I mean, it's sweet, but not too sweet.
I'm using my prickly pear
to make my jam
with the inside of the burrata
and my almonds,
and I'm gonna blend them together.
[Scott] 15 minutes left. 15 minutes.
[Antonello] Ah, it's a long time.
We can...
We go to watch a movie
-in 15 minutes. -[Alex] We have never heard that!
[Gabe] We can go to watch a movie, he's saying.
[Alex] Antonello, do you want us to take,
like, 5 minutes off the clock?
No, no, no. I can make another cream.
Okay.
[Alex] By the way, he's not laughing.
-[Alex and Scott] He's serious. -[Gabe] Exactly.
[Alex] Oh, you're measuring something?
[Antonello] Yeah. I'm trying to make crema pasticcera.
-A pastry cream. -[Gabe] Yeah.
[Ted] 10 minutes to go, chefs.
[Preston] I just try to roll this pizza dough
so I can fill them
with the stracciatella mixture.
[Scott] When it comes to zeppole,
traditionally, it's not a stuffed thing.
And you wouldn't use a pizza dough.
This is a New York pizza dough,
-so it has that pull to it. -[Gabe] Yeah.
[Preston] Right behind you.
The problem with this pizza dough is
is there's too much gluten,
and it's just too elastic to fill.
I've just got to put them straight in the fryer
so I can get them cooking.
My whole dessert is quickly going down the drain.
All right, chefs, coming up on four minutes left.
I add that pizza dough in the fryer
so I can get them cooking
and then try to figure out
what else to do with this filling.
[Alex] The thing that's deceptive
about that pizza dough is
it looks golden brown on the outside,
-but on the inside-- -[Scott] It's raw in the middle.
...it can be raw.
[Preston] As soon as the zeppole come out of the hot oil,
they go into a sugar, almond, focaccia,
and graham cracker mixture.
[Ted] Two-minute warning, chefs.
[Gabe] That's the crumble
that just came out of the oven
-of Chef Antonello. -It doesn't look very crumbly.
Preston, what do you got in that mixture
you're putting in the plate?
[Preston] Chef, that's mascarpone,
almond extract, some of the burrata,
and a pinch of salt.
-[Ted] Good. -Okay.
And we have Chef Antonello taking that pastry cream,
going directly into that ramekin,
really filling it up.
-[Gabe] That's a lot-- -[Scott] I mean, look at that.
-[Gabe] ...of pastry cream. -[Scott] That's a lot of pastry cream.
[Alex] Finish up. This is it!
[Scott] Let's go, chefs. Let's go.
-You've got 47 seconds! -[Gabe] Come on, guys.
-[Alex] 46. -[Gabe] Let's go.
-[Scott] Get it in plates, chefs. -[Gabe] Come on.
-[Ted] There's no time to ripen. -[Alex] Get it done.
[Ted] Final seconds of the final round, chefs.
Ten, nine, eight--
-All four ingredients. -[Ted] ...seven--
-Make sure you have everything. -[Ted] ...six, five,
-four, three-- -[Gabe] Let's go, Chef Preston.
-[Ted] ...two, one. -[Gabe] Go.
[Ted] Time's up!
-[Alex] Wow. -Great job!
-[Preston] Wow. -[Antonello] This was difficult.
[Antonello] I don't think
that maybe it's the most beautiful dish in the world,
but for sure, the prickly pear cream
that I created, it's outstanding.
[Preston] That was rough. Yeah, that was rough.
Almonds in the shell, killing me.
A savory focaccia, brutal.
This one threw me for a loop.
Chef Antonello and Chef Preston,
your dessert basket contained
focaccia pugliese, prickly pear,
burrata, and almonds in the shell.
Chef Preston.
I have a zeppole with stracciatella burrata
and mascarpone at the bottom,
finished off with some macerated prickly pear
and strawberry.
[Alex] The dessert's beautiful.
I love the jam and the fruit on the cheese.
It makes me feel like I'm eating a cheese plate.
Removing the seeds from the prickly pear,
but having the seeds from the strawberries,
it's a great texture.
And that's why this dish is so good.
Thank you, Chef.
Here's the problem.
That dough, uh, is not a zeppole dough.
-So these are very dense. -[Preston] Okay.
And within that density is
a lot of raw dough.
See that glistening and that shine?
-[Preston] Yes, Chef. -That's raw dough.
-Okay. -[Scott] That being said,
I love the stracciatella
-that you have on the bottom of the plate. -[Preston] Mm-mmm.
[Scott] That burrata mixture with the mascarpone
and the little bit of almond,
-it's really well done. -Thank you, Chef.
I like where your mind is going with the zeppole.
I kind of wish that you used
the focaccia Barese as the zeppole.
The prickly pear-strawberry jam is good,
but it's mostly strawberry jam.
I'm actually looking for the prickly pear.
-Yes, Chef. -Thank you, Chef Preston.
Finally, Chef Antonello.
Allora, I called my dessert Country Yard.
My grandmother used to make
the pastry cream on Sunday.
And the crumble was made
with the bread that was from the day before.
[Scott] That crumble is a lot of fun.
The focaccia is very present.
But yeah, it's still sweet.
It's still a dessert.
The comfort of it, even just gripping
a ramekin that's still warm,
I just love the feeling it gives me.
Thank you, Chef.
[Gabe] Chef Antonello, when you decided
to do the pastry cream,
you had, you know, those few minutes left.
It was a blanket on the flavors
that are there.
[Alex] Did you call this a blanket?
-Yeah, I did call it a blanket. -Yeah, sign me up
for, like, 12 blankets.
[Ted] All right.
Chef Antonello, thank you.
Thank you so much. It was a pleasure.
Grazie. Grazie mille.
A lot of fun to see
Chef Antonello and Chef Preston.
And I think they both said
Puglia threw the food
-and put it on the plate for us. -Yeah. Yeah.
[Alex] In the appetizer round,
Antonello's mussels were beautifully cooked.
The broccoli rabe pesto that he made
-and then drizzled over the shells. -[Scott] Mm-hmm.
-It was just so good. -[Alex] Oh, yeah.
And I just wish that there was a little more.
[Scott] Chef Preston, he added
vegetable stock
to the mussels. It really watered down
the entire flavor of those mussels.
[Alex] In the entree round,
I actually thought Preston did a better job
than, um, Antonello with the lamb.
We see two chefs basically making
-almost identical dishes. -[Scott and Gabe] Same dish.
[Alex] I thought Preston's frying
of that Assassin's spaghetti, he pulled that off.
I agree. That was my favorite little twist--
-Yeah. -...that Chef Preston did all day long.
Then we move into dessert round.
And I mean, what do you think about those zeppole?
[Alex] Mine were raw.
But really, it was
-Preston's most delicious dish of the day. -[Gabe] Most excellent. Yeah.
I think Chef Antonello did amazing.
He had the crumble.
-He had the prickly pear jam. -[Alex] You think so?
[Gabe] And then he had pastry cream.
And that was just too much.
-We eat the same dessert. -I ate it all like an animal!
So which chef gets to move on to the finale?
[Antonello] The judges, they loved my dish.
I mean, there is, for sure, a few mistakes,
because we are human.
[Preston] Chef Antonello and I have been,
you know, neck and neck.
And I think it's going to come down to small nuances
of who represented Puglia better.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Preston, you've been chopped.
Judges?
[Scott] Chef Preston, in your appetizer round,
unfortunately, you used vegetable stock.
And the mussels became a little bit watered down.
In your dessert round,
the zeppole themselves were
inconsistently cooked.
And so we had to chop you.
Congratulations, my friend.
Very well deserved.
-I'm honored. -Chef, thank you so much.
-Real pleasure, man. -[Preston] If I'm going to lose to anybody,
it's going to be somebody that lived in Puglia
for 41 years.
I'm so proud of what I was able to cook
and what I was able to put forward,
and very well-deserved from him.
And that means, Chef Antonello Zito,
you are the Chopped champion.
You'll be back for the finale
of our Battle Italiano.
Do you think you can win it all?
I think
I'm going to kick them out.
-[Ted] Nice! -Yeah!
[Gabe] Let's do it. Great job.
It was an honor to represent my home region
and be the winner.
Grazie.
Puglia has the best cuisine,
and I'm going to show everybody this.
Yeah!
[Scott] What we're seeing here is the Tuscan dream
meets the Chopped kitchen.
-No pressure. -[Julia] I've really got to kick it into high gear.
God, this station is a nightmare.
Can these chefs bring the brilliance?
This is just so damn good.
[Ted] What could go wrong?
Looks cooked.
[Robbie] Kind of second-guessing
everything I'm doing at this point.
-[Scott] Light a fire. -[Robbie] I'm going to be
platin' tootin' in about 35 seconds.
I'm freaking out.