[Tiffani] Yes.
Bow chicka now now.
I'm thinking sexy?
I can do that.
Whoo!
[Kevin] My style is sexy, intimate
[Ted] The smell is absolutely intoxicating.
[Taylur] I gotta be sexy and the plate has to be sexy
Hello baby.
-[screams] -Oh boy!
-[Ted] Let's get it on -Whoo.
C'mon.
Is chopped and chill gonna be the next big things?
Feeling it!
[Taylur] Food not only has to be delicious,
it has to look good.
I'm chef, owner of Locale Caribbean Cafe in Atlanta, Georgia.
I've always tried to bring some sexy to my plates.
I cook with lots of flavor,
I cook with lots of heat, color.
For a small business owner,
I do find that I'm not taken seriously
because I've been labelled a cute, petite, small woman.
But, I'm self-made,
I'm a boss and I'm here to slay the Chopped Kitch
[Arturo] My romantic meal would be pasta.
And in Italy, we say that,
Pasta e l'amore e magia
which is love and magic
so, combined together, is the winning key.
I've cooked mostly, Italian food
but with a little twist of Mexican influence.
When I moved all the way to California,
my friends and family, they didn't believe me
I could make it all the way here by mysel
So, this is my chance to show what I can do, and I'm gonna win.
[Kevin] Confidence is super important.
Being mentally strong and ju
being aware that you can't doubt yourself at any point.
I'm one of the youngest executive chefs in Downtown Raleigh.
I am on a fast track to beco the best in North Carolina and the nation.
My style of cooking is a collective twist of my Puerto Rican heritage
I think, food always has to look good because yo eat with your eyes
Competing on Chopped is j another day at the office.
When I put my mind onto something,
and I set a goal, I don't really stop.
And my goal today is to win Chopped.
[Simona] I like food to look pretty.
It tastes better that way.
I'm a private chef, working in Phoenix, Arizona
As a Scandinavian backgroun with Lithuanian Heritage
my cooking style is fresh and light.
I had my own restaurant when I was 23.
I got to work with a lot of big chefs,
Italian, Spanish, Michelin stars, you name it
And I am ready to swim with any sharks and get chopped.
[chuckles]
Hello chefs.
-Hello. -Morning.
Hello.
It's great to have you all here
for an especially sexy competition.
-Ooh! -Ooh!
Uh, I'm thinking sexy? I can do that.
All of your baskets will be including aphrodisiacs.
-[all chuckling] -Yum
[Ted] In return, we want you to make a sexy feast.
Dishy dishes that will make the judges lose their minds.
[both chuckle]
[Taylur chuckles] Hearing that it's a sexy feast,
my mind is racing.
All I know is, I gotta be sexy
and the plate has to be sexy.
Let's do it.
[Simona sighs]
[Ted] Please open your appetizer baskets.
[laughs]
-Whoa! -Oh yum!
You must make first plates from oysters...
Mmm, the aphrodisiac.
-[Ted] ...eggplants... -Eggplant, yeah.
What are those? [chuckles]
[Ted] ...gnudi.
Gnudi are like gnocchi similar
with, made with cheese and spinach.
[Ted] ...and a charcuterie board.
And a little bit of the charcuterie. Hmm, all I need.
[Ted] Twenty minutes to mak your first course.
Clock starts now.
-Yeah -All right.
-Let's go guys. -Here we go.
Get sexy. Fight it out, sexy.
Judges, mystery baskets with aphrodisiac ingredients in them.
I mean, is Chopped and chill gonna be the next big things?
-Yes. Bow chicka now now -[laughs]
Wow wow.
Amanda, Tiffani, you are joined by a very special guest judge
chef and restaurateur, Eric Adjepong.
-Welcome back, Eric. -Thank you so much guys.
I think this is a really interesting first start to the, uh,
This whole sexy vibe that we're giving
I think about feeding someone, right,
when I think about charcuterie board.
Same thing with oysters. I've never eaten oysters by myself.
First of all, we have to hope that every chef here knows
how to shuck an oyster.
Your goal is to avoid breaking shell.
[Simona] How are ya?
I'm amazing.
[chuckles nervously] Trying to open this oyster.
Growing up in Italy, my family had a fish market,
so I'm very familiar with oyster.
Italians are very passionate
Everything we do, we make it with passion and love.
So, I'm really ready to bring the sexiness to the kitchen.
I'm making eggplant oyster parmigiana.
I'm frying the eggplant because I wanna give
the eggplant, like, crispy texture
outside and silky and smooth, inside, very sexy.
I mean, I think for an appetizer that's sexy.
-It's something, maybe shareable-- -[Eric] Yeah.
something little.
No one eat a ton of food
-when you're having a sexy date, right? -Yes
[Kevin] The vibes at my restaurant, they're definitely
a quaint, small, sexy, intimate.
But my style in general is just
dynamic, and just playful.
My food is always sexy.
I'm making a fried oyster eggplant crostini.
I'm gonna slice up the eggplant
and get a nice sear on it
to use at as the base on my crostini
I'm using garlic.
I'll get a whole clove to just add another layer of flavor.
All right.
Whenever I see the person who can really cook good,
I've found that sexy.
And lovely, my husband is very good cook.
[laughs]
For this appetizer, I'm gonna make
Frisee salad with oyster gnu
with the charred eggplant.
Whenever you have a baked oyster,
you definitely want something nice and creamy and fresh.
Lemongrass give the freshnes
I'm grabbing some ginger,
fish sauce,
and a heavy cream.
Ooh, phew.
Starting to take mine out.
Did you guys realize that Taylur is starting us off with pasta?
I mean, a little linguini oyster
like a linguini clam vibe, I'm into that.
I'm going straight with pasta.
It's something I know, it's my comfort.
It can still be sexy.
And I can incorporate all of these ingredients into one dish.
I'm gonna make a creamed pasta with sauteed eggplant.
I'm gonna dice the eggplant
I'm gonna take the salami from my charcuterie board
and I'm gonna get that on to a saute pan.
The sexiest ingredient in the basket is gonna have to be the oysters.
I eat them all the time.
Never shucked an oyster.
But, I realize
I've never shucked an oyster before.
I really don't know how to shuck an oyster.
Yeah, I can't get in there at all.
Taylur's frying the salami, which I think is super smart.
I'm a little concerned that she is struggling with shucking her oysters.
I don't know how much experience she has
but she's not popping quickl
[Taylur] I really hope this doesn't get me out or anything.
It's like I can't get this oyster open.
I'm steaming some water, I need to get them open.
I'm thinking maybe if I put them in some boiling water
it'll soften them up and be easier to open.
Chefs you are already down to 12 minutes.
[Arturo] Gnudi are differen from gnocchi because gnocch is a potato dumpling
while those are made out of cheese only.
Seeing the gnudi, I really felt like home.
I'm making a cheese sauce to go with my eggplant.
So, there is ricotta and parmesan already in gnud
so, I'm going to use the blue cheese from the charcuterie board
to add a little tanginess and a little, like, sweetness to the cream.
I cut into the gnudi
and taste it and realize that it's basically
a ball of ricotta with spina inside of it.
So instantly I start thinkin of a cheese spread.
So, I take the gnudi and pair it with the mancheg and goat cheese
from the charcuterie board.
And I think that having the cheese with the eggplant crostini
really works well.
Never had this before. It's really good and tasty, in flavor.
I've never worked with Gnudi before
but when breaking it down, the components were pretty simple.
I believe it's gonna break down into a nice, creamy profile
to add into my pasta.
I get the oysters outta the boiling water, I finally get a grip to shuck these.
Boom! So all we needed was a little bit of heat.
-Simona, feeling sexy? -Ohhh!
-Feeling it! -What do you find most sexy, in the basket?
I love the charcuterie,
and I do love those little balls with the ricott
I'm gonna stuff the oyster with the gnudi
and cheddar cheese from the charcuterie board.
They gotta be in the oven for three minutes so the cheese can get melted
Chefs, less than five minutes on that clock.
[Simona] Come on baby.
And then I'm gonna saute the eggplant.
They coming really, really hot, man.
Ooh!
Simona has eggplant in her pan
-and the bottom of the pan is burning. -Ouch.
[Simona] My eggplants are getting a good char.
A char on eggplant is great, burnt eggplant is not.
[Simona] My eggplants are getting a good char.
Simona has eggplant in her pan and the bottom of the pan is burning.
The judges think I'm burning my eggplant
but I know what I am doing.
It's gonna be great.
Hello babies.
[Kevin] I don't have a lott time left
and I really just need to get these oysters in the fryer.
So, I grab some flour,
hot paprika and smoked paprika.
I think spice is an aphrodisiac.
With the oysters, I think it goes hand in hand.
Chefs, this is your two-minute warning.
You gotta have it plated.
[Taylur] Time's almost up.
I'm making sure my oysters are in my pasta
and I'm confident in this plate.
Guess Arturo is giving us a blue cheese eggplant sandwich
and there will be oysters involved.
Under a minute.
Arturo you've gotta figure out what you are doing with those oysters.
Under a minute.
I look at the clock and I realize
that I have less than a minute
so I have to put the oyster, don't forget any ingredient.
I am gonna use the oyster as fresh as they are
maybe just like that.
so I am just, let that shine a little bit.
Oh wow.
[Ted] All right chefs the appetizer round is almost gone
Ten, nine,
eight, seven, six,
five, four, three,
two, one...
Times up.
-Whoo! -[all cheering]
Whoo!
[Taylur] Working with the oysters, I eat them, however I don't shuck them
so I think that was the hardest challenge for me, with this
but with the pasta, can't get wrong.
If you don't eat too much it will still make you feel sexy, so,
[Arturo] Looking down on my plate I feel good, you know,
but I wish I had put more oyster. That's for sure.
Chefs you have arrived at the chopping block.
In that first seductive basket you got oysters,
eggplant, gnudi
and a charcuterie board.
Chef Arturo, what have you made for us?
Judge, for you today I made a sexy eggplant oyster parmigiana.
[Ted] What inspired this direction, for you?
[Arturo] Big Italian family
grew up in Napoli, so,
you know, had to make a parmigiana with the egg plant
because I grew up eating almost every Sunday
and honoring my mom
so here it is.
I love that you came in here with a bit of yourself
a bit of Napoli
-Okay -And you wanted to represent
And you know the eggplant it is cooked well.
Chef what cheese did you use in your parmigiana?
Um I used blue cheese
[Amanda] For me, that flavor combination
is just,
the blue cheese is so powerful.
That oyster is so swang and lovely and light
and it didn't stand a chance against that sauce.
Chef Arturo, the plate when it hits the table
um, the colors really popped. So, I definitely appreciate
-the thought-- -Thank you.
behind the plating. But I'm really upset about this oyster use.
I wish there was a little bit more creativity
Um, I couldn't agree with Eric, more.
That dish is good
and then there is an oyster.
Chef Arturo, thank you.
Next, we go to Chef Taylur.
Today I've made for you a creamed pasta
with eggplant, gnudi
and oyster.
First of all the pasta is cooked perfectly.
The flavor is good. It's great. I love the heat on it.
However I don't have, I can't find an oyster.
And it's kind of the primo basket ingredient.
[Taylur] I had a piece of oyster, on lime.
I love the idea. I think we've just needed more oyster in each.
I just want more of the basket.
I definitely agree.
I wish I got a little bit more out of the basket, to Chef Amanda's point.
But there was strength that you have to use in editing yourself
and not wanting to put so much pasta on the plate
is actually like a sign of a really great chef.
Chef are you playing for anyone?
My son inspired my cooking. His name is Makai.
He is 11 years old. I had my son when I was about 18 years old.
so it forced me to get to a point where I had to prepare meals
and that was where the love of culinary started,
because there were different things he would ask
whether it had been the chicken nuggets
or whether, you know, sometimes he asks for a Surf and turf.
So, he challenged me to do that,
brought me to where I am today.
-Yes Makai, asking for surf and turf. -[all laughing]
-I love your kid. -[Taylur] Oh yeah.
[all laughing]
Next up, Chef Kevin.
I've made a fried oyster over an eggplant crostini
with a charcuterie cheese spread on the base.
How do you feel about our sexy theme?
I feel like it's right up my alley.
My restaurant in Raleigh is a small, intimate, sexy bistro speakeasy.
So really small plates, shareables are kinda my thing.
Chef, you're bringing the spice into this sexy feast here.
Yeah.
Um, you have a lot of spice going on.
[Kevin] The oyster I just seasoned it with a little bi of smoked paprika,
at the end. I didn't put anything spicy in there.
I did some garlic that I had cooked off but--
I think sometimes when you add a lot of garlic
-that allium flavor-- -[Kevin] Yeah
-could almost come off spicy, right? -Right.
[Eric] Um, and, I think that what we are getting right no on our palates.
-Okay. -[Eric] I wish there was almost like a sauce element
to kinda help because the eggplant itself is very dry.
But I think that frying the oyster makes a lot of sense, right?
This is the one, very textural element, on your dish
and I think that really comes through strongly.
Thank you Chefs.
Next we go to Chef Simona.
Well, my plate is land meets the sea.
We have oyster baked with gnudi.
I've charred the eggplant
and I finished it with a little bit of the seafood sauce.
Chef I have to commend you on your flavor profile here.
I love this lemon grass.
I love the frisee.
It's bright. It's clean.
Um, it's just the right accompaniment for the oyster.
The only thing that I think you had maybe just a little messed up on
is the eggplant.
They got a little over-charr
and they have a little bit of bitterness.
This is probably the most romantic plate
that we have gotten for our appetizer.
And it screams like you've actually put some thought
and energy behind um, how well you wanted this dish
to not only look but then eat, right, constructively.
I agree with Eric. It looks very sophisticated,
it looks like I am on a date that I wanna be on
but I think the super-sauteed eggplant live here
and then you have this sort of
fish sauce, lemongrass, ginger situation
that lives here.
Thank you Chefs.
Judges say maybe that the oyster on my plate wasn't like shining enough
but Taylur, she didn't use the oyster in the pasta.
[Taylur] The chefs loved my pasta
but Tiffani did mention tha the oysters were missing on her plate
and I believe that she kind of put me at a point to be chopped.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Arturo, you've been chopped.
Judges...
Chef Arturo, you brought some of Napoli with the eggplant parmigiana
but we all thought that blue cheese was the wrong choice.
And with the oyster, it was just an afterthought on your plate
-and so, we had to chop you. -Okay.
-Thank you so much. -Thank you for being here.
[Arturo] Feeling a little bit disappointed.
Uh, this experience just gave me
an idea like, what I can do under pressure.
And definitely, I am going to cook better than ever
now that I know that blue cheese doesn't go with oyster.
[chuckles]
[Ted] Chef Taylur, Chef Kevi Chef Simona.
Try to keep your hearts and minds focused on the task, at hand
as you take on the Entree basket.
Please open them up.
[groans]
Hello baby.
[Ted] A heart shaped pizza..
Pizza, my favorite.
-[Ted] ...figs... -It reminds me of Cyprus.
Oh my gosh!
[Ted] ...wild boar tenderloin...
Bring it on, baby!
[Ted] ...and conch.
We've got some conch, island style.
[Kevin] Conch is salty.
It's got its own unique taste.
It's not like an oyster and it's not like a snail.
It's a similar in texture to like mud calamari.
[Ted] Thirty minutes.
Boom boom boom.
Clock starts now.
-Run. -Alright run, Simona.
-Come on. -[Amanda] You can do this.
Sexy entree. Sexy entree.
Judges, what do you think is the sexiest ingredient in this basket?
-[Tiffani] The figs. -[Eric] Figs. 100 percent. Yeah. For sure.
No question. They are sensual, they are sweet,
they're soft in your mouth-
There are so many things you can do.
You can have it raw, you can cut it open,
you can grill it,
sear it, make a jam. Like, it's so versatile.
[Simona] The Sexiest ingredient in the basket I believe
is figs.
They are nice and sweet and sugary.
For the Entree round,
I'm going with the seared wild boar with mashed potatoes.
For the sauce, I am gonna go with the caramelized
fig red wine sauce and pepperoni.
So I used to cook in the Florida Keys
-and of course we had a lot of Conch. -Yes.
-Fresh conch. -[Eric] Great.
-But canned conch is challenging. -[Eric] Yeah.
It's got some tinny flavor to it. It's got some fishy quality to it.
[Amanda] If you can think of conched chowder, conched fritters.
Yeah when you add the citrus
maybe some like onions and peppers to it.
It's actually like a beautiful thing.
[Kevin] I see the boar. I see the figs
and immediately I'm thinking, wilderness.
Just being out in the wild adds that exotic factor.
I am making seared boar tenderloin
with fried conch
and purple mashed potatoes.
My fig jam is looking good.
I add a little bit of cogna and flambe it.
My plates always look beautiful and they always taste just as good
Sexy, dynamic and just playful.
So what are the challenges with wild boar tenderloin?
No fat elements in there or very little
and the fact that you have to really impart a lot of flavor
because it's very neutral.
I would wrap it in bacon
or wrap it in prosciutto.
-[Eric] Yes. -[Amanda] Wrap it in some kind of fat
-that is in the pantry. -[Eric and Tiffani] Mmm-hmm
and then you protect it.
Um, I don't... [mumbles]
The first thing I do is want a jump on this boar.
I've never worked with it before.
It's lean so, I am gonna add the fat,
olive oil, butter, thyme.
For my sexy feast dish, I'm going with
the thinly sliced boar's tenderloin
over arugula and fig salad with fried conch on top.
Taylur has taken the boar
and cut it into paper thin slices
-No. -[Ted] and is cooking that in a saute pan.
[Amanda] Any tenderloin from any animal
should be cooked rare to medium rare.
I mean if you do cut it into medallions,
the chances of you overcooking are way higher.
Chefs, there are 19 minutes left in this round.
[Simona] For the pan seared wild boar
I'm gonna get the salt, pepper, dijon mustard.
I am just gonna sear it, from both sides.
In Lithuania, I spent a lot of time
at my grandparents' farm when I was a kid.
We never bought anything from the store.
Everything was like they'd grown themselves.
We were eating and enjoying the meals together
and we knew where it came from.
I'm competing for myself
and also for my grandparents
'cause they recently passed away
and they would be very proud to see me here in Chopped.
Mmm.
Salt baby.
[Kevin] This year I was name in the top 20 most influenti people in their 20s
by Raleigh Magazine.
I wanna represent for young Hispanic chefs
and winning this competitio
would prove to myself that I have what it takes
to cook with some of the baddest chefs
in the country and I wanna put myself on the map.
I wanna take over some of those areas in the map.
I got really big ambitions.
I just wanna report that I saw Kevin's really gorgeously caramelized boar.
-Ooh! -Wow. Okay.
[Kevin] I am trying to creat a textural difference between the boar
that's so tender
and the sauce that I have.
So, I wanna just go ahead and just fry the conch
in the ground up pizza crust.
[Taylur] Winning would mean everything to me.
Doing this for my son.
Having a child at such a young age
you know, I wasn't able to r to the fast food restaurants all the time.
I don't have fancy sit down dinners.
Making dishes with him at ho
really brought me to my path of being a culinary chef today.
To accompany the boar,
I am thinking let's add some sauteed asparagus to it
I then take the pepperonis from the pizza,
I take a little bit of the cheese.
More components, more components, more components.
And I am thinking that I can take some of the conc
season it up really well,
fry it in the deep fryer,
be able to toss that within my salad.
Five minutes on the clock, Chefs.
[Simona] Whenever I see the figs, I think about caramelizing them.
For the sauce, a bit of the brown sugar going on,
the Red Wine gives the acidity,
and then I am adding the pepperoni that gives extra spice.
Chefs, here's your two-minute warning.
[Kevin] I check on my potatoes
and there's still some that need a little bit more time.
[Amanda] Kevin, you should be plating everything right now,
not cooking anymore. That's it.
[Kevin] But I look at the clock
and I have no more time to keep cooking them.
I have to get them mashed and hope I can get them smooth enough for the judges.
[Ted] One minute 15 seconds, Chefs.
Got to plate.
-Everybody is getting plates, everybody gets plates. -Oh my gosh!
-[Ted] Come on chefs. -Come on guys. Really.
-Let's go guys. -You've got 45... 45.
[Tiffani] Seduce us with your hustle. Let's go.
[Taylur] I wanna get a nice crisp texture to these conch chips.
I take them out and I toss them
in some really spicy paprik and cayenne
just to really elevate those flavor profiles.
-[Ted] All right Chefs, let's get it on. -[screams]
On the plates, of course.
Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five, four,
-three, two, one. -There we go.
[Ted] Times up.
[all clapping]
Wow!
[Kevin] I think my entree, represents my style of cooki
and in its wildness, in its eclectic-ness.
My biggest concern is that I didn't use enough
of the bread crumbs from the pizza, in the conch
that I fried for the breadin
[Taylur] I believe that this dish does represent me
My biggest competition is gonna be Simona
but I did the best that I could.
Chefs for the entree round, of this sexy feast
you got a heart shaped pizza,
figs, wild boar tenderloin
and conch.
All right. Chef Taylur, please tell us about your entree.
Judges, today I have prepared for you a thinly sliced boar tenderloin,
over sauteed asparagus
with a arugula fig salad.
Also with some fried conch, on top.
[Amanda] I like that you crisped up the conch.
Those are just like little conch potato chips,
you know, it gave us, some texture there.
The wild boar, you have som good seasoning on it
but it's just extremely dry.
And I think it just,
you know, with it being overcooked, it's hard to continue to eat it.
The wild boar is a little dry for me, as well,
but other than that I love the play of the asparagus,
the use of that pantry ingredient
um, I think, really plays we with the fig
that you have here.
Can you talk to me about what you did with the fig though?
I did not do anything with the fig.
I did cut it up and kinda plate it within my salad
and tossed it within.
I think you could have made the fig shine a little bit more.
Given it a sear, glazed it a little bit.
I get why you are like hands off, like, leave it alone.
There is not a lot sexier or more delicious than a perfect fig.
What did you do with the pepperoni?
-I sauteed that with the asparagus. -[Tiffani] Okay.
So, I think that adds like a little bit of fattiness
to the asparagus and I get that.
It's so delicious!
Next up, Chef Kevin.
Chefs, what I made you guys today
is a seared boar tenderloin,
a fig jam with some purple mashed potatoes
and the fried conch.
Where is the heart-shaped pizza?
I took the crust out, glitzed it and I added some of it to the conch.
I just don't think a lot of it just stuck to it as much as I would have wanted it to.
Don't ever feed us the negative.
Like, what I am not gonna do on a date is...
tell you all the things that are wrong with me first.
-[all laughing] -You'll figure that out, in time. I promise you.
I think conch is actually really great.
It's fried really nicely
I think using the pizza crust for the batter of the conch
is really smart.
The boar is like rare.
It's a little under but I don't mind that.
There is something really wild and appealing about this
like, it is singing to my wild side.
I am gonna have to agree.
I think really beautiful execution on the boar.
I think this fig jam is so smart.
It's a little too sweet for me
maybe adding a little bit of lemon would have helped brighten it up.
I love meat and potatoes but some of my potatoes were undercooked.
In the sexy theme of things, I want smooth, I want silky.
So, I think that was just a little bit of a misstep.
-Chef Kevin, thank you. -Thank you.
Finally, Chef Simona.
Well I made a mashed potatoes
with the conch inside
then I got the seared wild boar
with the dijon mustard.
Uh, red wine sauce with the figs.
It's heart eye emojis for me when it comes to this boar.
Very, very good!
I love the mustard that you added to it.
Such a strong sear.
And dipping it into this red wine figs jus that you have here
is really doing it for me.
I am sorry, I don't love the sauce.
I think there is something very raw about the wine
and the figs together.
Um, and then we get to the potatoes with conch, in them.
It was just such an odd move
It's like surprise, there is conch in your mash
Yeah, the chewiness of the conch and texturally it doesn't work well for me.
But the boar is so delicious.
I just want to drag that through just about anything.
All right. Thank you, Chefs.
[Simona] I came here to win
and I do hope that conch inside of the potato
is not gonna kick me out, out of the game.
[Taylur] I'm a little nervou
My boar tenderloin was overcooked.
But I do have a point to pro
and my son would love for me to bring and take this home.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Taylur, you've been chopped.
Judges.
Chef Taylur, wild boar tenderloin was seasoned well.
It was just unfortunately over-done.
And the figs, they were just cut in, on the plate.
And so, we had to chop you.
Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.
-Good luck to you, Chef. -Thank you.
Even though I was chopped, I believe today's challenge I did handle really well.
I am very excited to get home to my son
and I can walk away here today and say that I am my own champion.
[Ted] Chef Kevin and Chef Simona,
the final basket of aphrodisiacs to inspire.
They're all yours.
[laughs]
And we wanna see sweet desserts made with
a rose petal pie...
Oh baby, I was dreaming about you.
[Ted] ...ginger, papaya...
This is good. This is happiness.
[whispers] Papaya.
That's sexy. Right there.
[Ted] ...and salted caramel
All right, all right, all right.
We got salted caramel.
What we gonna do with you?
[Ted] Your last 30 minutes in the Chopped kitchen
start right now.
[all cheering]
-Sweet. -Sexy, sexiest of all rounds.
Judges would you say that dessert is unequivocally
the sexiest course of a meal?
It's the perfect nightcap.
For a sexy dessert, I am expecting lusciousness. I wanna see something gooey,
some like creativity, number one from these chefs,
but then I also wanna see, like, all right,
what would you serve to your significant other?
-[Simona] Kevin. -[Kevin] Oh, shoot.
[laughing]
I was working on this station last time.
[both laugh]
I was like, "Hi, honey. How are you doing?"
-Give back my stuff. -[Simona laughing] Here you go.
My idea is to make something light.
But then at the same time, it's going to be beautiful and rich.
Take two spoons and share with each other.
My dish for the dessert roun
is rose petal papaya
and mint cheesecake parfait
I mean it's a pretty much, an easy layup
when you think about roses and sexy and...
so the fact that we have thi here in this pie?
It's pretty cool.
What the hell is in this?
[Tiffani] A lot of people are averse to like rose,
lavender that sort of thing in their desserts.
I will say the crust of that
is pretzels and graham crackers.
So they don't have to use the pie
Yeah.
[Simona] For this raspberry cheesecake fillin
I'm gonna use the papaya, lime juice
and I'm just gonna take the raspberries from the rose petal pie,
chop them in,
add the mint.
Hey Kevin, how're you doing? What you making?
Doing good. Whipping up some of this, uh,
cake frosting.
I think dessert can be the sexiest course of a meal.
Dessert can be both playful
and luxurious.
And it's the perfect ending to the perfect date.
The first thing I do is stick a spoon into this rose petal pie
and it's just so thick, so sweet.
There's gelatin in it.
So, loosening it up
with a little bit of the whipped cream,
I think it's gonna give me the texture I'm looking for
I am making a rose petal cre
with a ginger, papaya, salted caramel
so I put a little bit of hon
and then I fold in a little bit of olive oil to kinda tone down
the sweetness but also add a little bit of voluptuousness and mouthfeel.
Chefs, 20 minutes left, on the clock.
I do feel that this basket screams something ooey and gooey and creamy
-and mostly chocolatey. -[Eric] Yeah.
'Cause I think, chocolate's really sexy
Whenever you think about something big night and sexy
you think chocolate, then caramel.
For my chocolate caramel sau
I get the ginger going, I got the caramel,
I got the heavy whipping cream, I got the chocolate.
I came here to win
and all my hard work brings me back to those childhood days
back in Lithuania
where I saw the hard work and appreciation
of my grandparents.
All right Chefs, nine minutes remaining.
You know that papaya, when it's ripe, it's so easy to peel,
it's so easy to chop. You can eat it raw completely.
So, I hope to see little bit of puree
maybe a coulis or something like that
along those lines.
[Kevin] To go with my cream I am making salted caramel sauce
with ginger and papaya.
Because I really think that the sweetness of the papaya
with that tang of the ginger
mixed with the salty carame
is just going to add a real nice sense of umami for the dish.
I became the executive chef at 26 by just working hard
and not doubting myself and being confident in who I am
and what I do
and winning Chopped tells that I am where I need to b
and I am doing everything I can to, you know, be one of the best.
[Ted] Five minutes to go, Chefs.
For the base of the cheesecake parfait
I'm going with the pistachio crust.
[Tiffani] Chef Simona is starting to put her parfait together.
And it's just pistachios, on the bottom.
There is nothing else in it. There is no graham cracker, no pretzel.
I am not sure this is gonna hold together.
[Simona] Please, don't fall apart. Don't fall apart.
If this will fall apart I am done.
It's not gonna be a sexy dessert.
Chef Simona is starting to put her parfait together.
And it's just pistachios, on the bottom.
If this will fall apart
I'm done.
It's the moment of truth. Simona is taking the metal ring off.
Is that gonna stay together? Is the pistachio just gonna fall apart?
[Simona] So I am very gentl and delicately taking the mould off.
And thinking, oh, my God!
Please be there. Stay there. [chuckles]
So it looks as if Simona is successfully unmoulding those desserts.
The mould comes off. I'm happy. It stays in place.
Chefs three minutes to go.
I hope you're plating.
[Kevin] I am running out of time
and I still don't know how I am going to make all these components
fit on one plate.
I look over in the pantry and I find some wonton wrappers.
I think that's gonna be my vessel to present this di to the judges.
My wontons are looking good in the fryer,
so I take them out and season them with lime zest.
[Ted] 35 seconds, Chefs.
[Tiffani] This is Seduction This is Romance.
-[Eric] Come on guys. -We need the whole show.
[Ted] All right Chefs. Final seconds of the final round.
Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one.
Times up.
[all cheering]
Nice job, nice job!
[Kevin] I think it went pretty smoothly
I am not worried about anything with my dessert.
If anything I am just worried about what Simona put up over there.
I am proud of my dessert.
It's sexy, it's shareable
and it's worth of $10,000.
[Ted] Chef Simona, Chef Kevin,
for dessert we asked you to create sexy plates with rose petal pie,
ginger, papaya and salted caramel.
Chef Kevin, tell us all about it.
For the final course. I prepared a...
whipped rose petal whipped cream with lime zest
sea-salt and a little bit of honey
over top a wonton crisp,
above a salted, papaya and ginger caramel.
I think one thing that's really fun about this dish is how playful it is.
I just used my spoon, kinda cracked through.
I get these really beautiful flavors
and textures as well that work very, very nicely with each other.
I love the caramel that you did with it,
but when you have such a strong ingredient like tha salted caramel and the ginge
that papaya is just completely lost unfortunately.
Yeah I agree. I am too losing the papaya, a bit.
But I am getting the ginger and caramel. I really like that.
And I love that you brought lime.
Lime brings the ginger together,
with the rose, you know, with the pistachio.
That really was a great connector,
and that citrus.
Kevin I agree with the other judges.
I keep looking at the strawberry gelatin and thinking
I wish that were little piec of papaya
right, like folded into the cream.
And this would just be like, all of the basket ingredients would be here, represented.
But overall, I do I think it's really fun and flirty.
Thank you.
Are you a flirty guy?
I try not to be, I think my girl would be pretty upset.
-[all laughing] -You can flirt with her.
-[Ted] All right Chef Kevin, thank you. -Thank you.
Next up, Chef Simona.
Well today I made for you, raspberry, mint, papaya
and rose petal parfait, right there
with pistachio crumbs
and a ginger-infused chocolate caramel.
This dish visually is absolutely stunning!
My favorite part right here
gotta be this, the papaya that you made with the ginger.
Absolutely brilliant! Really, really smart. Good stuff.
The papaya...delicious. I think if you turned up that ginger
I mean it would really punch it forward and give us that exotic feel.
Um, and maybe even that would've been a better sauce around, you know,
'cause this chocolate doesn't really connect.
So, I think if you are gonna go with fresh and light and fruity, stay with that.
Chef Simona I would've loved maybe some of the graham cracker and pretzel
in with the pistachio, on the bottom.
Um, to kinda just give it a little bit more oomph of flavor,
little bit more dynamic texture
but this is just so beautiful and I love ending with light desserts
that are not too sweet.
Okay, thanks Chefs.
Judges, did those two sexy meals leave you satisfied?
I mean I think, we're still a little tingly.
[all laughing]
[Amanda] Chef Simona, her oyster, I think was the perfect way
to start a date night.
Something small with a lot of flavor.
I think that oyster rockefeller type of play
was so, so smart.
The critique I really have with Chef Simona's eggplant, it was really over charred.
Yeah and we saw what Chef Kevin did was give us
tons of flavor.
But it was so spicy from garlic
-that I thought he had cayenne pepper, in that. -Oh!
-Yeah. -Like that's how spicy it was.
Oh, definitely yeah. It was just overbearing.
But, I do think that
he made really crispy, really flavorful fried oysters.
And that entree round from Chef Kevin was wild.
-Super sexy. -[Eric] Yeah.
[Tiffani] Super sophisticate
[Eric] And the fig jam was so delicious.
That wild boar was really, really cooked beautifully.
And that conch like, I love the way that he incorporated
the heart-shaped pizza with it.
I thought that was really, really smart.
But the purple potato, so many of them in that chunky mash
were actually raw.
If we are talking about chunky mash
we can't not talk about Chef Simona's mashed potatoes
-that she worked super hard- -[Eric] Yeah.
to get nice and smooth and then add conch to it.
Just, not chopped, just pieces of conch straight out of the can.
[Eric] Well you know what the saving grace was. That...the cook on the boar
Kevin's a fierce competitor.
-Honestly, I mean, -Absolutely.
and he's proud
and he is not afraid to give us flavors
at all.
But I mean, Chef Simona has established herself as may be the one to beat,
from the first round.
Okay, let's do this.
[Simona] Well I definitely would say that I did put the sex on a plate today.
I really want to win more than ever
'cause it's, it's just, it's already there.
I can feel it. It's like in my heart.
[Kevin] Simona gave me a run for my money today
but I think I deserve to win because I brought the sexy to every dish.
I'm definitely the next Chopped champio
[Ted] Chef Kevin. You've been chopped.
Judges.
Chef Kevin you really showed up in every round.
We really got a sense of who you are as a chef
but in the appetizer round, so much garlic
and the garlic was so spicy.
Then we got to the entree round.
The problem was really we got to these purple potatoes
that were just undercooked and so we had to chop you.
-Thanks chefs -Thank you for being here.
-Thank you so much. -Thank you.
I mean I'm disappointed that I didn't become Chopped champion,
but to even have it that close, at the end, that's huge for me.
People should definitely still look out for me.
Conquering the world is definitely on the list
so, hopefully one day, it will be done.
And that means Chef Simona Lauren, you are the Chopped champio.
-Congratulations. -Thank you
[all applauding]
-[Amanda] Well done. -[Eric] Well done.
How does it feel to be the sexy feast Chopped champion?
That feels very sexy to start with
and that's like a cherry on top of the pie
which you can enjoy later tonight.
[all laughing]
[Simona] I just won Chopped
I got the inspiration from my grandparents
and I believe they were looking over my shoulder, right there.
And giving me all the energ and the support they had.