By Ashley Thompson

 

Round 1: Chef Slots - 30 min. - A greek backyard bbq with coconut.
Chef Guiseppe makes a beef kabob with couscous salad and yogurt vinaigrette (missing coconut, right? Not so fast, he's using alcohol! He makes a coconut water and dark rum shot... safe to say we're on Team G now?) while Chef Jill decides to use coconut oil instead of olive oil for her coconut ingredient and attempts a spiced lamb and chickpea and potato salad with halloumi. Chef Chris grills a greek salad with coconut tahini*. Bill spins the wheel again and reveals the new mandatory ingredient: sweet, orange and hard are the descriptive words. I'd say an orange. The contestants, however, go for persimmon and orange tomato. Ok, so I'm no chef.

 

The first chef to go bust is Chef Artist, a 45 year old global soul chef from Spanish Harlem, with a score of 4 out of 10 with his coconut chicken with greek coleslaw.

 

Round 2: Chef Roulette - 40 min. - The assigned protein is bass with 3 rotations of the roulette table

Chef Guiseppe: starts with his sea bass with risotto and clams and mussels > sea bass with couscous and glazed vegetables > beer & couscous sea bass with vegetables and spinach puree > fried sea bass with chorizo and mushrooms. Chef G realizes after plating that he forgot his root vegetables and thinks he's eliminated.

 

Chef Chris: starts off with his sea bass with couscous and glazed vegetables > classic bouillabaisse > spanish rouille with clams and mussels > bean and pepper puree with kale chips and clams and mussels.

 

The second chef to go bust is Jill, a 50 year old breast cancer survivor and chef/owner from NY who specializes in french mediterranean cuisine. With a 4 out of 10, there was just too much red wine in her fish dish for the judges liking. Chef Jill: started with her classic bouillabaisse* (her strategy is to accumulate more ingredients that have nothing to do with her dish to throw off her competitors) > sea bass with risotto and clams and mussels > risotto with clams and mussels and kale juice > kale risotto and tomatoes with clams and mussels > sea bass with red wine beurre blanc* and risotto with clams and mussels.

 

Round 3: Chef Poker - 30 min. - 3 card ingredients are: ham, fiddle head fern* and horchata*. What are these things???

Chef Guiseppe is dealt two cards: popcorn and kimchi and decides to stay. Makes a popcorn and kimchi-stuffed pork chop with mashed potatoes.

 

Chef Chris is dealt two cards: beef jerky and fresh passion fruit. He decides to replace the beef jerky and gets squid ink. Sounds easy. Makes a crab-stuffed sea bream* with black squid ink porridge.

 

The last person to go bust tonight is Chef Chris with a score of 5 out of 10 for his bizarre black squid ink porridge dish. Chris is a 40 year old chef/owner from NY who specializes in American eclectic cuisine.

 

Round 4: High Rollers Wheel -

Chef Guiseppe, a 44 year old Italian cuisine chef from NYC now has a chance to walk away with his $7,000 winnings (from his last score of 7 out of 10) or take a chance at the high rollers wheel. He choses to let it ride and rolls an "Add $2,000" which makes his total winnings $9,000!

 

*tahini - paste made from ground, hulled sesame seeds
*bouillabaisse - traditional Provencal fish stew originating from the port city of Marseille
*beurre blanc - literally translated from French as "white butter" - is a hot emulsified butter sauce made with a reduction of vinegar and/or white wine and grey shallots into which cold, whole butter is blended off the heat to prevent separation
*fiddle head fern - furled fronds of young fern, harvested for use as a vegetable
*horchata - traditional beverage made of ground almonds, sesame seeds, rice, barley, or tiger nuts
*sea bream - family of fish in the order Perciformes

 

Photo courtesy of Food Network