Adventure #24- "Love is like a potato. Give it time, it will rot."

What brings people together, provides happiness and builds relationships better than food?? Not much, I say. So it's no wonder that Lisa and I (the foodies of the group) have been desperate to plan a culinary adventure for years now. That's no exaggeration; since our very first moments of Femme-hood, we have wanted to plan a culinary competition much like the TV show "Chopped" through our local KC Culinary Institute.  It's something the Institute has offered for years as a private event, but that option far exceeds our budget. From there, I started brainstorming how I could possibly make this happen for a more reasonable price... maybe we could use a high school home ec classroom and bring our own ingredients??  I was never able to find a way to make it work and we eventually put the idea aside.

This past fall, I attended my first cooking class at the Institute and had such a great time that I started browsing their schedule on a semi-regular basis, looking for other classes I might enjoy.  Imagine my surprise when one day I read about a new class they were offering called "Kitchen Wars," and it sounded to be exactly what Lisa and I have been wanting to do for all these years! I immediately texted Lisa and said, "we HAVE to do this," and of course, she was on board! We originally planned to attend in early March, but the class filled up before I was able to make the reservation. I was so disappointed... again. There weren't any additional offerings scheduled at that point in time, but I put my email on a notification list should another class come around.  As luck would have it, they quickly scheduled another date in April, and this time I wasted no time in reserving our spot! So, long story short, this adventure has been a loooong time coming.

Femmes in the kitchen! Watch out!

As I mentioned, this adventure took place at the KC Culinary Institute in Old Downtown Overland Park. It's a wonderful facility and I highly recommend everyone check it out. You won't be disappointed. Like the TV show "Chopped," our "Kitchen Wars" class was set up as a team competition in which each team is presented with a variety of ingredients that may not seem to pair well together at first glance. There were three teams participating, ours being a team of six. The host, and judge, was local chef Sandy DiGiovanni who has been on similar televised competitions herself. Class started with a glass of wine, a fresh ricotta dip to snack on and a brief review on the rules of competition. Then it was time to get to it!

There was a table in the middle of the room that was covered with various condiments, fresh and canned fruits and vegetables, oils and seasonings. Each team was given two minutes to browse the items and take mental notes on what was available there. We would be allowed to take three items at a time from the table for use in executing and enhancing our dishes. Then, we were presented with a tray of ingredients, including raw shrimp, mini corndogs, brown and serve rolls and applesauce. We were told that we had 20 minutes to make an appetizer that included all these ingredients and we had three minutes to come up with a plan and decide which of the extra items we wanted. Each team then moved to their own work station that included counter space for prep work, a four burner gas stove, and various pots, pans, bowls and utensils. Our plan was to finely chop the corndogs and use that as a breading for the shrimp that we would then fry and place on a roll to make a slider of sorts. We decided to add raspberry balsamic vinegar and chipotle peppers in adobo sauce from the table of extra ingredients to the applesauce and make a topping for the shrimp.

Unless you've had a similar experience, I think it's impossible to imagine the adrenaline and anxiety that was pulsing through each of us at this point in time. As soon as we were set loose and the timer started ticking, I said, "Oh my God, this is legit." Lisa and I left our wine glasses at the dining table, but some of the other girls brought theirs to the work station. Lisa observed, "You brought your wine?? There's no time for wine!" It was pretty awesome how each one of us naturally found our own niche in the process and how quickly and smoothly we got to work.  Lisa and Amy chopped the corndogs while Alli and Seabrin peeled the shrimp, Jessi reduced the applesauce concoction on the stove and I tossed the rolls in the oven.

Seabrin was our designated runner and as we realized we needed new ingredients, she zipped throughout the kitchen collecting whatever we needed. We procured some flour and eggs in this fashion and Amy and Lisa were then able to bread the shrimp, while I fried them in a skillet. Jessi retrieved the rolls from the oven and Seabrin and Alli started working on plating. Seabrin ran back to us after a trip to the extra ingredients table, and announced, "Guys, I've got a lemon and a jalapeno!" She was so excited, no one questioned her intentions, we just let her run with it. She ended up making some very colorful and artful (though unpalatable) garnishments with these items.

Once time was up, each team presented their appetizer to Sandy with a bit of an explanation on how it was prepared. Seabrin was designated as our presenter, and it was a role she was born to fill. She talked so much nonsense really sold it to Sandy, with promises of it being a life-changing eating experience. Here, Seabrin is presenting our appetizer, which we aptly named "Seaside County Fair"...

While we sat down to dine on our first course, Sandy and the two other employees monitoring our class took our creations behind closed doors to be judged on taste, presentation and creativity. We were all rather pleased with ourselves and our spontaneous cooking skills. Someone said, "I've definitely eaten much worse." After all the shrimp were devoured, we enjoyed a spinach and strawberry salad put together by Chef Sandy, while the other employees cleaned up everyone's messes... we didn't even have to clean up our own mess!! It was the icing on the cake. During the clean up, one of the employees may have "burned" her hand on a metal cookie sheet that was left sitting on a burner Jessi failed to turn off. Whoops! That surely won't help our cause...

After a brief reprieve, it was time to get back to work. For our entree course we were given a tray with marinated turkey breast, bacon, baby brussel sprouts, raisin bran and vanilla pudding on it. All the rules were the same as for the appetizer, except we were given 35 minutes to complete this round. There could not have been a better group of girls to receive brussel sprouts as a challenge. They are little green bites of heaven, not some dreaded childhood torture, for this crew. We order brussel sprouts at any given opportunity and are always looking for new and different ways to prepare them. We decided to go with a tried and true oven roasted version of the sprouts, to which we would add bits of bacon, raisins (from the bran cereal) and almonds. We also decided to pan sear the turkey, and came up with the idea of making a polenta cake-like patty out of the cereal/pudding mixture.

Here we are doing prep work for our entree

Once again, everyone had their role to fill. Lisa and I came up with most of the ideas and planning, Seabrin was our fast and efficient runner, Lisa and Jessi cut, seasoned and prepared the brussel sprouts, Amy and I transformed the turkey breast into bacon wrapped medallions, Alli tackled the bran cakes, I was again the designated fry cook (we decided all my years of late night Town Topic trips overly qualified me for this position) and Seabrin outdid herself with the plating (apple slices with maple syrup drizzle and freshly grated orange zest- nailed it!). Although we each had our own piece we were responsible for, it was really a team effort. While I had my hands covered in raw meat juice, Lisa would spoon feed me bites of things to get my opinion on the flavor. When I suggested that the bran cereal cake needed something else, but I just couldn't put my finger on what it was, Seabrin suggested apple and promptly shredded some apple to add to the mixture. It made me so happy and proud to see how flawlessly, effortlessly and seamlessly we worked together; we were a well-oiled machine. And seriously, how often is it that six female cooks in one small kitchen can get along so well??

Cooking and plating our finished product

I'm realizing these photos don't accurately or effectively display the level of stress (fun stress) we were under throughout this process. Thirty-five minutes never went so fast! If you have ever seen any kind of timed cooking competition on TV, seriously, picture that.  It was intense. We were constantly hearing timers go off, everyone was moving and talking fast, we were making a huge mess from working so furiously, Sandy was yelling out time-checks, "Three minutes to go!!!" It was such a rush!!! But, it was not without its hazards. Somehow, between me frying the bran cakes and Jessi blotting the excess oil from them with paper towels, one paper towel got a little too close to the gas flame. There may or may not have been a momentary fire danger, but thanks to Jessi's quick reaction (swatting flames with a paper towel... a PAPER towel), a major crisis was averted. The judges and other teams were none the wiser, despite me yelling, "Hit it! Hit it!" and then, "We just set a paper towel on fire!" Discretion is not my strong suit.

When the alarm bell rang, Chef Seabrin again presented our dish to Sandy with that one-of-a-kind Seabrin flare...

While we sat down to eat our dinner, the judges retreated to their private quarters to determine a winner. I have to say that we did a damn good job with the time we were given. Our dish was so unique and full of so many different flavors that popped on their own AND at the same time, melded together perfectly. We were feeling pretty good about our odds of winning when the judges returned and informed us that they were never actually going to pick one winner, but instead wanted to acknowledge each team for their individual strengths (winning isn't everything, yadda yadda yadda). Each Femme was presented with a certificate for "Most Fearless Use of Ingredients".... I'll take it, but really.... who won? One of the judges asked us who came up with the bran cake/pudding idea (for the record, it was me) and said it was amazing! Alli and I were then convinced that we had won, "the proof is in the pudding... literally," she said, and she wasn't going to quit until she found out who scored the highest. The judges refused to officially announce a winner, buuuuutttt... two of the three judges (remember, one didn't care for us much after the burner incident) whispered to us that we won. We WON!!!! Or maybe they whispered that to all the teams... but, I'm sure they didn't. :)

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Despite some hesitations and uncertainties amongst certain members of the group, in the end, it turned out that EVERYONE enjoyed this adventure as much as Lisa and I hoped we would. We were all still thinking and talking about how much fun we had the next day, and Alli went so far as to say, "one of my favorite adventures ever!" Please, do yourself a favor, attend a Kitchen Wars class!