Zucchini Challange - Zuch and Peach Roulade

This zucchini and peach roulade was made with a cheddar souffle spread with a zucchini pesto with saturn peach slices layered on top, rolled up and chilled, then served with a soy-ginger orange sauce. yum!

Lauren tried it and said "um, i'm not hungry. but this is ok. i'd eat it again" - soooo yeah. but i liked it. and matt liked it! it was light and delicious and tasted like summer.

the roulade was basically a white roux which was salted, peppered, and with cheddar cheese melted in which was then folded into egg whites which had been beaten to smooth, stiff peaks. the mixture was then baked.

the zucchini pesto was created by cutting the skin of the zucchini off and some of the white and puree-ing it with a few leaves of basil.

the orange sauce was created by puree-ing a mandarine orange with some orange juice, flour, ginger, and soy sauce and reducing that until the consistancy was as you see here.

then we ate it! and we're going to eat it again for dinner tonight. YUM.

Zucchini Challenge: Disastrous Plating Failure

While drunk in a Manhattan bar after a trip to the Guggenheim, Erin and I were discussing the challenge. Here's what we came up with. Tuna tartare with chopped vinegar soaked zucchini topped with a poached (because I wasn't sure about raw) quail egg. The plate is rimmed with tonkatsu sauce and dollops of spicy kewpie mayonnaise and garnished with zuchinni peel (as per Kyle's bitching). I have never been able to plate dishes for my life so trust that it tasted better than it looked. Erin agreed.I started with fresh sushi grade tuna I had gotten at the asian market on rt 18. I badgered the hell out of the guy because neither of us could find a common language but eventually we agreed it was in fact fresh sushi grade tuna and that we are both fans of giving thumbs up. I guess we all speak the international language of The Fonz.Here is the chopped zucchini sitting in vinegar. I did that just for some extra taste. We then rinsed the zucchini and incorporated it with the tuna.I couldn't get the water spinning fast enough so the eggs poached a little wispy but they were still good. Not quite as good as a raw egg yolk sitting on your tartare but I wasn't 100% sure about these quail eggs so I didn't want to chance it.Erin spent most of the time snacking on these spicy wasabi crackers and cherry tomatoes I picked up at the asian grocery while getting the tuna. I eventually convinced her to chop up some zucchini and tomatos together for a cracker topping. Here's her rebuttal to my dish. She incorporated leftover tuna. It was miles better than what I made.She also topped these suckers off with some spicy kewpie mayonnaise leftover from my dish. These little bastards were increadible. Perfect spice to match the coolness of the zucchini and the tuna. I think she beat me. Not afraid to admit it.

DYMS Zucchini Challenge: MK, Contender

TriColor Zucchini Vermicelli Nests

For vermicelli:
1/2 large zucchini
1/2 large yellow squash
1 carrot, peeled
coarse salt

Into a medium bowl, use a mandolin slicer on a narrow setting (if you don't have one, use a peeler and just peel very narrow shreds) to slice down about half of each of the zucchini and yellow squash, until you hit seeds. Do not use the seedy parts! Slice down as much of the carrot as you can stand.

Break up the shreds with your hands or a wooden spoon and incorporate. Toss with salt and empty the shreds into a collander. Sit the collander in a bowl and leave the mixture alone for about 20 minutes. Squeeze out the water from the shreds with your hands and transfer the dry shreds to a bowl.

To dress and garnish:
1 small scallion, sliced thin
3 small sprigs of mint, chopped
1 dash each of mirin, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce
juice of 1/4 lemon
salt to taste
black or white sesame seeds, toasted, for sprinkling

Combine wet ingredients, herbs, and scallion in a measuring cup or small bowl. Pour over the shreds and toss to coat. With a salad fork, twirl the strands and place resulting whorl on a clean plate. Repeat until all of the strands are whorled, approximately 9 whorls.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and garnish with a sprig of mint and a contrasting nasturtium.

Alright son, time to giddyup

aiight all, here is our first IRON CHEF CHALLENGE!!!!! With all of our contenders from DYMS over here in one corner, and the GREAT COOKINGWITHDOG Chef in the other!

DAH DAH DAH DAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*GONG*


AND THE FOOD FOR THIS CHALLENGE IS -----

apparently zucchini.

(chosen at random by my coworker)


wow. ok, so even though my first thought was "really? zucchini? really?" now i'm starting to get into it.



Here are the rules:
1. you gotta post something by 1200 midnight July 31st. (this gives all of our lazy asses about two weeks to perfect it)
2. you gotta make someone who has no idea what your doing this for and also what they're eating to taste it, and write out some comments.
3. you gotta post pictures AND the comments. no matter how droll or embarassing.
4. it should be original. no using someone else's recipe, LET YOUR IMAGINATION RUN FREEEEEEEE.




Did i miss anything? post some comments!!!!