Well, at least they weren’t all used in the same round.  Chicken skin was up first, along with green beans, prunes and sweet apple cider.  I probably would have stuffed the chicken skin with prunes, quinoa and tomatoes, serving it with a bean salad and an apple cider dressing, but that would probably have taken more time than what was given.  One of the contestants had a similar idea, but deep-fried the skins.  However, they they didn’t exactly turn out the way she wanted them as they were falling apart in the fryer.  The wrap ended up looking a little bit deconstructed.  It was also not evenly cooked, even though the judges loved the stuffing.  Another contestant also made a chicken wrap, but had shrimp and prune purée in it instead.  The chefs liked the shrimp idea, but thought the sauce he used was a little too sweet.  The chicken skin was also a bit undercooked.  Other dishes included a chicken skin spaetzle with prune gastrique (judges thought it was quite “brave” to make it, but the skin was a undercooked) and a green bean chopped salad (with chicken skin).  Ultimately, the chef who made the spaetzle was chopped due to her chicken skin.

Digestive cookies were used in the main course

For the main course, along with digestive cookies, scallops, canned tomato soup and okra were also required.  This seemed like a very easy round, though again, my dish idea might take a bit longer than required (basically, pan searing the scallops with the tomato soup and then finishing it off in the oven along with the okra, and some onions, topped with digestive cookie  and herb crumbs and maybe a bit of asiago.  Served with rice, quinoa or crusty bread).  The three dishes created included a lemon basil digestive cookie scallop (which received mixed reviews.  Some of the judges liked the sauce, while others did not and one noted that the okra was undercooked), a seared scallop with tomato stewed okra (one of the judges absolutely LOVED the okra, saying “all my dreams came true…”) and the third went as far as making fresh pasta (yes, you read correctly.  FRESH PASTA) to go with his dish.  However, his okra was a bit too salty and the scallops were a bit overcooked.  This didn’t cause him the round, however.  Instead, the chef who made the lemon basil scallop was the one to go, due to the lack of seasoning and the inconsistent presentation.

Dessert:  Instant mash (yeah, the gross, powdery stuff), chocolate sandwich cookies (think Oreos.  In fact, I think they were.  Too bad food companies don’t sponsor this show (are they afraid that the contestants would make weird things out of their products, or is it just something that Chopped creators just didn’t think was a good idea?), fennel seeds and strawberries.  The two desserts we saw were cinnamon mash potato donuts, served with strawberries and mascarpone (the donuts were partially fried and finished off in the oven) and the other, half baked pot (as in a container, not you-kn0w-what) brownies and grilled strawberries.  I personally didn’t really like the donut chef’s presentation – the mascarpone had turned a bit grey (plums were added to give more colour variation) and he also used some of the cheese as a “coaster” of sorts for the container of donuts (judges weren’t fans of that, either.  They did like the taste, however).  As for the brownie chef, judges were fans of the grilled strawberries, but thought that the whipped cream, which was added at the end, was obviously a last minute thing.  At the end, the winner was a bit of a surprise, as I was positive that the brownie chef lost.  He won.

Image credits: Digestive biscuits photo by bluefern/iStockphoto;