The Barefoot Contessa - Dinner For Two With a Competition Thrown In

Honestly, I’m glued to what’s happening on the other side of the world. I have friends from those parts who were hours away from going back home and I’m so relieved they’re still here, but so worried for their families. Could there be anything further from that than the Barefoot Contessa? I don’t think so, but I needed a little reprieve and I thought maybe you did too.

Barefoot Contessa with Ina Garten

Jeffrey’s Dinner

Ina exclaims at the beginning of the episode that she is NOT making her usual chicken for his Friday night dinner. She says she’s serving mojitos. For dinner? Oh, for WHILE she’s MAKING dinner. AND she and Jeffrey are having a steak throwdown. She will be cooking it in the oven and he will be grilling.

By the way, I love that she’s using the term throwdown, which is such a nice homage to Bobby. Ina will clearly be the expert in this case with Jeffrey playing the part of the challenger.

Ina says she’s been making roast chicken for Jeffrey almost every Friday night for FORTY TWO years!!! “And between you and me, I’m a little sick of it.” So she came up with a steak contest.

With the steaks, she’s serving bruschetta with a homemade ricotta topping. Interesting. I do love the idea of toasted, oiled bread which often has garlic rubbed on it. What I HATE is the usual chopped tomato topping which is completely impossible to eat in an orderly fashion.

If you’re cocktail-partying it, then sloppy bits and pieces can fall on the floor. If you’re eating in a restaurant or bar, then the chopped up mixture can hit your lap. Who needs it? But Ina is making a nice stick-to-the-bread spread, which should be okay in terms of tidiness.

I do love THIS bruschetta-type mixture, but for the top of a chicken breast AND eaten with a knife and fork.

Ina is actually making her own ricotta. Into a big pot, she pours a quart of whole milk, 2 cups of cream and a teaspoon of salt. She brings the whole to a “full boil”.

She says there are so many things you can do with a homemade ricotta – use it in lasagna, make a dessert by adding sugar and cinnamon.

After it comes to the boil, she turns it off and adds 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar (or any kind). That will make it separate into curds and whey. After a minute, she pours it into a strainer that’s been lined with 2 layers of cheesecloth.

The whey drips through to the bowl and the curds are left in the strainer. She leaves it for about half an hour, pouring out the liquid from the bottom of the bowl occasionally. The longer you leave it, the thicker the ricotta. That makes sense. This is so easy, why WOULDN’T anyone make this?

(Ina doesn’t say this, but you need AT LEAST 2 layers of cheesecloth or all your ricotta will go right through the large pores of the cloth. If that happens, just strain it again through several layers of cheesecloth this time.)

Ina told Jeffrey to bring home some charcoal when he asked if he could pick up anything. Is she saying that there aren’t bags of charcoal stacked up to the perfectly proportioned beamed ceiling in an architecturally perfect shed somewhere on her property?

We see Jeffrey going to get the charcoal. He’s a little worried, because “last time she asked me to do some grilling, there were a few problems and a few critiques.” As if Ina could be anything but gentle and grateful to her Jeffrey.

He gets to Thayers Hardware Store in Bridgehampton. We’re told on the screen that it’s 5pm. Is that something they do on Throwdown? I can’t remember. He gets the charcoal and starts for home.

Meanwhile, Ina tells us it’s not a real barbecue until the fire department shows up. She admits he’s a good griller, she just likes to keep him on his toes.

Ina is chopping up scallions for the ricotta and then chives (from her garden) and dill. Use whatever combination of herbs you like, she says. She likes the combo of 3 scallions, 2 tablespoons of chives and 1 tablespoon of dill.

Ina adds the strained cheese to the herbs and adds another teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper. I know she’s rubbing the bread with garlic later, but I would still have liked a bit of garlic in there.

Oh goodie, cocktail time. Ina is making watermelon mojitos. She takes 30 leaves of fresh mint off the stem, while we see Jeffrey in the back getting his fire ready. What does his baseball hat say? Oh, “barefoot contessa”. Cute.

Ina crushes the mint with a mortar and pestle, apologizing for using “specialized equipment”. I forgive her. She puts big pieces of seeded watermelon in the food processor to make 2 cups of purée.

Ina adds the muddled mint to the bottom of a tall, clear glass pitcher. Then she pours over 1 1/2 cups of rum. Isn’t that a lot? I might start out a bit weaker. She adds the 2 cups of watermelon purée and 1/2 cup of sugar syrup. (Simmer equal amounts of sugar and water until the sugar dissolves. Store in fridge.) The last ingredient is 6 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lime juice (which is a ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons).

Ina brings out two (large) cocktails to the terrace where Jeffrey is setting the house, sorry, the coals on fire. Jeffrey loves the drink. Ina brushes sliced bread with olive oil and sprinkles over salt and pepper. They go on the grill. Jeffrey tries to help. Ina lets him…for a second.

He wonders what else they’re cooking. She tells him, “It’s not chicken!” Then she she tells him what she has in mind and he’s eager to compete with her. Wait! Aren’t they forgetting about the bread? It should be coming off the grill. Oh good, she takes it off and rubs it with garlic and then spreads over the herb ricotta. He likes it!

Okay, here we go. Ina is about to head for the kitchen and Jeffrey will go for the grill. Ina has oiled the outside of a 2 inch filet mignon and coated the outside with crushed peppercorns. She tells Jeffrey to grill the steak for 5 minutes on each side and then test it in the middle to see if it’s 125°F.

He runs a little test drive by sticking the thermometer into the raw steak.

Oy, Ina is probably cringing inside, because you don’t want to be poking and prodding your steak with sharp objects. All the juices will run out.

Plus there’s another issue – a hygiene alert. THAT thermometer MUST be washed before plunging it into the COOKED steak. Otherwise, you’re infecting the cooked steak with raw steak juices. Am I the only one worrying about that?

Back in the kitchen, Ina shows us her restaurant method of cooking the steak. She heats a cast iron pan for 5 to 7 minutes over high heat. She cooks her steak for 2 minutes on each side and on the edges.

Back to Jeffrey, he tests the steak and it’s 125°F. (No mention of a sterilized thermometer.) He wraps it in foil, just like he’s seen Ina do.

Back to Ina - she puts her secret ingredient of one tablespoon butter on top of the steak and it goes into a 400°F oven for 8 to 12 minutes, OH!, she forgot to tell Jeffrey about the butter. (Ina only forgets things intentionally.) She says she’s also cooking her to 125°F.

Jeffrey is lounging outside, waiting for Ina to finish and for him to win. She tests her steak. Perfect. 125°F. She lets it rest for 10 minutes, wrapped in foil.

Ina serves it with an arugula salad and a lemon vinaigrette – made with ½ cup of “good” olive oil, ¼ cup lemon juice, ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon of salt (that way too much) and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. She drizzles it over some over the arugula and puts it on the plates.

Out on the terrace, they uncover their steaks at the same time. Ina says she’s going to cut hers with a gorgeous sharp knife and she hands him a dull-edged dinner knife to cut his. No, you don’t, he says.

They slice them up and put them on top of the salad with some shaved parmesan. They taste his steak first. They both love it and he says, “I WON!”

She says they have to taste hers first. He says incredulously, “That’s incredibly moist!” She admits that she might have done something a little different….that she might have put a little butter on hers. “YOU PUT BUTTER ON IT?!! And you gave me no butter!!!”

She says you can have my steak. He says, “Darn right, I want your steak.” Ina says she might have won, but it might have been by cheating. She says to stay tuned, because SHE’S getting grilled next…with barbecuing questions.

The first question is why she never cooks on a gas grill. She says she loves the flavor of charcoal, “but if you like the convenience, stick with the gas grill.”

The next question is whether one should start barbecued chicken and ribs inside and then finish them outside or do the whole thing outside. Ina says there are two ways to do it. (Actually, there are probably a million ways to answer that question. If I’m cooking a lot of chicken, I always cook it most of the way inside and then have H finish it on the grill.)

Ina says she usually does it all outside. The trick is to have a low fire with only one layer of charcoal.

The other way is to cook the chicken and ribs on a sheet pan at 350°F for 45 minutes to an hour. Then throw them on a really hot grill to sear the outside.

The next question is how to cook tuna steaks without overcooking them. Ina says they should be almost raw inside. She brushes olive oil on both sides of the tuna and sprinkles it (generously, of course) with salt and pepper. She grills it over really hot coals for 2 to 2½ minutes on each side. She says you can do the same thing on a really hot cast iron pan.

This episode demonstrates something that Ina does so well - highlighting a basic technique and showing us that a delicious meal can be a snap, even for someone who is cooking-challenged like Jeffrey. And, incidentally, many of this week’s recipes are in her new book, How Easy Is That?.

Okay, back to real life…unfortunately.

A Lighter Version Of A Classic

I loved one of the things Mark Bittman said in his last Minimalist column in the Times on Wednesday. He was talking about how the column had given him the opportunity to cook with lots of different people over the years and how he always benefited from that:

I discovered that you never cook with someone else without learning something. In every case, there’s a two-way transfer of knowledge. If they know less than you do, you grow from teaching. If more, of course, you grow from learning.

Last week, I was definitely the student. For Examiner.com, I interviewed a radio host from these parts, Dennis Malloy, who is also an avid cook. His favorite dishes are old-timey, family style Italian recipes that are always satisfying and delicious when made from scratch.

Dennis just did a cooking demonstration and he mentioned a dish that really interested me. (He didn't actually cook this dish, he just talked about it.) He called it Chicken Parmesan and I think he said he learned about it from a friend in Italy.

He coats the thinly pounded chicken breasts with flour, egg and crumb (actually he may have left out the flour) and cooks them, but that wasn’t the exciting part. The cool thing was that he said he topped the chicken with an uncooked bruschetta-type tomato mixture and THAT WAS IT!

So I asked him where the Parm was. He CALLED it Chicken Parm and so WHERE was the cheese? Oh, he said, I guess you grate a little over at the end. I liked that it was kind of an afterthought.

The great thing was the idea of a beautifully cooked chicken cutlet with just a fresh, lovely tomato topping. It’s the complete opposite of a gloppy, over-sauced, mozzarella-laden bit of chicken, which sounded so good to me.

Dennis, thank you for such a great idea. THIS is what I came up with.

My Version Of Dennis Malloy’s Version Of Chicken Parmesan (serves 2ish)

Printable recipe here.

Fresh Tomato Topping:

1 pint grape tomatoes

1 large handful of parsley, chopped

½ medium red onion, chopped finely

1 tbl. extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp. red wine vinegar

A scant 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt

For Chicken:

4 thinly pounded chicken breasts (I use 1 package of Bell and Evans "Italian style" chicken breasts)

1 cup flour

2 eggs beaten with 2 tsps. water

3 to 4 pieces whole wheat bread, made into crumbs in the food processor

3 to 4 tbls. olive oil for frying

To serve:

½ box thin spaghetti, cooked

2 tbls. olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, salt and parsley

8 pitted Kalamata olives

a bit of freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

extra chopped parsley, if desired, for garnish

For Fresh Tomato Topping, cut each grape tomato into quarters lengthwise and then each piece into thirds. (It sounds fussy, but it’s so much more attractive to have even pieces.) Place in non-reactive bowl with remaining topping ingredients. Leave at room temperature until ready to use, up to 2 hours.

If using Bell and Evans chicken, cut each chicken breast piece in half lengthwise. You should have 4 pieces. Flour, egg and crumb each piece and place on a baking sheet which has been lined with wax paper. Refrigerate, uncovered, until ready to cook.

Heat 3 tbls. olive oil in 12 inch sauté pan over medium heat. Fry chicken breasts about 3 minutes about 3 minutes on each side until browned nicely. Add additional tablespoon of oil for second side, if necessary.

For spaghetti, heat olive oil with 2 cloves of minced garlic until fragrant. Remove garlic. Add spaghetti and toss until well coated. Add salt to taste and parsley.

Place one portion of spaghetti on dinner plate. Top with one or two cooked chicken breasts and tomato topping. Place 4 olives around each plate. Sprinkle over Parmesan cheese and garnish with extra chopped parsley if desired.

Top Chef All-Stars – One Team Looks Like It’s Made Of Professional Chefs…The Other Team? Not So Much

Top Chef All-Stars - Restaurant Wars

By the way, the fishing post from the week before Restaurant Wars is here.

Carla is proud to have won last week’s challenge and she’s happy to be one of three women left.

They call Antonia the hammer, because on her season her teammates kept getting sent home, while she was safe. The same thing is happening this time too! It’s actually kind of funny. She says it’s a coincidence. I say there ARE no coincidences…

This is cool. The chefs arrive at Le Bernardin and Tony is there directing their Quickfire this week. He tells the chefs that he devoted an entire chapter in his book Medium Raw to Justo Thomas, Le Bernardin’s fish butcher. Tony says that between 7 am and noon, Justo butchers between SEVEN HUNDRED and a THOUSAND pounds of fish!!! Holy mother of cleavers!!! Tony continues to say that when Justo goes on vacation, “it takes three trained sous chefs to do his job”. Amazing.

This is one of the great things about Top Chef - that it’s a place to highlight chefs and food professionals who perhaps would only be known to their peers.

Mike says (to us), “I think I know where this is going.”

“Saving fish, quality and equal portions” is what Justo says is the key to what he does.

“Seeing Justo clean fish gives me tears,” says Fabio, “It’s amazing.”

Tony reminds them that even if one scale gets in someone’s dish, Le Bernardin could become a “used-to-be-good” restaurant.

“Chefs,” says Tony, “I think we know what comes next.”

Each of them has to fillet and portion one cod and one fluke into Le Bernardin quality portions and they have “the relatively luxurious time of “ 10 minutes to do it.

We learn that Tiffany is the Executive Chef of Go Fish restaurant, except that THIS is a shame. Marcel tells us that the first time he handled fish he got a terrible rash and “being the chef that (he) is” he just kept on doing it and it went away. (Marcel gives ME a rash.)

Mike tells us that Carla is struggling. Fabio’s knife goes right through his thumbnail. OY! He says he’s not going to be like Jamie and stop the challenge for that. It looks like he’s bleeding all over the fish. Uck!

The results:

Dale’s “looks good”; Angelo’s “looking good”. Antonia starts apologizing before Justo can say anything.

Marcel’s fish - “It’s not bad at all.” Carla was going too carefully, so she didn’t finish. “What can I say, because I don’t see no portions there?” says Justo.

About Mike, “You got a lot of fish. Not too much waste there.” Richard – “A little bit of scale, but that’s fine.” (It is?!!)

Tre - I see a little bit of waste on the bone.

Tiffany’s: “I think you cut it the wrong way. Supposed to cut it in the center.“ She’s completely mortified.

Tony says he loves challenges like this where the chefs already know how well or poorly they did.

The worst: Fabio, Carla, Tiffany and Antonia. The best: Dale, Richard, Marcel and Mike. Those four now have to cook a dish from the garbage of the fish: the head, tails, fins etc. The winner will get immunity.

Dale is happy with the challenge because he says his family “was doing nose to tail cooking, before it was even cool.” He’s making TWO dishes. What a chef!!!

Mike says the best flavor is the meat from the bone and from the head.

Richard says his first job was at a place called McDonald’s “I don’t know if you’ve heard of it.” He was the fish cook, which at McDonald’s was “very prestigious”. He says he sent out his first fish filet sandwich without the top bun and that he was being avant garde, before he even knew that was his calling.

Richard is so different on this season. He seems to have calmed down a bit and he’s actually kind of charming. I couldn’t STAND him before, but now I really appreciate him.

All four do well, but my money is on MY Dale. What a stud…to do TWO dishes, and one has fish guts, actually the liver.

I DO like it when Marcel says he uses all parts of the fish, because “to throw away a life is wasteful”.

The verdict: Richard’s is “good”, says Justo. Mike’s - ”Nice work,” says Tony. Dale’s – “Flavor’s good,” says Justo. “Nice touch, the liver,” says Tony. Justo likes Marcel’s broth, but Marcel doesn’t think Tony gets enough of it in his taste.

While they wait, Mike and Richard say everyone’s dish looked “tight”. Mike just hopes that Marcel doesn’t win immunity.

Justo and Tony come out into the dining room to announce the decision. Justo thanks them all and Tony says they ate well, but “too little” says Justo. The winner is…Dale. YES! He gets immunity.

Back at the Top Chef kitchen, there’s Ludo with Padma. And the challenge is Restaurant Wars!!! They’re all excited. They have to make a pop-up restaurant in 24 hours.

Remember when my Dale (unfairly) got sent home from his season’s Restaurant Wars? Thank goodness, that can’t happen here. Because he has immunity, Dale is captain of one team and he gets to pick the other captain. He is so shrewd and, of course, picks Marcel, because no one wants to work with Marcel and now Dale can be guaranteed that he won’t have to. Smart.

Marcel is such a nitwit he feels “honored” that Dale picked him to be the other captain. Doesn’t he get it? Obviously, not.

Dale picks Richard, Tre, Carla and Fabio. (Dale says Fabio is “the front of the house master” and “the steal of the draft”.)

Marcel picks Angelo (who is the only one who can stand working with him), Mike, Antonia, and Tiffany.

The big difference this season is that the diners will decide who wins. That’s great.

Marcel’s team wants Tiffany to be front of the house. She agrees reluctantly.

Dale wants to call his restaurant Bodega. Marcel, on the other team, doesn’t want to decide anything until they’ve agreed on a concept. He gets frustrated that no one wants to listen to him. Fabio tells us that Dale picked a team of marathoners and that Marcel picked a team of sprinters.

Back at the house, Dale’s team works well together. Marcel’s is still fighting over stuff. He wants the restaurant to be called Medi for Mediterranean. Mike wants Etch.

They arrive at the Foundry (I think it’s this one) to set up their restaurants outside. We didn’t see all the shopping, which is fine with me. And did I read somewhere that they weren’t responsible for the whole décor part anymore. Am I making that up? Luckily I don’t think they had to waste their time on that.

Antonia is happy that the diners are voting.

The dishes are here.

Tom shows up and talks to Marcel, who gets a little testy when Tom questions him further about something. He says he really has to get back to work. Dale is happy to chat with him or, at least, pretends to be. Before he leaves, Tom says there will be one winner who will get $10,000.

Fabio says he’s owned his own restaurants since he was 18. We see him taking charge of the serving staff beautifully. He goes over the menu and service and tells us that food will be worth 50% and he will deliver the other 50%.

Marcel is directing Tiffany on how to peel an egg and she still hasn’t made it out to the dining room. The eggs aren’t cooked all the way, Marcel thinks. He says to us that he’s disappointed and that he was expecting more from the chefs and that now they have to come up with a different egg dish.

Tiffany is frustrated because she says she should have just cooked the freakin’ egg the freakin way she knew how to cook them.

Marcel says (to us) “If you can’t cook a six minute egg, I don’t know what to tell you.” Mike says to cure the egg yolk.

Uh-oh. There is NO question. Tiffany is going home. Tiffany is going home. Tiffany is SO going home. She screwed up the eggs because she listened to Marcel. She’s thinking of finishing the dish the way Mike wants AND she’s letting Angelo finish her dish. It’s absolutely going to be Tiffany. They’re trying to cast a little shadow of a doubt, though, by showing Richard say that things are perhaps a little TOO quiet on his team.

The rest of them don’t want Marcel to put foam on his dish, which is what he always does.

Carla is sweet and tells everyone to have a good service.

The diners arrive and Fabio is really selling it to the crowd in his restaurant. Dana Cowin comes into Tiffany’s side. Tiffany isn’t happy, because now they have to worry about “Miss VIP”.

There’s a bit of drama in the kitchen when Dale doesn’t speak nicely to Fabio’s servers. Fabio cools him down.

Tiffany’s side has folks who send back their undercooked lamb. And, uh-oh, Dana kind of lets Tiffany have it. She says, “I thought that’s not a well-cooked egg. It’s not balanced in the way that it’s composed.”

Also sitting at her table is Amanda Hesser, who for some reason is not identified, I don’t think. She’s also not happy. She says, “It was also too salty. You sort of lost the beauty of that kind of salad.” Tiffany says, “I’m sorry that you had to experience it this way.” What an odd way to put something. Plus she’s lucky their criticism is only worth two votes.

Meanwhile, Fabio is giving great service. Dana’s group has moved to the other side. “Dana,” Fabio says to us, “you’re about to have a date with me tonight.” She immediately says that Bodega is a big improvement conceptually over the last meal. Dana says a pop-up restaurant should be modern and fun and “there’s modern and fun, all over this menu.”

The judges arrive at Bodega. Fabio immediately greets them. At the table, Tom asks Ludo how long he his pop up restaurants last. Ludo says he does what he wants. He’s kind of brusque.

Tony likes Dale’s Bacon, Egg and Cheese with homemade focaccia. He says that if you put a runny egg on anything, he likes it. ME too! Tom agrees.

Ludo likes the tuna dish. Tom admires that Fabio is actually directing the staff. He says he’s doing great. Meanwhile, Tiffany is chatting with people and not directing the staff at all.

Fabio tells Richard that the judges love the food. Richard doesn’t initially believe him.

Padma loves Tre’s pork shoulder with corona sauce. Tom thinks Richard’s cod batter is great and he loves the whole concept of his dish. Tony says he would be very happy to have his place pop up in his neighborhood.

Fabio is worried when he see that Padma hasn’t finished the pork shoulder. She says she’s just trying to pace herself.

Tony laughs as he says he bleepin’ LOVES Fabio’s cheesecake. Tom giggles in agreement. Tony says he’s been waiting for this dish _ an amaretto cheesecake with cappuccino mousse – from Fabio.

Ludo likes Carla’s blueberry pie, even though it’s not his favorite thing to eat. Padma says, “THAT was delicious. Let’s see what Etch has to offer.”

The judges arrive at Etch and we see Tiffany talking and laughing way too loudly. The judges wait way too long for a table. Padma looks put out that no one’s there to greet them. I don’t blame her. I hate that!

Oy, it gets worse. Tiffany is talking really loudly. I like her, but her laugh is really too raucous. Ludo immediately notices that the wait staff isn’t organized properly and there’s more laughing. Padma says that Tiffany thinks that “working the front of the house is just schmoozing.”

Tom says he thinks she had a great personality, but outside her element “it’s forced”. That’s what that laugh sounds like. Unfortunately, I can’t help but think of my chant. Tiffany is going home, Tiffany is going...well, you get the idea.

Padma says that it’s “disconcerting” that she hears the host’s laughter over everyone else’s. Tiffany finally comes back to the judges table and Padma says “we’re hungry.” Tiffany scurries into the kitchen to report that.

The food arrives, which doesn’t improve the judges’ opinions much. Tony needs more smokey flavor in Tiffany’s egg and chorizo dish. Tom says her asparagus is way underseasoned and he doesn’t love Angelo’s fluke crudo.

A diner tells Tiffany that if the food is cold, the plate should be cold, but if the food is hot the plate should be hot and everything on the lamb dish was cold. That’s pretty bad. Things don’t seem to be going Tiffany’s way tonight.

Mike and Marcel start to fight about the best way to heat up the plates. Angelo says if it were his restaurant he would send Mike home.

Ludo says Marcel’s monkfish is mushy. Some diners love it. Tom likes Mike’s pork belly and octopus. Padma thinks Antonia’s gnudi are too salty. Tony thinks they’re perfect. Tony and Tom like Mike and Angelo’s lamb chops.

Tiffany brings out a steaming bowl (from dry ice) of Marcel’s dessert of peaches with coconut foam. It is universally panned by the judges AND diners. “This was like a perfect storm of awfulness,” says Tony. There was actually one nitwit guest who liked it.

Dana says the Bodega meal was head and shoulders about the Etch meal. Fabio kisses many women’s hands as they leave. Fabio is super happy with the results. Richard is still nervous.

On the other side, Antonia is super negative about their results.

Back in the stew room, they all agree that Fabio is the greatest. Dale says he thought he would pull out a white truffle and start shaving it on top of dish and saying, “Just for you.”

Padma calls in Etch first, which makes Richard even more nervous. He says, “Talk to me now, Maestro,” to Fabio.

Mike wants to know how much money Fabio made in tips. He says he got some phone numbers instead.

Padma tells them they’re the losing team. Only 17 out of 76 diners preferred them. Tom says the Etch team obviously didn’t have a plan. Angelo says someone should have organized the kitchen. Tom asks who should have done that and no one answers.

Angelo says his dish had pink peppercorns, which you find in the south of France. Ludo says, “Not really.” Ludo also says Angelo’s crudo was too complicated. They say Mike’s pork belly and octopus needed more flavor, even though at the table they liked it. Tony says Antonia’s oxtail ragu was too salty.

Tony questions why Marcel’s dish had to have foam. Marcel says he wanted to reinforce the parsley flavor. Tom says that not the best way to get parsley flavor into a dish. Ludo says Marcel’s monkfish “was missing texture. Everything was mushy.”

About the dessert, Tony says it was “ a thumb in the eye” at the end of the meal. As if they were saying, “Thanks for coming. POW!”

Okay, so they clearly didn’t like Tiffany’s asparagus dish OR the way she carried out her front of the house duties. Bye-bye Tiffany. They didn’t like anyone else’s dish that much, but they HATED Tiffany’s cackling in the restaurant. Tom tells her that at some points there were NO waiters on the floor. She says when you’re having arguments on the line it’s hard to control, which opens the whole subject of Marcel not being a good captain and no one listening to him. At least she didn’t say, “I’m sorry that you had to experience it this way.”

Finally Mike says to Marcel, “You did a poor job and no one wants to say anything, because you’re like time bomb.” Marcel goes through all the things he told them to do which they didn’t and which was why their dishes didn’t succeed. Antonia says Marcel was the team captain and “he needed to step up” and he didn’t.

This all shows how brilliant Dale was to pick someone who couldn’t lead as the other team’s leader. The judges have them send in the other team.

Ludo tells Dales team that in 24 hours they did an amazing job. They loved Richard’s idea of the potato chips. Tom tells Fabio he loved his personality on the floor and the way he directed the staff AND his dessert.

Tony tells Dale he thought his egg dish was great stoner food at it finest and he meant that as a huge compliment. The judges liked Tre’s dish and thought Carla’s dessert worked perfectly with the menu. And the winner is…Richard. I’m not unhappy about that. He’s okay. He says he thought he was going home an hour ago.

The judges dismiss team Bodega and then talk about the losing team. Tony says they failed at concept, teamwork and service. Ludo says there was no excuse for Antonia’s salty dish. Okay, let’s hear them say Tiffany is going home.

They call them back in and it’s…Marcel. Not that I’m sorry, but I am surprised. I was so sure Tiffany was going home. I am glad, though, that this week’s episode wasn’t our last impression of her.

Marcel is “shocked” to be eliminated. He says to us that the only mistake he made was picking the wrong team. He says he’s known as the “most notorious” contestant of all time, but that he’s a likable guy and that he didn’t do anything he wouldn’t do again.

This episode was a study in contrasts. It had great food and awful food; conflict and wonderful camaraderie; unhappy tasters and also tasters reveling in the food; plus plenty of drama AND humor. Best line of the night was from Tony: "A prison break is better organized than Marcel’s team."

I’ve been away...

Top Chef is coming, I promise, but Where Was I?

American history buffs may know.

Architecture buffs may know.

Wine buffs may know.

H(usband) had meetings in beautifully temperate (NOT!) DC and then in Charlottesville, Va and I tagged along. Luckily, there were some wonderful events planned for those not ensconced in meetings and some wonderful meals planned for all.

In Washington, I had hoped to see Michelle on her way to the market or taking the kids to school. No such luck, but I did catch this guy being arrested in front of the White House protesting Hu’s visit.

The great thing about being in Washington when it's cold enough to skate on the streets is that there are few other people visiting, so there were no lines anywhere. I made two visits to the Newseum. The highpoint – the display of Pulitzer Prize winning photographs and the accompanying short film of interviews with many of the photographers. (Many of the photographs are graphic and definitely not suitable for young kids.)

Other great exhibits at the Newseum: sections from the Berlin Wall; The gallery of newspaper coverage of historical events - everything from the sinking of the Titanic to Marilyn Monroe’s death and so much more; a wonderful documentary on the history of sports coverage.

If you’ve ever been to the Capital, you would have appreciated the total lack of crowds last week. There was NO wait to get in, only a rather unpleasant airport-like security situation. (No privacy-busting x-ray machines, but lots of scanning.)

There were other folks on the Capital tour once we got inside, but not masses. My favorite part is Statuary Hall – the old home of the House of Representatives, where the latest inaugural luncheon took place. Lots of statues ring the room and if you stand in the place where John Adam's desk was (there’s a plaque on the floor), you can hear someone whispering from the other side of the room.

I also got in a quick visit to the Chester Dale Collection at the National Gallery. The great thing is that all the museums on the Mall (except the Newseum) are free, so you can run in and out without feeling you have to spend hours in each one.

Not too far from the Capital is Ted’s Bulletin, where we went for lunch. What a fantastic place!

Look at the menu. How could you NOT want to eat here?

Added to the fantastic burgers, sandwiches and other yummy things are their famous MILK SHAKES! Honestly, is there anything better than a good milk shake? Many thanks to my buddy C, who agreed to split a milk shake AND she didn’t even mind if it was a vanilla one, which I strongly believe is the best test of a good milk shake.

Ted’s Bulletin also has some pretty sensational sounding adult milkshakes with all kinds of booze. Mmmm. Really, I could have skipped lunch and tried several more. This is ONE milkshake, which they were nice enough to bring in two glasses.

Here are some other things from the menu - a huge burger, wonderful chili and huge crunchy onion rings.

Oh, they’re also famous for their homemade pop tarts.

Those remind me that there were some multicolored sprinkles on the top of our milkshake, which made for an interesting texture as we (I) slurped the milkshake down.

After a day or two in Washington, we drove to Charlottesville, the home of Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia. The fascinating thing was that the buildings themselves were built to be part of the students’ curriculum. Here is one pavilion:

Here’s the one opposite:

Look at the different styles of columns, windows and doors. Each building was more interesting than the last. The rotunda is the most famous building on campus, but, unfortunately, the interior is at the moment covered with unattractive acoustic tiles. Ick.

I also learned this. The gorgeous crisp white columns against the brick aren’t how the buildings originally looked. They were a light beige, almost a tea color. They’ve restored one or two buildings of the main campus to look like that.

The more erudite and intellectual individuals touring with me preferred the authentic look. I have to admit I liked the bright white better. (Figures.)

We also got a super duper tour of Monticello, which is worth seeing any time you’re in the neighborhood. AND we had a spectacular dinner in the spectacular setting of the Jefferson Library Reading Room at the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello. It was seriously gorgeous and beautifully organized.

I got to sit next to winemaker Gabriele Rause, who regaled me with stories of his fascinating life as an Italian winemaker turned Virginia wine fundi. Dinner was a super creamy cream of mushroom soup garnished with a fritter, pork (I think) and a lovely crème brûlée.

Other hot spots:

Lunch at L’étoile in Charlottesville.

Friend C also shared with me here. We split an excellent Crab Cake Po’Boy and Chicken Salad Sandwich. Yum.

We visited Barboursville Vineyards, which was winemaker Gabriele’s gig for awhile, and he’s in many of the pictures describing the history of the vineyards.

We were offered tastes of SIXTEEN wines. I skipped 5, because I wanted to be able to walk out of there. My favorites – Octagon 2006, possibly because we kept hearing that Thomas Jefferson loved octagons so much and the dessert rosé Rosato, which would have been perfect in warm weather...That's hard to even think about now.

Can you tell I took this picture AFTER the wine tasting?

We stayed at Keswick Hall, which is a glorious country inn. In nicer weather, you could play golf, tennis, bike or swim. Chef Dean Maupin gave us a fantastic tour of the efficient and friendly kitchen.

No unhappy faces here. This is the cute sous chef, Craig Shaver, who cooked that gorgeous dinner at the library.

The restaurant, Fossett's, looks out on the beautiful countryside.

We had time for one breakfast here. I had the Cinnamon Bread Pudding…of course, I did. It was too good!

The coffee - and the setting - were great too.

There was only time for a tiny bit of shopping in Charlottesville.

My favorite store was this one:

I wish I could have fitted this couch in my bag, but maybe it will be still be there for my next visit.