Winner Winner – Chopped Show Star Chef Pop Up Dinner
Every wondered what it would be like to have a Food Network winner prepare dinner for you? The Association of Food Bloggers got to experience dinner made in front of us by Chopped winner, Ed Harris.
From the time Chef Ed Harris was young, his parents couldn’t keeping him out of the kitchen. In 2010, Chef Ed Harris was the winner on Chopped. Originally from the Caribbean, living in St. Lucia, Guyana, Grenada and Barbados, he later moved to New York to complete high school and get a culinary degree from the Art Institute. He then worked at several well-regarded restaurants in New York City.
After getting married and having a couple kids, Ed realized the restaurant business is too time-consuming and has gone into restaurant consulting, catering private events and his once a month pop up dinners. The Atlanta chapter of the Association of Food Bloggers was invited to an exclusive dinner designed and cooked by Chef Ed Harris . Not only was the food inventive and delicious, but we loved Ed’s enthusiasm and willingness to share his knowledge with us.
A lovely dinner was prepared by Chef Ed Harris and his sous chef. They worked diligently on each course, while happily answering any of our questions on cooking and preparation. Here’s an overview of the EIGHT, yes, eight (2 courses pictured above) courses that we enjoyed during the evening at Chopped Winner Ed Harris’s pop up event.
Watermelon ginger soy mint
Snap, Crackle Pop – he topped the watermelon with Pop Rocks!
Boston lettuce topped with beef and tomatoes
I don’t know about you, but I usually avoid lettuce wraps as they seem difficult to eat and the reward small for the trouble of eating. But not Chef Harris’ wraps. The beef was so tender and the tomatoes and vinegar were a perfect topping.
Ratatouille smoked tomato jam thai basil
What a colorful, tasty and healthy dish. Really love that several of the dishes of the evening were vegetarian.
XO tofu baby carrot cilantro
Chef Harris visited Hong Kong several years ago and just loves Chinese flavors. This dish is so overflowing with spice, you forget there’s no meat. The dried pineapple in this dish are especially interesting and rather easy to prepare. Just slice the pineapple and put in the oven for about 20-30 minutes at 250 degrees.
Lamb with juniper crumbs and ginger cous cous
Ginger was the perfect ingredient to add to the cous cous, especially when paired with the juniper / crushed peas crumbs atop the lamb chops. We had do get a bit rustic, picking up our lamb chops and eating them like hot wings, but it was so worth it.
Banana earl grey orange mint
Dessert was just as delightful and thoughtful as the rest of the meal, with lovely textures and flavors of banana, orange and nuts for crunch.
Though our meal with the Association of Food Bloggers was complimentary but the opinions expressed are my own.