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| The beautiful and glamorous Tina and Angel... |
Oh - we had such a wonderful Iron Chef this much. There was a wonderful turn out, and excellent choice for the secret ingredient, and a beautiful hostess.
A hostess who is my good friend...someone I love and adore...someone who is an original Iron Chef member (which has been going on almost 3 years now)...and someone who is MOVING!!!!
Our little group was already rocked by the loss of another original Chefinista...Melodee Cooper...
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| Melodee is on the right, holding her son Ryan... |
Melodee was an AWESOME Chef, and a wonderful friend...a fellow sarcastic commiserater on our plight of living in South Florida.
But then, Mel's hubby finished school, and they upped and left back to Texas...leaving a big hole in our posse...and in our hearts.
And now...we're losing Heidi Tyler too!!! She's moving to North Carolina...
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| Heidi at last months Iron Chef... |
Now it will just be Tina and myself as the original Iron Chef founders...we'll have to keep the ball rolling all alone.
*sigh*
We really had a lovely time, though. It was a BEAUTIFUL day...perfect Spring weather for such a sunny and happy secret ingredient.
Oh - did I even tell you what that was yet? Well...I'm sure you saw it in the title of this post...it's Lemon.
I took lots of pictures, and tried to compile all the recipes. There are a couple that I don't have pictures for, either because the girls sent in their recipes, but couldn't come at the last minute...or because they just arrived late after it was over (we still ate their food!!) Those recipes are
Candied Citrus Peel ...which was EXCELLENT, and I highly recommend, and
Lemon-Orzo Salad with Veggies and Chicken , which has the bonus of being a Weight Watchers recipe!!
But wait until you see what I DO have pictures for...
How about Angel's scrumpt-diddely-umptious
Lemon Cheese Squares? They were creamy and smooth and I was lucky enough to take some home to my kids who DEVOURED them...
And then Heidi herself whipped up this wonderful
Lemon Chicken Piccata ...which is easily the best I've tasted outside of Jasons restaurant.
This was my entry...
Lemon Snowdrop Cookies. Honestly...they're
okay. Good...but not AMAZING. In fact, half of my kids loved them, the other half were ambivalent. They are awfully pretty though...and remind me a lot of Mexican Wedding Cookies, but with lemon jelly.
Incidentally, I made
another dish...Lemon Pancakes with Honey Poppyseed Glaze. And...how can I put this?
They were
awful.
I mean...really, truly AWFUL. I was so embarrassed...I don't make awful tasting food...but these were just BAD.
So, I will never, ever use that recipe again...but will make up my OWN version of the dish...which I know will be 100 times better. In fact...it gives me a bit of a challenge to work on...and I can't wait to smoke that crappy yucky recipe...
This is an interesting conondrum...Tina made these to-die-for Lemon Pepper Shrimp...but never turned in a recipe. So Heidi substituted HER
Lemon-Pepper Shrimp recipe so everyone would have a copy of SOMETHING...but she admits that it's not nearly as pepper-y as Tina's version was.
So you get the picture of ONE dish, and the recipe for ANOTHER.
I guess you can all play with it and figure out your own version...
Rachel made divine little
Lemon Posset's...they were perfect little explosions of lemon bliss. They would be perfectly served in little shot glasses...I'm going to go and purchase some so I can make this and serve it to my family...
We have a newer member to our group, and her name is Bonnie. She is a friend of Tina's. We all really like her...and we're gonna KEEP liking her as long as she keeps gracing us with DELICIOUS dishes such as THIS...it was a winner for Presentation. It's called
Lemon Fusilli with Arugula, and is an adapted Barefoot Contessa recipe...
Teri Metts made these perfect
Lemon Bars.
No, I mean it...they are PERFECT...what all Lemon Bars should want to be. I went on and on about the crust...so simple, so PERFECT.
Yup...that's the word...PERFECT.
Another perfect entry was this completely unassuming, modest, and plain-looking
Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake, submitted by Heather.
This cake is a lesson in: "Never judge a book by it's cover"...because this cake WON the Taste portion of the competition. It was SO GOOD...even Jason (who is pretty hard to impress, when it comes to cakes)...was
melting. No seriously...he was floored.
Heather really deserved to win...this cake was AMAZING.
Heathers wasn't the ONLY cake, either. Jason competed, and just like with
Strawberries, he made an amazing confection by adapting MY favorite cake recipe,
Lemonade Extravaganza Cake, and making it completely his own and utterly original.
The cake has a lot of steps, but can be made over time, and if you want something totally different and completely eyes-roll-in-the-back-of-your-head decadent...this is the cake for you. He dubbed it
Lemon Pineapple Extravaganza Cake (have you noticed we like the word "extravaganza"? It's a private joke...you should really get us going on it sometime...of course, we're the only two that think it's funny...so maybe you shouldn't).
He, of course, won for Originality. And Taste. And Presentation. Let's just say he cleaned house, shall we? My man is a BEAST in the kitchen...
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| Jason and Teri |
I recommend you make it. Soon.
There were, of course, a dish or two where we had no recipes. The one I am devastated about is Sherie's It was the prettiest, most lovely thing I'd seen...
This absolutely gorgeous Lemon-Blackberry Torte. I think I'm going to have to hunt her down at church...literally stalk her until she hands it over.
Because I HAVE...
...no, really...I just HAVE...
...to make this myself.
I don't know what it is about Sherie...but her style of cooking
sings to me. I LOVED her
Carrot-Coconut Soup, and her Berry Scones with Cranberry Butter (for which I ALSO need a recipe), and her
Parmesan-Stuffed Strawberry Chicken, and now her insanely beautiful lemon contender...
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| Sherie and Heather... |
I think I'm gonna have to hang out with this girl more than once a month...
