Iron Chef America: Battle Olive
This week, Chef April Bloomfield took on the newest Iron Chef, Michael Symon. The secret ingredient was olives, with five different types being used. The judges – culinary author Michael Ruhlman, restaurateur Donatella Arpara, and Bon Appetit writer Andrew Knowlton – were in rare form, spending much of the night arguing about the dishes.
I thought it was a bit odd because I thought the challenger always presented his or her dishes first, but it was Iron Chef Symon up first. His dishes were a filthy martini with stuffed olives and brined tuna (Andrew had a problem with the martini, saying you had to “respect the alcohol”), ricotta and olive ravioli (Donatella pointed out that the edges of the pasta were hard), braised pork cheeks with olive brine, grilled lamb liver and crispy olives (Andrew didn’t think it worked, but Michael disagreed), and an olive dessert – olive shortbread cookies with olive oil sorbet (Donatella thought it was overpowering, but Michael said it was his favorite dish).
Chef Bloomfield presented five dishes – olive and tomato gazpacho with a dirty martini (Michael called the gazpacho “fantastic”), olive pasta puttanesca (all three judges had a problem with the pasta), olive oil poached halibut (which Michael and Andrew both thought was “beautiful”), pan-roasted guinea fowl with black olive sauce, and braised pork check with olives. I never knew pork cheek was so popular!
I thought it was closer than it actually turned out to be. Chef Bloomfield took plating and Iron Chef Symon took originality, but it came down to taste, with Chef Bloomfield winning by a score of 30 to 26.
Read these other great entries
June 16th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
I was so interested in seeing April Bloomfield cook after she appeared in the Top Chef Chicago season finale as a Sous Chef. I loved her personality in the kitchen, and she was right when she said she and Symon had similar styles.