Brand Spankin’ New Paper Chef #14 !
Hey! Who’s been messing with my wardrobe?
Ahhh… this black one looks especially good on me!
Mrrrrrrreooooow!! Phhhhhtht!
There. Much better.
Yes, my fine feline friends, Kitty Kaga is back, just in time for Paper Chef #14!
It’s a brand new year, which means time for brand new ingredients and a brand new theme!
Right. The ingredients are new every month. I knew that.
So, without further ado…
Our first three ingredients, chosen at random from the nomination list:
1. Cashews
2. Quinoa
3. Yoghurt
And for our fourth, specially chosen ingredient, in honor of the brand new infant year….
(No, not BABIES, silly!)
Here, have a lookie:
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Got it yet?
That’s right. It’s Baby Food!
Er…
Or rather, it’s the baby variety of any older food, be it veggie, fruit, meat, or fish. Baby corn, baby bok choy, baby clams… the possibilities are endless!
Now, if you’re feeling a bit scary adventurous, we’ll also allow any food that’s got the word “baby” in the title! (Though, if you go for either of those last two in our photo set? You’re weirder than we are, got it? Weird.)
So… go healthy, go vegetarian if you like, go for simple elegance, and express the spirit of a brand new year’s renewal with your brand spankin’ new burblin’ baby ingredients!
Oh, and don’t forget to play!
Now, here, freely lifted from Tomatilla, are excerpts from Owen’s Paper Chef event guidelines:
For absolutely only the fun of it and for no other reason whatsoever, the Paper Chef challenges each and every one of you reading this to let loose your culinary imagination and make up a dish of your own. Loosely based on the ideas of the Iron Chef, fond TV favorite in the US and Japan, and on the British show Ready, Steady, Cook! (fond favorite in the UK), the Paper Chef is all about creativity and constraint, challenge and cooking.
About a week before the event opens, I post an ingredient list from previous events here at Tomatilla! Older ingredients fall off the list, as does anything that actually got used in an event. Those ingredients are ‘banned’ for a month just to prevent the choices being cream and chocolate and cream and chocolate and cream and chocolate and…you get the idea. Any reader … can nominate a new ingredient (one only please) and it can be anything within the bounds of good taste (both kinds). Three ingredients are chosen at random from the final list and the host (usually me but not always) picks one more ingredient that is topical or seasonal or that suits our whimsy. Then you get a weekend (Friday Noon to Monday Noon) to make up a recipe, cook it and post the recipe to your blog. … The previous month’s winner gets to be judge (and is ineligible that month) and gives out whatever kinds of awards they like.
I’ve had lots of questions about things like photographs. Photographs are NOT necessary to take part. Nor is having you own blog - I’ll be happy to post a recipe for you if you want. However, it is clear that having a nice photograph will help influence the judges - if they see it looking good it is a lot easier to imagine it tasting looking good…
It is also absolutely OK to substitute if you just cannot find an ingredient or if you or someone who will eat the dish has an allergy - just try to substitute with something close to the original to remain in the spirit of the occasion.
The times are always the first Friday of the month, Noon PST until the following Monday Noon PST. However we aren’t sticklers for timekeeping here - a little late and any excuse will do. A LOT late and you’ll have to have a really good and creative one to do with cats pushing bowls off counters or the like.
And now for our nitty gritty details:
Entries are due midday (PST) on Monday, January 9th. We’re pretty lax around here, so any time before mid-Monday evening will probably do, and even after that we’ll be forgiving, if, say, you managed to torch your kitchen while inventing Baked Baby Yukon Gold Alaska.
Send your entries to mrs_d AT belly-timber DOT com, and include your name, blog name, location, and a permalink to your entry. You can also post your entry information here on this comments thread. Also, I’d like to encourage everyone to add a “Paper Chef” technorati tag to the end of their post, thusly –
Tagged with: <a href=”http://technorati.com/tag/Paper Chef” rel=”tag”>Paper Chef</a>
– so it gives everyone an extra place to search for entries before we post the round-up.
Have fun, and once again, Kitty Kaga sez:
Allez Cuisine!
January 6th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
OK, how weird is it that I made something using ALL of those ingredients two days ago???
Id say pretty weird.
In the interest of playing along though, Ill try something else…
Thanks for the great options!
Rachael
January 6th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
A bit of clarification on the rules…
Are we to select one of the four ingredients, or are we to create a dish that combines all of them?
January 6th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
Clarification - your dish should include all four of the ‘required’ ingredients PLUS any others you want. But you are allowed to make creative substitutions if you are allergic or can’t get hold of an ingredient (like if I am really lazy and can’t walk to the health food store for quinoa).
Owen
January 6th, 2006 at 3:36 pm
QUINOA?!?!??! wow. i have never used quinoa before. scary.
and when did you guys get fancy and call it yog H urt? ;)
i’ll do my best for this weekend. if for nothing else, at least for kitty kaga!!!!!
January 6th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
Rachael: Spooky! And now you’re ahead of the game! :-)
Thanks for chiming in with the clarification, Owen!
Dmnkly (and any other first-time particpants) — welcome! A great way to get a sense of what Paper Chef is all about is to run over to Owen’s place (specifically to this post here)and check out the previous competitions list. Each month’s list of four ingredients will take you to the appropriate round-up of entries, wherein you’ll see the great variety of what’s submitted, and — of course — some damn fine food!
And yes, using all four is important, and substitutions are allowed if necessary — eg, seeds instead of nuts if you’ve got a nut allergy.
Hey Sarah — I lurv cooking with quinoa; I hope you try it out. As for the yog-H-urt. That’s the way it was spelled on the nomination list… do we dare prowl through Owen’s archives and find out who was fancy to begin with? Me, I just spell it “cultured cowjuice that I can only eat if my tummy’s behaving.” :-)
January 6th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
I LOVE quinoa! I’m so excited for this round!
January 6th, 2006 at 8:45 pm
Ah, shoot. This list of ingredients is almost too weird. OK, yeah. Too weird. I’ll just sit back and watch.
Those photos are fabulous, though.
January 7th, 2006 at 9:43 am
Unlike cookiecrumb, I love the list of ingredient this time… I got so many ideas I don’t know which ones I’ll try. They might not work but at least I feel inspired!
January 7th, 2006 at 10:47 am
Cookiecrumb’s really just pretending. I hear she’s got a multi-layer, multi-flavored, quinoa encrusted, baby-food galantine in the works.
January 7th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
I agree with mrs D - cookiecrumb will come up with something, and I bet it will all be from Marin County. : )
Looking forward to this - a recipe popped into my mind immediately when I saw the list of ingredients.
January 7th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
You guys are much more creative than I. I’m still struggling. Though I did buy some quinoa, yogurt and cashews from Whole Foods today. (Cyndi: yeah, the *store* was in Marin County, but that’s all I’m promising.)
Baby steps! Just take baby steps!
Here’s your missing “h.” (From the yogurt.) Happy tummy, Mrs. D.
January 8th, 2006 at 10:18 am
Some babies arrive early … see Oh Baby! Quinoa Pilaf with Raita. Great fun, loved the easy ingredients.
January 8th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
Another early baby, that is Baby Back Ribs with Quinoa and Cashews with Two Yogurt Sauces.
http://soulfusionkitchen.blogspot.com/2006/01/paper-chef-14-quinoa-cashew-yogurt-and.html
I learned a lot from this one and surprisingly I’ll make it again.
Sylvie
January 8th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
Yay! Lots of entries coming in!
::Does the dance of baby food joy::
January 8th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Well, I came up with red quinoa salad with peaches, dried cranberries, and cashews with peach yogurt/olive oil/rice vinegar dressing on baby arugula. But after looking at it for 10 minutes, taking a couple of photos, and tasting it quite a few times, I’ve come to the conclusion it’s not the winner. If a night in the refrigerator transforms it, I will send the link tomorrow. Otherwise, it was an experience. Anyway, it’s my first time tasting quinoa, so that was worth it.
January 8th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
This is my contribution:
Slurp and Burp.
Both my partner and I got a bit carried away this time… it’s a long read.
January 8th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
Kalyn, you should post your experiment anyway. It’s always fun to see what works and what does not in the kitchen.
January 9th, 2006 at 12:27 am
None of my babies have arrived early, but this submission did squeak in before the “due date”, er, hour: Three Babies Quinoa with Cashews and Yog(h)urt
January 9th, 2006 at 1:42 am
Biryani - Paper chef style!
January 9th, 2006 at 3:37 am
Yum! Now that I’ve got the new “baby” (Mac Mini computer) going, I might just be able to get an entry in…. as soon as I find out what this quinoa is :).
January 9th, 2006 at 7:23 am
Here is my entry. Broiled Perch with Quinoa-Cashew Crust and Pineapple-Kumquat Salsa.
Since (as I mentioned earlier) I had made something (kibbee) with similar ingredients last week it was a ton of fun trying to rearrange them. Thanks for another great round!
January 9th, 2006 at 11:28 am
My entry (at ToastPoint) is Baby Curry and Quinoa Fritters with Cashew Cream
http://toastpoint.blogspot.com/2006/01/lamb-curry-is-made-of-babies-paper.html
This was great Paper Chef, Mrs. D. It cured me of anti-quinoa snobbishness, and encouraged my cannibalistic side–what more can a gal ask?
January 9th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
Here’s my entry!
Baking a Baby
tee he he
January 9th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Hi Mrs D!
Thank you thank you for giving me the excuse to buy baby… erm. biscuits *sheepish grin*
WAHAHAHHA
my entry is at http://kitchencrazydaffy.blogspot.com/2006/01/trials-and-tribulations-of-paper-chef.html
=)
can’t wait to see the rest!
January 9th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Hmm. Is there trouble w the Paper Chef on Technorati? It took three tries yesterday for Blogger to stop auto-editing / auto-corrupting the html code … and my entry STILL hasn’t shown up there nor have many of these, I just noted.
January 9th, 2006 at 2:22 pm
Wow, so many entries! You crazy people, you!
Just a quick note, because we’re super-busy today at Casa Belly Timber — we hope to have a round up posted by Thursday at the latest, and winner announcements shortly thereafter. This is going to be tough tough tough, I can tell you that!
Alanna — I’m not sure what’s up with Technorati — I just checked and the most recent Paper Chef tag is 13 hours old — very odd! Note, though, that if you do a general search (not for tags but just using the search function) for “paper chef,” you’ll get more recent entries.
The important thing is that all participants either email me or post their entries here so that we crazy judges have a complete list. The Technorati tag is just and extra bell-n-whistle to give the whole event (and the event’s participants) more coverage, so it’s not a necessity.
January 11th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
In terms of Technorati–there’s two tags floating around. One is Paper+Chef which they read as Paper Chef and the other is Paper Chef which they read as just paper.