-[Ted] Open your baskets. -Very challenging basket.
-[Ted] Leftovers. -Wow.
-[Ted] A favorite "Chopped" theme. -[Alex laughing]
-How crazy is that? -[Ted] Clock starts now.
-[Maia] Whoa, we got a fire. -[Nadav] I know you don't trust me.
-You will see. -My mouth is on fire.
[Peter] Oh, I have to hit it.
What are you doing?
Leftovers need to be made unrecognizable, but better.
[Gabe] Like, what -- what do you do with it?
Get it, get it, get it, get it!
Like, wow, someone is taking me out.
I love the flavor of sourdough and gnocchi.
Sometimes I'll have just leftover Wonder Bread.
That works too.
I have so much experience and have been through so many
different obstacles.
Whatever you throw at me, I can get it done.
I grew up in Houston, Texas, to a Portuguese mom
and a Brazilian dad who are very much big foodies.
Every meal was home cooked.
My pantry was just a bunch of ingredients.
Any kind of fat smells frickin' amazing.
I like to keep things fresh and really bold in flavors.
I use whatever I have at hand, whether it's scraps
or whatever's in season.
I'm constantly being underestimated, but I'm very
scrappy and fearless and ready to deliver.
When I'm in the kitchen, I definitely have that RBF.
Can I say "resting bitch face" on "Chopped"?
OK.
I've been working in this industry for about three years.
I have been a private chef ever since I was in culinary school.
I'm definitely drawn to Eastern Mediterranean
and Middle Eastern flavors. They're so complex.
The joys in life, butter and salt.
My husband's a Black-Hawk pilot in the Army, so I knew I needed
a career that would travel with me.
Wherever you go, everyone has to eat.
My food is bold, I'm confident in the kitchen, and I'm gonna
go out there and kick ass.
I have a vast knowledge in the kitchen, and my focus
and determination is gonna make me win.
My style of cooking is a modern American take on
California coastal,
fusing the familiar with the unexpected.
Finish off with butter, take off the heat.
Just gets nice and velvety and thick.
Both my parents are from Hong Kong.
They left everything behind to come to the States
for a better life, and just that drive, motivation,
elevated me to become a chef.
Everything was used in our household.
Nothing went to waste.
We obviously didn't have the most money, so we want
to make sure we maximize everything that we have.
I am actually calm and focused, but if I'm competing against
somebody else, I am pretty ferocious.
It's the Asian in me coming out.
It's definitely go time.
Ready? Are we ready?
[producer] Ready Freddy.
When I hear you say, "I'm ready."
I grew up in Jerusalem for a big Moroccan-Romanian-Jewish
family, and it means it's a lot of food.
A lot of food.
Wow -- a million?
At least.
What makes me so badass, I've been a butcher
for a year and a half.
I've been in a bakery for two years.
And also, I'm a Michelin star chef.
I still feel like it's a dream.
My style of cooking is modern Israeli cuisine.
Whatever we have, we use.
I prefer to use sweet bread, veal cheek, duck heart,
chicken liver. We don't throw anything.
I'm obsessed with what I do.
The passion is bigger than anything.
I'm coming here, I will win.
Hello, everybody.
-Hello, Ted! -Morning, Ted!
You are here for a special leftovers battle.
-Bring it on. -Love a challenge.
All of the baskets will contain items that are often
thoughtlessly thrown away.
But we want you to creatively purpose whatever you find.
-No waste in my kitchen. -[Ted] Exactly.
Here are your appetizer ingredients.
[Nadav] The mystery.
[Ted] Open your baskets.
[suspenseful music plays]
Sausages from yesterday.
[Ted] All right, you have leftover grilled hot dogs.
-Who doesn't love glizzy? -Coleslaw.
Actually looks pretty nice still.
[Ted] Leftover vegetable slaw.
OK, that's like tzatziki or yogurt.
-[Ted] Leftover tzatziki plus... -Rice and beans.
[Ted] Leftover rice and beans.
[Peter] Leftover rice and beans. [scoffs]
That's definitely gonna be a challenge.
20 minutes to show those leftovers some love.
Clock starts now.
-Alright, oh my gosh! -Let's go!
-All right, chefs. -[Maia] Let's go.
[Leah] 20 minutes are gonna go so fast.
Alex, you are joined by two guest judges with serious cred.
The one and only, Chef Gabe Bertaccini.
Thank you. Thank you, guys, for having me.
And Food Network's staple, Chef Aarti Sequeira.
-Why, thank you. -[Gabe] Yeah.
Very good to be here.
Love a challenge.
[Nadav] We all love a challenge.
Chefs in general love leftovers and hate waste.
Is that fair to say?
Yeah, even chef aside, I come from a very thrifty
family line, you know, and so the idea of throwing away food,
I can feel the ancestors going,
"No, you could do something with that."
[Alex] would cook that cabbage slaw.
It has got broccoli and carrots and different types
of shredded cabbage.
So happy I got cabbage.
I'm hoping in this first round, the judges see that
I'm a smart competitor.
Know probably most of my competitors are going
to make a slaw.
I'm gonna cook the cabbage, and that's gonna be different.
Leigh, what are you doing?
[Leigh] I am making my take on an okonomiyaki today.
So a crispy cabbage pancake topped with some sauces,
that I'm hoping kind of taste like an okonomiyaki sauce,
and like a spicy mayo with a tzatziki.
I love okonomiyaki for repurposing leftovers.
That's a giant okonomiyaki over there.
-[Ted] That's beautiful. -[Aarti] It is beautiful.
Cook, little pancake. I'm so excited.
I would do a little arancini, take the rice and beans...
So in Tuscany, they take Mexican restaurant rice and beans.
Your grandmother is gonna literally be like,
[in Italian accent] "Do not come home for Christmas."
[speaking normally] Are you kidding me?
And then I would stuff it with the little hot dog.
[Nadav] I'm looking at this basket, what can I do with that?
And my first idea came, a type of arancini.
Leftovers rice that you fry and make crispy.
Nadav, what are we up to?
[Nadav] I'm making some fried rice bean balls.
Hiding the sausage in the mix, and inside.
The cabbage is gonna be a cabbage salad to break
the fatness of the frying. -[Alex] Fantastic.
My wife says that my most creative spot is when I'm using
leftovers from the fridge.
I make a dinner for me and the kids.
Leftover beans and rice, it's something that I use a lot
because we always have leftover rice in the fridge.
Don't break on me.
[Peter] I've seen Nadav making rice balls, which is my original
game plan, but I want to be judged on exclusivity.
I have to switch gears and do something different.
Hey, Peter, what are you making?
I'm actually gonna make a...
kind of like a take on a rice dish inside of a --
hopefully, maybe a rice cup, getting the sweetness
from the hot dogs and pairing with the black beans to make
a spread, and possibly a light little creme
on top of the tzatziki.
There is a lot of sodium in the hot dogs,
so you have to be careful.
[Peter] Tomato rice, I've had a lot growing up.
It's a very comforting dish with a nice
tomato stew-based sauce.
If I win the $10,000, I'd like to take
my parents back to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong actually is where a majority of my family is
nowadays, and it's where my parents spent most
of their life before here.
They would not want me to spend the money on them,
but I would do it anyways.
[Maia] This basket is pretty much all ingredients that I love
and use quite often.
Leftover rice and beans, that would probably be
my death row meal, is rice and beans.
So I'm gonna use the rice and the hot dogs to make
a crispy rice cake.
Maia, what are you making?
I'm making a crispy rice cake, and then cut it up and fry it,
and then topping it with my cabbage, and it's all gonna
come together in some way. -We like your optimism.
-Yeah. -[judges laugh]
[Ted] Chefs, you're down to 15 minutes.
[Nadav] Whoo-hoo!
We're cruising.
The okonomiyaki's looking really good.
I know it's time to flip it, but if $10,000 is riding
on my ability to flip this pancake, I'm not risking it.
-Go on the safe side now. -Yeah, absolutely.
Oh, god, oh, god, oh, god, oh, god.
OK, one, two, three.
[Nadav chuckles] Good job.
[Leigh] I'm using apricot preserves and the beans
from the leftover rice and beans for my okonomiyaki glaze.
I'm making sauce with beans today.
Behind.
[Leah] I see Peter next to me pureeing hot dogs.
I'm really interested to see how that turns out.
[Peter] To make my spread, I already have all the hot dogs
cooked down with black beans.
I need to blend it up, very similar to what you'd
find, like, in a taco with the bean spread.
[Ted] Chefs, eight minutes on the clock.
Behind, behind.
[suspenseful music plays]
Boom.
There is some traditional salads in Israel, just chopped cabbage
with a lot a lot of lemon.
Deep-fried food is always kind of heavy, and I want to balance
it with a very sour coleslaw.
-[Nadav] Six minutes, guys. -Heard.
Thank you.
[Maia] Crispy.
Maia has taken her fancy little cake.
I think she cornstarch dusted it.
That looks really heavy.
[Peter] Seeing the tzatziki and the slaw actually instantly
made me think of a coleslaw.
It looks like it could be a home run.
[Ted] Five minutes to get it done.
Maia is just getting to the shredded and the tzatziki
with five minutes to go.
It's also not the basket demanding
that you make coleslaw.
That should be an easily recognizable trap.
What do you do with five minutes with the cabbage?
Are you gonna cook it down [indistinct]? No.
What are you gonna do?
You dress it and pray.
[Maia] Oh.
Chefs, less than five minutes to get it done.
I really need to get going on my tzatziki and my slaw.
My only option is making a simple tzatziki and miso slaw.
[Alex] Oh, I don't like that.
[Gabe] They always have some tzatziki in the fridge.
I love the dill. I love the cucumber in it.
I mean, it just adds so much freshness.
This is "Chopped," right?
You take the ingredients and you transform them.
[Maia] I need something sweet.
Agave.
Leftover tzatziki, it's the right sauce
for my rice balls.
[Leigh] Tzatziki.
I'm gonna use the leftover tzatziki to make a spicy mayo.
It is just giving this little bit of creaminess that's gonna
add nice depth to the dish.
[Gabe] Peter, how are you doing?
[Peter] Doing good.
Oh, he's frying rice paper.
[Peter] Rice paper makes a nice base to present an appetizer.
[Ted] Two-minute warning, chefs.
-[Aarti] All right, let's do this! -[Alex] Let's go!
[Maia] Whoa, we got a fire.
And I didn't use my beans, so I guess I should probably
mash it up.
It makes sense to have something creamy,
but time is ticking,
and I'm starting to get a little nervous
about finishing this.
[Ted] One minute, chefs.
-All right, guys. -[Gabe] All right, chefs.
-[Leigh] Final push. -Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Let's push the envelope.
[suspenseful music intensifies]
Get those appetizers shaped up, chefs.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one. -[bell dings]
-Time's up. -[Gabe] All right.
-[Alex] All right. -[Gabe] Good job.
[judges applauding]
Wow, crazy. But I think it's good.
Fry was a little bit low, so maybe it made it soggy.
I'm not sure, but I think it's, uh, it's worth.
I'm excited to continue, hopefully.
I had such a clear idea of what I was gonna do the second
I saw that cabbage that the 20 minutes was actually doable.
I don't know how I'm gonna feel about the entree rounds when
I get there.
[suspenseful music plays]
[Ted] Chefs, you have arrived at the chopping block.
Your appetizer ingredients were leftover grilled hot dogs,
leftover tzatziki, leftover beans and rice,
and leftover vegetable slaw.
Chef Nadav, please tell us about your dish.
[Nadav] I made you crispy rice and bean balls.
Underneath, we have a sour coleslaw.
The tzatziki on the side is a dip, and I recommend
to squeeze the lemon to add a little bit more acidity.
In my restaurant, Shmoné, I don't waste anything.
I'm using the undesired cuts.
I have sweet bread and chicken liver and duck hearts because
I'm trying to get the whole animals and use everything.
Chef, I actually like the direction you went.
The idea of an arancini is that you make it with leftover rice.
So that landed exactly.
I think you have a nice crispiness on the outside,
a good fry.
I do wish that maybe the hot dog,
you had put more in there
and chopped it up finely. What about the sauce here?
-Did you do anything to it? -I left it like it is.
It was good for me.
You are here to transform things, not to give us
ingredients that are just out of a basket.
Also, I think the premise of leftovers, never mind
the basket, is if you take leftovers and you just put them
on a plate, everybody's like, "Oh, yesterday's meal?"
Leftovers need to be made unrecognizable, but better.
I love the vegetable slaw, and what the lemon juice
did to the cabbage. That's actually a great example
of taking something premade
and making it better.
So you need to do that with all the ingredients.
Chef Leigh, please tell us about your dish.
Today, I prepared for you my take on an okonomiyaki
topped with an okonomiyaki sauce,
and that has the black beans pureed into it.
I really like the idea of okonomiyaki being a vessel
for leftovers, because the intention
of the dish is for it to be made with the ingredients
that you have on hand, traditionally often cabbage.
I love okonomiyaki. Super creative idea.
You really use each ingredient, and you kind of transform it.
And, you know, I couldn't tell that this was a dish coming
from leftover ingredients.
Now, the sauces, I actually love the apricot, beans,
really yummy and sweet.
There's something that looks like a spicy mayo,
and then it looks like there's another third sauce.
-What's that? -That's sriracha.
-[Aarti] Yeah. -My mouth is on fire.
The heat is overwhelming, but the hot dog, I think,
was such a brilliant sub-in for the pork belly.
Thank you, Chef.
I think you played this game so well that anything I find
unbalanced or actually don't like personally about this
is secondary.
Did you always wanna be a chef?
I wanted to go into finance, and then I got married
really young. My husband's in the Army.
He's a Black-Hawk pilot, and we move very frequently,
so I knew that I needed a career that was
going to move with us.
I've always loved to cook, so it seemed like a great
opportunity to pivot, and here I am.
All right, chef Peter, tell us about your appetizer, please.
[Peter] What I brought for you today is tomato rice
on top of a black bean hot dog spread on a rice crisp.
[Ted] Is tomato rice a thing? From the barbecue world?
[Peter] Yes, it is, yeah. For me, I would have put
a nice piece of brisket on there, to be honest.
For me, I like making food that tells a story
or brings you back to a comfort place.
I grew up in family-owned restaurants.
My parents migrated to the States in the early '70s.
-[Ted] From where? -[Peter] Hong Kong, actually.
Both of them came over here and did what they loved.
They opened restaurants.
And I was the kid that was in the kitchen prepping,
washing dishes, and cooking. I loved it.
When this plate landed, I was like, "Ain't no leftovers here."
-You really transformed it. -I think, pureeing the hot dog
and hiding it, I do not like the consistency of it.
If this is tomato rice at a barbecue, make it better.
But my mother would always make risotto al pomodoro,
tomato risotto.
And when I took a bite of your tomato rice,
it took me right back to when I was eight,
sitting at a table eating a tomato risotto.
[Peter] Chef Peter, thank you.
Finally, Chef Maia.
So I went with an Asian approach.
I have here a crispy rice cake
with miso coleslaw and a bean mash.
Chef, how do you feel about repurposing
leftovers in a dish?
[Maia] I love using leftovers.
It's oftentimes things that are gonna be thrown away,
and bringing them back and having them as a meal again
is super satisfying.
Can you tell me how you made that slaw?
So I added a tzatziki to it and some miso.
I actually really like the coleslaw.
-Yay! -[Aarti] And I love the play
of re-crisping up the hot dogs.
I think it gives it this nice little texture.
But what that also does is intensify the saltiness of them.
And I think you could have added something creamy
in the beans to give us a different texture
on the plate because they're very chewy.
But the actual rice cake is delicious.
I really, really love it.
I really liked your technique.
And I think that is impressive in 20 minutes.
-It really is. -Thank you.
I'm a little worried that I might have gone a little too
far with the flavors, but I know that there is a good
chance of me moving on.
[suspenseful music plays]
Four chefs gave "Chopped" their best efforts,
but only three will remain in the fight.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
[suspenseful music intensifies]
[Ted] Chef Maia, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef Maia, you showed us the skills, you know,
to actually create something really beautiful
on that rice cake.
But then you really used that beans, which we really
don't think they added any positive elements to the dish.
And the preparation of the hot dog was way over salty.
-And so we had to chop you. -Thank you, Chef.
I'm feeling pretty disappointed.
I'm not good at losing, but I'm proud of just being here.
Maybe I'll try it again sometime, who knows?
Chef Peter, Chef Leigh, Chef Nadav, as you know,
a basket with more leftovers is in your immediate future.
Open 'em up.
[suspenseful music plays]
[Ted] OK, it's leftover chicken Parmesan.
This honestly looks really not that appetizing already,
but we're gonna make something with it.
-Scraps. -[Ted] Mirepoix scraps.
Celery, onion, peels. What do I do with that?
-Watermelon rinds. -[Ted] Watermelon rinds.
Awesome -- love those.
[Ted] And leftover pasta salad.
Very interesting. Very challenging basket.
[Ted] 30 minutes.
Clock starts now.
-[Gabe] Let's go, guys! -[Alex and Aarti cheering]
[Gabe speaking in Italian]
Judges, does one of these chefs have an edge
with the leftovers theme?
[Alex] I think all chefs have a built-in set of impulses
for leftover foods, 'cause it's something we're constantly
faced with in restaurants.
[Gabe] This is not an easy basket whatsoever.
All these dishes have already a flavor profile.
They're already, you know, kind of perfect in their own...
way, but it's difficult to think of an entree
and kind of shy away from just using the chicken as it is.
-Like, what do you do with it? -Do you make a pizza?
[Leigh] One of my husband's favorite ways that I utilize
leftover ingredients is when I put it in a flatbread.
[Ted] Chef Leigh cut up pizza dough into little individual rounds.
-[Gabe] Very interesting. -[Aarti] Wow, that was quick.
Leigh, what are you up to?
Hi, I'm making a chicken flatbread.
Right now, I'm making a parsley, celery
kind of spice sauce,
and then pickled watermelon rinds with greens
from the pasta salad are gonna be part of the garnish.
-No sriracha for mine. -[Gabe] Please.
Extra. Extra, actually.
[Gabe laughs]
[Nadav] Behind you.
[Leigh] Based on the first round, I'm kind of thinking
Nadav is my biggest competitor, despite that he didn't really
do anything with the tzatziki.
Everything else seemed really composed.
Oh, no. Leftover chicken Parm?
[Alex] What are you grinding?
I'm grinding the chicken cutlet.
I'm wanna try to make some meatballs,
and I'm gonna make a beautiful tomato sauce.
Is much more messy round.
Yeah. [giggles]
To tell you the truth, I feel like Leigh is my biggest
competition right now. She's a smart cook.
She knows the game, and she's playing it well.
[Alex] You got to cook that mirepoix right away.
The other thing you can do is pull the celery out and pull
the olives from the pasta salad and make like a celery
and olive salad. -Ooh, I love that.
[Peter] I know these other two chefs
have never seen my focus in the kitchen,
but that kind of is a secret weapon of mine.
Hey, Peter, what are you making?
I am actually making a version of a kind of like
a cassoulet on there. -A cassoulet?
[Ted] Did you say cassoulet?
I think that's kind of a smart idea.
Oh, stop.
I looked in the corner of my eye, and I see Chef Alex
almost fall over when I said that, so I have to pivot.
For my entree, I'm doing a rustic chicken tomato pasta
with a sweet chicory salad.
My plan for the chicken Parmesan is to make sure
to incorporate the chicken into the tomato sauce
along with my mirepoix and build the flavors.
Chefs, you're down to 15 minutes.
That pasta has been cooked already.
How do you present that in something new?
I mean, you don't have to use the pasta.
[Aarti] There was feta in there, some sort of cheese.
-[Gabe] Using the feta -- -[Aarti] Yeah, and the olives.
I think you do a beautiful salad.
[Leigh] I'm going to make a garnish salad using pickled
watermelon rinds incorporated with all of the elements
from the pasta salad except the pasta.
Push, baby, push.
I love pickled watermelon rinds.
-Yep, I know, me too. -It's divine.
It can be savory, it can be vinegary.
You could also cut off all the red part of the watermelon
that's still on those rinds and sink that
into a tomato sauce.
-[Leigh] You making shakshuka? -[Nadav] Yeah.
I love shakshuka.
[Nadav] Oh, shakshuka is my comfort food.
I feel like my grandmother was whispering to me,
"Do shakshuka. Do the shakshuka."
I want to make my sauce richer, so I'm adding a little bit
of the celery from my scraps mirepoix.
Pick up those the black olives from the pasta, and then just
throw them inside of the sauce.
Chefs, you've got ten minutes left.
[Leigh] Ten minutes, heard. Thank you, Ted.
[Peter] I'm using a watermelon rind with a little bit
of whole grain mustard.
Make a nice vinaigrette for this chicory salad.
The vinaigrette's awesome.
Definitely, what I was going for is sweetness.
[Aarti] I would really like to see Leigh start cooking those flatbreads.
[Leigh] Relax, baby dough.
I'm making a Greek yogurt sauce to go on the base of this
flatbread because I think I need a little bit
of a creamy component.
[Alex] We do have Peter cooking, I think,
is that penne? -[Ted] That sure is.
[Aarti] Looks like penne.
This could make or break it, because I know Chef Gabe
and Chef Alex are very big on Italian food being done right.
Almost.
[Ted] Chefs, less than five minutes on that clock.
Oh, my gosh.
[suspenseful music plays]
I'm serving my bread like my grandma used to.
[Alex] I'm a little worried about Nadav's shakshuka plate.
Those eggs are really power boiling in there.
Nadav, what's going on with your eggs?
-They're amazing. -[Aarti] They're amazing?
[Nadav] Yeah, they are yellow and runny.
-Yellow and runny. -I know you don't trust me.
You will see.
-[Ted] One minute, chefs. -Let's go, let's go.
You're down to your last minute.
-Let's do this. -[Gabe] Come on, guys.
[Leigh] I really hope it's cooked.
I'm having heart palpitations right now.
-[Ted] 30 seconds. -[Gabe] Oh, my God.
[suspenseful music intensifies]
Get those basket ingredients on those plates, chefs, now.
-Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five... -[overlapping voices]
...four, three, two, one. -Let's go, let's go, let's go!
-Ah! -[Ted] Time's up.
-[overlapping voices] -[judges cheering]
-[Gabe] Great job. -Good job.
[Leigh] Good job.
Oh, this was sweaty.
[Leigh] This round was definitely a challenge.
I do wish I had a little bit more time
to tighten up the plates. You know, I've not been cooking
for that long, honestly.
I hope the judges see in this entrée that I really do
have a great understanding of flavor and balance.
[suspenseful music intensifies, fades]
Chefs, your entrée basket.
Leftover chicken Parmesan, mirepoix scraps,
watermelon rind, and leftover pasta salad.
Chef Peter, please tell us about your dish.
[Peter] What I have for you is my version of a rustic chicken
tomato pasta with a sweet chicory salad.
So that's a slight pivot from cassoulet.
[Peter] Yes, I saw the reaction, and I felt it deep down,
so I went a different way.
You know...
I just keep eating this.
I, too, find this dish very comforting.
[Alex] That ragout on top, and I get the tomato, the chicken Parm,
and I like that chicory. It is, for me, a little sweet.
But I can taste the watermelon and the vinaigrette,
and I think that's a very smart idea.
And I really like your sauce.
[Gabe] Funny enough, I think the olives are the ones
that stand out, and I would have not added them to the dish.
I think it becomes, like, a primavera,
you know, supreme pizza.
But, I mean, very inventive, comforting dish.
-Thank you, Chef. -Next up, Chef Nadav.
Like I said, I'm emotional,
so I felt like my grandma is with me.
So I do a takeoff of shakshuka with chicken Parm,
and chorizo that is pickled salad with skin of watermelon.
And I hope the yolk are still runny.
When I taste the actual tomato sauce that you have in here,
it's actually really good. -Thank you, Chef.
[Gabe] Great usage of the watermelon rinds.
Absolutely love that.
And the egg is actually cooked beautifully.
I like the egg, the tomato,
actually the sausage, everything works.
I like the bread because my mother would do stuff
like that.
So there's a lot of nostalgia and rustic things you did here
that really work very beautifully,
and my egg is perfect.
Let's talk about the shakshuka.
I think it's very smart, but that play between
super cooked chicken and then cooked sausage,
it's just an odd texture.
It's sort of crispy on the outside, but then,
kind of mushy on the inside.
Finally, Chef Leigh.
Today, I made for you a chicken flatbread.
I wanted to balance that sauce a little bit
by adding a bunch of spices, kind of influenced
on the Eastern Mediterranean side,
the pickled watermelon rinds were tossed
into the garnish from the pasta salad.
[Gabe] I love that you took the route of a flatbread.
I would argue that you're the one that was able
to transform the chicken Parm the most.
I'm eating this, and I'm not --
I wouldn't really tell, you know?
Like, is this a leftover chicken Parm?
You say you pickled something?
I did pickle the watermelon rinds.
[Gabe] Maybe I need more.
And you know this, but the dough,
you need a little more cooking.
[Aarti] I agree with my friend Gabe.
Mine is sort of undercooked in the middle.
But I particularly like that you picked out that celery
and turned it into a sauce.
I think this is my favorite dish of the round.
I think your creativity was great,
and your pizza dough is undercooked.
It's just a matter of whether your two colleagues did
anything that is not as egregious as that.
Thank you, chefs.
[suspenseful music plays]
I really messed up that pizza dough, so I don't really know
how to feel, but I think my flavors were there.
And I still think I got the edge on this one.
Wow, I'm feeling excited, crazy, tired.
Everything together, all the emotions.
I'm this kind of person that thinks that I'm always
on the chopping block.
Hopefully, we can get for the third round
and fix everything.
[suspenseful music intensifies]
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
[suspenseful music intensifies]
[gentle music playing]
[Ted] Chef Nadav, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef Nadav, the usage of the watermelon rind,
the way you turned it and transformed it into this
bright, acidic salad, it was very successful.
But by grinding that chicken Parm, it gave your dish
an unpleasant texture. And so, we had to chop you.
Thank you so much, chefs.
[Nadav] I feel disappointed for myself that I couldn't, uh,
win this competition.
I'm regretting not showing more who I am and what I'm doing,
but this is life.
I'm gonna go back to our kitchen.
[suspenseful music plays]
It definitely was not easy, but if going into this round,
I just get more focused and determined,
I know what I need to do to win.
[suspenseful music continues]
I think going into dessert, I had a little bit of a leg up,
and it's gotten me here, so I'm feeling really good about it.
[Ted] Open up your final basket.
[suspenseful music plays]
[giggles] Oh, gosh.
[Ted] You have a leftover slice of birthday cake.
-What are these called? -[Ted] Crumbled wafer cookies.
Fruit.
[Ted] A picked-over fruit platter.
Left me a couple strawberries, at least.
That's pretty awesome.
-Oh. -[Ted] And a melted cola slushy.
Not bad. I could work with it.
[Ted] 30 minutes.
Clock starts now.
[Gabe] Come on, chefs. Let's go!
[judges yelling and cheering]
-Let's go. -All the sugar.
[Ted] All right, judges.
Who has ever had a birthday party where there's
cake left over? I mean, that's just weird.
-Thoughts? -[Aarti] No.
[Aarti] Birthday cake.
[Leigh] Oh, God.
I think use it as a flavoring agent or pull a layer and make
that brightly colored adornment.
[Leigh] Peter, I have all of the granulated sugar,
if you need it, by the way. -[Peter] All right.
I'm going up against Chef Leigh right now.
She's not afraid to step outside the box,
but I've got a few recipes up my sleeve
that I know how to make very well.
[upbeat music plays]
[Aarti] Hey, Peter, what are you making?
[Peter] I'm actually making some quick fried doughnuts
and a Nilla Wafer sugar.
Make a nice a little mascarpone and Funfetti cream,
and some macerated berries compote.
Those wafer cookies were an opportunity to build
a foundation for a dessert.
[Leigh] Chef Peter's making doughnuts, and I think that's brilliant.
I am not baking anything,
so I'm feeling a little bit nervous,
but I am one chef away from being a "Chopped" champion.
[Alex] Leigh, what are you making?
I'm making a vanilla wafer ice cream.
I'm going to be serving it with Funfetti whipped cream,
and then I'm gonna do a cola strawberry gastrique.
I'm curious to see what else goes with the ice cream.
Be good to me, ice cream.
[Gabe] Is she making a shortbread?
What is she doing to go with that?
Chefs, you have 20 minutes left on that clock.
[Peter] I picked a few strawberries that I did get,
along with fresh berries, to make my port berry sauce,
adding the cola slushy's gonna give it enough sugar that'll
take it to the next level.
[Aarti] The thing about that slushy, it's sugar syrup.
-It's intensely sweet. -You don't want to use too much.
[Leigh] I'm gonna use the strawberries from the fruit platter
and the cola from the slushy to make a gastrique.
I don't commonly say in the dessert round,
go get vinegar, and play with strawberries
and that balsamic syrup.
[Leigh] I add a little bit of balsamic vinegar to bring an acidic pop.
[Ted] Leigh just shows one instinct after another.
She understands what you have to do in this competition
and what your goal is, transforming leftovers.
[Gabe] Yeah, Peter, I think he's really taking all the feedback
we have given him and kind of bringing it into dessert.
This is really coming down to the dessert round.
Right.
Chefs, eight minutes on the clock.
[Peter] With the time getting closer, I know I need to do
these doughnuts and then move on to my whip.
It's gonna be equal parts of mascarpone with heavy cream,
fold in the birthday cake cream.
[Alex] I mean, OK, you know, you know what?
-You don't have to use the cake. -You don't have to, no.
[Aarti] I actually think that's really clever.
[Leigh] I decided to use the icing from the birthday cake
to make a coffee whip.
[Aarti] It looks like that broke, and I'm assuming
it's because that espresso is just too hot.
[Gabe] It's too hot.
[Leigh] The whipped cream is not looking how I want it to,
but all of my icing is in here, so this could be a problem.
[Aarti] And the only thing I could think to do is...
pray.
-I think it's... -[Alex] It's over.
It's done.
[suspenseful music intensifies, fades]
Chefs, less than five minutes on the clock.
[Leigh] The whipped cream is not looking how I want it to,
but starting over is not really an option because this is all
of the icing I have, and I don't have time to find
a way to use the cake.
[Alex] Count your losses, and throw it away,
because once you get that far with cream like that,
you can't get the texture back. -Yeah.
-[Alex] It's over. -It's done.
I throw it back in the food processor,
and I'm just praying.
[Alex] I think those fritters look fantastic.
I think that ice cream, the texture looks beautiful.
[Gabe] The texture looks beautiful.
[Alex] You got just over three minutes.
-Let's go, let's go. -Come on, guys.
The clock's gonna run out.
[suspenseful music intensifies]
I used to be a saucier,
and I know that my port berry sauce,
could make or break this dish.
The problem I have with this dessert is that it's gelato,
whipped cream, and then a sauce.
-It's a lot of soft. -[Alex] Yeah.
-Give me some texture. -[Leigh] Something crunchy.
[Alex] Three minutes, you're in the pantry?
This is just the kind of round where we don't finish.
[Aarti] Come on, Leigh. Come on, Leigh.
Let's have a panic attack. Let's go.
[Leigh] I'm thinking about my dish,
and I know that it needs a crunchy component.
So, I'm going to use some of the wafer cookies as a crumble.
-[Ted] One minute, chefs. -[Alex] One minute!
-Oh, my God! -[Gabe] Let's go!
[suspenseful music intensifies]
Final seconds of the final round, chefs.
-[Ted] Ten, nine, eight... -[Alex] Let's do, c'mon!
-[Ted]...seven, six... -[Aarti] C'mon, make it pretty!
-[Ted]...five, four, three... -[Alex] Make it pretty!
...two, one. -[bell dings]
-[Ted] Time's up! -[Gabe] All right.
-[Alex] Wow. -[Gabe] That was good.
[Leigh] It would mean so much to me to win.
I took a lot of risks leaving a job in finance to be
in the culinary field, and this would really affirm
that I made the right decision. -Oh, it was good.
It came out to what I wanted it to be, and actually has
the flavors that I want.
[suspenseful music plays]
Chef Leigh and Chef Peter, the dessert basket included
a leftover slice of birthday cake, crumbled wafer cookies,
a picked-over fruit platter, and a melted cola slushy.
Chef Leigh, please tell us what you made.
[Leigh] Today, for you, I made vanilla wafer ice cream
with coffee cream and a strawberry cola gastrique,
topped with a walnut wafer crumble.
How do you feel having made it to the dessert round?
I'm so proud to be here today. This is really exciting.
"Chopped" has been a show that I've watched my whole life,
and to be here and have been able to compete
in all three rounds is such an honor.
I like what you did here with the cola and the berries.
I thought going to get fresh strawberries was
really the move.
And I love the wafer crumble, and you get the sweetness
through it -- oh, my God.
But it falls short a little bit in terms of,
I'm kind of eating a scoop of ice cream.
You know what I mean?
Yes, Chef.
It's kind of missing, like, what is it?
You know, besides a scoop of ice cream.
But everything else together, oh, my God.
I'm very impressed. You had an ice cream recipe
ready to go.
But the one thing that I'm really missing is
that coffee cream.
And I wish there was more of that bitterness.
Finally, Chef Peter.
For my dessert today, I made a vanilla wafer-dusted
doughnut hole with a port berry sauce and a birthday cake creme.
I have a guilty pleasure for doughnuts.
I used to compete my other chefs on making them,
see who'd make the best ones.
I think that you achieved something extraordinary
with the cola and the leftover fruit platter in this coulis.
I just want a whole container. It's just so good.
This was your most successful dish today.
And I really like the way you used the wafer cookies.
It doesn't taste like just sugar on the outside of a doughnut.
The only thing I'd say is I deeply dislike the texture
of the cream, the consistency of it.
You really were able to create something delicious.
Chef Peter, thank you.
And now to decide on a winner.
Thank you.
Judges, you've got to be skilled and innovative to make
the most of leftovers. Did these chefs deliver?
I think if we look at those appetizers, particularly Leigh's
her little cabbage pancake, which had that vegetable slaw
in it, didn't look like any of the ingredients,
and yet they were all represented.
-Yeah. -That is how you do it.
Leigh's only misstep was the sriracha.
-Oh, my God. -That went over the top.
So much.
And I'll be frank, Peter's dish in that first round, to me,
was bottom-two level.
I think, "pureed hot dog," in the dictionary,
is under "bad idea."
I do have to say, I really, really enjoyed that
tomato rice.
I think the flavors were really, really good.
I feel like maybe Leigh stumbled more in the entree round
with that undercooked pizza dough.
Now, I do have to say that Leigh made chicken Parmesan,
something that I couldn't ever tell that it was
chicken Parmesan.
We're going to Peter's dish, creating this almost vodka
sauce chicken ragu, if you will.
I couldn't stop eating that.
I also liked what he did with the chicory.
-Yeah, but why add that agave? -That was very sweet, wasn't it?
[Peter] Being this close to it now, I really want to win it.
I got better and better on every round, so I think I have
a really good chance of actually taking it home.
[Leigh] Oh, I want to win so bad right now.
I'm staying optimistic, and I think his dessert was
really successful, but at the end of the day,
it's about the whole picture.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[suspenseful music intensifies]
[Ted] Chef Peter, you've been chopped.
Judges?
[Alex] Peter, to the cooking that you did here tonight,
for your first round, we really loved that tomato rice,
but pureeing those hot dogs just didn't pay off.
For your second course, we really liked the pasta,
but the chicory salad felt a little unbalanced,
and so we have to chop you.
It's been a privilege and an honor cooking for you.
Thank you for everything.
A little disappointed, obviously,
but I'm very proud of what I did.
I think my parents will still be very proud of me.
I put myself out there.
And that means Chef Leigh Orleans,
you are the "Chopped" champion.
For re-imagining leftovers brilliantly,
your reward is $10,000. Well done, chef.
-Thank you, thank you, thank you. -All right.
-[Aarti] Great job. -Thank you so much.
It was such an honor being here and cooking for you guys today.
And yeah, I'm a "Chopped" champion.
Oh, my God.
This means so much to me. I really am in the right place.
I'm meant to be here, and I should keep cooking.