Food Network Star was the epic culinary competition
that helped jumpstart so many careers including mine.
- Guy. - My name is Guy Fieri.
There were so many chefs that made a lasting impression
that the fans are always asking
to see them compete again.
- So, tonight, some... - [Michele] Woo!
...of Food Network Stars most memorable finalist
are back to compete.
Family, food, and fun baby.
[Guy] Who has the star power to conquer my culinary games?
I'm a Food Network Star, I got this.
It's Food Network Stars Favorites
right now on Guy's Grocery Games.
So let's meet the Food Network Star alum.
Now, first up, we have Viet Pham, an executive chef,
living the American-restaurant-dream
since appearing alongside Damaris Phillips
in Season nine of Food Network Star.
Food Network Star was one of the hardest shows
that I've ever done.
It's not just about being in the kitchen.
You have to exude a certain amount of energy
that excites people.
When you think about 4th of July,
you think of barbeques.
I wanna do something different.
I was the guy who was able to put together a five-star meal
using the ingredients out of your cupboard.
And she's sitting right over there for you, chef.
I have watched Damaris, kind of, like
grow through all of these years.
She still has that twinkle in her smile.
Looking good, Viet.
Next, we have Michele Ragussis,
accomplished New England chef
and Season eight Food Network Star runner up.
My name is Michele Ragussis. I live in Brooklyn, New York.
But at heart, I'm truly all New England.
Being on Food Network Star was the hardest
and best time of my life.
I just really have to remember why I'm here.
I want to bring my love of food
and my love for New England to everyone.
- What's going on? - Ragussis.
Ready to go.
And then there's Mathew Jordan,
Arizona executive chef and social media guro
who came in fourth in Season thirteen
of Food Network Star.
I did Food Network Star twice.
During Season 11, I only made it to the second episode.
And I was lucky enough to make it back in to Season 13
and made it to the Final Four.
You ain't gonna rid of me.
I might be young but I've got over 13 years
of fine dining experience.
Whatever Guy throws at me today, I'm ready.
[Guy] But we're going as Matt now, right?
- Not Matthew, Matt... - Yes, sir.
Gotta get it straight.
And finally, Jernard Wells, Atlanta chef
with nine kids and his own spice line,
who is a Season 12 Food Network Star runner up.
I'm just channeling all that energy into my dish.
When I was on Food Network Star,
I was all about food, family, and fun.
And that hasn't changed one bit.
I'm still all about my family.
It's hard not to with nine kids.
There's the big man making it happening.
Oh, this should be fun.
See, this gives me a chance to kinda work out
some of the demons I have from my Season Two.
My name is Guy Fieri
and who doesn't love an onion ring.
The four of you made a very big impression
on your season.
And you may have not won but you did won
over the hearts of many of your fans.
Now, tonight, we've got two culinary challenges
that are gonna make you feel right at home.
Our judges are gonna be scoring your dish
based on taste, gameplay, and plating.
And the chef with the lowest score,
unfortunately at the end of round one
will be checking out, they'll be taking off,
will be woodcut, whatever subword we used back
in the day of Food Network Star.
But the chef with the highest combined score
after the two rounds will get a chance
to shop Flavortown market for up to $20,000.
[applause]
So, for your first challenge, I want you to make something
that all the Food Network Star alum
are familiar with.
I want you to make a P.O.V. dinner,
a pork or veal dinner.
No. Uh, a...
Oh, point of view, point of view.
[laughter]
We're looking what culinary encompasses you.
And since you are Food Network alum,
I have the perfect P.O.V. game for you.
It is called the Five-Star Showdown.
What's the Five-Stars?
This refers to five sections in the market
that will be designated by a star.
- What? - [Guy] We're talking aisle 10.
We're talking the deli area.
Aisle Two, the Hot Bar,
and the Herbs, the Herbs section.
The Herbs section?
You have to make your P.O.V. dinner
using only ingredients you can find
in the five sections.
So, basically, more than half the store
is off-limits to you.
- Okay? - [Michele] Oh, you're kidding.
You have 30-minutes to shop, prepare,
and plate your P.O.V. dinner.
But you four, I will tell you this,
as soon as it goes down to round two,
there'll be three of you left.
It really will come down to two of you
in the final around, and one of you is you
is gonna be going on a shopping spree of a lifetime.
Okay? Do you understand that?
- Yes. - Yeah. Yup.
[whispers] And go.
[Jernard] I think we have to go, right?
- [Michele] What? - [Matthew] Go!
[Michele] Oh, come on.
I gotta be honest, they're a little rusty
on some of their, uh, pieces.
We're gonna hopefully tune them back up.
[Michele] Now we know we're gonna go with some clams.
I can only get ingredients from Five-Stars
in the grocery store.
What? P.O.V. means your point of view.
On Food Network Star, my P.O.V. was my New England.
I have to make a fish stew.
I'm taking 'em all you guys. Sorry.
New England seafood and bring my Greek-Italian.
But how do you make stew without onions, garlic?
Freakin' out a little bit.
Oh, God, you guys... Sorry.
And then, I see it, they have lemons
by the seafood, which is like clutch
because I can't get lemons out of produce.
I'm going with lemons, lemons, lemons.
I can use aisle two, which is a condiment aisle.
There's calabrian chilies, pickled garlic.
Pickled onions.
So, I'm grabbing all of these things to, like,
build some flavor in this dish.
I need tomato.
While I'm in the deli area, there's salsa.
Love in my world.
Heck, yeah, because I can't get tomatoes
and I don't think you could make a fish stew
without tomatoes.
Oh, my God. I need bread.
But I can't get bread anywhere,
so I'm gonna grill a pizza dough.
I run to the herbs aisle.
There's... Oh, the herbs.
Thank God. It's gonna brighten this dish up.
I haven't run this fast in, like...
- I don't know, 17 years. - [Viet] All right.
The American dream, what is it gonna be?
My P.O.V. on Food Network Star
is the American Dream.
I come from an immigrant family
and so, when I think of an American Dream,
I think of what the wealthiest and most famous people eat.
I am making Surf & Turf.
Steak, caviar, these.
I can only shop from aisles marked with a star.
I'm grabbing cocktail onions for my chimichurri
because I couldn't use raw onion.
Being limited to just herbs
and not being able to use onions or shallots,
it kinda sucks.
I'm gonna make something that I would make for the kids.
On Food Network Star, my P.O.V.
was food, family, and fun
because that's what I'm all about.
I'm thinking about taking it old school.
Doing some ranch style barbeque bone-in pork chops.
Do you not understand how difficult is to be
in a grocery store this size and can't even really select
and choose all the items you want?
Come on, think, chef.
This is a dinner,
so I gotta have a complete meal.
I ran to the deli area.
What do we got over here? Egg salad.
And grab some egg salad.
That's right, hickory smoked bacon,
bacon and the eggs.
[panting]
[Matthew] So not only am I doing
this Five-Star showdown,
I also have to incorporate two Point of Views
because I did Food Network Star twice.
The hashtag meant reaching an audience
through social media,
#andSouthwestern,
#howamlgonnadothis?
And the first thing I see, chorizo,
and all of a sudden I know what I'm gonna make.
What are you thinking, Matt?
I think I'm gonna go with chorizo pasta.
Oh, if that... if that's not Scottsdale,
- I don't know what is. - Growing up in Arizona,
I love Southwestern flavors.
While I'm on Aisle 10, I also grab Cotija cheese
and pecorino romano.
Pasta has to have garlic, but I don't have access
to the produce section.
But I saw basil pesto.
What does basil pesto have in it?
Lots of garlic. Cilantro, where are you at?
And I really need to add herbaceous flavor
because it's gonna add freshness.
I'm ready.
So here to judge your Food Network Star favorites,
are our favorite Food Network Star winners.
Season six Food Network Star
and Triple G tournament champ, Aarti Sequeira.
Hello.
Season eight Food Network Star
whose ramen shop is bringing new flavor to South Dakota,
the wild card himself, Chef Justin Warner.
Season nine Food Network Star and Southern cookbook author,
the one and only, Chef Damaris Phillips.
Hello.
What was your P.O.V. when you did your show?
Mine was "Off the Hook." Hi, I'm Guy Feiri.
I like to live big, laugh hard, and cook wild.
Mine ended up being an Indian kitchen
with an American soul.
What was yours, Wild Card?
I was the rebel with a culinary cause.
- Yeah. - Oh.
God, you even had a good name.
- What can I say? - And what was yours?
- Modern Southern. - Modern Southern food.
Uh, cooking for cats.
Boy, I can't figure out why that wouldn't have won.
It feels like it's gonna be really trendy in #2020.
It's also 2021 now, too, so...
- [Damaris] I know. Oh shoot. - [laughter]
The... There you go. Hi folks, welcome back.
Planet Earth just called.
[Aarti] Seeing all of these Food Network Star competitors
in front of us, brings up a lot of memories.
[Justin] Food Network Star, it's like a boot camp
for your personality, your culinary abilities.
I think it's kinda unique here.
Were in Flavortown and you're seeing
the interpretation of the game via these individual P.O.Vs.
This is an exceptionally hard challenge.
[Guy] Do you have an idea what the menu is?
- [Michele] Seafood stew. - [Guy] Okay.
Salsa was a... You grabbed salsa.
Are you looking for something...
- Tomato. We got this. - [Guy] Tomato?
So, the first thing I have to get going is the base.
I need onions and garlic sauteing somehow,
so I'm rinsing out some of that brine
from the pickled onions and garlic,
and just start chopping them and sauteing them.
Then, I take calabrian chilies
to get some heat in there.
Yeah, they make a little spice.
My P.O.V. which is My New England
is my love for New England food,
New England people, and the lifestyle.
Tearing apart some lobster.
And I can't use fish stock, so for the liquid,
I used the salsa and water.
We need tomatoes, right?
Fish stew has to be bright, so I add all my fresh herbs,
basil, dill, green onions,
and a ton of lemon zest.
That is good.
[dramatic music playing]
[Guy] Viet, what's on the menu, bud?
- Steak and langoustine. - All right?
Yeah, it works for me.
With 30 minutes, it's really hard
to cook a steak properly.
So, the quickest and best way to cook a steak
is to deep fry it.
Is he deep frying that steak?
Oh, Viet, you're taking a risk?
I gotta do this.
[Aarti] Oh, my gosh.
When I think of steak and I think of lobster,
the one flavor that I really, really love serving
with meats is a chimichurri sauce.
And unfortunately, I'm only limited to capers,
chives, parsley, dill,
and Worcestershire sauce,
and cocktail pickled onions.
Fresh is the best and I've never used
a jar of onions before.
My strategy really is just to not overdo things.
I pride myself in doing creative, high-end dishes
while using accessible ingredients.
You just dropped this beautiful ribeye
- right into the fryer? - I sure did
and I'm gonna smoke it next.
That's okay, Guy, I'm a Food Network Star.
I got this.
[steak sizzling]
[Guy] Jernard, what's the game plan with these chops?
[Jernard] I'm gonna grill them.
I really love creating for the family at home
a nice ranch seasoned barbeque pork chop.
You're taking the powdered ranch dressing...
Yes.
...and you're making a barbeque sauce out of it?
And that's gonna be the seasoning
to provide that extra flavor.
- Oh, I love this. - This is Flavortown, baby!
Jernard's used a powdered dressing.
You know, these things are weaponized.
Basically, all it is is dried herbs
and buttermilk powder in that ranch.
And when you don't have the spice aisle,
it's a fantastic way to get a ton of flavor.
Uh, yes. Yeah. Yeah.
[Matthew] Bring on the sauce.
For my P.O.V. dinner,
I'm gonna make #ChorizoShrimpPasta.
I get my chorizo going, nice and caramelized,
green onions, add in my pesto, pow!
The hashtag means this has to be beautiful.
I need to be able to take a picture of it
and put it on social media.
Add some Mexican crema to add flavors of the Southwest.
It's acidic and then, also, like, rich and fatty
from the chorizo, that's very good.
Fifteen-minutes, chefs. You got 15.
We're at the halfway point.
[Michele] While my stew is simmering,
I got my pizza dough on the grill.
Yeah, I'm just using my hands like they don't burn.
I need to get flavor on this bread.
I can't just give them grilled pizza dough.
So, I blend up the garlic,
all the pickled stuff, calabrian chilies.
Got some scallions.
[blender whirring]
[Michele] It's spicy, it's kinda bright,
it tastes really good.
Woo. All right.
For my lobster part of the dish,
I'm gonna make a langoustine tartar.
Add a little bit of olive oil, some vinegar,
some herbs, and caviar.
It symbolizes wealth and success.
What's magical about the ribeye steak
is that there's two cuts there.
There is the cap in the ribeye.
And there was a little bit of fat left,
and who doesn't love fat?
I take that fat off, and deep fry it
so you get some of that caramelized flavor in there.
[makes sound]
I'm gonna do a simple barbecue sauce
to go over my pork chops.
I add a little bit of the ranch seasoning
to ensure that the ranch flavor shines.
To the barbecue sauce.
I'm gonna do a egg salad
and I'm gonna do some hickory-smoked bacon in it.
This is a dinner, not a dish,
so I gotta have a complete meal.
I'll take this egg salad to the next level.
I want the bacon to have a nice
little crunch bite to it, so it balances out.
[Matthew] Jernard, what are you making, my friend?
[Jernard] I'm making a grilled ranch
and barbecue pork chop.
You know what, who doesn't love ranch
and who doesn't love barbecue sauce...
Uh, my point exactly, hey!
[Matthew] While the flavors in my sauce are developing,
I need to work on my shrimps.
I don't wanna fully cook the shrimp on the grill
because I want them to go into the sauce
that I developed,
so they soak up all of that chorizo goodness.
Next, we need to get the pasta going.
I see your pasta is already portioned out.
- You got some shrimps cooking. - [Matthew] I'm ready.
I took some of the sauce from this,
then added a little water, melt with butter.
- Exactly. - You know, those glazey-glaze action.
Was that just a little hip shake I just saw?
- Just a little. - Little? Okay.
Little something, something. Got it. Beautiful.
Two minutes, chefs.
Still working the bread?
Working some bread.
I got some nice orzo.
I got my fish stew. Feeling good.
I wanna make sure that the judges get
a little bit of lobster, some clams.
Everybody get some clams and mussels.
And then, my broth.
Time goes by really fast in Flavortown,
so I'm looking at my plates, they're a little messy
but I know that I packed
in that New England flavor in there.
I'm proud of my dish.
[Viet] This embodies the American dream
because you got a steak.
Amazing. You got langoustine, you got caviar.
I have my chimichurri sauce, and then I plate
my deep fried ribeye fat.
[Guy] One minute! One minute to go!
I pull those pork chops out and they're looking beautiful.
It's time for me to coat them in the sauce.
The only thing that has me concerned
is this pre-made egg salad.
Thirty seconds, chefs.
[Matthew] I twirl that pasta like it was a tall tower,
and I just take those perfectly cooked shrimp
and I put it right on top,
and then I drizzle on a little more sauce.
I'm gonna take some chives, cut them up,
and put them in the form of a hashtag?
Yeah, I like that.
There's so much beautiful food right now
happening in this kitchen.
[Guy] Five, four, three, two, one.
And that's it, chefs. Stop working.
Great job, y'all.
- Woo! - Hmm, I'm proud of that.
[Guy] Well, chefs, I gotta tell you,
you were so busy seeing stars.
Let's take it to the judges' right this way.
All right, judges. Here we are.
Game one of our Food Network Star Favorites.
Our chefs had to make a P.O.V. dinner
using ingredients from only five sections of the store
with the stars on them.
First up, Chef Matt.
I did Food Network Star twice,
so I've had two separate Point of Views.
Hashtag, reaching everybody through social media
via beautifully plated delicious looking food.
Second, I am born and raised Arizona,
so I love flavors of the southwest.
I made a chorizo shrimp pasta with basil pesto.
I think you did a good job of shopping
within those aisles and coming up something
that is your P.O.V. but also very delicious.
Thank you.
I really love the creaminess and the sharpness
of the pecorino against that umami of the chorizo.
But the sauce here is a little tight.
It's eating a little bit dry.
I think you could just use, uh, a little grease.
Sure. Thank you.
All right. Not to be outdone, Chef Viet Pham.
What I've created for you is steak and langoustine,
something to me that is truly the American dream.
I deep fried the steak.
Nice even crust all around and I broke the meat up.
You have the cap, you have the ribeye,
and you have the fat. Enjoy.
That little nugget of fat on the plate
- is out of control. - [Guy] I'm sorry,
when in the last time have we ever heard
on Guy's Grocery Games, that little nugget of fat
on the plate was out of this world?
- That is a quote for the ages. - I'm sorry, y'all.
The home of the little fat nugget.
You separated all the pieces of meat,
it shows a lot of technical precision.
They all eat individually, differently and I like that.
My favorite part of this dish is that chimichurri.
It really balances out all the richness of the meat.
But it needs a vegetable, it needs a starch
in order to, sort of, fill it out
and really make it feel like dinner.
Next time.
Like more little nuggets of fat.
- Okay. - [laughter]
All right. Up next, Chef Jernard.
All right. My culinary Point of View
on Food Network Star was family, food, and fun.
I'm definitely from the South, so what I've created for you
is a barbecue ranch bone-in pork chop.
But then, hey, you just can't have a pork chop
without having a nice side,
so I got a hickory bacon egg salad to accompany that.
That is the tenderest pork chop
I've ever eaten on Grocery Games.
It's pink and it's juicy.
That ranch dressing gives it a little bit of a tang,
almost like you brined it.
I'm from Kentucky, pork chops are very, very popular.
This reminds me of what we grew up eating.
So, as far as P.O.V. goes, I love it.
I wish that there was a little bit of acid in here
because it's a little bit heavy,
but all in all, very delicious.
- Thank you. - It's very clear by this
that you still have all of the chops
that got you as far as it did in Food Network Star.
But I think I want a little bit more Jernard
in this egg salad, though.
It doesn't have the funk, and the flair,
and the freshness that's going on in the pork chop.
[Guy] All right.
Not to be outdone, Chef Michele.
Woo, my P.O.V., you guys,
my New England right there in a bowl.
I'm Greek-Sicilian, so I made
a New England style fish stew with Mediterranean orzo.
And a little bit of grilled bread on the side.
You really managed to make your P.O.V.
fit completely within the parameters of the game.
You found the salsa and it really adds
this level of long cooked flavor
that's really necessary here, so great job there.
All that orzo catches all of the various drippings
and juices from all of the perfectly cooked shellfish.
And then, you go the next step and you're like,
oh, there's pizza dough. Fine, I'll just call it bread.
I'm happy to report that you haven't changed.
The problem is the vessel that you've chosen
to plate in.
It's way too small
and I'm not getting enough sauce,
so something that's so luscious and supple
is a little bit dry.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
I think you all represented your P.O.V. well.
We're gonna send you back to the kitchens,
let the judges deliberate.
Thank you very much. See you in a bit.
Judges, did anyone's Point of View
missed the point?
Matthew's dish was authentically Arizonan
and still had some of that funk
that we know Matthew for, but it was unpleasantly dry.
Viet did great in terms of his P.O.V.
Where he fell down for me is that
it didn't feel like dinner.
Jernard did a fantastic job.
The egg salad for me could've used
a little bit more finesse.
[Guy] Chef Michele.
[Justin] That was a bountiful dish.
That said, that plating was just a mess.
[Guy] Remember, 20 points in taste,
20 points in gameplay,
and 10 points available in plating.
[Damaris] Ooh, this is a tough one.
It all comes down to the final scores.
Viet first,
14 in game play, taste was in seventeen,
plating is in eight, for a total of thirty-nine.
Chef Michele, eighteen in gameplay.
Very nice.
Sixteen in taste,
- six in plating. - Ouch.
[Guy] It had to be that bowl, for a score of 40.
- Matthew. - Yes, sir.
[Guy] Sixteen in gameplay, fifteen in taste,
eight in plating for a thirty-nine.
So, we either have two tied in the bottom.
For my buddy Jernard,
fifteen in gameplay,
sixteen in taste.
Ooh, a seven in plating for a thirty-eight.
And Jernard, the reason that we brought you back here
is because people love you guys.
And I gotta be honest with you,
I still think you got it, so I'm not sending you home.
[Michele] Yes! Yeah!
- [cheers and applause] - [Guy] Okay?
So, second and deciding round is coming up.
Chefs, back to your carts, good luck.
If you think about what Food Network Star was,
for a lot of people, it was their guilty pleasure.
So, I want you to make the judges a guilty pleasure.
But to make it challenging,
we're gonna make it a guilt-free guilty pleasure.
A dish that satisfies those decadent cravings
and yet leaves you with no regrets.
So, to get you started
on your guilt-free guilty pleasure,
I made up a short grocery list,
which everybody loves my grocery list.
No? Not so much? You're shaking your head.
Yup.
I want you to use
almond milk,
an item from aisle four,
perfect.
And something frozen.
Shop for anything else you want.
But those are must-have ingredients
because this is grocery list.
Oh, thank you so much.
- Not really. - For you three.
- Thank you. - Thirty minutes to create
your guilt-free guilty pleasure.
Now, you four have got these three items to follow.
You miss two of them, you miss one of them,
and you will go home for sure without any money.
- Yeah. - Okay? You understand that?
All right. Aisle Four...
Oh.
[laughter]
Woo!
This is Grocery List and I have to make
a guilt-free guilty pleasure.
I totally know what I'm making.
When I think of a guilty pleasure,
immediately I was just like pasticcio Bolognese.
Healthier.
My plan to lighten up
this extremely heavy dish
is to take out the egg yolks,
change the beef to turkey,
and to use almond milk for my bechamel sauce.
From Aisle four, I grab strained tomatoes
and the pasta for my Bolognese.
What is this frozen stuff?
I am grabbing frozen basil.
Frozen basil.
Okay. We need cheese.
Fresh mozzarella because you cannot make
any pasta dish without it.
Take a little mozzarella.
I would take that almond milk.
I would make nachos in a heartbeat.
Some vegan cheese, get some tortilla chips.
Take little meat, ground meat, make some...
Uh, I'd make...
If I had a free kitchen, I'd be making them for you.
Oh, what do I make?
Guilt-free guilty pleasure is like oil and water.
They don't mix.
Ground turkey, where you at?
What does any guilt-free dish need?
Great protein and how do you achieve that?
Ground turkey, I love brunch,
so I'm gonna make an open-face brunch spectacular.
Fried sunny side up egg, bacon,
and thick cut toasted brioche.
Got my running shoes on today.
Guilt-free guilty pleasure and how do I do that?
By creating a guilt-free cheese sauce
using the almond milk.
I grab the frozen chilies,
I grab the gochujang from Aisle 4.
Ooh, this is gonna be spicy.
Grab jalapenos, I grab scallions.
This is gonna give the dish lift.
Let's get cooking!
Right here, nutritional yeast seasoning.
That, some almonds, and some of the almond milk
will make you some vegan nacho cheese
that will blow your mind.
What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?
I'm gonna do a dessert.
When I think of guilty pleasure,
the first thing I think of is dessert.
I'm gonna make guilt-free fruit parfait.
So, I'm grabbing some chocolate cake mix
because it's already all done.
Something from Aisle four.
I'm gonna grab the mole.
It's gonna add like a nice little bite
to the cake batter.
And the almond milk is going to be
a substitute for a whipped cream.
I'm grabbing soy lecithin because it's an emulsifier
and it gives it this creamy mouth feel.
Something frozen.
I'm thinking of like frozen Hawaiian bread
which I really love
because it has this really nice buttery texture.
I gotta get cooking.
[Guy] What are you making, chef?
I'm thinking about doing something
similar to an etouffee.
- [Guy] Okay. - Um, bell peppers, onions.
I got you. I got you.
[Jernard] I'm thinking about making an almond milk,
craw fish, and shrimp etouffee
with a nice almond cream rice.
I'm grabbing canned roasted garlic tomatoes
from aisle four because it already have
the garlic in it.
One of my biggest hacks that I'm gonna do
to make this dish less guilty
is I'm gonna reduce the amount of flour and oil
that I use to make my roux,
and also using fresh bell peppers in it
to make you feel good about what you're eating.
Last round, I had the lowest score,
but Guy let me went on through.
So, this time, I gotta really bring it on in.
The most difficult challenge you had
in Food Network Star.
I had to do a fashion show challenge.
Take kind of an ugly dish and turn it into something
that was runway ready.
My most difficult challenge was when
we had to convey a particular emotion
through our dish and mine was fear.
- It was awful. - I had to do cocktails,
so I had to drink a little bit.
It did not help my presentation at all.
Oh, I gotta see some of this.
[Guy] Twenty-five minutes.
Guy is asking them to make a guilt-free guilty pleasure.
Got to play the game.
Michele really is great at game play.
She's balance ground turkey
instead of ground beef in her dish.
So, my dish is a play on baked ziti
meets pasticcio.
First, I have to work on the bolognese.
I'm using turkey meat because I'm trying to bring out
the best flavor I can,
because it's all about usually the beef,
the pancetta, all the good fat.
Then, I wanna add the frozen basil
because we have to incorporate it.
But I still wanna use fresh basil.
Like, you have to brighten this dish up.
I'm adding parmesan cheese because you cannot make
pasta dish without parmesan.
I don't care who you are, I don't care what you say,
parmesan cheese, staple.
For my guilt-free guilty pleasure,
I'm gonna make toasted brioche
with a sunny side-up egg,
bacon, and beautiful gochujang cheese sauce.
What makes this guiltless?
I'm gonna make it healthier
by adding the almond milk...
- Okay. - ...light sour cream,
and then adding frozen chilies.
Okay. Okay. Yeah.
First I need to make my gochujang cheese sauce.
I have to incorporate my frozen chilies.
That's going add the heat.
And not just a dash but a lot of the almond milk, ooh.
And that's gonna add that beautiful nutty flavor.
It's good again. Oh, it's good again.
All right, chef, what's your game plan?
Fruit parfait, so, I'm gonna lighten up
the, uh, cake mix with egg whites.
- Nice. - [Viet] And almond milk.
Microwave it.
And then, I'm gonna finish it up
with a coco emulsion
- made from almond milk. - Love it.
The mole from aisle four
is gonna pair really nicely with the chocolate cake.
I poured the cake batter into the dispenser.
It lightens it up, and then you just siphon it out
into a bowl and you get this really nice
beautiful foamy cake mix,
and what's the fastest way to cook a cake?
The microwave.
Next, I need to work on my coco flavored whipped cream.
This cream is guilt-free
because I substituted almond milk for whipped cream.
In my bowl, there's coco powder and soy lecithin.
So, the trick is I'm adding some soy lecithin to this,
it helps this foam up.
And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take the foam
and I'm gonna scoot it over the pudding
to mimic a whipped topping.
For my guilt-free guilty pleasure,
I'm gonna make an almond milk roux
with the crawfish and shrimp etouffee
with the almond rice.
All right, Chef, how are we looking?
I'm getting my bell peppers.
I got me some already canned tomatoes
that has garlic and oregano in them.
Etouffee is a gravy.
It means smothered, to smother something.
And the perfect thing to smother is rice.
I'm about to introduce almond to Louisiana.
I'm gonna add in my canned tomatoes from our aisle four.
The almond milk is perfect for making this guilt-free
because I'm replacing the amount of flour that I'm use,
because I'm relying on the almond milk
to give it that nice good creamy thickness.
Yes, yes, yes.
[Guy] Fifteen-minutes, halfway!
Next, I'm starting on my bechamel.
So you got your almond milk down.
- I got my almond milk down. - Great.
[Michele] It's healthy, it's creamy.
- Looking forward to that. - Oh, yeah.
It's a guilty guilt-free pleasure
but we're in Flavortown.
It didn't say take out all the fat.
My guilty love, pasta.
Once I get my meat sauce in that cast iron, bechamel.
Bechamel goes on top.
Fresh mozz.
And then, cook into the salamander.
I scored the highest in the challenge,
so when I win the money today,
I have not traveled for a while,
so a trip to Greece is definitely first up.
Chef Matt. Give me the rundown, buddy.
So, I got a red dragon cheese sauce
with ground turkey.
Just to keep it guilt-free, thick cut brioche
toasted in extra virgin olive oil, egg, bacon,
- call it a day. - [Guy] Okay.
[Matthew] If I win the money today,
I'm going to the top of Italy
and then to the bottom of Italy,
and I'm gonna eat my way all the way in between,
and that's gonna expand my chef palate even further.
I'm gonna make some Hawaiian bread croutons.
What I'm looking for is to toast it up a little bit
and dry it out, so it offers this nice textural contrast
in this parfait that's typically just really moist.
I'm out.
Now, I have to start
on the fruit part of my parfait.
Add a little bit of liquor to this,
just to really bring out the flavors.
These berries are the guilt-free part,
but adding that touch of liquor is guilty.
I know this cake has to be on point
to get a better score
and to get that prize money.
I'm gonna donate
to International Rescue Committee.
They help out a lot of refugees.
I was born in a refugee camp.
Coming from a similar past,
I wanted to give back.
And you made enough for 20 people.
You got nine kids you're feeding or something?
Hey, I gotta make sure I got leftover
- to take with me. - What's your frozen?
- Your cauliflower? - [Jernard] My frozen
was my crawfish.
- You're in good shape. - [Jernard] Yes.
The last thing I need to do
is get my shrimp going in my etouffee.
[Guy] Three minutes!
[Michele] My dish is out.
It's bubbling, it looks beautiful.
Texture, breadcrumbs, and parmesan cheese goes.
It's a skinny cheese in my world.
And then, more fried basil, bread on top.
Last time, they dinged me on plating.
One, two.
This time, no way.
Three, four.
Time to plate, my friends.
First, I put my gochujang cheese sauce
at the bottom of the plate.
I want that brioche toast
to soak up that sauce
from the bottom and the top.
Next, bacon.
Then, more cheese sauce,
then sunny-side up egg.
Oh, my gosh, I think I nailed this challenge.
One minute, chefs! One to go!
[Viet] First, I put done my berries.
Right over the top of the berries, I add my cake.
Then, my Hawaiian style croutons,
and finally, the almond milk cream
to finish it all up.
Judges, you can have my cake
and eat it, too.
Perfect. Yes.
The rice, it has a perfect texture to it.
And then, right over the top, the etouffee.
I'm using a slotted spoon so I can make sure
that my etouffee is full of all of the crawfish,
the shrimp, and the veggies
because I need that to shine.
Five, four, three,
- two, one! - [Michele] Oh, boy.
That's it, chefs, stop working.
- [Damaris] Great job y'all. - [Guy] Good job, everybody.
- Woo! - [Damaris] Very good.
- Oh, my goodness. - [Damaris] Very good.
All right, Chefs, let's find out
whose guilty pleasure
is guilt-free as charged.
Let's take it to the judges' right this way.
[Guy] Here we are, game two
of our Food Network Star favorites.
They got to play grocery list.
Up first, Chef Matt.
I'm waking up at the crack on noon on the weekends
- and I'm... - I'm sorry, when you wake up
- at the crack at noon? - Yeah, on a good day.
[Guy] I'm so stealing that.
[Matthew] I made toasted brioche
with a sunny side-up egg,
bacon, and beautiful gochujang cheese sauce.
[Damaris] Chef Matt, the almond milk in here
is a delightful choice.
It is so creamy.
It's adding this nice nuttiness
that you don't typically get in a gravy.
One of the great things that you did here
to term as guilty pleasure into a guiltless pleasure
is combining that low fat cheese sauce
with that egg yolk.
It really makes it feel luxurious,
and silky, and fatty and creamy,
so really good job of there.
I know that you made some protein choices
but I think that this is like
pretty gosh darn indulgent.
A pretty guilty, guilty pleasure.
- Thank you so much. - Up next,
Chef Viet, what you got for us?
[Viet] I made a guilt-free berry parfait.
So, instead of making like a traditional
whipped topping, I took almond milk,
added some coco powder to it.
Uh, I added a little bit of soy lecithin,
so that I could emulsify that all together
and kinda create that, like, foam,
whipped topping that you would get.
Justin, I know you're just reeling in him
using soy lecithin
[makes sound]
I do love some soy lecithin usage.
People can say why did you use soy lecithin,
why does this need a foam,
and it's because your mind immediately says,
wow, this is fluffy, this looks fragile,
this is gonna break.
But then you dived into it
and there's a lot more oomph to it.
[Damaris] I love the fact that you have
two textures in there, of the Hawaiian bread
and that sponginess of the cake.
It was a really cool technic.
[Aarti] I know it's supposed to be a guilt-free
guilty pleasure, I think this still supposed to be
- a little bit of guilt here. - Okay.
[Guy] All right. Up next, Chef Michele.
So, what I have for you guys
is two of my favorite things to eat,
is bolognese and pasticcio.
I made a mesh up of pasticcio meets Bolognese.
There's a little mozzarella, fried basil,
and a lot of lemon zest.
[Justin] Chef Michele, when you take a look at this,
you think, whoa, like this is gonna be a cheese bomb,
this is going to be rich, but then you dive in
and with the acidity, the lemon zest,
the basil, it's really doesn't eat very rich at all.
Using the, uh, almond milk to kind of stimulate
the cheese sauce, that worked in your advantage.
[Aarti] You gave us so much texture
with the breadcrumbs, the fried basil.
There's so much distraction going on
that you don't realize
- that you're missing out on the fat. - Yeah.
- [Aarti] So, that was really smart. - Thank you.
For me, it needs a little salty
and it needs that sweetness
that comes from the browning of-of the meat
at the bottom of the pan and scraping it all up.
- That's what missing from it. - Thank you so much.
All right. And last but not the least
in kitchen four, Chef Jernard,
what did you make for the judges?
[Jernard] For my guilt-free guilty pleasure,
almond roux, and crawfish and shrimp etouffee
with the almond cream rice.
I love this dish.
And I love that you were able to lighten it up a little bit,
but keep it super, super rich,
and heavy, and fatty feeling.
[Aarti] I love the almond milk in here.
I think it adds a beautiful nuttiness to your roux.
I think what this might be missing for me
is just a little bit of freshness.
I... I'm just not getting
- enough herbaceousness. - Thank you.
All right. Thank you very much, chefs.
We're gonna ask you to retire to the kitchen,
judges will deliberate. We come back,
someone is gonna go shopping for a bunch of cash.
Thank you much.
Did anyone's dinner make them an instant star?
[Justin] I love the look at Matt's dish.
The flavors were bold but I didn't see
any cutting of calorie or, you know,
deguilting of a guilty pleasure.
[Damaris] Viet's was really,
truly a guilt-free guilty pleasure.
I think I just wanted a little bit more guilt.
[Aarti] I think Michele nailed guilty.
She balanced it by using ground turkey
and kind of pulling back on some of that fat.
Chef Jernard's dish, it was bright,
it was happy, it was balanced.
[Justin] I thought that the dish could have use
either a fresh acid or a fresh herb.
All right. Score it up.
[Guy] A lot going on here in the second round.
I think everybody did a good job.
Let's take a look. Viet...
fourteen in gameplay, fifteen in taste,
nine in plating, for a total of thirty-eight,
for a total of seventy-seven.
Michele my belle,
sixteen,
seventeen,
eight,
for a total of forty-one,
for a total of eighty-one.
Ooh.
You need a 43 here, Matthew.
[laughs] Yeah.
[Guy] Thirteen in gameplay,
seventeen in taste,
nine in plating, for a thirty-nine,
gives you seventy-eight, not quite there.
And last but not the least, our buddy Jernard,
seventeen in gameplay,
seventeen in taste,
seven in plating, for a total of forty-one,
tying Michele, but Michele takes the win
at eighty-one to seventy-nine.
What?
Oh, come on you guys.
Everybody really high scores.
You made your season proud,
you made the network proud, you made all your fans proud,
and hopefully, this won't be the last visit.
Thank you very much Chef Matt, Chef Viet, Chef Jernard.
- Thank you very much guys. - Thank you, guys.
[Matthew] I didn't win today but I'm so glad
I got to see some of my Food Network family.
[Jernard] I didn't win, but that's fine.
I know I'll be back.
[Viet] Michele got the price money.
Bummed that I didn't get a chance to win
but I'm super happy for her.
Ladies and gentleman, the Food Network Star
favorites Champ, give it up for Chef Michele.
Woo, you guys. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
[Guy] All right. Let's go win some cash.
- Come say hi to the judges. - [Michele] All right.
Let's do it.
[Guy] We have different ways
that you can win your money now,
we have a recipe game,
where I have a recipe that has 10 ingredients
and you have to find those ingredients
and you have two minutes to achieve that.
Every item you find, you get $2,000.
Second, we have a check behind that door right there
that has your name on it and has the value
between $10,000 and $20,000.
So, my question is, would you like the check
that can be anywhere between $10,000 and $20,000.
- Mmm-hmm. - Or would you like to run around
and maybe lose a few brain cells...
And no money if I don't get anything, right?
- And that is correct. - Check.
- Check all day. - Yeah!
[Michelle] Okay, you guys.
[Guy] Ladies and gentleman, please drumroll.
Let's take a look what's behind the door,
- $17,500. - [cheers]
- What? - Huh?
- Can I hug you? - Come on, bring it in.
Bring it in.
Seventeen-five.
We will see you next time
on Guy's Grocery Games. Adios.