My sister, Morgan, turned me on
to the best kept secret in the food world.
Vegetarian dishes can be delicious.
So, tonight, we're taking Triple G to the next level
in our most dramatic vegetarian challenge ever.
-What? -[chuckles]
[Guy] In round one, three accomplished chefs
will compete in a meat-free challenge.
But, only the highest scored chef
will move on to round two.
They'll receive an automatic 10,000 bucks
and a shot at doubling their money.
Oh, my God.
[Guy] If they can beat one of our Triple G all-star champs,
in a one-on-one vegetarian battle.
Which all-star will they choose to the challenge?
It's Beat the Judges, Vegetarian, right now,
on Guy's Grocery Games.
So, let's meet our vegetarian chefs. Now, first up, we have
Chris Rios, the chef/owner of a vegan food truck
in Austin, who went from the tech world to the Tex-Mex
with his vegan tacos and prize-winning meat-free dishes.
[Chris] I call myself a plant pioneer.
When I sold my last company
and started a vegan taco truck,
everybody was telling me, don't do that. What, you're not gonna use meat?
We have been the first
all-vegan taco truck in Texas,
not only in, just in Austin.
And, we continue to push the boundaries.
-What's up? -Go get 'em, brother,
-go get 'em. -Whoo!
Next, we have Sasha Raj.
An award-winning Arizona chef
specializing in botanically-inspired comfort food,
featuring global flavors.
Wow, that's a mouthful.
[Sasha] I was born in Southern India and I was raised vegetarian.
I call my style of cuisine botanically-inspired,
but truthfully, it's not just inspired by plants,
it's inspired by spices and flavors and techniques from all around the world.
Sasha Raj, love that name.
And, finally, Mackenzie DeVito,
chef/owner of a thriving Chicago business
that buys column flower heads by the truckloads
to produce her Island-inspired vegan cuisine.
[Mackenzie] No Bones Beach Club is plant-base in your face.
I am all about showing people
that you can use delicious vegetables
to make tasty, seafood-like dishes.
I am so excited to get all of my vegan food to the people.
There you go.
I've been eating vegetarian food for years.
Matter of fact, quite a few years in my childhood,
I was raised vegetarian.
Vegetarian cooking has reached a whole new level of popularity.
And, we are stepping up our vegetarian game.
We're playing Triple G in a whole new way.
This is something different,
you have no idea what's coming.
The chef with the highest score
with a meat-less dish, at the end of round one,
will win an automatic...
ten thousand dollars.
-Oh. -What?
That's it.
-What? -Ten grand.
-Oh, my God. -Oh, my God.
Now, the flip side of that is...
the other two chefs, will be eliminated.
Ooh.
If you're the winning chef, we have something special for you planned in round two.
You will get a shot at doubling your money in the second round.
If you could beat...
one of our all-star judges
in a one-on-one battle.
-What? -[clapping]
So, the question would be, which judge...
would you like to go up against.
Well, it's entirely up to you
and you'll get to choose but first,
let's get in to this first round.
Well, it may be your last round,
so I think you gotta go big.
First round, I want you to really wow the judges
with your mad vegetarian skills
and I want you to make...
a hearty comfort classic.
Show the world how flavorful, filling and satisfying
a meal could be when it's all vegetarian.
Alright.
Dad, sorry. Sorry, guys.
Hey. Look at this.
[laughs]
Remember those breathable bags you ordered for produce?
They're pretty nice actually, you can recycle 'em,
I'm right in the middle of kicking off the competition.
Oh. I thought we're having a party.
[laughs]
Um, actually, you know, do me a favor, Hunter,
just go and give 'em a couple.
Okay, that's two for you.
[Guy] So, you have those bags.
-Two for you and two for you. -Thank you.
[Guy] Use those when you grab your produce.
You know what,
why don't we free you up from having to push those cumbersome carts around.
I'm gonna have you step to the front of your cart
and just bring those bags with ya.
-What? -This'll work out perfect.
-Oh, my God. -[laughs] What?
Now, we can test the durability of the bags.
Now we can test the durability!
Because, this is called "produce bags only".
-What? -So, you could fill
those two bags with anything you want.
You get one shop, you go back to your station,
once you start cooking, you are done shopping.
You've got 30 minutes to shop,
prepare and plate
your hearty comfort classic.
Now, the only thing, Hunter, is there's three of 'em.
-Right. -And, you only gave two bags each.
If you would've just given them one bag each,
then they can go shopping and maybe have the chance...
-to get... -A little more stuff?
And, they're still standing there.
-I'm confused. -I have a question.
-Yeah. -Can I reuse the bags?
No, no. Once you fill 'em and you get to your station, you're done.
But you can take the bags home when you're done.
-But you can take 'em home as a souvenir. -Oh, a lovely souvenir.
To think we have to compete against these guys? No problem.
They don't even know the three, two, one joke.
They haven't even watched the show?
Now, you guys have seen the show before, right?
-Absolutely. -So, you understand
that the three and the two and all that, right?
Yeah.
You understood that that is...
-Say the magic word at the end. -...when that gets said.
Like, 30 seconds ago.
Go!
-Yeah. -Alright, go.
-Wait, no. -Are we going?
-What? -Oh, my God!
[laughs]
[Chris] If I make it past the first round,
not only will I win 10,000 bucks,
but, I get to go up against
one of the judges and that's gonna be awesome.
Gotta find some...
Hearty comfort classic to me means mac and cheese.
It's very comforting to me so it takes me back when I was a little kid.
Where am I gonna start, uh.
Not off to a good start right now.
One of the things that we have to do as vegan chefs
is overcome things that we normally don't use like milk, dairy.
Alright.
For my cheese sauce,
I need nutritional yeast.
Get some things going here.
And that's gonna give it that cheesy flavor.
Got some creole seasoning.
I'm adding flavors that's gonna best represent Tex-Mex.
Some pickled jalapenos.
That's big comfort food, right?
Oh, man.
This is hard because I've got all my hands full, and I'm like,
oh, my God, I feel like my hands are tied.
Alright. Here we go.
I know you're aspiring, but, do you want to produce this episode?
Produce?
-[funny voice] Produce this episode. -Get it?
I love this, we need more vegetarian shows.
I think this is gonna be such a great inspiration for people at home
to see different ways to make contemporary dishes
with alternative, uh, ingredients.
And, it doesn't mean boring, I mean, I'll be honest with ya,
I remember when I started cooking a lot of vegetarian
for my sister, for Morgan,
and she said, don't just make me grill vegetables
and throw it on a plate of rice.
There's so many amazing techniques
and ingredients to use out there that...
this should be a pretty educational evening.
[Mackenzie] When I think of comfort classic food,
I think about the food that you wanna eat
on a cold, snowy day in Chicago.
I'm thinking that I can make a country-fried tempeh steak.
I was blown out of my mind
when I saw a liquid egg product
that is made out of mung beans.
Now, I'm actually gonna use it to fry up the tempeh.
I went over to the veggie isle,
putting as many vegetables into that bag as possible.
Ah. The leek tore my bag open
and so, things were falling
actually out of the plastic bag.
I grab fingerling potatoes because it needs to be hearty.
I definitely wanna do a delicious gravy
out of garlic and leeks,
with a little raw cashews.
Uh, where's the nuts?
Nuts, nuts, nuts.
What are you looking for?
I'm looking for some nuts.
Some nuts, there's nuts right here.
So, there's some of these, there's some almonds,
-and some pine nuts and... -I don't want...
-I don't want those. -Okay, good talk.
I wanna prove today
that vegetables can be turned into anything you want.
Hey, chef, if you're not done shopping
you can't go back again.
Make sure that you are verifying, you are 100 percent got what you want.
'Cause once you get in here and start cooking, it is donezo.
-I'm donezo. -You sure?
For sure.
Got it!
[Sasha] How am I gonna fill these
with jars and cans and produce and all of that.
Do you have pita?
I am making a mushroom and jackfruit shawarma.
And I saw a barbecue jackfruit.
That, I knew, would give me a little bit of sweetness,
a little bit of this tomato tang that I had wanted.
Shawarma is not traditionally a plant based dish but,
some of my earliest food memories
was going to these small Middle Eastern restaurants
where I would always enjoy the falafel sandwich
but I would always want to enjoy the shawarma.
Guy, I'm looking for pickled turnips.
I don't know that I've seen a picked turnip...
Oh, you know what, if we're gonna have a pickle, it's gonna be in aisle two.
-Aisle two? -Yeah.
Ooh.
I love picked turnips
because they hold that crucial acid component that I needed.
Chef, can I interest you in some olives?
-Or some pepperoncinis? -Okay.
What olives do you want, cause some are pitted and some are not.
-Pitted olives, please. -Pitted olives, you got it, alright.
[Sasha] I love mushrooms, they're hearty,
they have this really great meaty texture.
That, I felt like,
is the definition of comfort.
-Okay, alright, I'll dump 'em in? -Thank you, thank you.
-Tell me when I-- -Aww, man.
You tell me when. [laughs]
The pressure in this game is real.
I mean,
a judge from the Food Network,
oh, my goodness.
Oh, my God. Alright.
[Guy] Who better to talk vegetarian cuisine
than these three all-star judges
known for their incredible vegetarian dishes.
Food Network Star and culinary world traveler,
who's all about vegetarian forward cuisine.
The one and only "I got a fresh, new haircut
and I can run faster than you now'" chef Justin Warner.
Acclaimed chef and restaurateur
who's blown me away with his vegetarian dishes,
especially his four a.m.
ramen sandwiches.
The one and only chef Michael Voltaggio.
And, Food Network Star who literally
wrote the book on vegetarian southern comfort food.
The one and only, chef Damaris Phillips.
I'm excited that you guys are here.
-Uh, this is gonna get really weird after this round. -[grunts]
Who would like to get picked?
I mean, Damaris has the cook book.
She wrote the book on vegetarian cooking.
I think there's no greater challenge
-on this table. -Yeah, and that's exactly
who these chefs are not gonna wanna go against.
I actually love the prospect though of getting to go up
-against somebody who specializes in this. -Yeah.
To me, that's an opportunity I'd love to take on.
Oh, no.
-Chef, are you good? -Ah, I forgot one main ingredient,
-believe it or not. -Which was...
Some cannellini beans.
Cannellini beans.
Beans are used for a texture
which is the most important thing that I need
for my mac and cheese.
That can make it difficult.
[Chris] Oh, my God, I'm in this situation.
What can I make out of everything that I have on hand?
Gonna have to improvise a little bit.
I'm worried about Chris, he was making macaroni and cheese
but he left out the beans
which is a very important component for a vegan cheese sauce.
I dunno what he's gonna do.
I want to take on a judge today
but I already feel defeated.
Ooh.
[Guy] Twenty-four minutes.
I'm worried about Chris, he was making macaroni and cheese
but he left out the beans
which is a very important component for a vegan cheese sauce.
I dunno what he's gonna do.
Come on, noodles.
Chris, do you need some help?
Got any beans over there?
I don't have any beans, friend, but what do you have,
maybe I can help you.
I've got like, uh, some noodles going.
Puree some of your noodles and turn that into your cheese.
All you need is a starch.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Sasha.
I think Chris' pasta is cooked enough to do the sauce.
[Chris] I'm gonna combine my noodles with nutritional yeast.
Garlic powder and the nutritional yeast are gonna give it that cheesy flavor.
It's good enough.
[Justin] So, these vegetarian chefs are here.
If they win the first round, they get a whooping ten K
and then the opportunity, the privilege,
to face off against one of us.
Who do you think they're gonna pick?
I don't know, you have the target.
You're the only one with a vegetarian cook book.
Hate to tell ya, I wouldn't have worn heels today, Damaris.
These? [chuckles]
[Guy] Okay, chef, what's on the menu?
Mushroom and jackfruit shawarma.
-Okay. -With a...
coconut yogurt tzatziki.
You brought a pre-season jackfruit?
That's just a starter
so that, I have a little something sweet without having to
pick up one more giant ingredient so...
Got it, got it, got it, got it.
So, the very first thing, I get my jackfruit into a pan.
I wanna get that caramelized
and little bit crusty.
While that's cooking,
I go ahead and marinate my mushroom cumin,
some paprika,
then add in some pickle juice.
I've been a lifelong vegetarian
so, I have never actually gotten to enjoy
an actual, authentic shawarma.
So, this is my interpretation.
Get my jackfruit right, add it to my mushrooms.
I'm really hoping it's gonna give me that great meaty texture
of a traditional shawarma.
I got bowls, bowls.
-Okay, chef. -What's up?
What's on the menu?
We are making a little country-fried tempeh.
Country-fried tempeh.
With a little, uh, broccoli rabe
for our green.
Why tempeh, not tofu?
Tempeh is just basically like,
the better version, in my opinion, of tofu.
I think it has better texture.
They key is you gotta score it through the middle
because if it's too fat,
-it's chewy. Yeah. -It'll roll. Got it.
[Mackenzie] I got this liquid egg product that is made out of mung beans
and I thought, ding, ding, ding, that's exactly what I'm gonna use
to double fry my country-fried tempeh steak.
I went vegan about 15 years ago.
As a diet, I was trying to do it for about two weeks.
Through this vegan diet, I found my life's passion
which is to get vegan food to the people.
Sasha, did you get everything you needed?
I mean, you think but,
we're only going to find out by the time this is done.
[chuckles]
Twelve minutes, chefs, twelve to go.
I think that's pretty inventive idea to use some of those noodles.
You know what, I owe it all to my team member over there, she gave me the heads up.
Yeah, that's a giver right there.
She's great.
My cheese sauce is developing flavor.
The next thing I'm gonna do is start focusing on my chipotle sauce.
I want a little bit of Tex-Mex in my mac and cheese.
Kicking up the flavor with chipotle, with some fire roasted tomatoes.
To keep kicking it up, I used a little bit of the creole seasoning.
That amplified the heat
of the original sauce that I wanted. Whoa.
I love Tex-Mex food because I make it vegan,
it's freaking delicious
and it's something I grew up with, growing up in east Austin.
It's my go-to comfort food.
This dish has to be hearty,
so, I'm gonna go to mushrooms for that meaty texture.
If I make it past the first round,
I get to go up against one of the judges.
It'll be very, very fun to go up against Justin
because he's very creative
and I am also creative,
so, it would definitely see who's most clever.
-[Guy] Chef, how are we looking? -I am
-crisping up some pita chips to go on top. -Right.
My mushroom jackfruit shawarma's almost done.
-Right. -So, I'm gonna work on an olive
and cucumber tzatziki.
Vegan mayonnaise, vegan cheese,
it's a fermented coconut product
and that gives it that rich fattiness that you would expect
out of a Greek-style yogurt.
[Sasha] Cooking in front of these judges knowing
that I may have the opportunity to compete
against one of them, that was super nerve-wracking.
If I win today,
I'm picking Damaris because
she is someone who is so inspiring to me as a fellow female chef.
-[Guy] Chef, how are we looking? -Little shout-out
to my in-laws with broccoli rabe.
What's cooking way over here?
Um, I was boiling cashews for my gravy.
Cashews, I used them a lot in my
-vegan cheese... -Yup.
...with my nutritional yeast.
Yeah, I forgot the nooch.
I thought you'd be packing nooch.
You would think so.
I don't need no nooch.
I love nooch, but I didn't need it.
I boiled the cashew nuts, that's kind of a quick trick
to bypass the whole soaking them 24 hours.
Leek is going here.
Toasting down my leeks, and my garlic to let those caramelize a bit.
Adding the cashew cream that I made.
I grabbed these beautiful morel mushrooms and I put those in.
Little toasted fingerling potato.
I want to win
because $10,000 is on the line and you get an opportunity
to beat one of your hero celebrity chefs on the panel.
I am ready to go up against Michael Voltaggio
in a bling ring match.
Oh my gosh, I found another tater.
It escaped me.
If I win, he's going down.
[Guy] Ninety seconds, gotta get plated.
[Chris] Add in some soy sauce,
then I add my chipotle sauce.
I definitely think Chris has the right idea.
Mac and cheese is definitely a hearty comfort classic.
One minute.
[Mackenzie] I use the leeks as a garnish.
I fried potatoes, look beautiful.
I want that plate to be a mountain full of hearty food.
I slice my country-fried temped steak
and I laid that across the top of the potatoes.
I knew that I wanted to slather it in my sauce
and then I put the broccoli rabe on top of that.
[Guy] Thirty seconds to plate.
[Sasha] So, the first thing I put down is my grilled pita
and then I spread some tzatziki sauce on top of that.
My chopped mushrooms and jackfruit.
I top that with pickled turnips,
pita chips and then I hit it
with a little more of the tzatziki at the end.
It's beautiful to look at.
Five, four,
three, two, one.
That's it, chefs, stop working.
-Ah! -Great job, you all,
down to the wire!
[clapping]
Alright, chefs, time to find out whose hearty comfort classic dish
produced the best dish.
Let's take it to the judges, right this way.
Alright, judges, this is round one of Beat the Judges, Vegetarian.
Our chefs had to shop with just a couple of plastic produce bags
and somehow gathered enough ingredients
to prepare a hearty comfort classic.
The chef with the highest score,
will win an automatic
ten thousand dollars.
The other two chefs will be eliminated.
You will get a shot at doubling your money in the second round,
if you could beat one of our all-star judges.
Chef Sasha, up first, what did you make us?
I made for you guys,
a mushroom and jackfruit shawarma
with cucumber and olive coconut tzatziki
and pita chips to go on there as well.
Sasha, you have added in
so much fat and creaminess to this dish,
that it 100 percent eats like,
a comfort food classic.
I have been all over the Middle East and eaten
at some of the markets and...
it tasted like a shawarma that would have meat in it.
I also can't imagine how you got so much flavor
packed into those teeny-tiny bags.
The flavors that you've conjured in here are all super-warm.
Your like, use of warming spices
comes together so nicely.
On your plating, I wish that there was more
of that sauce on the actual pita and less on the plate.
While it looked pretty, it's just, it doesn't eat very well.
Up next, chef Mackenzie.
So, today for my hearty comfort classic,
we are having country-fried tempeh
and then I did a leek and morel mushroom cashew gravy
and then I topped it off with broccoli rabe.
[Justin] Chef Mackenzie, I can't tell that the gravy has no animal products
and that's a testament to your ability to cook.
Aww, thank you.
My favorite part is the broccoli rabe on the top.
It kinda gives me a little bit of a break from all the gravy and all the fried.
I think you definitely nailed the comfort food classic.
When I saw it, I knew exactly what the dish was.
For me, where this gets a little wonky
is with the fried potato against the fried steak.
I'm looking for just like, a little bit of refreshment
and I sure as heck am not gonna find it
in the plumbers onion on the side.
Oh, God.
-Um, that's a ding. -I was blacked out when that happened.
[all laugh]
I don't know where they even came from.
They fell from the sky.
Alright, last but definitely not least, chef Chris.
What do you got for us, bud?
My big comfort food classic
is chipotle mac and cheese.
I've seen every competition.
I use beans, I use cashews.
But that pasta trick
which, Sasha, where you were so gracious to lend over to him,
that was one of the most inventive vehicle for the nutritional yeast.
Thank you!
Chris, this is definitely a hearty comfort classic.
There is no way that I can get through this whole dish
and not be in a food coma.
I know you had some struggles in the kitchen, forgetting your beans,
but when I get down to the bottom of this and I get a big, cheesy glob
of this non cheese sauce,
it's like, I can't believe it, it's vegan.
Yes!
In terms of plating, I saw you were racing against the clock.
I think I would have liked to see something a little bit more incorporated
in the plating itself.
I just, I'm not getting mac and cheese.
I got more Cajun chicken pasta vibes than I got mac and cheese.
Had you gone the Cajun chicken pasta route
you could have gotten some kind of meat in there
that would have taken this in that direction as well.
-Yeah. -[Guy] Delicious dishes.
Unfortunately, two of you will be going home.
One person will get to battle one of these crazy three.
We're going to send you back to the kitchen
and we'll call you when we have a decision.
Good luck you all, really well done!
Thank you!
Chefs, which farm fresh dish is in a field of its own?
20 points available on gameplay,
20 points available on taste,
10 points available on plating for a total of 50 points.
[Guy] Well, chefs, you have done a fantastic job.
Unfortunately, the judges, they want two people to leave,
and they want to get their hooks into one of you.
Because someone right now is going to win 10,000 bucks
and get a chance to double down and win another 10,000.
Let's take a look at the results. Chef Chris going first.
15 out of 20 in gameplay,
15 out of 20 in taste,
-6 out of 10 in plating for a score of 36. -Ooh.
-Chef Sasha. -Oh.
[Guy] 16 out of 20 in gameplay,
16 out of 20 in taste,
8 out of 10 in plating for a score of 40.
Good score.
Need of 40 or better, Chef Mac.
17 out of 20 in gameplay,
15 out of 20 in taste,
6 out of 10 in plating for a 38.
So close.
Congratulations, Chef Sasha!
Oh, my God!
Chefs, I'll say this,
you two are dynamite and I really enjoyed seeing you here.
Thank you very much, chefs! Good night.
Appreciate it.
I was actually pretty proud of myself.
But there was just no need for the leeks.
-Thanks, you guys! -Alright, bye!
I gave it my absolute best and to me that's a win.
Just proud to be here.
Oh, my God!
You made a delicious dish and you won
10,000 dollars. Congratulations!
Now, you have a chance to double that money
if you can beat one of our all-star judges.
Let's review your opponents.
Now, first, Justin Warner. He is a five-time Triple G winner.
A Triple G all star vegetarian champ.
The one and only, Chef Michael Voltaggio.
Two-time Triple G winner. He created a five course vegetarian menu
for one of the most acclaimed plant based restaurants of Los Angeles.
Damaris Phillips.
She's a Food Network Star winner, a Triple G winner.
Her cookbook, Southern Girl Meets Vegetarian Boy
is all about plant based Southern comfort recipes
that she made with her husband.
So, the question is, chef,
which one of these judges do you want to take on
in a head to head battle for 10,000 dollars?
[Sasha] I've heard your story of why you cook vegetarian.
It really touched me. I was raised in South India
and I think I would love to cook with a fellow Southern chef.
No, I knew I was...
-Here we go, ladies and gentlemen! -Yes! Yes!
I can't wait to see me run in these heels.
This should be awesome! All right, so there you have it.
Chef Sasha Raj versus Damaris Phillips, for 10,000 dollars.
Chefs, good luck! To your carts.
[Damaris groans]
In this final battle, chefs,
of Beat the Judges Vegetarian,
we have a chef from Southern India, versus our own Southern belle.
Are you really going to cook in the heels?
I'm going to cook in the heel, I'm going to shop in the heels
or I might have to take 'em off to run around but I'll put 'em on to cook.
Oh, goodness! She's going to beat me in heels.
Listen, if I'm going to go down, I'm going down in heels.
Anyhow, your final challenge.
I want you to make not a one, not a two,
not a three, not a four,
but a five...
A five-star vegetarian dinner.
Make a vegetarian meal that has the fine dining feel of a steakhouse.
Okay.
Damaris, I've seen you win with vegetarian concoctions that have been amazing.
And Chef Sasha, you've just proved that you know how to win here too.
I know how you two roll. Okay?
You two roll.
Roll, ro...
That's right. Hunter!
You already know what's going to happen.
Ooh! I didn't know.
This is Let It Roll.
So, you have a die here that you will roll,
that will determine the piece of equipment you must use.
Air fryer, spiralizer,
ricer, juicer, deep fryer.
Ooh, I hope it's not the juicer.
There we go. Right here in the C, Damaris.
-Okay, lucky number Damaris. -Here we go.
-Juicer! You called it. -Juicer! Exactly the thing I didn't want.
Cool.
Okay, going over to the style.
From blackened, pickled, crunchy,
tangy, spicy, smokey.
There you go, chef!
-Come on, something good. Something good. -Here we go.
-Give us something good. -There we go.
-Blackened. -Blackened.
And, Hunter, the last one is the ingredients.
We have ice cream, you scream.
Chips, dried fruit, crackers, popcorn.
Cereal. I'm scared.
Me too.
-Crackers. -Crackers.
-You're giving it away, kid. -You're welcome.
-Thank you. -So, it's got to have blackening in it.
It's got to have crackers in it.
It's got to have a juicer component in it.
Five-star vegetarian dinner.
30 minutes to shop, prepare, and plate for that.
Now, on the shopping part.
It is a three minute shop.
Is it really a three minute shop?
-It could be a 3 minute shop, it could be a 2 minute shop. -Is it a three minute shop?
I'll give you one more question, you can go first and ask me now.
Bye. Bye!
Oh, my God, the heels!
[Sasha] All of that elation, winning this first round, from 10,000 dollars,
was immediately juxtaposed with that sinking feeling
that I now had to go up against a Triple G judge.
Sasha's a very, very good chef.
But I am excited to show people delicious vegetarian dishes,
while I try my hardest to make the judges proud.
Five-star is my least favorite style of cooking.
'Cause I'm always hungry after a five-star dinner.
You're like, wow, that one bite of soup was amazing.
I really want to win.
So, I'm gonna need to make a dish that feels simple
but had a ton of surprises.
For my five star, vegetarian dinner I'm thinking mushroom walnut lasagna.
But I'm gonna stack it up and make it tiny, so it feels fancy.
What I don't think of myself as is a fine dining chef.
That's for sure.
Has anyone seen the blackened seasoning?
I'm grabbing blackening seasoning.
This is going to make my filling
feel like those mushrooms and walnuts are meaty.
And our whammy is crackers.
We use the crackers for that texture.
Pardon me, walnuts.
I've never owned a juicer.
Juicers are not my thing.
But I'm going to juice some ginger and make a delicious vinaigrette
that I'm gonna toss butter lettuce in just so the dish feels light.
When you're having any kind of pasta you have to have a salad too.
I don't know why I just think that's what makes it a dinner.
Damaris, is like shopping for Thanksgiving, I think.
Hey, jugdey, jugdey.
What do vegetarian zombies crave?
Greens.
That's funny.
[Sasha] When I think of a five-star vegetarian dinner,
I want it to highlight creativity.
So, I'm doing a blackened papaya steak
over a chili garlic noodle.
I decided to choose papaya because I knew I could enhance it
to remind our judges of salmon
and then surprise them with the textures and flavors of a blackened fruit
as the star of my dish.
I'm making a peanut and cracker crumble with crispy nori
as texture within my dish.
I have to use the juicer. So, I'm planning on juicing this ginger,
but I'm not going to lie, I am a little nervous at this point.
I have never made this dish before. But you know what, it's either now or never.
And here to take the vacant place on the panel is three-time Top Chef finalist,
acclaimed restaurateur, one and only Chef Bryan Voltaggio.
Thank you very much for being here on the fly.
Thank you. I appreciate that.
25 minutes to go.
All right, let's see what we're going to get, gentlemen.
[Michael] When it's Beat the Judges,
we're sort of being represented by Damaris right now.
And Sasha, obviously, knows how to cook.
We just witnessed that in round one.
But Damaris has a cookbook about, basically all about vegetarian cooking.
Damaris has a vegetarian cookbook, I don't.
-I have vegetables in my cookbook. -Nice.
[Guy] Chefs, we've got 20 minutes. You have 20 minutes to be plated.
-Five-star vegetarian dish. -Yes.
That is blackened, utilizing a juicer, and incorporates crackers.
[Justin] But when you think about blackening and crackers those are two dry heats
and then you have to use the juicer. And the juicer obviously produces wet work,
so how those two are going to play is a little sketch to me.
I'm never great at five star.
It really is what is my Achilles heel.
Sasha's a very, very good chef.
But, I was on Food Network Star and I've won on Triple G a couple of times
and I wrote a vegetarian cookbook.
Damaris is just a phenomenal chef.
And she is cooking in high heels and a cocktail dress.
And she'd probably kicking my butt.
[Damaris] I'm making a mushroom walnut lasagna.
I start by blending up my mushrooms and walnuts.
If you grind these guys small enough, you don't even notice what they are.
It just gives you protein and umami.
I want to put the blackening seasoning in with my mushroom walnut ground beef.
I'm adding the blackening seasoning to my mushroom and walnut mixture.
It's going to be all of the umami punch that you need.
This is going to make it feel like those mushrooms and walnuts are meaty.
I take classic dished from my childhood and I turn them into vegetarian dishes
so I can share them and enjoy them with my husband.
When I met Darrick, I was pretty like grumpy about vegetarian food.
I think because I wasn't very comfortable with it.
Learning to cook vegetarian has made me a smarter and more exciting chef.
I use spices more I think about textures more, I think about
just like ingredients that you wouldn't think of
if you're constantly making a roasted chicken.
-Can I try it? -Yeah. It's not... I don't...
You know, haven't tasted it all the way yet.
But the texture is going to be real nice.
-For like, what do you think of the ground beef seasoning. -Delicious, so far.
Chef, what's your game plan?
I'm going to make a blackened papaya steak
with chili garlic noodles.
[Guy] I like where you're going.
So, the first thing I know I have to start on is my papaya.
I chose it today because
I knew that I could make those papayas resemble a cooked piece of salmon.
I know that I want to make a blackened spice blend that would work, both,
on papaya steak and work in my noodle dish.
I have to incorporate a juicer.
The beauty of the juicer is that I can get all of the flavor out of that ginger.
So, I take my fresh ginger juice and hit it over that papaya.
I was born in Southern India, so I am really lucky to have been surrounded
as I grew up, really strong chefs.
Most notably my mother and my grandmother.
I love hitting all of the notes that are often found in Indian cuisine.
Something that's spicy added to something that's a little sweet.
So, for my papaya I knew I wanted to remind our judges
visually of salmon and then surprise them
with the textures and flavors of a blackened fruit.
That to me says five-star and that is definitely how I cook.
[Guy] Seven minutes, seven to go.
[Damaris] I'm going to do a stacked lasagna.
Very fancy.
Oh. my God! These don't want to cut at all.
You got it. Thank you, Guy!
Then Guy told me to use a cookie cutter to cut my lasagna noodles.
This is really nice. Like a high end fresh pasta.
I have to make sure that I do not overcook 'em.
Next I'm gonna work on my cheese mixture.
I combined goat cheese and ricotta. I wanted it to stay light.
So, I'm not melting any cheese.
Doesn't that feel high end? Like the thing you like most about the dish is in there.
That's high end for ya. [laughs]
-What are you juicing there, Damaris? -Ginger.
I'm gonna make a ginger vinaigrette.
I take that ginger juice and I add orange zest and orange juice.
Fig jam, olive oil and a little bit of champagne vinegar.
Ooh, that's delicious.
[Sasha] I know I want chili garlic noodles.
I have to make the hot oil component.
Coconut oil, and then I put in all of my spices.
Who has the opportunity in their day to win $10,000?
If I get the win today,
I see that as an opportunity for feeding parts of my community
that may not have been able to afford to eat at my restaurant.
With this 10,000 that would only allow me to do more and that makes it important.
I want to do something really unique.
So, why not make a cracker?
I dip the nori in a little bit of water
and I adhere the nori to the spring roll wrapper.
Throw them in the fryer.
It has that slight flavor of the ocean
and I know it's going to be the perfect crunchy component to top off my dish with.
[Guy] Two minutes. Two minutes flat. Got to be plated.
Ooh, I gotta get stuff on the plate, y'all. I am running out of time.
Because this is a lasagna stack, I can kinda get creative with the plating.
Pasta, then mushroom filling, then pasta,
then sauce. Just a little lasagna, y'all.
Butter lettuce can wilt very easily,
and so I'm brushing it through the vinaigrette.
The cracker goes on at the very last minute.
It's going to give you that nice crunch that you think about
when you think of lasagna.
Hello, fancy.
[Guy] One minute!
I blend up the honey roasted peanuts with the crackers.
I put my cracker and honey roasted peanut crumble on top.
I wanna make sure that I pile my noodles nice and high.
Top it with a crown of that grilled papaya.
I'm a little nervous at this point.
Especially because of the incredible caliber of the chef that I'm competing with.
But I showed up today to give it my all
and I really felt like I did.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Chefs that's it. Stop working.
Ooh!
Good job, guys. Amazing!
What a nail bitter!
All right, Chefs. Let's see who is the vegetarian victor.
Let's take it to the judges. Right this way.
All right, judges. This is it.
The second and final game of Beat The Judges Vegetarian.
And these chefs played a little Let It Roll. Easy Peesy.
Not so much.
Chef Sasha, you're up first. What'd you make?
So, this is kind of a riff on
the type of fish I would want to be served at a high end restaurant.
I made a blackened papaya steak
with a ginger garlic chili noodle
a peanut and cracker crumble on top of that
I cannot say that I've ever cooked with a fresh papaya.
It's fun.
Sasha, the first thing we have to talk about
is putting those cross hatches in there.
It's such a simple move but it conjures
when you cross hatch a fish and so,
it's that sort of trickery that makes this feel really five-star to me.
And the ginger is evident throughout all of this.
But I got to say, there was a little blackening for a lot of papaya.
I also like the use of the cracker
in the dish but in also a playful move of actually making another cracker.
Presenting us with a rice cracker, I thought it was really smart.
So, well done.
Like you could take this dish and tweak it a little bit
and it could be a five-star tasting menu course.
But, this is a lot of papaya. So, I cut mine like that.
Then you get this perfect little blackened piece of salmon.
But what I loved on the inside is that it actually looks like
a perfectly cooked piece of salmon, as well.
You're like right there to
to the point where I would steal this and put it on one of my menus.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
[Guy] Great, judges! Thank you very much.
Not to be outdone, Chef Damaris.
So, I'm giving you lasagna but rethought.
The filling is a mushroom and walnut filling
that I've added a ton of blackening seasoning to.
For me, five-star means that the ingredients that you're using.
And so I made sure that when was picking out the ingredients I was using
the best olive oils. I wanted lovely butter lettuce.
I wanted goat cheese and then the nicest ricotta.
And then just like dig in there and think I'm gonna have to unbutton my pants.
'Cause this is lasagna.
-Chef Damaris. -Yes, sir.
[Justin] It eats like everything you're describing.
Because there's very little browning or Maillard reaction in this it eats
super light and super clean.
And I just feel like I don't, I'm not getting the lasagna sweats.
And I think that's a good thing.
But when you talk about the flavors here
blackened to me is the technique. Blackened to me is not an ingredient.
I believe that this dish certainly screams five-star and elegance,
you know in a lot of ways, cause of the way it was layered because you're getting
the bites, there's some thoughtful plating involved in this.
You know it's funny, when I was looking at Sasha's dish,
I was like wow. I thought the blackened salmon was great
and then I saw the lasagna and I was like
there's some really equally as brilliant creative decisions.
Like I've never seen like walnut ground beef before.
So, I thought that was equally as creative.
So, creatively I think you both are like right there.
Ultimately, it's going to come down to a point or two.
-Wow. What a cliff hanger. -[Damaris] I know.
What a cliff hanger there.
Judges, thank you very much! Chefs, I think you did an outstanding job.
Both of you. We are going to send you back to the kitchen, let the judges deliberate.
And we're gonna come back and make someone really happy and make someone not so happy.
Just remember we have 20 points available in gameplay,
20 points available in taste, and 10 points for plating
for a possible of 50 points.
-Thank you, Chefs. -Thanks, guys.
Well, Chefs, I'll tell you what. This is a one-point win.
[both groan]
Let's take a look at the scores.
Chef Sasha, out of 20 points in gameplay,
16 points. Out of 20 points in taste,
17 points and out of plating
-seven points for a total of 40 points. -Dang, girl!
-Oh. -That's amazing.
-[Guy] Chef Damaris. -Yes, sir.
[Guy] 15 out of gameplay.
17 out of taste.
[sighs]
-Seven in plating for a winner at 40 points... -Oh, my God!
-Congratulations! -...to Sasha!
Congratulations, you did so good.
-Chef, Congratulations. -You did so good.
Judges help me congratulate the winner of Beat The Judges,
the one and only, Chef Sasha. $20,000 winner. Congratulations, Chef!
Congratulations. Very happy for you. Come on over here.
[Damaris] You beat the judges!
Mind blown. Mind blown. I cannot believe that I just
beat Damaris Phillips.
That's how you have it, folks. This big ball of vegetarian beats the competition,
including an all-star judge, to win 20,000 bucks.
We'll see you next time on Triple G where you know what, anything can happen.
Adios!