Iron Chef Brooklyn

Yah, so I've been Slackass McGee lately. My bad. I'll get better again, I promise. Here are my excuses:

I was doing inventory.
I was tired.
I got sick.
I was planning things.....

LIKE IRON CHEF BROOKLYN!

Yeay it was so fun! Our secret ingredient was heirloom tomatoes. Mary, Susan (my Iron Chef co-hosts) Gerald, Midget and I hit the greenmarket yesterday morning in search of maters. We did a full lap and there were none. Zip. Zero. This was a problem. But we bought some other lovely things. I visited my farmer crush Keith, author of It's a Long Road to a Tomato. I'm still too scared to talk to him, but from him I purchased some really fragrant basil, some garlic scapes, spring garlic, and Italian parsley. Then, visiting other booths, I bought some corn shoots to snack on during our walk (if you've never had them, you totally need to because they're truly fantastic), some delicious wild cherries, and sunflower millet from Our Daily Bread. Still, no heirlooms. We hit Whole Foods across the street. Nope. Went back to the greenmarket and bought some regular tomatoes and vowed we would all lie and swear that we used heirloom tomatoes. Whattayagonnado?

As our cheftestants started arriving with food and booze, a truly wonderful spread was growing on our table. Without a hint of shyness, everyone dove in. There was much eating, and finger sucking, eye rolling ecstasy, recipe sharing and drinking to be had. It was food nirvana. Oh, and Chairman Mikey bit the pepper. What's Iron Chef without pepper biting??

Here's the full menu:
Marie: Seafood dip (crab, shrimp, tomato sauce, and 4 cheeses) served w a baguette
Tim: Gazpacho! (we added the exclamation point to make sure it was said with feeling)
Janine: Tomato quiche with peppers and pecorino romano
Joey: Pasta with tomatoes, black olives and mozzarella
Deanna: Pasta with tomatoes, onions, peppers, pine nuts, arugula and gorgonzola cheese
Mary: Crostini with tomatoes, bacon and mustard Guinness sauce (a vegetarian version too!)
Susan: Fried green tomatoes with chipotle mayonnaise and tomato salsa
Tony: Tomato tart with creme fraishe, potatoes, and gruyere

What did I make, you ask? Well! I made a quinoa croquette topped with roasted fennel and marinated tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. They was good. Real good. But then again, so was everything else.

The winner? Susan, with her fried green tomatoes!!!! She deserved the win. They were motherfucking awesome.

I think we're all hungover today. There were several wine runs. The plan was to go to the Unfancy Food Show today, however, mama didn't get out of bed until 1 pm.

As an excellent plan B, we spent most of the day in bed, eating leftovers, reading and watching the Euro Cup final. QUE VIIIIIVA ESPANAAAAAA! I called my dad and he was stoked. I texted Bert and so was he. I wish I would have watched more than 3 games than I did, but in good news, the Euro Cup being over means....two years until World Cup! I will consider taking the summer off just to watch it. No, I'm not kidding. I did that the summer of 98. My dad was recovering from having a tumor removed, and I had just moved back from Tampa and was unemployed. We spent all of June and some of July watching almost every WC game. It was great. Even better for me that I was stoned the whole time, even tho my dad didn't know. Ahhh, youth.

Tomorrow, my darling husband and I are going to see the actual taping of Iron Chef America at Chelsea Market! Hooray!!!!!!!! It's full circle Iron Chef all up in this bitch.

Anyhoo. Pics soon. More consistent blogging too. Also, commenting is highly encouraged. :D It gets exciting.