Iron Chef Chamorro Challenge-2011

Please pardon my construction of this blog, have fun and visit again for the recipes.

The display of the secret ingredients and other enhancing agents:

"This is how we Iron Chef-ed"

Ok-before you all say "What? SPAM, you gotta be kidding!!!!", let me give you a little history of the recipes created exclusively for this event. My husband and I decided we wanted to hold a friendly challenge of creating amateur culinary dishes and have judges decide "Who's cuisine reined SUPREME-so hence our very own version of Iron Chef Chamorro and the secret ingredient of SPAM!!!! Yes, that was intentionally a run-on sentence to create a dramatic flare. In this corner-Reed "The Real Deal' Sasamoto vs. Michelle "Bow Down" Sasamoto!!!! Who will win bragging rights and who will be ragged on for a long time?

We agreed on the secret ingredient 2 days before the challenge, brain-stormed on several ideas, invited friends and family to taste and judge and shopped for our own ingredients. Nerves were shaken and self-doubts surfaced for both of us. It's funny how we cook on a daily bases but we agreed that this challenge felt different...OK, breathe in and out. That's me calming the nerves-well for one, cause I like competition and 2 I don't like losing. Hahaha!

The best part was the excitement of our 10 year old daughter who engaged in this event as well. She delegated herself as the Chairman/Narrator and took off from there. She even made the judges scoring sheets. How cute is that? My baby is loving the culinary world as well and I am so happy.

So hours before the challenge, my husband and I prepped some ingredients because we did not have the luxury of a huge Kitchen Stadium or Sous Chefs, this made things a little less hectic in our kitchen. Thank God he had that brilliant idea of pre-prepping. Then the battle began and before we knew it an hour and 30 minutes flew right before our eyes at lightning speed. The battle was Oh-Va!!!

The three categories included appetizer, entree and dessert. I made a foursome appetizer plate which showcased Asian inspired finger foods, SPAM-Chicken Cordon Bleu with Bacon SPAM Garlic Mash Potatoes and chocolate dipped SPAM with vanilla basil soft serve ice cream. Reed managed to complete 2 dishes, I think they were both in the entree category-Hawaiian style fried rice and mushroom/asparagus stir fry. After the dishes were plated it made it's way to the judges table.

The moment of TRUTH: The judging categories were based on originality, creativity, plating and taste. Each category was scored by each judge for up to 10 points each. The judges ate, scored and tallied their points to determine "who's cuisine reigns supreme". And the 1st Iron Chef Chamorro Challenge winner is--------------------------------drum roll please. tadadadadadadadadadadadada------------------------------Iron Chef Michelle "Bow Down" Sasamoto!!!! And the crowd goes wild. Nothing but love and fun in our Sasamoto Kitchen Stadium.