Battle 11 - Chipotle and Goat Cheese

Everything just looks straight up tasty this week. I want to go to there.

The Judges for this week are the winners of battle 9, Felice in the kitchen, and battle 10 Madeline Louise.

Choose your favorite here.

Who won battle Chipotle and Goat Cheese?(polls)

Please check out all the creations and place your vote! Be sure to check back on tursday to see the results.

Results

Every week I am impressed with the quality of food put out by the foodie fighters and this week is no exception. This week there is a first though, because this week I am super impressed by one of the judges! She went ABOVE AND BEYOND the call of duty by actually cooking foodie fight entries! On with the judging.

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Madeline Louise

Holy crap! Cheese and spicy peppers are two of my absolute favorite ingredients. I would eat cheese every meal of the day if I could (some days I do, actually). That being said, this was a really difficult challenge to judge, because I will eat cheese in, on, or from anything.

My Winner: Chili Cheese Fries: Manchego Goat Cheese Ravioli Chipotle Cream Sauce (+300)

I haven’t stopped thinking about this dish since I first laid eyes on it. I want it. Now.

I love spicy pasta dishes, not to mention spicy HOMEMADE pasta dishes (did you get that? This guy made his own pasta…and gave us instructions to do so ourselves). Sometimes it’s hard to cook with either goat cheese or chipotles because they require a balancing of flavors; this dish seems to do it well. The creamy, tangy goat and manchengo cheeses seem like a perfect counterpoint to the spicy chipotle sauce (I want to bathe in it). I can’t get enough of this.

Runner Up: Wallflower Wonderland: Chipotle Chocolate Bites with Goat Cheese (+100) I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting any desserts in this challenge, and I wasn’t into this one at first at all. I’m not a big fan of dessert, and goat cheese and chocolate didn’t seem to do it for me. However, the picture is beautiful, and the unusual nature of this dish really made me consider it again. The tangy goat cheese+ sweet chocolate + smoky chipotle seemed to make a very interesting flavor profile, something I could probably eat a lot of and not get that sugary rush I often do when eating chocolate.

Felice in the kitchen

Judging a recipe and a picture can be a bit tough so i decided to give the recipes a shot.

My main criteria in judging is whether the recipes made full use of the ingredients – and not just used them as an accompaniment – that would be too easy! The cooking/tasting was just an extra and did not effect the way i judged the recipes – just helped me further comment.

The only submission that, I felt, REALLY used the goats cheese and chipotle as main ingredients was Haochi DC: Goat Cheese Chipotle Ice Cream with Chipotle Infused Honey Drizzle and Basil. Ice cream made with the cheese and a sauce with the chipotle. Now if that isn’t using the battle ingredients i don’t know what is!! The ice cream is my choice because the items used are the ingredients requested simple as that. If the chatter on the blog could be cut by three quarters, (and this applies to the other long winded ones too,) it would have been easier to concentrate on the substance and not be side tracked by the frivolities. Cooking is fun but it is also serious business!

Chili Cheese Fries: Manchego Goat Cheese Ravioli Chipotle Cream Sauce: Very good idea but the Manchego was over the top. Goat cheese is supposed to dominate and the manchego steals some of its thunder. I would have spiced up the Goat cheese with an addition of some herbs just to balance the more powerful effect of the chipotles.

Wallflower Wonderland: Chipotle Chocolate Bites with Goat Cheese – At first glance i thought this could be a winner, but on reading further I realized that the fluffy topping on the brownie was icing. What should have been done was to bake the brownies without topping then top with the goat cheese honey mix. That way you get more cheese to balance the chocolate and chipotle. Chocolate is very dominant so lots of goat cheese would be needed

My Boyfriend Likes it, so it MUST be Good: Chicken Adobo Lettuce Wraps W/ Chipotle Tomatillo Salsa & Goat Cheese Queso – Super recipe and a great explanation – if chicken had been a battle ingredient. Chicken adobo takes too much prominence and I felt that the battle ingredients were just used as an accompaniment to the dish and not as the featured items. Pity, cos the taste was superb.(i didn’t use the lettuce wraps though)

Om Nom Nomnivore:Rib-eye Rolls with Chipotle Macaroni & Goat cheese - erm…what was the main dish??? again – mac and cheese as an accompaniment to rib eye? not too sure about that. However, this was the most fun to read even though i thought that only ONE dish had to be presented. That being said, the main reason i did not consider this dish further was that the battle ingredients were just an accompaniment and not the featured items. I also thought that the mac and cheese was a rather predictable way of using the goats cheese.

Difficult to decide. Wish I could say the ravioli as winners as I am sure they are delicious but the mixture of cheeses put me off.I think the ice cream – Haochi DC (+300) – (without the chatter )should be the winner as proper use was made of the battle ingredients – with the ravioli – Chili Cheese Fries(+100) – a close second.

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Final Results

Winner: Chili Cheese Fries: Manchego Goat Cheese Ravioli Chipotle Cream Sauce (300+100+53=453)

Runner Up: Haochi DC : Goat Cheese Chipotle Ice Cream with Chipotle Infused Honey Drizzle and Basil (300+14 = 314)

Wallflower Wonderland : Chipotle Chocolate Bites with Goat Cheese (100+35 = 135)

My Boyfriend likes it, so it must be good : Chicken Adobo Lettuce Wraps W/ Chipotle Tomatillo Salsa & Goat Cheese Queso (16)

Gecko from Om-nom-nomnivore: Rib-eye Rolls with Chipotle Macaroni & Goat cheese (5)

Congrats to everyone! you all made some awesome stuff! Remember to sign up for the next battle if you think you can take the heat! The Hall of Fame wont be updated till this afternoon cause I’m a busy guy!

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Battle 11 - Chipotle and Goat Cheese