Marx Foods Ridiculously Delicious Challenge - first post.

Challengers, pick three items from the below list and answer this question:

What ridiculously delicious thing would you do with them if you won?

The Goodie List

Kobe Beef Sliders OR Kobe Beef Burgers	Whole Quail OR Semi-Boneless Quail
Wild Boar St. Louis Spare Ribs	Pink Salmon Fillets
Kangaroo Burgers OR Ground Kangaroo Meat	Wild Mushroom Sampler (contents may change)
Live Oyster Sampler	Ultimate Chile Head Sampler
10lb Specialty Burger Sampler	Mega Pantry Sampler
Pekin Duck Breasts	Fresh Blood Oranges
5lbs Frozen Wild Huckleberries	20lb Heirloom Potato Sampler
1lb Fresh Daruma Wasabi	Specialty Sausage Sampler
14lb Dried Bean Sampler	1lb Bourbon Vanilla Beans
Superior Spanish Saffron Threads	2 Live Geoducks
Edible Flower Assortment &Microflower Blend

Your job, as my lovely blog readers, is to guess which items I chose. (pretend you hear the countdown music from Jeopardy as I wait for your answers)...........

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Ok I wasnt really serious - I have to pick the ingredients - its part of the contest. So what did I pick and what will I do with them?

I pick the Fresh Daruma Wasabi that I will grate in its entirety and use as a face mask and as a bath salt, I am sure it will be invigorating. I also pick the Peking Duck Breasts that I will leave frozen and use as you would cucumber slices to relieve eye puffiness and thirdly I choose the Pink Salmon Filets that I will puree in the blender and use as a rich omega-3 hair conditioner. You see each of these items have curative and restorative properties so why not apply them topically?

Ok, seriously, I would make a deliciously spicy miso and wasabi soup, and since I would have so much I would make a wasabi remoulade to toss with shrimp and after I get a taste of it I am sure I will come up with more ideas so please lay off the pressure I still have to say what I am going to do with duck and salmon. I might make a terrine of the duck or I might make delicately thin slices and stack them layered with potato and mushroom and maybe even serve them with a light wasabi sauce- who knows. Now about the salmon - I will most likely make sushi rolls and perhaps some kind of salmon carpaccio - I might also make a salmon mousse. Now my experience teaches me that if I want to win this contest I will make wasabi mayonnaise, grill the salmon and pan fry the duck and try to keep it all as simple as possible..we shall see.

coconut madras chicken with saffron rice is my kind of good time

You will immediately notice the vibrant red color of this dish, do not adjust your screens I added a little bit of tandoori spices along with the red chiles to really kick this up and let me tell you it is even more intense in reality.

From the very first time I tasted food at an Indian restaurant I was smitten. The beautiful aromas the fantastic textures and spice blends, all of it created a world that I was going to be fond of forever.

My first attempt to make any kind of curry or masala I must have been 22 years old and since all we do on these blogs is brag about ourselves I will tell you that the goat vindaloo I made was as good as anything I had ever tasted. Many years have transpired since that time and my cooking skills have improved greatly and I can confidently tell you now that while my first vindaloo was good the dishes I make now are top notch.

I am certain that if you did a side by side comparison my dishes would taste as authentic as authentic can get even though they may look a little bit different since I plate them up rather than serve them family style. I served my coconut madras chicken and potatoes with some saffron rice and my own version of raita, which is a yogurt condiment. If you want you can have a little sag on the side (spinach)

Now my naan bread on the other hand has never really improved, I need to work on its execution a bit, these flat breads I made were good and they suited the task but naan it was not.

if you watch closely and if you really want to you can make a great relleno

Does this look familiar? It should.

First off there should be no excuse for not roasting chiles. Chile tastes better roasted and from a pure dietary perspective they digest better as well, so no more excuses - roast your chile.

You dont have to have a blast roaster or a special outdoor fire pit or anything fancy what-so-ever. Roast the chile peppers under your broiler, and it doesnt matter whether its gas or electric, the skin will char, the flavor will be imparted and they will be easy to peel. Simple as that - roast the chiles for that real authentic flavor - no ifs ands or buts about it.

Secondly I cant believe its been two or three posts since I last posted chiles rellenos, dang where does the time go? (thats supposed to be sarcastic humor) I think you know already that this dish is one of, if not the, all time favorite of me, my guests, my clients and my friends and family, I make them any which way possible. (search chiles rellenos on my blog when ever you have some time to kill). This time I went for the whipped egg white batter and simply stuffed them with queso de oaxaca and queso de quesadilla, easy cheesy and vegetarian.

Thirdly if you want to make it all "mexican restaurant style" then you need some beans and rice. I made some straight forward pinto beans and some spanish rice. This rice has a little tomato, a little garlic a tiny pinch of oregano, a little cilantro and salt to taste, once again if you want the recipe - tough luck.

Pour on some nice New Mexico red chile enchilada sauce over the whole thing, grate a little extra cheese and toss on some finely chopped partially dried cilantro (I like the texture and flavor) and guard your plate you wouldnt want the relleno zombies to catch wind of this delicacy. (you think this is two shots of the same plate but it isnt - look closely and you will see - I made five of these but only photographed the first two) Make rellenos, impress your friends.

soup for the soul is soul soup and this is the real deal lemon peel

Soup, when the weather is like it is in the Northeast all you hear is soup, soup, soup and it makes all kinds of sense. Soup is soothing. Soup is comforting. Soup is the answer.

A few mornings ago the weather was so cold that soup was the answer first thing in the morning. I woke up to a cold and dark kitchen knowing full well that in an hour or so this tomb would be alive and warm with the fresh hot smells of soup and not just any soup but Sopa de Albondigas otherwise known in english as Meatball Soup.

Aesthetics are a big part of things around here so I couldnt let the meatballs have all the round fun so I took my melon baller and made potato balls to go along with it. This was a breakfast that set the tone for the entire day, soothed, comforted and charged up and ready to go.

Obviously you cant see the two or three tablespoons of chipotle with adobo that I stirred into the pot but you can believe that you can taste it - just the right heat kick. As usual I dont print a recipe since there are enough recipes floating around out there and since most, if not all, of my recipes are my own little secrets. Keep an eye out you might just see a ChezWhat cookbook popping up and while we are on that topic maybe you can let me know what kinds of things you would like to see in said cookbook but until then - have some soup.

pure and simple comfort food disguised as junk food

Tacos make my son want to do back hand springs, hand stands, tv stands, jump up and down and giggle stands - totally go into some kind of freaky excited stage - stands - back flips, front flips, run in place and act like a maniac flips; he likes tacos and who wouldnt, they are crunchy, spicy and loaded with goodness.

I like to have full control of things so I even grind my own meat.

As tempting as it is to want to eat this fresh ground angus steak raw I have to strongly urge you not to and I especially urge you not to eat the beef raw with a raw egg and some rough cut green onions. While I do enjoy eating steak tartare the FDA would not be happy if I suggested you do the same. So dont do it. Instead heat up a skillet and brown some of the meat then add some onions and garlic and all kinds of secret chile spices until it tastes like Taco Bell, you'll know when its ready, it will smell too good to be true.

Tacos with a crispy shell wrapped by a soft shell are all the rage around here. Cool as they look they actually serve a purpose. The soft shell has a layer of melted cheese between it and the crunchy shell and the soft shell helps hold the whole taco together from the first bite to the last.

You can forget the soft shell and have them straight and crunchy if cool isnt your game.

How ever you have them make sure you eat at least 3 and I am certain you will flip for tacos just like us.