Iron Chef: Battle of the Sweet Potato - Part 1

A disclaimer: while the focus of this blog has been primarily restaurant reviews, last night's meal was of such high quality that I would have gone to a restaurant to enjoy it. Therefore, I find it necessary to review the Iron Chef Battle of the Sweet Potato. This event was an elaborate ploy of my friend Melissa and myself to get her roommate, Tricia, and my boyfriend, Justin, to compete to give us the best meal of our lives. Mission accomplished.

Both chefs were given advance notice of the secret ingredient, seeing as how we had neither the space nor the kitchens that they work with on Iron Chef. Therefore, they were given a good amount of time to cook and prep all day. I'll bend the rules for some things.

We had told the chefs to produce a minimum of two dishes. They both went above and beyond our expectations, cooking 3 courses (Justin) and 4 courses (Tricia). Because Melissa and I might be slightly biased, we recruited a 3rd judge - Inez (who, as a good friend of Tricia's, also might be slightly biased, but she was the harshest judge of all). Dishes were rated on a scale from 1-10 based on taste and originality. Each judge then averaged their individual scores for each category and added them together, allowing each contestant a maximum of 30 possible points in each category, 60 overall.

I bring you..... The Battle of the Sweet Potato!

The two chefs:


Justin working on his potato flowers filled with sweet potato puree, topped with crab.


Tricia stirs sweet potatoes for hash.



Justin works his magic on a bell pepper.


Steam blocks the camera.


Tricia cooks gnocchi.

Pork tenderloin topped with roasted/glazed sweet potatoes.

Tricia plates her first course.

Tricia's first dish - sweet potato croquettes topped with cranberry sauce.

This was a good dish, but there were some flaws. All judges agreed that the sweet potato was overwhelmed by the bacon in the croquette. The inside was smooth and savory, but did not have a strong sweet potato flavor. The cranberry sauce also did not complement the dish as well as I would have liked. I liked it separate from the actual croquette.

Justin's first dish - sweet potato soup.

This dish contained bacon as well, but I found that it mingled well with the flavors of the dish instead of becoming the focus. There were also small chunks of carrots, celery, and sliced spinach. It was a nice, comforting dish. Chef Justin regretted that he forgot to offer a portobello garnish as he had originally intended, but I didn't think the dish needed it.

Tricia's second dish - sweet potato gnocchi with mushrooms.

I liked the gnocchi, and it was Tricia's first time making it! The sauce was lite, buttery, and earthy. Inez commented that the mushrooms themselves were a bit rubbery. The dish was further enhanced when Tricia realized that she'd forgotten her garnish (these forgetful chefs...) and sprinkled some toasted walnuts over the gnocchi. That changed the dish, creating a nice texture contrast and enjoyable taste. However, there were two things I was expecting that evening - a gnocchi and a pie, so I didn't rank the dish as highly on originality.

Part 2 to come....