Chop Talk

We have a serious Food Network addiction here at Whitecap. From Top Chef Canada (RIP) to Chef Michael Smith, it's our go-to TV destination. So it is with great excitement and no small amount of pride that we congratulate two-time Whitecap author, food-innovator and award-winning artist Pierre Lamielle on making mincemeat of the competition last week on Chopped Canada. Things were looking a little dicey at times, but Pierre's sharp instincts proved him a cut above the rest.

If you've never seen Chopped before, the basic premise is that competing chefs are presented with a weird assortment of ingredients (like candy floss, fennel and chicken skin) which they must assemble into a victorious dish that celebrates its disparate elements whilst combining them into a strong, unified whole. So, sort of like the Bad News Bears, but with food.

Since Top Chef Canada—which also featured Pierre as a competitor—wrapped its final season last month, Chopped has become the default office favourite, so this was a welcome colliding of worlds.

Pierre is the co-author and illustrator of last year's Alice Eats (with Julie Van Rosendaal), as well as the singular mind behind 2009's Kitchen Scraps, a book which contained the inspiration for his $10,000 Chopped-winning dessert "Half-Baked Pot Brownies" (don't worry, the only pot these brownies come in contact with is the one they're baked inside of).

Here's the recipe in case you want to try your hand at the Chopped home-edition (recipe does not include judges panel, but for the right price host Dean McDermott will probably come to your house and add colour-commentary):

HALF-BAKED POT BROWNIES

4 oz bittersweet chocolate
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, in pieces
2 large eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a medium-sized pot—with a metal handle, not plastic, so the whole thing can go into the oven—melt the chocolate over low heat. As soon as the chocolate melts, remove the pot from the heat.

Add the sugar, and mix with a wooden spoon until grainy but incorporated. Add the cold butter a bit at a time while you continue to mix.

Add 1 egg at a time and mix until smooth.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Add the dry mixture directly into the pot a third at a time, stirring after each addition. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the pot so nothing burns on the edges, and blap the whole thing into the oven for 35 to 40 minutes. It will still be nice and gooey in the middle. If you want it to be more firm, bake for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Let the brownies cool on the stovetop . . . Be careful not to let anyone touch the hot pot handle.

To serve you can either use a big spoon to scoop out individual servings, or if you got the major munchies you can clean out the pot all by yourself with a little spoon.