01x01 - Fast Food to Fancy

[bunniefuu]

[upbeat music playing]

This is that leftovers show.

You know, the one that taught you
that composting is like leftovers

for Mother Earth.

Home chefs are finding delicious ways
to give old leftovers new life,

and we're gonna show you how.

And hosting is me, Jackie Tohn.

I'm a toddler.

Three skilled cooks
will compete over two rounds

using last night's leftovers
to create new dishes

in hopes of winning 10,000 big ones.

Let's make over some leftovers.

My name is Melissa.

Food waste pains me,

and the hardest part
of living with roommates

is just sharing the fridge space

and seeing things in the back
of the fridge go to die. [laughs]

I'm Jonathan.

My friends know
whenever we go to restaurants,

you give your leftovers to me
'cause they don't like leftovers,

but I do.
So, I don't tell them what to order,

but I will help them
not make a bad choice.

My name's Alexandra.

Leftovers are just
another avenue to be creative.

Plus, I think being resourceful is sexy.

All is fair in love and leftovers.

Hi. How are you guys?

-Good.
-Good. How's it going?

It is my pleasure
to introduce to you my fellow judges.

Culinary influencer and restaurateur
David "You Got Re-Served" So.

[chuckles] Cooks,
it's great to meet all of you.

Uh, make sure that you bring it
in the kitchen today,

because it's going
to be a hot competition.

And of course,
my sister from another mister,

world-renowned chef and cookbook author

Rosemary
"Next in Line for the Throne" Shrager.

[David and Rosemary laugh]

Hello, everybody.
It's so great to see you here.

One tip I want to give you,
don't waste anything.

Cooks, you'll compete over two rounds
to determine who is the overall champ.

Round one puts
your everyday leftover skills to the test.

We want to see your skill, and speed

at taking the leftovers
from the fridge behind you,

and turning them
into a delicious, original creation.

The more leftovers you use, the better,

but how and what you use
is ultimately up to you.

Round two won't be as easy,

but we'll get to that later.

The three of us will taste your dishes,
then based on both rounds,

decide which of you
will win that $10,000 cash-erole.

-[imitates air horn]
-[Jackie] Hey!

That was amazing.

Let's get to round one.

-Time for the Pressure Cooker.
-[clock ticking]

Does the word "organic"
just make your heart flutter?

-No.
-[chuckles]

Then you're gonna love
what's in your fridge today.

It's healthy leftovers!

Good. It's time to treat yourself.

You'll take all those healthy leftovers
and turn them into comfort food.

I'm ready.

The leftovers you'll be working with are…

marinated veggie salad,

cauliflower rice,

pork tenderloin with roasted beets,

and some sort of an avocado
with cottage cheese in the middle

that terrifies me,
but I'm sure you're gonna make delicious.

-It's gonna be great.
-[laughs]

Of course, you'll have access
to the limited dry pantry behind you,

and some staple extras in your fridge.

Comfort food is all about
making you feel good inside.

It's a satisfying dish.

My advice is
make something from the heart.

When you do that,
it comes through onto the plate.

Cooks, you have 30 minutes
to create your comfort food dish.

We're doing it.

Go!

[Rosemary] Ooh, good luck.
Make us something gorgeous.

[upbeat music playing]

[Jonathan] What do you do
with healthy stuff?

Most of the time…

you don't want to eat it. [laughs]

Oh gosh.

You know, weird enough,
healthy food and comfort food

do not go well together
in my personal opinion.

Well, I totally disagree with you, David.

I think you're completely
and utterly wrong, and I'll tell you why--

You might as well
just punch me directly in my mouth.

All they have to do
is add lots of butter, lots of cream.

That's lots of comfort stuff,
gets a richness in there,

voilà.

[chuckles]

-♪ I'm taking all the spices ♪
-[Jonathan] Don't worry.

[Melissa] The leftovers is
a blank canvas,

so I'm gonna start by taking
every spice imaginable in the pantry.

All of the spices.

Comfort food, to me, is pretty much
anything that's just a warm hug in a bowl,

so I'm going to make a pork curry.

I'm gonna take the pork tenderloin

and the onions
from the marinated vegetable salad,

incorporate them into a curry,

and then I'm gonna take
the beets and the cauliflower rice,

and make them into a fried fritter

and take the cucumber and feta,
and use that as an Indian cream sauce

made of yogurt.

I definitely don't wanna use the avocado
because I don't see how I can tie it in.

-[David] Melissa.
-What's up?

How many spices do you need?

My God.

We got garam masala,
chili, coriander, cumin, turmeric, garlic.

I thought about getting
the kitchen sink back there.

-Right?
-[David laughs]

What color curry?

It's gonna be like a vibrant red.

Ooh!

[Melissa] I'm gonna add tomato paste
and canned tomato sauce,

have all the flavors meld together,
and then let it sit.

-She sounds gorgeous.
-[imitating Jackie] Gorgeous.

[David chuckles]

Typically, a curry,
you want it to sit as long as possible

and have
a really beautiful depth of flavor,

but, you know,
we have to work with the time constraint,

and if I can get them
in as quickly as possible,

I think it'll come together really nicely.

♪ Running out of room here ♪

[paper crinkling]

[Alexandra] Ah, beautiful.

-Hi, Alexandra.
-[Alexandra] Hi!

[Jackie] Tell me what you're making.

Okay, so right now I'm making the filling
for my tiropita pie I'm going to make.

My dish is going to be
a beet-and-pork-stuffed tiropita,

which is a Greek cheese pie,

but this is gonna be a customized version
just for this challenge.

I'm gonna use
the cottage cheese from the avocado,

mixed with the pork tenderloin,

beets, and feta
from the marinated vegetable salad.

So that's all gonna be inside the pie,

and it'll be topped
with the marinated salad

turned into a Greek salsa.

On the bottom,
a yogurt and cucumber sauce.

I don't think
I'm gonna use the cauliflower.

For comfort food,

cauliflower rice isn't
the first thing that comes to mind.

-Sounds delicious.
-Sounds delicious.

[Alexandra] First, I need to make sure
my oven's hot enough

'cause if I can't get 'em cooked
in the time, I have failed. [laughs]

In assembling the pies,
we have large sheets of phyllo

that I'm going to put
some of the filling down in the bottom,

fold it over like a flag.

Almost like you learned
to fold an American flag in Boy Scouts.

Sounds weird, but that's how you do it.

Getting it done. The phyllo was perfect,
so I can't really complain.

For me, comfort food is Greek food

because that's what we grew up having
at holidays.

And my dad was the one
with the Greek heritage,

so we would all sort of use
the recipes he had learned

and had eaten through the years,

and it was always, like,
really exciting for us to have this meal.

We lost my dad a couple months ago,

and so it's a way
I can keep his legacy alive.

It's my very best memories of him.

Fingers crossed it's gonna work. [laughs]

[Rosemary] Hi, Jonathan.

[Jonathan] Hi.

Is it "Jonathon" or "Jonathan"?

Uh… "Jonathan"?

[all laugh]

As long as you don't call me "Jonathong,"
I'll be okay.

Hey!

-We won't.
-Well, I will now!

-Hard up.
-What are you making?

I'm gonna be making an awesome tostada
with glazed pepper jelly pork.

It's gonna be delicious.

I live in Dallas, Texas,
so we have amazing Mexican food,

so it's always definitely close
to my heart.

My dish is going to be a tostada
with crispy glazed pepper pork,

salsa, and avocado crema.

I'll top it with the leftover pork,
cook that in a pepper jelly glaze.

The marinated salad,
I'm gonna put in my hot, spicy salsa,

and then with the avocados,
I'll make an amazing avocado crema.

The only leftover that I will not be using
is the cauliflower rice.

It's cauliflower rice.

I don't know.
Not a lot of people like cauliflower rice.

Now we're working
on the crispy pork batter.

I put cornstarch, egg, and water,

and then a bunch of salt
and a bunch of pepper

'cause I don't want it underseasoned.

Oh, man.

[Jonathan] Then I actually
let the pork rest in there.

Let the meat kind of sit.
It helps it cling better to the meat.

I think the most difficult part
of this challenge is

if you cook-- overcook pork again,
it turns into dust. It's terrible.

I put a cornstarch and egg slurry on here,

so it's crispy but delicate.

This is going into a pepper jelly glaze.

You know,
I'm gonna put it into a glaze,

and with glaze, it can make it real soft,

and you don't want that.
You want it to keep that crispiness.

The fact that he's going to use
the pepper jelly on the pork medallions,

-I actually like that a lot.
-Me too.

It's gonna have a lot of texture too,
and that's some comfort food. It's like--

-That is comfort food. I agree.
-[Jackie and David] Yeah.

[Jonathan] So it's sweet, a little spicy.
Not too spicy.

[David] Too much healthy food talk.

I used to like playing
a quick, little fun game.

It's Toss a Cheese Ball in a Mouth.

[heavy metal music playing]

Hit my tonsil.

[all cheering]

[upbeat music playing]

Ten minutes, cooks.

Look alive.

-Oh my God, Alexandra. Good face.
-[Alexandra laughs]

Was that not looking alive?

No, that was the most alive.

-Melissa, how's that curry coming along?
-[Melissa] Let's see.

It's tasting good.

I love it. Taste as you go.
Taste as you go.

In the white bowl,
it's the cauliflower rice.

The beets are gonna be grated in,

and then I'm gonna
make them into pakora fritters.

I have never made a pakora before…
[laughs]

…but I love Indian food,

and I grew up eating corn fritters,
so we're going with it. [laughs]

Some onion powder.

A pakora is an Indian vegetable fritter.

Some panko, egg.

Mine's Americanized,

using leftover cauliflower,
rice, and beets.

That feels ready.

[Jonathan] The leftover
Mediterranean veggie salad

has so much Mediterranean-type flavors,

so I'm gonna put it in water
and get rid of most of the flavor.

I'm making some spicy tomato salsa.

So it's gonna be blended super bright.

It's gonna be delicious.

My next element is the avocado crema.

Milk, sour cream, avocados, salt.

This is a very ambitious dish
for 30 minutes

because making sure
that each flavor is right

and they go together,
you have to keep trying them.

[Jackie] Oof. Day-old avocados are tough.

Rosemary, do you have
any leftover tips for us today?

Leftover avocados are great
to use in place of butter

or shortening when you are baking.

Just know, one cup of puréed avocado

is equal to one cup of butter.

How's about that?

[laughs] How's about that?

[chuckles]

Five teeny-tiny minutes.

[Alexandra] Time flies when having fun.

[Jonathan] I'm cutting down
the tortilla from the fridge

just to make a tight, really good bite.

So you get everything
all together at once.

I'm just waiting
for my pies to cook right now.

So I'm making my Greek salsa.

I look over at Jonathan,
and he's making little tiny tortillas.

All that is going through my head is,

"You can't let
the world's tiniest tostada beat you."

[laughs]

One minute left, cooks.

I'm freaking out.
I'm so close, but so far.

And really only 30 seconds left.

Get it on. Get everything on the plate.

[Melissa] ♪ I'm sweatin' ♪

[judges] Five, four, three, two, one!

Let's eat!

[alarm beeping]

[Jackie] Hi, Jonathan.

-Hi.
-[Rosemary] Hi.

[Jackie] Okay, Jonathan,
you were given healthy leftovers

and asked to turn them into comfort food.

[Jonathan] I made
a pepper jelly glazed pork tostada,

and it has two sauces and avocado crema,

and a spicy Mediterranean tomato sauce.

-[David] That's a pretty tostada.
-[Rosemary] Yes.

[Jonathan] I used the pork.
I did cornstarch with egg

and a bit of water.

That makes it crispy
but also a little bit delicate.

I used the avocado in my crema,

and then also the tomato salsa,

I used the tomatoes and the cucumbers
from the veggie salad.

-Oh, that's delicious, man.
-[Jonathan] Yeah?

-Hell yeah.
-[Jonathan] It's good?

[Jackie] And you used three
out of four leftovers.

-[Jonathan] Thank you.
-[Jackie] That is so good, man.

The balance is really good
because it all goes together.

[Jonathan] Yes.

[Rosemary] You have been very clever
how you've used your leftovers.

[David] That's a great understanding
of flavors.

A pork medallion, reheating it.

-I was scared it was gonna be dry.
-Exactly.

That pepper jelly that you used,

you coated it very well,
kept it nice and moist.

Except you're trying to starve me
because why is that so small?

What are you doing?
Why make something that good,

and then serve
this little quarter of food?

That is fair. That is fair.

This was a comfort food round,
so we were thinking about--

-A little bit bigger.
-Exactly. Great job.

[Jackie] Thank you.

-Hi, Alexandra.
-Hi, guys.

-[David] Hi.
-How's it going?

That's a plate of food.

[Alexandra]
This is a custom-made tiropita.

There's lots of layers of buttery phyllo.

I used the pork, I used the beets.

I had feta, tomatoes, onions,
and cucumbers in the salad,

so just Greek came to my mind instantly.

[Rosemary] Yeah.

[David] Ooh, you see that crunch?
I love that.

That was delicious. Ooh!

The edge of the phyllo dough

was so buttery and flaky,
which is what I love. You did a great job.

-Delicious. Another bite.
-[Alexandra] Thank you.

[David] You also did
a great job of incorporating

three out of the four leftovers,
and the dish was so freaking good.

That's what I call comfort food.

I love beets, and I think with the feta,

magic made in heaven,
but what did you do with the pork?

-Did you add anything to it?
-No.

I actually would've liked
a little bit of spice in there.

Coriander. I think
that would have lifted it up,

given it a little bit more
of a sort of Greek feel about it.

Think more about your seasoning.

-Elevate the flavor a little bit.
-Okay.

You made a very, very tasty dish.

Think about plating technique
the next round.

-You'll knock it out the park.
-Thank you.

-Thanks, Alexandra. Bye.
-[Alexandra] Thank you so much.

-Bye.
-[Jonathan whispers] Good job.

-Hi, Melissa.
-Hi.

-[Jackie] How are you?
-I'm good.

I made butter pork curry with pakoras,

and then for me, with curry,
you have to have rice.

Let's dig in.

[Melissa] I used the pork and the beets,

the cauliflower rice in the pakoras,
and the cucumbers in the raita.

[Jackie] So you also used
three out of the four leftovers.

Ooh, is that tasty!

That was so good.

-Thank you.
-This is as comforting as it gets.

[Jackie] David,
Rosemary needs to eat some.

[laughs] I've had some. He's hungry.

I've been to India,
and actually this is like

a home Indian meal.

It is so well-balanced.

It is very, very good.

Smart move in using the cauliflower rice
in this here and not with this curry.

Adding that pork, the pork medallions
into the curry, rehydrates it.

-It takes on the flavor of the curry.
-What I do not like are your pakoras.

I think your pakoras
are not seasoned enough.

You've gotta understand,
it's got to be delicate next time.

Make sure everything is seasoned well.

Okay.

-Thank you, Melissa.
-Thank you.

You're the tiniest person,
you made the biggest dish,

and the biggest guy made
the smallest. What are you doing?

I'm happy that they tasted everything,
and they really liked it.

So, for the next round,

I'm gonna make sure that all three of them
can actually get more than one bite.

[laughs]

Okay, you all have our feedback
on how to get better moving forward,

so listen to it.

Next up, round two,

the Takeout Takedown.

Okay.

Last round, you made us comfort food.

Well, this round, you'll be starting
with the ultimate comfort food.

-Ooh!
-[Alexandra laughs]

You'll take leftovers
from my very own personal refrigerator,

and turn them into
a completely new fancy dinner.

Speaking of, where is my refrigerator?

Oh perfect. There it is.

-[Alexandra laughs]
-[Jackie] Hey, fridge.

Isn't she lovely?

Let's see what's inside.

-Oh-h*!
-Shrimp c*ck.

[Jackie] Whoo!

-[Rosemary] Shrimp c*ck.
-Smellin' shrimpy.

[laughs]

[Jackie] But ignore the shrimp

because last night
I had fast food, babies.

The takeout leftovers
you'll be working with today are:

burgers,

chicken tenders,

and a fried fish sandwich.

And fast food ain't nothing
without the fries,

so everyone's got some of those, too.

You'll each randomly choose one
of these three take-out leftover meals,

and you have to turn them
into something fancy.

Let's treat this
like a reverse drive-through.

I'll bring 'em to you.

[Jonathan] Fried fish…

is terrifying. [laughs]

I've never been a huge fan
of eating the fried fish sandwich,

so, uh, tasting will be rough.

[Jackie] No peeking.

Sniffing is fine, even though
it's just gonna smell like shrimp.

So french fries, or I call them chips,

are going to be
very difficult to work with

because they're very oily.

So you need to find some way

of disguising the oil
and redo something fancy.

We are gonna consider your performance
in both rounds when picking the winner,

and, right now,
you're all potential winners,

so don't screw it up.

Cooks, you've got one hour.

Ready, set, go!

-[Rosemary] Good luck.
-[David] Yay.

Nice. Fried fish.

A burger. Very cold french fries.

At this point in the competition, David,
who do you think is the front-runner?

Man, that's so hard to say

because I could have eaten
every single one of those dishes

multiple times.

But flavor-wise, Jonathan takes it for me.

[Rosemary] Every layer,
he got in that flavor.

I loved the curry, too.

[Rosemary] I thought
Melissa's curry was unbelievable.

But Alexandra,
I think she did incredibly well.

They all understand flavor.

[Jackie] And they also used
the same number of leftovers.

We are in a staunch three-way tie.

[Jonathan] Let's go for the potatoes.

Jonathan, what are you making?

[Jonathan] I'm gonna be making
a potato gnocchi.

Oh-h*!

It's gonna be delicious.

My leftovers are
the chicken fingers and fries.

I'll be making a french fry gnocchi

in tomato sauce
with a crunchy chicken topping.

I'm actually gonna use
these french fries in the potato gnocchi

with some other potatoes and flour.

Also, I'll chop up my chicken fingers,

and then I'm actually
gonna make them more crispy,

and put that on top of the gnocchi.

They will be pillowy, I promise.

Not like a b*llet. We don't want a b*llet.

It's not gonna take away
from the fluffiness.

The french fries and milk,
I'm soaking them so they get soft,

and so that I can put them
inside the gnocchi.

That could work.

[Jonathan] I want the milk to get
into that french fry as much as possible,

and I want as much of that grease
to kind of spill out of the french fries.

I'm gonna try
to highlight the french fries

and not the chicken fingers.

-Ooh!
-Okay.

Ooh, I don't need that one.

Alexandra, what are you making?

I'm getting the all-American classic
of burger and fries,

which I've decided
to turn into Polish pierogies.

[Rosemary] Ooh!

[Alexandra] I'm going to use
the hamburger chopped up,

like a ground meat,
mixed with the french fries

for the ingredients inside the pierogi.

I'm also gonna pair that
with boiled russet potato

so it stays fluffy,
and you get that fresh potato taste.

I probably won't use
the bun or the lettuce

because there's sauce on the bun already--

and the lettuce is a little wilty.

How are you gonna make
the outside of the pierogies?

I'm gonna make pierogi dough.

-You're gonna make pierogi dough.
-Yes.

How familiar are you
with making pierogies?

I must say,

-I'm more familiar with eating pierogies.
-Okay.

But I've made 'em,
and my kids ate all of them.

Probably my biggest challenge in this
is making my homemade pierogi dough

because it's going to need
some time to rest so it's workable.

-Sour cream.
-They must be light and not heavy.

We'll do our best.

So that means she got the fish sandwich.

That's the hardest one.
Melissa, what are you making?

I got a fried fish sandwich
with french fries,

and I am making french fry gnocchi,
and gremolata in a lemon cream sauce.

I'm gonna make a gnocchi
from the french fries

with a beautiful buttery sauce
with the fish, chopped up really fine.

It'll just be like
another little layer of flavor.

And then I'm gonna toast off the bun
to make a gremolata,

which is kind of just a fresh topping.
Breadcrumbs or something crunchy.

I want to incorporate

and show people that you can use
every part of what we're given.

And what are you filling the gnocchi with?

With the french fries.

Oh my God,
we're both doing a gnocchi. [laughs]

It makes me nervous
that there's another person

that's really awesome with food
is making the same dish as I am,

but I just need
to focus on what I'm doing.

Where's the fried fish going?

The fried fish is gonna be
in the cream sauce.

Oh!

Melissa, you took
the fried stuff off of the fish.

I didn't want to use the batter
because it gets gloopy,

and it's already fried.

-You don't want that fried taste.
-Awesome.

For the sauce, I have butter,
onion, garlic, turkey bacon,

the fish patty,
and a whole bunch of lemon juice.

♪ We got two gnocchis and a pierogi ♪

♪Two gnocchis and a pierogi ♪

♪ Gonna, gonna taste so nice ♪

♪ Two gnocchis and a pierogi ♪

♪ It's gonna be so fine ♪

Yeah!

Just wrote that. Thirty minutes, cooks.

Half of your cook is over already.

[Jonathan] I get my potatoes together,

pull out my french fries.

I actually smash it in the kitchen towel.
I got all the oil out.

They're not greasy, and I can make it
into nice, kind of mashed potatoes.

I add that together
with my Parmesan cheese and the flour

so that the dough comes together.
Roll it out, and it's a good consistency.

Looking delicious.

The dough can be tricky on pierogies.

I think I can do it. I'm pretty confident.

After using my cutter
to cut out my pierogies,

I realized they're kind of small.

I think I grabbed the smaller ring mold
than I was planning on,

but I'm going with it.

I'm nervous because
some of the advice the judges gave me

was to make sure
that my plating looks high-end,

but time's ticking away.

I know I need
to roll with the size that I have.

So I start filling in
the pierogies themselves

with the leftover burger and fries
and cheddar cheese mixture,

add the filling and fold them.

I'm sweating now.

Some look fine, some look terrible,

and if you don't fold them right,
they will become what is called "angels,"

which means they open up,

and all your filling
goes into your boiling water.

So no pressure here.

[David] So, Alexandra…

Her pierogies are all different sizes
and it looks too rustic for this round.

[Alexandra] My strategy right now
is just to make as many as I can…

uh, to pick out the best ones by the end.

This is pretty intense. [laughs]

For the gnocchi,
I'm adding in my pulsed-up french fries

that I just blended in a food processor

into the potatoes from the pantry.

I'm gonna add my egg,
some salt, and flour,

mix it all together and roll it out
into a log and cut it up into pieces.

Now they just need to float.

Float, little gnocchi.

Next, I want to do a pretty, herby pesto
and then the gremolata.

So the gremolata, I take the leftover bun,

chop it up, add some olive oil
and some salt and some garlic powder,

throw it in the oven,
get a really crispy crouton.

Once I have that crisp on it,

I'm gonna pulse it up
and add some lemon zest and parsley

and really make it
like this fresh crunchy topping,

because gnocchis are pillowy
and they're soft and you need a crunch.

Alexandra, what do you
got going on over there?

This is red cabbage from the pantry
sautéed with some of our jarred sauerkraut

from the fridge.

The cabbage mixture,

it's not only going
to make the plate beautiful

'cause it's going to be color contrast,

but you also want it to be
a little bit sour and a little bit sweet

just to offset
the richness of the pierogi itself.

Ten minutes, cooks.

I'm going to incorporate
the chicken fingers

into a crispy chicken topping.

I wait as long as I can
to get the topping going,

'cause one thing with crispy stuff,

once you're done cooking it, it's done.

To get it started,
I chop up my chicken fingers,

and then I add
some french fries that I chopped up,

add some pine nuts into it.

It's going to have lemon,
so it's going to be really delicious.

It's gonna add that crunch
and that brightness.

I think it will work.

So he's thinking about texture,

and he's also
very confident about it, too.

I know that Melissa
is gonna make an amazing gnocchi,

so my sauce has to be so good.

How are those gnocchi's,
my gnocchi makers?

They're happening.

Looking delicious.

Whose gnocchi's gonna be better?

Huh!

Uh, uh…

I don't see any competition in their eyes.
Trying to be all polite.

The thing about the potato,
they are so oily,

and to cut through that oil,

what you would do
is you put some chili, lots of parsley.

-That would really work.
-[David] Mm.

[Melissa] The fact that me and Jonathan
both did gnocchi is kind of mind-blowing.

Like of all the things we could have made.

I kind of just wanted mine
to be better. [laughs]

[Jackie] Two cooks used
leftover fries to make gnocchi.

Rosemary, any leftover ideas for chips?

Well, I've got a very odd one here.

Yes, have leftover french fries?

Well, make a waffle.

Simply fill up your waffle iron
with leftover french fries and press.

Then in just a few minutes,
you have an amazing savory treat.

Pow!

Or paw.

Or boom!

[laughs]

-I see Melissa's face look like…
-[gasps]

I bring up the temperature
for my butter sauce, and it breaks.

-Callin' it.
-[Rosemary] I'm worried.

I'm gonna tell you now.

Since it broke,
instead of a fishy, creamy sauce,

it might turn gritty and watery.

It could be really
a horrible texture in our mouth.

[Melissa] I only have a few minutes left.

Obviously this didn't work out,
so now it's a butter sauce.

This could be bad,
but that's what it's gonna have to be.

One minute left, chefs.

I hope your plating is almost complete.

[Alexandra] No pressure.

I made so many pierogies, luckily,
so that I have three of the same size

to add a fancy look.

[Melissa] ♪ Get on the plate ♪

I'm going to keep it pretty simple,
but also just look very elegant.

Gnocchi on the bottom, the crumble on top,
some lemon and some Parmesan cheese.

[exhales]

[judges] In five, four, three, two, one!

-Let's eat.
-[alarm beeping]

Please bring your dishes
to the judging table.

[tense music playing]

[judges] Ooh!

Okay, cooks.
Melissa, we're gonna start with you.

You were given fast food,
and asked to make us a fancy dinner.

Tell us what you made today.

I started with
the fried fish sandwich with french fries,

and I made a french fry gnocchi
with a lemon butter sauce

with the fish infused into it.

On top, is a kale and walnut pesto
and then a gremolata made with the bun,

made into breadcrumbs
with lemon zest and garlic and parsley.

[Rosemary] I think it looks very nice.

[tense music playing]

Your gnocchi is extremely good.

-Thank you.
-[Rosemary] I think it is underseasoned.

I added salt to the potatoes,
and I added salt to the water.

The problem with potato,
it absorbs a lot of salt.

You need a tremendous amount of salt

to make that flavor.

Something changes from just okay

to incredible
if you know the balance of salt.

The sauce was watery because it broke,
but the flavors are on point.

Gremolata, super smart.

Nice and bright,
especially with that buttery sauce

that you had and that sharp Parmesan.

[scoffs] Get out of here with that.

I didn't get the greasiness
from the french fries.

You ex*cuted the gnocchi to perfection.

-Thank you. Loved it.
-[Melissa] Thank you.

-There's one more left. Sorry, people.
-[laughs]

This started as a fried fish sandwich,
and that is super impressive.

Melissa, thank you.

Thank you so much.

-Alexandra.
-Hello.

I started with
the all-American hamburger and fries,

and I made my interpretation of a pierogi
on a bed of red cabbage with sauerkraut,

caramelized onions on top,
and then there's chives.

[David] You did a great job because
they're all the same size.

I was a little concerned about that.

Your homemade pierogi shells are light
and fluffy, just like Rosemary wanted.

-And look at how you plated it. Great job.
-Tell me what went inside.

French fries, cheddar cheese,

russet potato for the fluff,
and then burger meat.

[Rosemary] I thought
the flavor was really nice.

-[Alexandra] Thank you.
-[Rosemary] I did find it a little greasy.

Just like in the first round,
you have a great understanding of flavor.

I was just in Pittsburgh.
In Pittsburgh, pierogies are the thing.

Way better than what I had.

-Thank you.
-[David] That's something to be proud of.

You put the red cabbage in there.
It added a lot of texture.

You also had
already precooked ground beef.

-Yes.
-I think you utilized it very well.

I feel your presence in this dish,
so thank you very much.

I think it's the way
to show love to other people.

There was no universe
this was a burger and fries.

[all laugh]

-Thank you, Alexandra.
-My pleasure.

Jonathan, what fast food
did you start with,

and what'd you turn it into?

Well, so I started
with chicken tenders and french fries,

and I made that into a french fry gnocchi,

and then also I made
a really bright tomato sauce

with the fried chicken topping
with lemon on it.

Well, I'd like to say,
it looks very pretty.

[David] Thank you for the portions
to feed three people this time.

I appreciate you.

-I piled it on just for you guys. [laughs]
-[David] Thank you.

I wish there was more chicken on the top
because in terms of the texture,

I think you've
not quite got the texture correct,

but it's the most delicious flavor.

-Very smart.
-Thank you.

When people see a protein
such as a fried chicken tender,

a lot of people would think--

They'd try to take that protein
and repurpose it and rehydrate it.

You went the opposite way.

I could've used a little more chicken
as well, because I needed that crunch,

but the way
that you assembled your toppings on it

made sure that every time we bit into it,

we got a piece of everything
we needed with every bite.

I'm gonna have to Venmo 10K each.

-This is incredible.
-[all laugh]

Thank you so much, cooks.
That was incredible.

We have a decision to make,

so feel free to head over
into this enormous Chinese food container.

Bye-bye.

We ate six delicious dishes today,

and without a doubt, it's a tie.

I think we have
to go back to the beginning.

Well, let's start with Melissa, right?
In the first round,

she made amazing Indian curry.

On top of that, she also made
that pillowy soft, perfect gnocchi.

And how smart it was

to use that bright gremolata.

I agree, with the lemon on top.

-It was incredible.
-Yes.

[Jackie] We gotta talk about
our boy Jonathan.

That tostada was insane.

That could have been a restaurant level.

[David] In round two,
what he did with his chicken tenders

was creative,
and the execution was perfect.

That he had that with leftovers?

Alexandra's coming in
making this incredible Greek food,

which I also loved.

I liked the beet root on the base,

I liked that meat,
I liked the layering up with that.

Quite frankly, delicious.

Alexandra, to me, does the best

in representing who she is
when she cooks a dish,

and I think that's also very important.

It's so difficult because, I mean,

I cleared the plate
out of all the dishes, so. [laughs]

But based on creativity
of use of leftovers.

Mm.

[tense music playing]

Oh cooks!

Come on back out here!

Great job today across the board,

but there was one cook
who repurposed leftovers

in a more unique and inventive way
than anyone else.

The winner is…

-Jonathan!
-[all applaud]

-How about that, man?
-[Rosemary] Oh… Well done!

-Whoo!
-[Jackie] Jonathan!

[Jonathan] I honestly am in disbelief.

I know that my wife and my girls
will be screaming and yelling

and just so happy for me.

-I made you a cash-erole.
-Thank you so much.

When I go back home,

I'm gonna try to really implement
the things that I've learned here,

and the $10,000 is nice. [chuckles]

Thank you, guys,
so much for watching, and, hey…

♪ Why throw leftovers in the trash ♪

♪ When you can put 'em in the fridge ♪

♪ And eat 'em again tomorrow ♪

♪ Like we just did? ♪

[closing theme music playing]