Watching Rachael Ray

We started with a recap of last weeks competition, as we all know any reality competition thrives on the recaps. From start to Chrissey’s leaving, and a reminder of the prizes at stake - its finally time for this weeks Competition to begin!

The first challenge is Meatball Makin! Everyone has the same ingredients, and they have 90 seconds to mix and make golf ball sized meatballs. The most at the end gets the advantage. The ladies take of their rings, one puts it in Pete’s pocket and they admit his nickname is “Sweet Pete.” Awww. Hey, can they cook? Prove it! The stopwatch goes off, and they start mixing and rolling - the meatballs are flyin! (Ok, not really, but how exciting can a recap of meatball making be? I know, right?)

The winner is Pete with 15 meatballs! Whoo! (… oh hush.)

Next up is part two of the challenge. Rachael mentions her express meal concept. Each of the sacks of groceries has 6 ingredients, and they can use 4 from the pantry. They’ll have a time limit of 30 minutes. Rachael names off all the ingredients that are in the bags, and Pete, as the winner, gets to dole them out as he sees fit.

Angie: smoked ham, bell peppers, frozen corn, sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, low fat sour cream
Pat: turkey bacon, ground turkey, asparagus, artichoke hearts, instant polenta, hearts of romaine
Pete: fresh pork sausage, vine-ripe tomatoes, snow peas, couscous, spinach, Parmesan Reggiano
Suzanne: spicy smoked sausage, mushrooms, green beans, yellow squash, whole wheat penne, radiccio.

The celebrity chef for this week is Ming Tsai. Ming tells the contestants that he’s looking for originality, presentation, and balance of flavor and nutrition. Rachael asks them if they can cook - hits the stop watch and they’re off to the kitchen to start the challenge.

While they are busy, Ty Pennington is on hand at the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show conference in Chicago where he checks out the latest and greatest in new appliances, showers and baths. From refrigerators that dole out shaved ice, to naked people in showers “Wow, this is awkward!” There’s baths that turn into steam saunas, tubs that automatically cut off before overflowing, whole chickens that cook in 10 minutes in a new oven, a shower that tans you and fights wrinkles while you get clean and colors everywhere.

Ty joins Rachael in the studio next, and shows off some new gadgets in person. He admits that he tried to smuggle the fridge, but it wouldn’t fit in his bag. Heh. He does show off some cool stuff though: a set of drawers that opens by itself, just using a knee, foot, fingertip, whatever, and it closes just as easily. He has new recyclable counter tops that he loves to use, and bamboo sinks that are beautiful. There’s also a pizza oven that sits on a counter top, that mimics those used in the big kitchens. Nice! I want one of them!

They talk then about Extreme Home Makeover, and how it’s changed Ty as a person - he jokes he was a terrible child, so that worked out. He also talks about his magazine, and how he is something of a control freak, but loves to bring his friends and family in - even if it means pretending it’s Christmas in August.

He shows off some of his new furniture line - including pieces that include docs for all those things we carry in our pockets - cell phones, ipods, and such. He’s all about the little details to add function while still looking pretty. A lot of them come in mix and match forms, so you can design your own take on the piece as a whole and create your own look. Nice!

Time to check in with our kids in the kitchen! Pete is making Spinach Salad with shallot and orange dressing, with snow peas and cous-cous cake with sausage. Pat made a turkey burger with a sauce - a fork and knife burger. Hers is already done! Angie makes a quick Sunday Supper, and Suzanne did a ragout over penne, and a tri-colored salad. No one is even breaking a sweat and Rachael teases them about the judge being fantastic chef and they all admit they’re worried. Everyone finishes with time to spare - now it’s time for the judging.

While Mink is making his decision, we’re off to the kitchen where Rachael makes dinner - Ham and Cheese Mac.

Then - it is judgment time for the Hey Can You Cook contestants. Cue Spooky Lighting! Chef Ming told Angie that the Sunday Supper idea was nice, the texture differences were great, but the sweet potatoes were crunchy and needed some seasoning. She’s in the bottom two. Suzanne is told there was a lot of positives - it was hot, well seasoned, the pasta was al dente, the only one to do two dishes, but the portions were huge and he says it is an American problem. People are just eating too much, but Rachael points out that aside from that she made healthy choices and Ming agrees and declares her today’s winner.

Sweet Pete is up next, and Ming says it was the healthiest dish by far, and the presentation was the best - he might be working at Blue Gingers soon. However, the Couscous was dry and needed seasoning. He’s still in the competition and takes his seat at the table.

Which means Pat is also in the bottom two. Ming loved the sauce, says it was well seasoned and beautiful, as was the salad that had great balance. But the Turkey burger - she didn’t try it, which is mistake number one. It was cooked through.. and through and through and through. The problem was the polenta, and it absorbed all the moisture from the turkey so it was very dry. And because of it, Pat is the one to be eliminated this week, as Angie takes her seat at the table.

That’s it for today - we’ll see ya when we see ya!