I worked an Iron Chef competition this morning.

We provided a small PA system for a local cooking competition. The competition was outdoors at the local City Market which has a large number of food producers marketing their wares. The chefs were given a last minute secret ingredient. They didn't look so happy when it was announced the ingredient was chocolate. The chefs were given fifty dollars and had twenty minutes to purchase their ingredients from the market. They then had thirty minutes to prepare their dish. In previous years I got to sample many of the dishes, unfortunately this year I was unable to taste them.

The runner up prepared:
Butternut squash puree with chocolate melted in, seasoned with sage, salt and pepper.
Andouille sausage with a blueberry jam glaze.
Citrus reduced arugula.

The winner prepared:
Seared duck hearts and livers coated with spicy chocolate granola.
Sauteed arugula with mushrooms and onions
Spicy strawberry rhubarb jam.

One prepared a sort of sweet and sour salad. I didn't catch all the ingredients, but it had a fresh doughnut, strawberries, fresh herbs and greens, and a chocolate vinaigrette.