TOP THAT! A Reds cooking competition...

HALLIE EPHRON: This week we are celebrating the launch of Lucy's new book TOPPED CHEF in which Key West food critic Hayley Snow gets rooked into judging a cooking competition, so I thought we'd have our own cooking challenge, TOP THAT!

OK, Reds. On your marks, get set, GO to your kitchen and in the next hour, what could you whip up to wow our judges from ingredients you have on hand?? This will be put to a vote. No cheating, now.

Going to my kitchen right now. Pad, pad, pad... Yikes. All there are are leftovers. So be it.

My entry: Cold trout salad (Serves 2)
Ingredients:
Previously delicious pan fried trout - 1/2 of a cold fish left - skinned, boned, flaked
1 small coarsely chopped ripe red tomato
1/4 cup of finely chopped vidalia onion
1/2 celery rib finely chopped
2 T chopped cilantro
1.5 T cider vinegar
2 good olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Gently blend all ingredients and serve with thin slices of dense (leftover from caviar celebration) pumpernickel bread.

Ladies? Top THAT!

LUCY BURDETTE: Oh what fun Hallie! Can wait to hear what everyone comes up with.

As I write this, I'm getting ready to go south to Malice Domestic, so not that much is in the fridge. I'll go for the heart-stopping breakfast anytime:)

Bacon, Onion, and Cheese Omelet with Fried Potatoes

4 eggs
Butter and olive oil
1/2 onion, diced finely
4 strips bacon, fried until crisp
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar
2-3 potatoes, washed and cubed
4 cloves garlic, peeled and halved

Fry the bacon, crumble it and set aside. Saute the onion in a little butter and olive oil. While this is cooking, in a second pan, saute the cubed potatoes on lowish heat in olive oil. After about ten minutes, stir them and add the garlic and cover. cook until tender and crispy.

Back to the omelet: Whip the eggs with a tiny amount of water. Pour into the pan with the caramelized onions. When the eggs are starting to look set, add the bacon and cheese. When the cheese is melted, flip the omelet in half. Cook until eggs are done. Serve with crispy potatoes!

HALLIE: Got to admit, that sounds pretty fabulous.

RHYS BOWN: Ditto--I'm also off to Malice in the morning but I do have a piece of cold salmon left over from last night, also some left over quinoa, cooked in broth and some frozen peas.

so I'll do Salmon/quinoa salad.
I piece cooked salmon
quinoa cooked
peas
(mint would have been nice but I only have cilantro, so that will do)
green onions (I have three),
oil and vinegar dressing

Cook and cool peas.
Crumble salmon into pieces
stir into quinoa, add chopped green onions and peas. Toss with dressing. Before serving sprinkle with cilantro.

Lucy's omelet sounds so yummy but alas I hardboiled two eggs to eat on the way to the early flight.

HALLIE: Rhys, that sounds delicious! It was not long ago that I found out how to pronounce quinoa (keen-wa).

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Well, I'm just off the plane from Malice, whew,
 and I am SO HUNGRY because I never get to eat at these things. I live on almonds and water. Seriously. But, you know me, I'm competitive. I'll play. And even more dangerous, because Jonathan went to the grocery while I was gone, and I have no idea what's there.

Looking now in the fridge.....well, Okay, I'll make dessert!

Fresh raspberries and blueberries, in, um, a faux zabaglione of  lemon greek yogurt and Grand Marnier.  Oh! With my leftover almonds chipped and sprinkled on the top. Yum!  (And champagne, because I am celebrating--so happy for winning the Mary Higgins Clark Award!)

HALLIE:  Hmmmm. I want what SHE'S eating...



ROSEMARY HARRIS: Well...I'm at the Lenox Hotel in Boston for a little research and then a gig with Hallie tomorrow. Right now...we have a box of Girl Scout Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies, a can of diet Red Bull, a bag of oyster crackers I stuck in my bag after lunch yesterday, an apple (from the front desk) and a bottle of water I got at the CVS on Boylston Street. I don't think even Hallie could make a meal of that!

HALLIE: You've got even me stumped, Ro. We can call it Ro's City Smorgasboard. Hope you get out somewhere good to eat at least -- you're in prime restaurant territory.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Ross, the Youngest and I got back Saturday night from New York, where, along with the Edgar awards and seeing Hank win the Mary Higgins Clark award(!) I spent Friday from eleven am to eleven pm at the Flatiron Building, whipping the manuscript for THROUGH THE EVIL DAYS into shape with my editor. Then we dashed off Sunday morning to church, to see Virginia celebrate her Rite 13, and took her out for brunch afterwards. Needless to say, the pantry is pretty bare, but I always have the ingredients for teen favorite Spaghetti Carbonara:

1 onion, diced
1/2 pound bacon, diced
butter
three eggs
Italian Herbs mix (mine is Penzeys, but any rosemary/thyme/oregano blend will do)
grated parmesan cheese (the stuff in a can in a pinch, but I prefer the real cheese, pre-grated in those bags from the grocery store, which I keep on hand in my freezer.)

1 pound of spaghetti, plus an additional pound for every 2 teens you're feeding.

Put on the spaghetti to boil. Saute onion and bacon until limp and crisp, respectively. Whip the eggs and Italian herbs in a bowl. When the spaghetti is finished, drain, put it in a large dish and add 3 T or more of butter. Add the bacon/onion mix and the egg/seasoning mix. I find the ingredients blend better if I cut the pasta before tossing it. Finish with a generous amount of parmesan - I usually add one or two handfuls of the grated.  Sit back and enjoy with some of Hank's champagne!

HALLIE: So, there you have it...

Cold trout salad a la Ephron
Bacon onion and cheese omelet with fried potatoes a la Burdette
Salmon/quinoa salad a la Bowen
Faux Zabaglione a la Ryan
Red Bull a la Harris
Spaghetti Carbonara a la Fleming

Whose house are YOU going to for dinner? And if we came to yours, what would your entry be? No cheating -- it's got to be stuff you've actually got on hand and you have not a second more than an hour to pull this off...