All of the pantry ingredients and kitchen tools are wrapped in tinfoil of no particular brand for the Quickfire Challenge. The chefs are divided into two teams and have thirty minutes to create three dishes. And, Padma and Gail’s mommies are going to shop in the pantry for all of their ingredients and tools. And, the chefs have to use every ingredients in their shopping carts. This is going to be fun. Also, Gail’s mom is way hotter than Padma’s mom.

Eggs, mustard, strawberries, leeks, lamb chops, pineapple, baking soda, carrots, canned beans, ginger, avocado, good luck with that, kids.  Gail’s mom’s team is up first with a lamb loin chop with cheddar fondue. There’s also red snapper with pilaf and sake and a compressed buratta with pickled apples. Padma’ s mom’s team made clams with coconut cream and fish sauce, snapper papillote with mustard, soup with beans, carrots, cherries, and the kitchen sink. The winning dishes were prepared by Padma’s mom’s team because who doesn’t like clams in coconut cream.

For the Elimination Challenge, high maintenance starlet Lea Michele arrives and forces the contestants to host her Halloween party. The chefs will be working in teams of two and prepare two dishes. Ugh, she’s a freaking vegan, but she does allow herself a cheese break. Really living life to the fullest there, Lea.

To get into the spirit of Halloween, there’s liquid nitrogen, black garlic, and purple cauliflower. There are three arancinis, two gnocchis, and countless risottos so this is definitely going to be the best dinner party ever. And even though Lea Michele declared her hatred of beets, there’s beet pasta.

The costumed guests arrive, with Padma in a gigantic feathered headpiece. I rewound like three times, and the best I can do is…Padma called herself a “boodoo preesuss.” So she’s either drunk, or stoned. Lea Michele in the never original kitty cat ears. Ugh. If you’re the host of a Top Chef costume party and the best you can do is kitty cat ears, it’s like you’re announcing to the world that you are the least interesting person on the planet. Remember that, in case you’re ever the host of a Top Chef costume party.

Carrie and Stephanie make “doomed shrooms” and ash coated vegetables with fontina. Tom is very impressed with the graveyard look. Nicholas made butternut squash cannoli, and his teammate Patty made lemon arancini. It was deemed “not spooky at all.” Brian made crispy quinoa and Bene made a heirloom tomato salad which they call scary spa cuisine but Tom call it underseasoned and boring. Nina prepared candy corn from gnocchi and kale and her teammate Michael made a bloody eye from arancini and tomato jam. Tom loves the gnocchi and the red sauce was too sweet. Travis made vegetable ceviche and Carlos made goat cheese fondu. They’re celebrating the dead, so ooooh, scary. Louis made a severed thumb out of quinoa, and Shirley made a worm salad. Justin made blood pasta from the dreaded beets, and Sara made another evil eye out of arancini. Tom is bored with the rice eyeballs.

The top teams are Nicholas and Patty, and Carlos and Travis. The winning chefs are Carlos and Travis because they listened to what Lea wanted and delivered her food according to her very specific instructions.

The bottom two teams are Michael and Nina, and Brian and Bene. Lea claims she wanted the opposite of spa cuisine, because vegans cheating on their self-imposed diets don’t like salads. They like cheese. Cheese, cheese, cheese. And possibly bacon. Michael lost the battle of the arancini, and Nina gets flack for not helping her teammate. Michael is sent packing for his lousy rice balls.

Next, a chefy field trip to a farmhouse table.

Reprinted from HealthyWayToCook.com