Top Chef ™
Baker:
Season:
Week:
Challenge Type:
Butternut Squash Casserole with Gorgonzola
Cesar: "The gorgonzola dish is a squash casserole with mornay sauce made with gorgonzola. My chef de cuisine, John, this is one of his recipes. Just kind of like a little nod to him. This is layers of squash which is going to be the top of my dish. I'm going to hope. Just give it a little bit of color, not too much.
Cesar: "I'm going to make pesto with pepitas. Gorgonzola is funky. So deep. Pesto, I think it'll give it a good balance. A lot of nice herbs here."
Presenting to Judges
Cesar: "Butternut squash casserole. The sauce was made with gorgonzola. On the side is a pesto made with sage and just gorgonzola as the cheese. So kind of like a little ode to the Midwest, a little comfort food there. Also, to my chef de cuisine, who I'm always thinking about, because I know he's working his ass off right now. This is one of his recipes. I wouldn't be here without him."
Judges
"Cesar's creativity is really top notch."
"The squash was cooked beautifully, and in those two very different ways were lovely."
"I love that herbaceous taste that broke through the gorgonzola itself. It felt lighter and very smooth at the same time."
"There was so much about the dish that I liked. I just thought it was out of balance."
"There's something about Cesar's dish kept getting, like, really, really salty bites."
"Gorgonzola is salty, and I think if you cook it into a bechamel, it becomes even more intense."
