Fun at Work - Iron Chef Time!

Have I mentioned recently that I love my job? Not only is working in Marketing totally fun, but I also work in a fun industry and have fun coworkers. Now for the best part - a couple times a year we get together for our sales meeting and the team-building events we do are REALLY fun! Back in July our team-building event was a photo scavenger hunt. (More on my blog Fun at Work.) We split up into teams and ran all around Seaport Village down by the San Diego Harbor while taking pictures of things related to a list of clues. This time we did something different, we had an Iron Chef-like cooking challenge!

The Four Cooking Stations

Dining Area in the Back

The cooking challenge was held at the San Diego Wine & Culinary Center. My boss and I had heard some complaints from the women on our sales force that our activities were usually too physical. In some of our past sales meetings we've bowled, golfed, and had the scavenger hunt. The ladies wanted to do something laid back like go wine tasting. We thought about doing just going wine tasting but wanted to do something that was more team oriented, and preferably had a challenge involved. This Iron Chef competition was perfect!

Fresh Ingredients for the Team

We were split up into four teams, given a recipe, had access to a huge table of ingredients, and had a master chef watching over us and answer questions and providing assistance. There were two dishes that we would be making - Sauteed Shrimp with Sweet Peas, and Chicken, Seafood and Chorizo Paella. 

The Recipes

As soon as it was go-time, our team split up to get the ingredients for the two dishes. We were going to make the shrimp dish first (since it was labeled First Course) but the chef advised us to make the paella first (Second Course) since it took longer to cook. One of my favorite dishes as Cafe Sevilla (my favorite restaurant in San Diego) is their black paella. Yummy!

The Competition - Teams 1, 2, 3

 

We started out the paella by sauteing a long list of ingredients in the saucepan. After everything was nicely browned we added some wine and vegetable stock and let that simmer for a while. Once some of the liquid cooked off a bit we added a few more ingredients on the recipe list until it looked like the pan couldn't possibly hold one more thing! The paella then went into the oven for its final cooking. 

Our Paella Cooking

The Bread Crusting in the Pan

Once the paella was in the oven we got to work on the shrimp. We were allowed to take some creative license with the recipe so we added extra sausage, garlic, and wine. My teammates were extremely liberal with the wine! It cooks off though right? As a final touch we browned some bread with garlic to have on the side.

My Team Hard at Work

 

My Team Cooking the BEST Paella

After each team finished their two dishes they had to plate a small serving for the chef to taste. I think we did a pretty good job with the food itself, but I think our plating was the best on the table! The chef tasted each of the dishes and then announced the awards. I can't remember which award we won, but there were four different awards given out ... and gee each team won one. That was kind of disappointing! I wanted to know if ours really was the best! 

My Team's Shrimp Dish

 My Team's Paella

The Aftermath of our Cooking

Once the judging was over it was time for us to all enjoy our hard work. Everyone was encouraged to go around and try all of the other team's dishes, but I was too full and too lazy to go around and sample anything else. Ours was the best anyways, why face disappointment?

Paella Plated for Judging

 

Shrimp Dish Plated for Judging

After dinner a group of us went to a bar down the street to play pool. To my boss' delight they also had karaoke! I personally hate karaoke. I can't sing to save my life and the idea of revealing my warbling, off-key voice to the public is the last thing in the world I'd ever want to do. I was forced to sing karaoke at a sales meeting two jobs ago and in the process of being forced up onto the stage I honestly thought about quitting. That is how much I don't want to sing in public. 

 Playing Pool in the Gaslamp

Well, thanks to peer pressure yet again, I got dragged up to the stage with my group to sing "We Are the Champions" by Queen. To my delight, with our large group and the blaring speakers by the stage, you couldn't even hear yourself! That made it a lot easier. We made it through the song and it ended up not being the worst thing in the world I'd ever done, and somehow as the night progressed we went up for a number of other songs. To the patrons of the bar that night: I apologize to you and your ears.

Karaoke Stars Singing "Islands in the Stream"

The night was long but a lot of fun. If you are interested in trying out the two recipes, here they are.

Sauteed Shrimp with Sweet Peas

Ingredients

• 20 ea. shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tbs garlic, minced
• 1/2 ea onion, diced
• 10 oz olive oil
• 1 cup tomato, diced
• 1 cup sweet peas
• 1/4 cup mint, fresh and chopped
• 1 cup pea shoots
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock
• 1/4 cup butter, unsalted
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
In a hot skillet, pour the olive oil in the pan and sear the sausage to render the fat, stirring it frequently until the sausage is slightly browned. Add the onion and garlic and saute until the onions are just turning transparent. Add the shrimp to the skillet and stir frequently until lightly colored on both sides. Add the tomatoes and peas, toss quickly. Deglaze with the wine, then add vegetable stock, simmer for about 1 minute. Reduce heat and add butter to incorporate. Finish with fresh mint and pea shoots and season to taste.

Option
Serve with warm or grilled crusty bread.

Chicken, Seafood and Chorizo Paella

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 6 ounces chorizo, cut into 1/2 inch slices on the diagonal
• 1 pound manila clams, clean
• 1 pound black mussels, clean
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 1 pinch saffron threads
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 pound roast chicken (meat from 3-pound chicken skinned, deboned, and torn into chunks)
• 1/2 cup peas
• 1 tomato, chopped
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions
Heat oven to 400F. Heat oil in a large casserole or paella pan over high heat. Add chorizo and cook until browned and fragrant, about 1 minute. Add onion, red bell pepper, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 3 minutes.

Add rice, paprika, saffron, and bay leaves. Stir to combine and coat the rice, about 1 minute. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add roast chicken, seafood, peas, and tomato; stir to combine.

Transfer skillet to oven. Cook uncovered until rice is tender and no liquid remains, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven. Fluff with a fork and serve immediately.

If you try out either of these recipes let me know how it goes!