Top Chef Shocker

Hosea? Really?? If Carla was the dark horse of Top Chef, Hosea was the beige one: good enough, I suppose, but in a boring sort of way. Seriously, did anyone see that coming? Anyway, the real highlight for me, of course, was the return of Marcel Vignerone, the rapping molecular gastronome with the Wolverine coiffure from Season 2. Incidentally, Marcel is sous chef at The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, which got a 4-star review last week. Someday...

Another highlight of last night’s finale brought to you by the Glad family of products was actually being invited for dinner by my brother, who used to invite himself over for dinner at our house every Wednesday until he moved into his newly renovated home about a year ago. In honor of both Padma and this week's Oscar wins for Slumdog Millionaire, Daniel cooked up an Indian feast of chicken korma, eggplant curry, channa masala, and brown basmati rice. The only thing he cheated on was the naan, bought frozen from Trader Blows, I mean, Joe’s. Everything was delicious.



Here’s Daniel’s easy eggplant curry recipe:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Cut a large eggplant in half lengthwise and rub the cut sides with some salt. Brush a pan with olive oil, put the halves cut side down, and roast the eggplant for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, mince a medium onion and sautée with garlic, turmeric, coriander, cumin, and salt.
Once the eggplant is done, scoop the flesh out from the skin and put in a blender or food processor.
Blend with the onion mixture and a chopped tomato.
Voila.