[music playing]
 Everybody, here
come the judges.
3, 2, 1.
 Being a Chopped judge is
a dream job with one big
drawback-- not getting
to cook in the Chopped
kitchen very often.
So we let them-- after hours.
Oh my goodness!
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: What's up?
 Check it out.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: How are you?
TED ALLEN: Hello, chefs.
[laughter]
Great to see you.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: Good to
see you, happy to be here.
AMANDA FREITAG:
What's happening?
TED ALLEN: Marcus,
Amanda, Scott,
may I say you look excited,
alive, invigorated.
Liberated Could that be
because we're about to let
you do the cooking?
 Because I'm here with
Amanda, that's why.
 Aww.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON:
Oh, he's here, too?
Oh, sorry.
SCOTT CONANT: Whatever, man.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON:
Yeah, whatever.
[laughter]
 As if you guys
weren't amped up enough,
it's time to carve up.
You're cooking the entree
basket from our special noodles
and pasta themed competition.
We have the classic
sausage and meatballs,
we have chayote
squash, tomato sorbet,
and pasta dough from Scott
Conant's own kitchen.
SCOTT CONANT: Yes.
AMANDA FREITAG: Wow.
TED ALLEN: How glorious is that?
- Thank you.
 I was up this morning,
very early, making
pasta dough with my hands.
I mean, look at my hands.
They're all--
TED ALLEN: Which
might explain if you
find a hair or two in it.
AMANDA FREITAG: Yeah.
 Yeah, I was doing
it with no shirt on.
[laughter]
So this is just double zero
flour and pure egg yolk.
 Nice.
SCOTT CONANT: And
that's where it
gets this beautiful
yellow color from.
It is very tender, specifically
for ravioli and things like.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: The
tomato sorbet is really tart.
TED ALLEN: Is it?
MARCUS SAMUELSSON:
I think we got
to melt this guy down, right,
is there any other way to go?
SCOTT CONANT: No, and you know
what, there's sugar in that.
That's sweet.
But for me, the most
interesting part of this
is the similarity that
it has to your pants.
[laughter]
Really.
Unbelievable, it looks
like-- look at that.
Come on.
TED ALLEN: Just once, Marcus,
I want you to come to work
in a pair of baggy khakis.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: I'd bring it.
 No, don't you dare.
Yeah, the way he would
rock that look would be--
 Somehow you'd make it cool.
All right.
30 minutes to
determine, no pressure,
who's the best chef in the room?
 I got this.
 I'm excited.
 I'm already halfway
there with my pasta.
[laughter]
 Time starts now.
 OK, this is easy.
No problem.
Behind you.
OK, I'm going to make a lasagna,
basically, but it's a baby one,
and that's why it's
called lasagnette.
So it's baked.
I'm going to use
a meat ragout, I'm
going to use the
pasta in layers,
and I'm also going to
use the chayote squash
as one of the layers.
This is a great way
to break up any ground
meat when you're cooking it.
Use a whisk so that
you don't get clumps.
 So I am going to make a nidi
di rodine, is the name of it.
And what that is,
essentially, is
a stuffed pasta,
which is laid out,
blanched, stuffed,
rolled, cut, roasted.
That's it.
That's it.
That's all I got.
[laughter]
I didn't even wait
for something else.
I got nothing else.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: So I want to
make fresh gnocchi with garlic
and potatoes with tomato broth.
I'm going to thicken my broth
with bacon and the sausage.
AMANDA FREITAG: Ooh,
did you hear that?
Marcus is making gnocchi.
 What are you doing
with the pasta dough?
MARCUS SAMUELSSON:
I'm using the dough
but just to thicken my stock.
AMANDA FREITAG: Ooh.
 What?
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: Just
to thicken the stock.
That's it.
 What, it's not
good enough for you?
 No, no, it's great,
it's great, it's great.
AMANDA FREITAG: I heard him say
that pasta dough was garbage
and he threw it out.
[laughter]
 Oh, I love it.
TED ALLEN: Coming through.
Hey, what's up,
chefs, how's it going?
Hey, Marcus?
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: Yes, sir.
 You gonna eat that?
 No, that's yours.
That's all you.
 All right, baby.
Hey, you guys need
anything from the kitchen?
AMANDA FREITAG:
Actually, can I have
a little all-purpose flour?
SCOTT CONANT: And
some ricotta for me.
TED ALLEN: A little ricotta, OK.
SCOTT CONANT: Thank you, chef.
TED ALLEN: All right.
AMANDA FREITAG: Thanks, Ted.
TED ALLEN: All right.
AMANDA FREITAG: I
love Ted the shopper.
TED ALLEN: You know,
I aim to serve.
OK.
A little flour for Amanda
and I'm looking for ricotta.
 You know, this pasta doesn't
need any flour to work with.
So if you notice, I don't
have any flour on the table,
unlike my competitors,
who are much less
savvy at this type of work.
 That's the word
we're going with?
SCOTT CONANT: Amanda, give
him the definition of savvy.
[laughter]
 OK, now I have my
tomatoes in, and I'm
using the same whisk method.
I don't want them
to be fully pureed,
I just want them to have
a little bit of shape,
but not be too chunky.
My sauce is actually
almost done.
Look at that.
In 15 minutes I have a ragout.
TED ALLEN: All
right, judges, you
got 15 minutes to get it done.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: So
I fried my potatoes,
and now I'm going to make
fresh dough from scratch.
There's really a trick to
make the potatoes cook faster.
I'm just going to smash
them, put them in here,
also using a lot of the fat.
Going to be just a
nice little pasta
dumpling with the bacon fat and
a little bit of roasted garlic.
AMANDA FREITAG: Lasagnette.
SCOTT CONANT: So I'm going to
make the filling for this pasta
I have the chayote in here.
I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking,
damn, that looks good.
And you're right.
This is awesome.
TED ALLEN: How is that dough
shaping up for you, chef?
MARCUS SAMUELSSON:
It's going great.
TED ALLEN: Going great?
MARCUS SAMUELSSON:
It's not going to rest,
we're going to go straight
in, but it's going to be fine.
AMANDA FREITAG:
I'm in great shape.
TED ALLEN: Chefs, You've
got 10 minutes to go.
AMANDA FREITAG: No!
TED ALLEN: 10 minutes, and
those are not in the oven yet.
 What are you talking about?
I don't know what
you're talking about.
Yes they are.
 This makes me happy.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON:
I'm definitely behind,
but you know what, I'm
going to go out in style.
 This is what
I'm talking about.
So I'm about to pop this in
the oven and gratin them.
This is a mess, but
it's going to eat well.
I promise you, I promise you.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: I'm just
going to strain the broth,
and we're good.
TED ALLEN: All right
chefs, one minute to go.
 One minute?
TED ALLEN: One minute.
 Wow.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: I want
a little bit of mascarpone.
AMANDA FREITAG: I'm really happy
with the way this turned out.
They look beautiful.
TED ALLEN: All right, chefs,
you are running out of time.
10, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
Time's up.
Please step back.
[applause]
I don't know about you
guys, but I'm exhausted.
SCOTT CONANT: OK, let's eat.
AMANDA FREITAG: Hi, Ted.
TED ALLEN: Hi, Amanda.
Everything looks amazing, chefs.
AMANDA FREITAG:
Look what we did.
TED ALLEN: A little vino
rosso for everybody.
AMANDA FREITAG: Thank you, Ted.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON:
Thank you, Ted.
TED ALLEN: All right.
So you guys had to work
with sausage and meatballs,
chayote squash, tomato
sorbet, and pasta dough
from Scott Conant's own kitchen.
SCOTT CONANT: Should
we jump in here?
AMANDA FREITAG: I would love to.
I would love to.
SCOTT CONANT: I love it.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: So I
did a potato garlic gnocchi
with a spicy tomato sauce.
AMANDA FREITAG: I want to
get some of that sauce.
It's so good.
SCOTT CONANT: It is so good.
Did you use the sorbet
inside this sauce?
AMANDA FREITAG: Man, it tastes
so much better than it did.
SCOTT CONANT: It is spicy.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: Yeah.
SCOTT CONANT: The mascarpone
really mellows it out.
It's really nice.
AMANDA FREITAG: Beautiful way.
SCOTT CONANT: We really
embraced the pasta,
but you didn't, and that's
amazing, really amazing.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: Thank you.
 I'm not going to say that
it's better than the pasta.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON:
No, you don't have to.
 But I'm going to say
it's really well done.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: Thank--
I'll take that, that's a lot.
That's a lot.
 Amanda, what do we have?
AMANDA FREITAG: I
had this crazy idea
to make a lasagnette, which
is just like a baby lasagna.
I made a ragout with the
sausage and the meatballs and--
SCOTT CONANT: Nice.
AMANDA FREITAG: There it is.
I have to say, I was a little
nervous using your pasta
dough right next to you.
I felt like I had to
do the right thing.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON: Mmm.
Oh.
SCOTT CONANT: That
is the right thing.
 Oh, you like it?
SCOTT CONANT: That
is the right thing.
Wow.
The pasta is perfect.
AMANDA FREITAG: Because
it started perfect,
or is it perfect because
I used it perfectly?
 I think you utilized a
perfect ingredient perfectly.
AMANDA FREITAG: OK, thank you.
TED ALLEN: It's set gorgeously,
the salt is perfect,
and the use of the
chayote, I really liked
the texture that brings to it.
 That salt was
absolutely beautiful.
Well done.
Imagine this dish
with the right pasta.
 Oh!
 All right, Scott,
what do we have?
SCOTT CONANT: So this
is a nidi di rodine,
and basically what
that is, it's a very
traditional stuffed pasta.
And what happens is
you roll the dough out,
fill it and then roll
it and then slice
it so it's like a pinwheel.
AMANDA FREITAG: I
love that you fully
highlighted the pasta here.
I love getting a bite of
that sausage in the filling,
and that little
crispy crunchy part
of the chayote, when you take
that bite, it's refreshing.
It's so good.
 Thank you, chef.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON:
Scott, I'm going
to make a separation here.
I don't like you, but
I like this pasta.
[laughter]
So this is absolutely delicious.
The texture really
comes through here,
between the meat and the way
you used all of the ingredients.
And to finish it off with just
a little bit of tomato sauce--
 Yeah.
 Super delicious, very smart.
 Thank you, sir.
 Three fresh pasta dishes
from you, so delicious.
Thank you, my friends.
Cheers.
 This was a lot of fun.
 To see the judges
in action after hours
and other special
rounds, keep coming back
to foodnetwork.com/chopped.
