Ep 5. After Hours Revisits Food Truck, Cornish Hens and Grill

Chopped After Hours is a spinoff of the popular cooking competition show Chopped, where four chefs are given a basket of mystery ingredients and must create a cohesive dish in a limited amount of time. In Chopped After Hours, the competition is over, and three judges from the show come together to cook using the same basket of ingredients from the original competition. The catch? There's no time limit, and the judges are free to interpret the ingredients in any way they choose.

In season 3, episode 5 of Chopped After Hours, the judges revisit a previous Food Truck, Cornish Hens, and Grill themed episode of Chopped. The episode opens with a brief recap of the original competition, showing the challenges the chefs faced while cooking with ingredients like frozen margarita mix, cornish hens, plantains, and jalapeños. Then, the three judges--Amanda Freitag, Scott Conant, and Marc Murphy--gather in the Chopped kitchen to create their own dishes using the same ingredients.

The first judge to present his dish is Scott Conant, who used the grill as his main cooking method. He chose to use the cornish hens as the centerpiece of his dish, grilling them until they were crispy and perfectly cooked. He then made a slaw using the fresh produce from the basket and a creamy dressing made with the margarita mix. The dish looked colorful and flavorful, with the juicy chicken balanced by the tangy slaw.

Next up was Marc Murphy, who chose to use the plantains in his dish. He started by making a marinade for the cornish hens using the margarita mix and a variety of spices, including cumin and paprika. He then grilled the hens and served them on a bed of sautéed plantains and peppers. The dish looked hearty and filling, with the sweet plantains balancing the slightly spicy chicken.

Finally, Amanda Freitag presented her dish, which featured the jalapeños as a prominent ingredient. She chose to make a salsa using the jalapeños, fresh tomatoes, and a few other ingredients from the basket. She then roasted the cornish hens in the oven and served them on a bed of rice, topped with the spicy salsa. The dish looked colorful and bright, with the heat from the jalapeños offset by the coolness of the rice.

Throughout the episode, the judges banter and joke around with each other, sharing their cooking tips and techniques with the audience. They also discuss the original competition and the challenges the chefs faced, offering insight into what they would have done differently if they were cooking in the competition themselves. Overall, Chopped After Hours offers an entertaining and lighthearted look at what happens when the Chopped judges take over the kitchen.