Today’s Top 5: Last Meals*

I am unabashedly obsessed with Top Chef. Seasoned chefs (one with an Italian accent) cooking in ridiculous situations and then getting ripped to shreds by Tom Colicchio? Yes please! 

A couple of weeks ago, the contestants were charged with cooking a “last supper” for a panel of the best-of-the-best in the culinary world. They created classics like roasted chicken, shrimp scampi, and Eggs Benedict. The episode got me thinking: what would be my last supper? I found it too hard to pick one, so here are 5 of my favorite foods/dishes: 

  1. Bacon. By itself, on something, in something… whatever. Even as a meal. Just bacon. 
  2. Eggs Benedict. I second Wylie Dufresne on this one. My favorite breakfast, hands down. 
  3. Really good lasagna. Hand-made pasta, fresh ingredients, simple flavors… to me, a superb lasagna is the mark of a great Italian chef. 
  4. Guacamole. My own recipe. Preferably with a margarita. 
  5. Gumbo. A holdover from my mother’s New Orleans background, and a favorite of my childhood. 

Number 5 will be making an appearance in my house tonight (and on the blog soon after) to celebrate Mardi Gras and tomorrow’s Top Chef finale in New Orleans. Go Team Carla!

*Dedicated to Celia on her birthday!