[VOTING] THE KEYBLADE KITCHEN ☆ { a KH cooking challenge }

​

Welcome to the keyblade kitchen!

Original Threads:
| I - les laitues et les princesses [FEB/MAR 2014] |​

How does voting work though

Voting is open to everyone generally, and they can determine who they feel is the most appropriate based on a number of factors involved in the contestants' dishes, such as creativity, ingredient usage, and other factors. Voting will go on for a week, only one choice may be selected, and you can use this thread to discuss/comment on the contestants' lovely entries through and through. You may also use it to discuss anything regarding the existing theme or future themes!

Victory reward is your recipe being featured on the front page!​

- - - - -​

Lettuce start off a little simple, while keeping some semblance of challenge.

FEBRUARY/MARCH'S THEME:
a sandwich
[ ] side dishes accepted
[ x ] required ingredient: lettuce (any type)
[ x ] ingredient minimum: 7 + lettuce (8)
[ ] ingredient maximum
Make a sandwich. Simple as that. All you need to include is lettuce, somewhere. Any type. Can be toasted or not.
For those of you who dislike green vegetables, consider this a personal challenge as well!
Lettuce can be delicious depending on how you use it.

KINGDOM HEARTS CONDITION
You need a minimum of seven other ingredients.
Each of these ingredients must correspond with one of the Seven Princesses of Heart.
(lettuce-haters, use this to your advantage)
These can be any seven ingredients. Get creative with both your ingredient choice and design.
And remember to explain the correlation between ingredient and princess!
​

Contestants' Dishes​

Judge Sunrose's SUNROSE ROYAL LIGHT SANDWICH™:

• Introduction
• Ingredients
• Preparation

• 
  
  SUNROSE ROYAL LIGHT SANDWICH™​
  
  
  Spoiler

  

  ​
  First off, yes, it is heart-shaped. And no, I don't feel sorry for using this idea before you even had the chance to, assuming you were as (un)creative as me. Now, as you may very well notice throughout your reading, I had absolutely no idea of what I was doing. Improv and spur of the moment played a huge part in this. Also, this could be a bit lengthy because of a lot of pictures and dumb jokes, so bear with me, you brave souls. Also, happy early valentine's day, I guess.
  
• 
  
  Spoiler: Lettuce

  
  
  Sort of speaks for itself. Silly little What? said to use lettuce, so I used lettuce. Easy enough right? Then lettuce move on.
  Spoiler: White Bread

  
  
  Surprise surprise! This is already a princess ingredient (thank you loopholes), and I could assign it to none other than Princess Aurora. As you can see, bread is the very pillar of any sandwich, that one thing on top of which rest all the other ingredients, a bed of sorts. Am I being subtle enough? No? Oh, then how about you ponder over her story's title, The Sleeping Beauty, and then tell me the results.
  Spoiler: Extra Creamy Light Cream

  
  
  Next up are Cinderella and her matching ingredient. Now, I know this might be hard to picture, but personally, I think there is no other type of food that better resembles the concept of dreams than creams and cheeses. I thought about using some fancy cheese or whatever at one point, but this sandwich was already pretty messy in my head so I went for something lighter. Get it? Because "Légère" means "light" in french and the princesses are stuffed with it...
  Spoiler: Mayonnaise

  
  
  Now, I'll have you know how hard it is to think of an ingredient that likes/is similar to dancing or reading books, so I chose yet again the uncreative path and used something that matched Belle's dress color. If you can come up with a better justification, PLEASE let me know. ; n ;
  Spoiler: Carrot Strips

  
  First thing that comes to mind when I think of carrots is rabbits. Oh gee, I wonder which princess of heart is related to a rabbit. Wait I know, Alice of course! Not only that but the whole "fall down the rabbit hole" expression is a metonymic allusion to her story and all the events she experiences.
  Spoiler: A TAP WATER SPIRITS-WORSHIPPING CAT

  
  
  It doesn't exactly relates to a princess, mind you. He was getting in my way, so I decided to dispose of him... Hehehehe
  Spoiler: Apple

  
  
  Aww yeah, judge, another obvious idea. Great job. But seriously, if you don't know it yet, in the story, Snow White bites an apple that was cursed by the Queen and falls alseep for QUITE A WHILE. There, good thing this is inside a cozy pair of spoiler tags.
  (Warning: It all starts going downhill from here)
  
  Spoiler: Pomegranate Juice

  
  
  Watch out, it's a Super Fruit Grenade! Everybody take cover! No really, this one goes to Jasmine, due to the middle-eastern origin of the fruit. I tried looking for the actual berries, but this also did the trick. In addition, I think it's worthy of note that this particular ingredient is very distinct from the other in terms of flavor and common use, very much like our Princess Jasmine here, who I'm sure you'll all agree with me is the most exotic princess of the bunch, being the only non-european, or radiant gardenese.
  Spoiler: Smoked HIGHLANDER Salmon

  
  
  OH MY GOODNESS HIGHLANDER SALMON. Effin' awesome.
  At this point, it's clear that there's only one maiden missing here. That's right, our dearly beloved Kairi is who. Even though, similarly to Alice, she is not an actual princess in the proper sense of the word, she is (arguably) the most valiant one out of the seven, thus was awarded with the HIGHLANDEST ingredient. Moreover, salmon is a very popular variety of seafood, which is absolutely tied with her name's meaning. Yet another, albeit much weaker connection between the two is Kairi's KH2 outfit. If that's not enough salmon for you, I don't know what is.
• 
  
  
  Step 1: Carefully (yeah right) sculpt your bread into a heart-shape. Remember to eat those leftovers, it's bad to waste food.
  
  
  
  Step 2: Spill a little bit of pomegranate juice on it like you have no idea what you're doing.
  
  
  
  Step 3: Add in the carrots. Actually, I think all steps from here on out are interchangeable, this is just the order I followed.
  
  
  
  Step 4: Make a star-shape out of salmon (shut up! it's supposed to be a star, alright?). Bonus points for Kairi's Lucky Charm, am I right?
  
  
  
  Step 4.5: Grab a knife, turn to your cat and silently-- wait, where did he go?!?! Dang, better luck next time...
  
  
  
  Step 5: Slice your apple and stick it into that mess.
  
  
  
  Step 6: Add cream.
  
  
  
  Step 7: Then cover it up with some lettuce.
  
  
  
  Step 8: And finally, cue the mayonnaise.
  
  
  
  Additional Notes: After taking a couple bites of it, I felt like it could use a little more juice, so I put some more on top. ALSO, since I didn't use all the apple slices, I had the brilliant idea of decorating the dish with them. I suppose that and the glass of pomegranate juice could count as side dishes, but Idk. Ah, one more thing, I don't recommend eating this pretty little sandwich unless your stomach can handle its unreal amount of poorly planned flavor combination. THOSE WHO ARE WILLIG TO TRY THIS, I SALUTE YOU.

Ars Nova's HEARTY PRINCESS STEAK SANDWICH:

HEARTY PRINCESS STEAK SANDWICH

Spoiler

Ingredients

Spoiler

The theme of the ingredients is hair color. For Alice, Aurora, and Cinderella, we have mayonnaise, swiss & gouda cheese (Ash said I could use white ingredients for the blondes SHUT U). For Snow White and Jasmine, we have kalamanda olives and ground black pepper. Of course Belle contributes the Philly steak, and for the clincher, we have a bit of puréed roasted red peppers representing Kairi. (The red peppers don't necessarily have to be puréed, but that'll come up again shortly.) We also have the prereq, of course - in this case a moderate helping of sweet butter lettuce leaves - and hoagie rolls to bring it all together. You'll also need a blender and a strainer... oh, and an oven & stove, of course.



Kairi's Kickin' Pepper Mayo

The first step to a hearty sandwich is a hearty sauce. Mix 4 Tbsp of mayo, 4 tsp red pepper, 4 olives, and 1/2 tsp ground pepper in a container and purée until the mixture is smooth, creamy, and pink...



...like so! Now, if your red peppers are pre-puréed you can mix in more by the teaspoon until you get just the right balance for your tastes. The more red pepper, the tangier it'll be - but be careful not to overpower the mayo. You can also leave the lettuce out of this step and add as much as you like to the sandwich later on, if you don't mind the texture. And finally, note that the ingredient amounts listed make enough sauce for four whole sandwiches, plus extra for dipping; if you're just feeding yourself, you can get by with a fourth of almost everything.



Beauty & the Beef

Set the burner on high and cook the steak to your satisfaction. We like it cooked right through without a trace of red, but it's up to you.



Mm, lookin' good :F Strain the cooked steak to minimize grease. You want it to be juicy, but not so much it gets all over when you try to eat it. Be sure to stir so the juice drains evenly.



Seven as One

Now, assemble as shown. Sauce on both sides, steak, cheese, cheese...



...then broil on 400° for about 3 minutes, depending on your oven. You're trying to get it crispy and hot without browning the bread too much. Well, unless you like it that way.



While the sandwiches are cooking is a good time to take a pet break. Ain't she a sweetheart? [CAUTION: Attempting to apprehend and serve your pets as part of the meal is highly discouraged. Results are unpredictable, not to mention it's generally frowned upon in most parts of the world.]



And here's your finished product. We left it in a lil' too long, but it still turned out pretty good. And don't mind the color of the sauce, it's still as tangy and sweet as ever~



Put it all together and serve! As previously mentioned, you may wish to use surplus sauce as a dip.

You're a Real Woman Now, Baby

Marushi's SEVEN CHEESE LASAGNA SANDWICH SYMPHONY OF HEART:

Spoiler: Unimposing grilled cheese

• The Sandwich
• The Ingredients
• Making the sandwich
• Minestrone Pasta
• Brutus Salad

• 
  
  ​
  Served with Minestrone Pasta Casserole and Not-Quite-Ceaser salad. I'm thinking of calling it a Brutus Salad. But yeah. The sandwich? Here it is!
  
  
  I, uh, guess you can't really see the sandwich. But I assure you, it's quite tasty.
  ​
• 
  
  Well, first and most importantly, you need bread. I mean, that goes without saying. Who ever heard of a sandwich without bread? *ahem* except for Double Downs.
  
  Next up, the cheese. There are seven cheeses in this lasagna sandwich, and what do you know? There are seven princesses! Isn't that a coincidence? As we go through the cheeses, I'll tell you which cheese goes to which princess. A-like so.
  
  First, we have Ricotta Cheese.
  
  This soft cheese is a representation of my personal favorite of the princesses: Belle. Although the cheese is soft and smooth, it's got a strong flavor. Much like Belle, who dreamed of romance and adventure, and yet, was strong in her character and didn't accept any less than the best.
  
  Next is Provolone.
  
  I chose Alice to represent Provolone, mainly because Provolone is such a curious word. Say it aloud, see how it sounds. Taste the syllables and let the letters roll off your tongue. Although it occurs to me the Caterpillar wouldn't care much for it, as it only has two vowels, even though one is used three times.
  
  Now we have Mozzarella.
  
  I'll bet you can guess who this cheese represents: Cinderella! Um, actually, the only reason I matched them was because of the rhyme. Cinderella, Mozzarella. See? Cinderella dressed in yella, went downstairs to kiss a fella...
  
  And now we come to a special thing. See, no sandwich can pull off having seven slices of cheese on it. Really, too much cheese and stuff gets gross. So we have three cheeses in one, shredded and mixed up together! I have for you Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago, the latter having generously agreed to leave his wild Wendy's parties for one day and help out a local amateur cook enter an online competition. He's a cheese of the people. Awww...
  
  Parmesan cheese tastes grate (get it? Grate? Great? ...Nevermind) when sprinkled on spaghetti. Thus, I am reminded of snow. Thus, it is applied to the sandwich as Snow White. The Romano cheese represents Aurora, and honestly, I don't know why I was reminded of her for this one. It just seemed to fit. Perhaps because both names sound pretty. Romano. Aurora. Yeah, pretty. And then the Asiago cheese is Jasmine, who maybe doesn't like the life of fame after all. People screaming his name, the blinding light of camera flashes, the millions of people eating you daily... Everybody wants an escape from the pressure every now and again. Just like Jasmine. Let's hope Asiago doesn't end up in a whole slew of trouble over a lamp and a genie and a keyhole.
  
  And now, the little island girl everyone's so curious about: For Kairi, we have Colby and Monterey Jack!
  
  Now, before you say it, yes, I know that this is technically two cheeses, making the sandwich technically have eight. But I couldn't find any Monterey Jack by itself, it was always mixed with another cheese- AHEM I mean, uh, Well, this cheese is like Kairi because our dear little princess has another side as well. (Or should I say an "Other" side. Ha. Ha ha. Geddit? Jeeze, start a pun thread and suddenly I'm Groucho Marx. I blame HoT.) The Colby represents our dear Kairi with her bright smile and her seashell charm and her yellow pendant, while the Monterey Jack, pale and confused, is just as part of the Colby as Namine is a part of Kairi. If they can be one person, this can be one cheese.
  
  Now for the rest of the ingredients: We have Romaine Lettuce
  
  Baby Spinach
  
  Tomatoes, and a 29 oz can of Tomato sauce
  
  1 very handsome tuxedo cat (So is this gonna be a trend thing, including a pic of a cat in the food entries?) My sister only gave me permission to post this pic with a disclaimer: This is not my cat, it is her cat. His name is Westley, like from Princess Bride. Though we also call him Darth Vader and the Master.
  
  1 lb ground beef log
  
  And the following spices: Salt, Black Pepper, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, and Ground Cayenne Pepper.
  
  
• 
  First, put ground beef in a small saucepan and put on the burner, setting the stove to 6. Spice with all the spices while it's cooking to get the flavor into the beef.
  
  While the beef is cooking, slice the tomatoes as thin as you can.
  
  When the beef is nice and brown, drain the grease into a bowl to dispose of after cooling. Return the beef to the burner and lower the flame to as low as it can be without turning it off.
  
  At this time, mix in about half of the tomato sauce and about three spoonfuls of ricotta cheese, and stir until it's all mixed together into a lovely beef sauce.
  
  Now, place a griddle on they frying pan and turn it to five or six. Let it get hot. At this time, it's a good idea to make sure the rest of the sandwich ingredients are prepared and within reach, because time is critical for this grilled cheese. Once the griddle is hot, Butter a slice of bread and place it on the griddle, buttered side down. Place one slice of Mozzarella cheese on the bread. (You can't really make it out very well because the cheese is around the same color as the bread.)
  
  Place two or three tomato slices on top of the cheese.
  
  Add a few slices of Romaine Lettuce to the sandwich (add more than I did, the guest judges and myself agreed the sandwiches needed more lettuce. There are two more ingredients to do this with).
  
  Next up is the slice of Monterey Jack and Colby.
  
  Now add a fun layer of baby spinach (again, add more than I did).
  
  On top of the spinach, go ahead and spoon the beef-tomato-ricotta sauce on top of the spinach (and that's the final ingredient that you guys should add more of).
  
  After the beef sauce, add the final slice of Provolone.
  
  Now top it off with another buttered slice of bread, this time with the butter facing up. Lightly sprinkle some garlic and onion powder on the bread, and add a light layer of the three-cheese mix.
  
  At this time, the bottom of the sandwich should already be done cooking, so immediately after adding the shredded cheese, flip the sandwich over and let it cook for around a minute or two. Then remove it and put it on the plate.
  
  And now the Seven Cheese Lasagna Sandwich Symphony of Heart is complete! And another fun thing, count the words in the title: There are seven! I think I had too much fun with this.
  
  And if you think it's too cheesy, just look at Sora. I think,with him in the picture, I'm entitled to have as much cheese as I want. XD
  
• I call it Minestrone pasta because it was supposed to be Minestrone soup and I made a big mistake that I'll get to later. BUT FIRST! The ingredients. I hope you don't mind, I didn't take pics of each one for this, as it's just a side.
  
  We have here, in order from left to right: Parsley flakes, salt, a 29 oz can tomato sauce, a box of chicken broth, four potatoes (but you only need two) a garlic bulb (but you only need three cloves, you use more for the Brutus Salad) a bag of shredded carrots (even though you only need like, a cup and a half or something, and you could use regular carrots and slice them) butter (you can use tub margarine like I did or you could be fancy and buy stick butter, which is easier to measure) a box of elbow macaroni (you only need three cups) a head of cabbage (again, you won't use all of it) a yellow onion, celery, and then, there are the tomatoes you use for the sandwich, but that's just because I accidentally included them in the pic, and finally, two 14.5 oz cans of cannellini beans.
  
  Put a large saucepan on your burner over medium heat. While it's heating up, dice enough celery to fill a half-cup, dice enough onion to fill a cup and a half, and measure out a cup of carrots. When the saucepan is hot, add 8 tablespoons of butter. When the butter is melted, pour the celery, onion and carrots into the saucepan to saute. Sorry, I lost a few of my pics, so you don't have one of this stage. :P
  
  While the vegetables are being sauteed, shred enough cabbage to fill a cup, cube two potatoes, and drain the cannellini beans. When the vegetables are good, pour in the beans, the tomato sauce, the cubed potatoes, the chicken broth, the minced garlic, 4 tablespoons of dried parsley, and 2 teaspoons of salt to the pot. It doesn't really matter in which order, they all get added at this time.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Bring this beautiful soup to a boil, then cover and let simmer for around an hour.
  
  After an hour, add three cups of the elbow macaroni to the beautiful soup. This, the last real step, was where I made my big mistake. See, Marushi is used to cooking for seventy rather than for six, and without even thinking, just dumped the whole box of pasta into the soup instead of measuring it out. :( Stir in the macaroni, and then cover again, letting it cook for another half-hour.
  
  After a half hour, remove the soup (or pasta) from heat and stir again. It wasn't until this point that I was like "Wow, I sure messed this up somehow. I mean, judging from that one time when I ate this soup at a restaurant, it wasn't like this at all. I wonder what happened. Did I get the measurements wrong when I doubled the recipe? Maybe I didn't add enough broth- OH MAN, THE MACARONI!!! I added waaaay too much macaroni. Well, there went the soup. This is more like... pasta casserole. Oh well. Sigh..."
  
  So there you have it! Minestrone Pasta Casserole.
  
• 
  Now for the Brutus Salad! At this time, I'd been taking pictures, experimenting with the sandwiches, making the soup, and singing Beatles songs for around four hours, and my family was due to come home to eat all this food at any minute, so I was tired and rushing and forgot to take many pictures of the salad-making process. But really, the salad was super easy and fast anyway, so it didn't matter all that much. I can't really call it a Ceaser salad, because as I made it, I was like "No, I don't like that ingredient. I won't add it." and "You know, I bet this would taste good with this thingie. I'll add it." So I didn't follow the recipe very well.
  
  First, the dressing. Take a cup and a half of mayonnaise and dump it in a small bowl. Add six cloves of minced garlic, four tablespoons of Parmesan Cheese, two teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce, two teaspoons of dijon mustard, and two tablespoons of lemon juice. Mix it all together, and presto! You have the dressing!
  
  Now put two heads of romaine lettuce in a big bowl. (Or, if you're like me and doubled the recipe in your head so when you added the ingredients to your shopping list you forgot to specify two and then you went to the store and only grabbed one, you can fill it out with all the baby spinach left over from the sandwiches). Actually, the baby spinach was really good. You might want to do that anyway. Add the dressing to the salad, and go ahead and dice up the rest of the tomato left over from the sandwiches, and throw that in there too. Salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with more Parmesan, and dump in some croutons. And presto! The Brutus salad.
  
  Now just put it all together and you get the plate of deliciousness you saw on the first page. I thought it tasted good, my mom worshiped it like moms are supposed to, and my sister was brutally honest with me (geddit? Brutally honest? Brutus? "Et tu, Brute?" Heh, I crack myself up) and told me what was good and what was bad about all three dishes while she ate. I seriously felt like I was on Chopped. It was fun. :) Here's a hint: the sandwiches are fairly good hot, but they're surprisingly tasty as cold leftovers, like pizza. (I had a lot of failed experiments I couldn't bring myself to throw away, and as such, have lunch for about a week yet). But don't take on this project if you don't have a lot of time, this was a difficult challenge. Next time, I'll go simpler.
  
  Does Marushi win the Overachiever Award?

​

​

The public has a week to vote! Yes, all of you! Let us be off!​

 

It's maybe me but I can't see any picture of the second sandwich from Nova =0

The first Sandwich is really cool, I love the Heart shape wich goes obviously well with the Kingdom Hearts theme, and I love apples U_U Nice preparation !

The second Sandwich look delicious actually ! Just by watching these, I'm hungry xD
It looks nice and well prepared. [ Hope you liked if you ate them xD ]

The third sandwich is great as well ! I loved the fact that you named it after the Symphony wich is a good choice as the dish looks like a total symphony but with food instead of music.

Nice work everyone =)

 

Voted! Now I'm hungry.. But I'm excited for April!

 

Looks like the victory goes to

ARS NOVA

And his

HEARTY PRINCESS STEAK SANDWICH!

Congratulations! The recipe will be featured on the front page!

And congratulations to all of you! I hope all of you learned a new creative skill or expanded your cooking knowledge through this little event. I hope to see you all next month! (This month!)​