The Dining Dish blog is Dara Bunjon's take on anything food, both national and in her hometown of Baltimore. Warning: this food blog can be harmful to your waistline.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Season 2 Top Chef Contestant - Michael Midgley

Well Great Tastes Baltimore has come and gone, and I, and my team of crackerjack foodie friends took care of the food prep needs for "culinary" talent at the show with great aplomb. I always enjoy the back of the house camaraderie. So today I am avoiding client work, some down time to put together a couple of post from yesterday's happenings.

Chef Michael Midgley from season 2 of Top Chef was the chef who was always so animated and enjoying himself. A fun personality and one who didn't take himself too seriously. Yesterday's cooking demonstration Michael entertained the audience with simple recipes that any guy can do quickly. I will share one of his recipes below.

In the kitchen, we gals had Michael's ingredients ready but no Michael. I happened to be talking to the mother of one the Carver Center's ProStart High School culinary team I'm mentoring, only for her to mention that Michael was sitting in the back of the room. AAAh Haa! the delinquent chef was found. Michael came back to our little kitchen staging area. Nothing to fussy about what he was doing, just cut the bacon in half and we were good to go.

This summer I captured Ilan Hall the winner of Top Chef Season 2 on video discussing his audition process so I asked Michael the same question. Check out the video below.

Michael was good fun on stage, talking about the lack of sleep during the filming and the lack of food to eat but an abundance of drink. (which if you watched the show won't come as a surprise). He went on to explain that on the vending machine challenge he used all the money for the junk food but only used portions of it during the competition and ate the rest, but had he just bought what he needed he would have to return any change leftover.

So here is his one of his "manly simple food" recipes:

Bacon Crackers

1 box Club Crackers with Rounded Edges
2 Cups Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 lb pkg Thin Bacon

Preheat oven to 375

Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil, parchment or silpat. Set the crackers out on the sheet pan and generously sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Cut the bacon slices in half and wrap a bacon slice over the cracker tucking the ends underneath. Bake until the bacon looks crispy (approximately 12-15 minutes).



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