If you missed it yesterday, White House Chef Cristeta Comerford was on Super Chef Battle.

Alton Brown hosted the Iron Chef duel that pit White House Chef Cristeta Comerford and Bobby Flay against Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali. As part of the challenge, ingredients fromo First Lady Michelle Obama’s White House garden was used. Catch it on reruns on the Food Network. We’ll give you one guess who won the challenge. Read about Cristeta Comerford’s experience here.

Cristeta Comerford on Super Chef Battle

More about Cristeta Comerford

Born in Manila, Philippines, Cristeta “Cris” Comerford now works in the most famous house in the United States of America. Mrs. Comerford became the first woman to become the executive chef at the White House since the Kennedys appointed the position to a high- profile statement of personal style. She is also the first minority, a Filipino-American to hold the position. Serving as an assistant chef during the Clinton Administration, her consummate passion and talents proved worthy. Mrs. Laura Bush appointed her in August, 2005 and she has since showcased the best of American cuisines.

Mrs. Michelle Obama reappointed Cris Comerford because of her passion and emphasis for healthy eating. Her many responsibilities include designing and executing menus for official dinners, social events, and family entertaining. Some of her memorable events include the Governor’s Dinner because of the inclusion of culinary students. Mentorship and leadership has been a key to the success of the White House Kitchen.

Chef Comerford attended the University of the Philippines to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Food Technology. Her 26 years of culinary experience include fine dining restaurants in Washington DC, Chicago, Austria, Napa Valley and France. As a member of the Club Chefs du Chef, an association of chefs of heads of states, she had continually pursued her growth in techniques, abilities and food trends.

Here are a couple of recipes from the dishes that Cristeta Comerford and Bobby Flay used in their Iron Chef Battle…

Broccoli Chowder

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter

6 garlic cloves, sliced

1 lemongrass, smashed

4 shallots, sliced

1 leek, white part only, sliced

1 sprig of thyme

1 small onion, sliced

2 heads of broccoli, slice the stem, reserve the green tips for purée

8 cups clam stock

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper to taste

For the garnish:

36 clams, steamed (reserve juice)

16 grape tomatoes, fried and peeled

6 fingerling potatoes, sliced

1 bunch broccoli rabe

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

In a medium size sauce pan, create the soup by sautéing the garlic, shallots, leeks, onion and thyme in butter until fragrant. Add the broccoli stem slices and sauté until the broccoli is softened. Pour in the chicken stock and bay leaf. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

In the mean time, blanch the broccoli tips until they turn a bright green color. Blanching can be done by boiling water with generous amounts of salt, placing the chopped broccoli in the boiling water for 1 minute and removing them from the boiling water. Then, “shock” the green tips in a bowl of iced water. Drain and purée the broccoli in a blender and set it aside.

Purée the soup in a blender and strain it through a fine sieve or strainer. Add the green broccoli purée to the soup and season it with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a separate pan, sauté the potatoes in olive oil to cook. Add the broccoli rabe and sauté until it is softened. Season with salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes and clams to heat through. Spoon the vegetables and clams to the soup plate or bowl and pour the broccoli soup around. Enjoy.

Sweet Potato Pie

Dough Ingredients:

1 cup butter

½ cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon lemon zest

2 egg yolks

2 ½ cups flour

Filling Ingredients:

3 sweet potatoes, cut in half lengthwise

4 sticks cinnamon

5 star anise

1 orange quartered

2 tablespoon melted butter

Custard Ingredients:

3 cup crème fraiche

4 whole eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

For the pie dough, mix the sugar and butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients and gently mix. Incorporate the vanilla, lemon zest and egg yolks. Form the mixture into a ball and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. With a lightly floured rolling pin on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a quarter inch thick circle. Lightly drape the dough over a 12 inch tart or pie pan. Fit the dough and trim any remaining dough. Cover with parchment paper and let rest in the refrigerator for another half hour. In a pre-heated oven, bake the pie shell covered with parchment paper topped with baking beads (or you can use dry beans or rice) for 12 minutes.

For the filling, place the sweet potatoes, cinnamon, star anise and orange on a baking sheet and drizzle the melted butter over everything. Bake at 350 degrees until the sweet potatoes are tender. Scoop out the potatoes and pass it through a sieve or strainer so it turns into a potato purée. Discard the spices and orange. Set the potato purée aside to cool.

Mix all the custard ingredients until blended and fold it into the potato purée until fully blended. Pour this mixture into the cooked tart shell and finish cooking until set, about 35 minutes.

Honey Meringue Topping:

3 egg whites

2 cups honey reduced by half

Whip the egg whites until stiff and incorporate the hot reduced honey. Top the cooked sweet potato pie and broil until the meringue gets a toasted color. Enjoy.