This Week’s Winning Recipes

Though all of the Food Network Star finalists’ finished dishes should be camera ready and pleasing to look at, this week’s Mentor Challenge put a special emphasis on artful culinary designs. Smiley faces, turkey patties a la turkeys, flowers and fish — they all made appearances on the plate with the help of almost-too-cute-to-eat foods. And best of all, most of the dishes tasted as impressive as they looked. Come the Star Challenge, “the wheel of mythicality” struck and helped influence the competitors’ next offerings, and even in spite of some oddball ingredient combos — think kimchi and bread pudding — the results were successful.

We collected the winning recipes from both of the challenges. Check out the mentors’ top picks of plates below, then browse more of the best dishes from past episodes.

Fish Tail Corn Cream Salad (pictured above)
Featuring a base of spiced pureed corn, Tregaye’s too-cute fish design boasts a body of what else but delicate lox. To create almost-translucent “scales,” she thinly slices radishes.

Risotto and Radicchio Tulips
While the purple-colored radicchio forms the petals of Damiano’s tulip, his Gorgonzola-laced risotto is the filling, and the stem of the flower is a vibrant green onion (you can use either scallions or chives, depending on what you have on hand).

Ahi Tuna Melt
Boasting bold ingredients like cayenne, Dijon and brown sugar, Jernard’s spicy-sweet sauce gets slathered on bread for his reinvented patty melt. The sandwich is layered with slices of succulent grilled tuna and a duo of cheeses for over-the-top flavor.

Octopus Mac and Cheese
Tregaye achieves a better-together combination of textures in her crispy cornmeal-coated octopus, which she serves with gooey mac and cheese laced with cheddar and Jack.

Tune in to Food Network Star on Sundays at 9|8c.

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