White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford, 48, and her teammate Chef Bobby
White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford, 48, and her teammate Chef Bobby Flay defeated Chefs Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali in the Super Chef Battle on Iron Chef America,
January 3 episode of America’s most popular cooking show, the “secret ingredient” was the newly-planted White House Garden, presented by First Lady Michelle Obama, reports CBS News. The catch? The competing chefs had to dig out the fresh vegetables themselves.
For their winning menu, Comerford and Flay created “a fennel and apple salad with oyster, another salad with lobster and squid, a Filipino-inspired broccoli clam chowder, a barbequed veggie dish, and a meringue sweet potato tart. Flay said, ‘I told her don’t be afraid to use her Filipino background, which have a lot of flavors there,’” according to ABS-CBN News.
The show’s high profile panel of judges was composed of celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, actress Jane Seymour, and Natalie Coughlin, a former Olympian swimmer.