Chopped was fun last week, wasn’t it? Man, those entries looked amazing! We will now return you to your regularly scheduled Friday programming.

The weather is a little on the gray-side here in the Pacific Northwestern United States, so as of late, I’ve been filling up on stews and hot things. However, I realize not everyone is in “fall mode,” so I wanted to choose ingredients that are used year-round in hot and cold dishes. Perhaps you’ll end up cooking up a stew or casserole. Or maybe you’ll make a salad or spread. There are lots of options. And, not only are these ingredients widely available, they’re pretty inexpensive.

The secret ingredients are…..

Potatoes and Sesame

All forms of these ingredients will be accepted, and although they’re not technically closely related, we’ll include sweet potatoes. Keep in mind that there’s a whole world of spuds out there, so you don’t need to feel limited by the “same old” varieties.

A quick review of our few simple rules/guidelines:

1. Whatever you come up with has to be new, nothing from a cookbook or a blog, not something you posted last week that happens to involve the secret ingredients. It’s fine to use a recipe for a jump-off point, but make it your own!
2. Entries are due at 3 pm PST on Sunday.
3. Have fun and be creative!

To participate, just comment below with the link to your blog post by Sunday, 3 pm PST.

Unfortunately, this challenge is not well-suited for our raw participants. Remember not to eat raw potatoes, please! Also, avoid the green parts of potatoes, which indicate a high solanine content. Read about potato toxicity here.