- [Announcer] Previously on Chef Out Of Water.
- What am I gonna do with a blindfold?
- [Crew Member] We're going on a trip, Alexis.
- Oh God.
I think I'm ready.
(dramatic upbeat music)
(upbeat music)
Welcome to the season finale of Chef Out Of Water.
I'm Alexis, your chef who's always up for a challenge.
All season long, the Internet has been choosing
what I should cook with
and today, it looks like you've chosen where.
I don't know who I'm cooking for
and they don't know what I'm cooking with
although, I'm guessing they'll probably
be able to figure it out.
I can smell pine needles and I hear a babbling brook, so.
Oh my God.
(bubbles popping)
This is amazing.
This is my dream.
All season long, I've been asking for fire and
I'm going to have fire and I'm outside.
Thank you.
So, I'm gonna make a three course meal over a campfire.
I've gotta get some kindling to get started.
Let's go make a fire.
(water splashing) (upbeat music)
You thought you had me with a campfire
but this is actually a gift.
I've been making fires for truly as long as I can remember.
I grew up in the country, we have a really big fireplace
and every single night in the Winter,
we build a fire because it's so cold.
I usually put a bunch of newspaper crumpled up,
ton of kindling on top, luckily we're in the woods,
we have an abundance of kindling
and then make, like a teepee situation
around here with the wood
and as soon as it gets hot,
then you can add more wood and kind of shift it into,
having some having direct heat, some having lower heat,
so I'll have some more control over the campfire.
I have a grate to cook with, which is making it so,
I don't wanna say easy but,
(stick breaking) easy.
Before I light this fire, we need to talk fire safety.
We've been working with the Angeles National Forest,
they know we're filming here,
there's a ton of people on fire watch.
I've got Ryan with me.
(laughs)
He's gonna be watching the fire,
making sure there's no debris, anything happening.
Let's light this fire.
My confidence level is a 10 right now.
(water splashing) (upbeat music)
While my fire is going and getting really hot,
getting ready, I'm gonna start on dessert.
I'm making a plum cardamom orange crumble.
I did a Tasty 101 about this, so feel very prepared.
So, I'm starting off with some plums.
(record scratches)
Did I seriously just put salt?
I cannot be trusted.
- Was that salt? - What is wrong with me?
- [Crew Member] Was that salt?
- Yeah it was literally just salt.
(dramatic music)
Oh no, oh no.
I'm gonna go wash these plums off.
Stand by.
I have to stop doing that.
I also just said a minute before
that I was level 10 confident.
So, I think I need to bring my ego down about five notches
and stay away from salt.
Sugar.
Great.
Some flour as a binder, you could use cornstarch too.
Orange zest.
I'm just mixing everything together.
The plums can actually just hang out in this skillet.
Okay, moving on to the filling.
I've got flour.
Oats.
Salt, intentionally.
Sugar, very intentionally.
Cinnamon
and cardamom.
Just mix
and then some cold cubed butter
and I'm just gonna take my hands,
incorporate it and then, kind of crumble it.
You know, I think a challenge is going to be that,
I know how long this takes in an oven or even on a grill
but over a campfire, it's gonna be
a little trickier in terms of timing.
Crumble's done.
I'm gonna wash my hands, cover this with foil
and get this on the fire.
I've got this really great safety gloves.
This fire is really hot.
Campfires can actually get up to over 500 degrees,
so I've got a ton of options.
It's probably too hot for the crumble now,
but I wanna get it going.
The flames are gonna die down a bit.
It actually looks like it's at
the perfect spot for my entree.
I've got a few different elements
but one of them is fire roasted eggplant,
where you actually just bury it in the coals.
I'm gonna get a head start doing that, move on to prep.
(water splashing) (upbeat music)
For my appetizer, a zucchini and halloumi salad,
all done over the grill, of course.
When I used the blender,
I thinly sliced zucchini on a mandoline.
So I'm gonna do the same thing.
It'll probably grill really fast, but that's okay.
I'm just gonna sprinkle them with a little salt.
This is gonna draw moisture out.
Just gonna slice the cucumbers, easy.
I'm gonna make some pickled red onions over the fire.
Pickling is really easy.
You basically need vinegar, sugar and salt.
Oh and water.
I'm gonna add some peppercorns
and some coriander seeds.
So now, this liquid is gonna go over the fire.
Just gonna cut up this cheese really really fast.
Ooh baby.
Oh my God.
Cobbler has been taken over by the plums but it's okay.
Hoo!
Okay, definitely time for tin foil to come off.
Got my pickling liquid.
She can go on the hottest part.
Put that right here.
Just gonna, let this go for a few minutes
and my eggplant looks absolutely perfect.
I mean, hoo, she's falling apart.
It's like legit collapsed into itself
which is exactly what I want.
(chuckles)
I've got a new set of dish gloves.
Oh my God.
So cool
and you just take a spoon
and all that beautiful perfectly cooked eggplant,
not the skin, goes inside.
My pickling liquid is ready to go.
Gonna add the onions.
So now that the onions are in
and the pickling liquid was hot,
I can actually take it off the heat
and I'll just let it rest to room temperature.
This cobbler is definitely taking longer than it would
in the oven but it looks kind of cool and rustic.
I'm just gonna throw some peppers on the grill.
(water splashing) (upbeat music)
I'm really excited about my entree.
I'm gonna do this whole Mediterranean spread.
So I'm gonna make lamb kofta,
which are like oblong lamb meatballs.
First things first, gonna put garlic in the grill too.
Just a little bit of olive oil.
(foil crumpling)
Wrapping it up, you can just stick this
literally right in the fire.
Gonna work on the lamb kofta.
So I've got mint, parsley,
salt
cumin
some smoked paprika.
So I've got everything in my bowl for my lamb kofta
and then, just gonna mix it all together.
(water splashing) (upbeat music)
My peppers are so charred, so beautiful.
Oh my God, I'm just gonna peel the charred skin right off.
I was hoping that the crumble was gonna turn golden brown.
It's definitely cooked through,
it's just, doesn't have that classic color.
It's also getting kind of jammy on top,
like this jammy plum mask.
So I'm gonna take it off.
Think it's fine, it's not gonna be an oven crumble but
it's baked through, it'll be delicious.
You don't wanna shape these into meatballs.
You wanna make them into these like oblong,
an extra large egg, maybe a duck egg.
(chuckles) Just gonna skewer it.
My kofta are done.
I have a bit more prep to do
but I'm gonna have Ryan put them on the grill.
Ryan?
- You rang? (Alexis laughs)
- [Alexis] If you can just put these over the grill,
- Mm-hmm - Medium-high heat.
- [Ryan] Okay, sounds good.
- This is the best.
Gonna add some lemons.
The lemons, I just want them to get
really charred and beautiful.
I'm gonna use that for the baba ghanoush
and for a vinegarette.
I'm gonna make this kind of garlic herby spread.
Gonna grab the garlic out of the fire.
The garlic is a bit charred, it's soft.
It's just gonna add a really nice
smokey flavor to the whole spread.
Just smashing it and I'm just gonna make into,
kind of like a paste.
A few pepper flakes.
I'm gonna add some green olives.
Gonna add some capers, just to add a little more brininess.
I'm gonna hit with some olive oil
and I'm gonna add some salt too.
Just stir.
I'm gonna let this herby situation hang out.
These are good, hoo.
(grill sizzling)
They smell absolutely incredible.
They look like they're cooked perfectly,
so we'll see when she tries them.
Look at those lemons.
I'm just gonna move them here.
These zucchini are super thin,
so I imagine it's gonna take less than two minutes, if that.
Halloumi
just at the bottom.
Halloumi is a really firm cheese,
so it's pretty ideal for grilling.
Taking the lemons.
Ooh, great.
They're just slightly charred, which is what I want.
I don't want them to fall apart,
just have a little smokiness from the grill.
The cheese is melting at a very fast pace.
Ooh, okay.
No, come on little guy, (gasp) hey.
My confidence level on the salad is like a nine.
I'm gonna put Ryan on fire watch.
Fire's nearly out and get everything assembled.
(water splashed) (upbeat music)
Now that everything's grilled,
I have a few more things to do.
I'm gonna actually have, before the fire goes down,
I'm gonna have Ryan just grill these quickly.
Ryan? - Mm-hmm.
- This is the best way to cook.
Gonna add some of the lemon juice to my herby thing.
Oh my God.
It's so good.
Okay, wow.
The grilled garlic and grilled lemons
just intensify the flavors even more.
Got my eggplant from earlier.
Gonna add some tahini, lemon again.
Gonna add a bit of salt, olive oil.
Oh my God.
This is definitely the best campfire meal I've ever made.
For the peppers, see how they've kind of collapsed
into themselves, they have this amazing charred skin
and you can just peel it right off.
That's the joy of a charred pepper.
I thought maybe I'd make like,
a platter, a tray, we'll see how that goes.
Course two, Mediterranean plate is done.
So now I'm just gonna plate this salad.
Let's add some mint.
The onions have probably been pickling for,
probably two or three hours
but after an hour, you can use them.
Tiny bit of olive oil.
Little bit of sumac
and salt.
This is so pretty.
I'm so happy.
My taste tester has arrived and I think
staying in line with the campfire theme,
I'm gonna serve the crumble just in the cast iron.
I think it's time for them to taste.
- Hi, I'm Hitomi, I am a nifty producer here at Buzzfeed
and I am a huge outdoor enthusiast.
I used to be a marine biologist, I love camping.
Usually on the weekends,
I try to find some fun things to do outside.
I'm super excited to see what Alexis uses today
cause we are outdoors and, you know,
there's so many options now.
We have solar ovens,
you have these small little stove top ovens.
So, there's so many things but I know what she's gonna make
is gonna be amazing, so I am super excited.
- I think this was my favorite day of the entire season
and it's the taste test I'm most excited for.
So, can we bring them in?
- [Crew Member] Bring her in.
- Hi! - Hello.
- Hi! - I'm so excited.
Thank you for having me.
- The perfect taste tester.
- Oh yay!
- I think you are the biggest outdoors person I know.
- Oh, thank you.
- I mean, you go skiing,
you go camping, you go hiking (Hitomi laughs)
you do everything.
- Aw, yeah well I'm very excited to be here.
- Course one, your appetizer (Hitomi gasps)
- Oh my goodness. - Is a zucchini
and halloumi salad.
(Alexis chuckles)
- It smells good, I mean--
- What does it smell like to you?
- Like summer, but
I feel like summer smells like barbecue
and charred coal and - Yeah.
- It definitely comes out.
- [Alexis] Course two, this whole Mediterranean spread.
- This is like insane over the top for, at a campsite,
having this come out, I'm glamping.
(Alexis laughs) Like this is,
I'm glamping right now.
Just gonna do - Yeah, that's the move.
- One of these, a Mediterranean taco.
(Alexis gasps)
- Wow, that looks really good. - Mm.
Oh my God, this is so good.
- Is it good?
- Mm-hmm.
- Can I, okay I'm gonna do the same.
- And this lemon, grilled lemons are great for anything.
Like I bet it would be great, did you use this here?
- Ey! - Ey!
(Alexis and Hitomi laugh)
- Okay, final course. - Oh, oh, beauty.
- It is, I know it looks crazy.
It's a plum cardamom crumble.
- It's almost like a, if a lemon tart
(Alexis moans in agreement) was a plum tart.
Like the same consistency.
You almost-- - Totally.
- You made a curd, a plum curd.
Yeah. - Totally,
that's exactly what it tastes like.
- This is so good.
These are the kind of unexpected things that happen
when you're camping and now you have this like whole new
masterpiece that you could be like yeah, I made a plum tart.
- Ey, plum curd, it's a new thing.
- Mm-hmm.
- Hitomi, you've probably figured it out by now
but what do you think I made this meal with?
- Firewood, right?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- It's firewood. - I mean,
you could smell it in the food.
I wish you guys could smell it cause
you could smell that like, that wood burning grill,
the charr-- - Yeah,
there's nothing else like it.
There's no appliance, there's no tool,
there's nothing else - Yeah.
- Except firewood - Yeah.
- And campfire that can give you those flavors.
- Thank you. - Thanks for trekking up here.
- Oh my God. - An hour into the woods.
- I love it, this is like best work day ever, so
(Alexis laughs) thank you so much.
- What an amazing season.
I feel proud of myself.
I feel excited, I feel creatively inspired.
Honestly, I didn't know that I could do half of this stuff
and it was great, campfire cooking was great.
Blender, easy bake oven, I just,
I feel so lucky that I got to do this.
Thank you Internet for all your suggestions,
your tips, your advice
and even some of your crazy ideas.
I'm Alexis, thanks for watching
the first season of Chef Out Of Water.
Let me know in the comments if you've made
any crazy campfire meals, I'd love to see.
(upbeat music)