MARIA MAZON: I love the holidays,
but between decorating, shopping, and of course,
cooking, it's a lot of work.
Now that I've been a competitor on Top Chef everyone
expects me to cook for the holidays.
But that puts me in the kitchen all day long.
So we are having a gift exchange to challenge my two Top Chef
besties to create delicious, fast, and easy dishes
that everyone will love.
Hello, hello! SHOTA NAKAJIMA: Hello.
DAWN BURRELL: Hey!
I've got presents!
Oh, a girl loves gifts.
Oh, yeah.
Feliz Navidad.
We're going to do a white elephant game for you guys.
Each box has a name of a protein that's
going to be the main ingredient you have
to incorporate in your dish.
Ladies first. - That's right.
Go right ahead.
Beautiful gifts come in tiny packages.
Are you talking about me?
Yes, boo.
Oh, pork.
That is a nice one.
I can do a lot with this.
Shota, you get to pick your own
gift from here or steal Dawn's.
Ooh.
So I can be like the branch.
That's the whole point of white elephant.
Well, you look really happy with the pork.
You know I am.
So I'm going to take that smile and that gift of the pig.
You are so annoying.
We knew this.
What's in here?
Turkey.
If somebody I know that can do something with turkey,
it will be you.
Our friends from Campbell's stocked
our pantry, so incorporate one of their soups
to create a magical dish.
We have 40 minutes and your time starts now.
Good luck.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
My dish is crispy turkey paillard
with a puttanesca sauce.
Puttanesca sauce is a tomato-based sauce that also
has capers and anchovies in it.
I think this is a great holiday dish
because it is not a traditional turkey dish at all.
It is a different take on the traditional holiday ingredient.
I smell sesame oil.
Mm-hmm.
I want to do a classic katsu, breaded in fried pork,
served with cabbage, and tonkatsu sauce,
which is a tomato-based.
I'm using Campbell's tomato soup because when you only
have 40 minutes and want to add a lot of flavor,
you got to use the right shortcuts.
Are you having fun?
Of course, I'm having fun.
Hey, there's no leaning in my kitchen.
Oh, what is it?
If you have time to lean, you have time to clean.
[LAUGHTER]
So this is a meat tenderizer, which is great.
But if you don't have one, you can use a cast iron
and just smack it.
So you can tenderize it at home too.
I don't know about you, Shota, but when I bread,
I do my best to keep one hand wet and one hand dry.
I use chopsticks, so I keep both hands technically dry.
DAWN BURRELL: Boom.
That makes sense.
This dish is really simple.
You need one pot and a fryer.
That's it.
A table fryer is great because frying in a pot
sometimes can get messy or it's hard to control temperature.
But you can just pick up one of those
and make donuts for yourselves or waffles.
Fried food is really healthy for you, at least in my mind.
- You can make me a churro. - Yes.
A Japanese churro.
Japanese churro.
There you go.
"Chu-ro", say the "erre".
Churro.
"Chu-ru-ru-ru-ro."
MARIA MAZON: Are you frying capers, Dawn?
Yes.
SHOTA NAKAJIMA: I did fried capers too.
I could have just done your fried capers too.
I know, but you don't love me like that.
Yes, I do.
You told me that a long time ago.
All you have to do is tell me.
You don't communicate.
No, there's a lot--
This is like holidays.
1 minute left.
SHOTA NAKAJIMA: 1 minute left?
That's not going to work.
MARIA MAZON: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, hands up.
What's up, lady?
We did it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MARIA MAZON: Well, happy holidays, guys.
Happy Holidays!
SHOTA NAKAJIMA: Enjoy.
DAWN BURRELL: You wanna take two?
WOMAN: Yes, ma'am.
Everybody has a dish?
Perfect.
OK, Shota, please tell us what you made.
Today I made pork katsu with cabbage braised
down in Campbell's tomato soup.
It's kind of a classic twist of a Japanese home cooking
that I did for the holidays.
Oh, it's so good.
MARIA MAZON: OK, Dawn?
I made a crispy turkey paillard
with a puttanesca sauce and a brown butter caper sauce
on the top.
It's so crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.
It's really good. - It's buttery.
Oh my goodness.
Please, everybody, enjoy.
Thank you.
I need a bite because I am starving.
I love a good pork katsu.
- That is good. - Thank you.
Both of you.
It was super funny to see that you guys kind of used
the similar ingredients, you know, Campbell's tomato soup,
both breading the protein.
But they're like day and night.
Yeah.
There's a special place in my heart for cabbage,
and put tomatoes in it, and I'm done.
I think it's the anchovies, the amount of anchovies,
maybe you put in, is--
I love the fact that you put the herbs on the panko.
That was--
Thank you.
so original, yet simple as well, you know?
I mean, I love them both equally.
I keep going back to this pork, and because it's so crispy.
I keep going to Shota's cabbage and your puttanesca,
like mixing together.
I am so lucky to have you cook today for the holidays.
Thank you very much, guys. SHOTA NAKAJIMA: My pleasure.
Thank you. Fun day.
MARIA MAZON: Very fun day.