So - this is the second installment of the blog, so if you missed the first one, you might not know my "story." Why would I want to cook every recipe in of TOP CHEF: The Cookbook? There are a lot of recipes and some of them seem a bit complicated. So here's the deal: I can be a little compulsive, and I love to cook, I love a challenge, and, if I may say so myself, I'm a pretty darn good cook. And I love to watch Top Chef. Love it! I simply don't understand why when one season ends, they cannot start a new season in just a few weeks! So, here I am - follow me along this adventure to see if I can keep up with Harold, Tiffani, Dave, Ilan, Marcel, Sam, Hung, Dale L., Casey, and the rest of the best of Top Chef - and maybe even "top" them myself.

And I figured, if I'm going to make all these recipes, I might as well document it! So, I'm blogging all about it! And I'm looking forward to hearing your comments, too!

Having had a very positive experience with my first recipe from the Top Chef Cookbook, Michael's Trout and Salmon dish (well, I made it with catfish and salmon) from Season 2, I was excited for my next adventure in the kitchen.

The next recipe I chose to make was Howie Kleinberg's Black Truffle Burger with Taleggio Cheese, Tomato, and Radicchio (from Season 3 - this was from Episode 8 - it was a Quickfire Challenge where the contestants were asked to create a new concept of a burger for the Red Robin restaurants' line of "Adventuresome Burgers"). This was a super-fun challenge to watch. Daniel Boulud was the guest judge of the Quickfire, and I will admit that it didn't surprise me too much that the winner of the Quickfire was the contestant who incorporated truffles into his burger. (See "Bonus Materials" below for more on Daniel Boulud and the history of the "Decadent" Burger.) (Note that I made the recipe for 5 people, so I increased all quantities by 25%.)