Chef Silvia Baldini of Strawberry and Sage in New Canaan Competes on Chopped

Chef Silvia Baldini, picture from a recent press release

Connecticut has seen its fair share of competitors on Food Network such as Chef Plum of PlumLuvFoods winning Guy’s Grocery Games, Nicole and Jeremy of Hardcore Sweet Cupcakes, Prasad Chirnomula of Thali, and Christian Petroni and Adam Greenberg of Fortina on Chopped, but there’s a new boss in town. That bad ass chef? Silvia Baldini, the founder and chef of New Canaan’s Strawberry and Sage culinary group. She is a graduate of the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu in London and the Cornell/French Culinary Institute. And, on March 31 at 10 pm she’ll be putting all she learned and all her experience at heavily-awarded restaurants across the world to the test as she competes on Food Network’s Chopped.

What will she do with the secret ingredients in the mystery basket for the appetizer, entrée, and dessert courses on the “Fake Cake, Real Stakes” episode? That’s always the question, but the episode description on Food Network gives us some hints as to what might be in store for all four contestants. The main problem that they’ll face is that things aren’t as they seem and are deceivingly disguised. In the appetizer round “chicken wings” are given to the chefs, but in actuality they’re really sweet treats. And, in the second and third rounds, there is a “cake” and “tomato soup” that will undoubtedly throw contestants in a major tizzy.

Who will Judges Maneet Chauhan, Marc Murphy, and Chris Santos chop . . . and who will become the next Chopped Champion? We wish we knew so we didn’t have to wait through all this anticipation, but we definitely send Chef Baldini all our best and we’ll definitely be watching live and cheering her on. You can also rewatch the episode 4/1 at 1 am, 4/9 at 8 pm, and 4/10 at 3 am. Here’s more about the episode and Strawberry and Sage:

“Fake Cake, Real Stakes”

It’s a great fake out, when all the basket ingredients are in disguise. Everyone should taste the “chicken wings” in the first basket, which are a secretly sweet item. The “cake” in the second round and “tomato soup” in the dessert basket also require a close inspection. The duplicitous ingredients lead to trouble for all and even more potential for trickery lurks in the pantry. (Episode: CQ2312H)

About Strawberry and Sage

Strawberry and Sage is an innovative culinary group that celebrates food and art.

We offer catering and food preparation for select clients, event management, strategic partnerships in the food and media industry, cooking instruction, menu development, recipe development, writing and testing; photography and food styling; cookbook and media consulting including TV, digital, and social media; and restaurant and kitchen consultations.