My Vegetable Blog

As much as I love Top Chef, and this summer's spin off, Top Chef Masters, I've never before attempted one of the recipes from the show. I've made meals inspired by ones created by the "cheftestants," but never the actual dishes. Usually, they're a little more complicated than I prefer for home cooking, and the recipes on the Bravo site often seem a little vague sometimes. But you can get the basic idea.

When I saw Rick Bayless's corn tamales with braised beans and glazed mushrooms, I knew I had to try it. If you watch Top Chef Masters, you'll remember this as the gluten-free, soy-free, vegan dish Bayless prepared for Zooey Deschanel and her friends. While my diet is none of those things, I loved that Bayless was unphased by the challenge, saying something like, "Hey, I know how to cook vegetables and beans – what's the big deal?"

The recipe isn't overly complicated and doesn't have a huge list of ingredients, though, again, I do suspect a lot of those recipes from the show don't include every little thing that's thrown in. I took a tiny bit of artistic license and used a couple of great local ingredients when I made it for a little dinner party last weekend.

I love to finish a pot of beans with vinegar, and I'd made my first trip to Old Town Oil that morning and picked up a bottle of their fig balsamic, so I had to give it a try. The sweet, mellow flavor complemented the chili flavors really well.

When it came time to glaze the shitakes, I realized I didn't have the agave nectar the recipe called for, but I had plenty of maple syrup from my friends at Burton's Maplewood Farm in Medora, Ind. (Find them at the Green City Market and the Downtown Farmstand.)

Maple syrup and mushrooms may seem like a strange combination, but when combined with homemade chipotle salsa, it created a wonderfully sweet, tangy and spicy glaze. Those little mushroom bites were probably my favorite part of the whole dish. The recipe was a hit with vegans, vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.

Though I do apologize for the less-than-stellar photo – I was only able to pause for a moment before digging right in. The Top Chef Masters finale airs tomorrow night, and of course I'll be rooting for the hometown favorite, Rick Bayless.

Here's the recipe: Corn Tamales with Chile-Braised Beans, Braised Greens and Glazed Mushrooms