Father's Day Iron Chef Challenge

My first father's day as a father had a rather interesting twist.

Me and my father-in-law were told after mass that we were cooking lunch. What's more, all of the ingredients had been chosen for us.

We had:

1 large butternut squash
2lbs pork loin
2 large cactus leaves
1/2lb mushrooms
2 large leeks
1lb of brussel sprouts
A pack of 20 egg roll wrappers (pasta, not filo)

We were also allowed to use anything we had in the kitchen.

OK, so we had no idea what to do with either the cactus of the squash. Luckily, a quick google showed me a cactus chilli recipe, and my Columbian brother-in-law showed up in the nick of time with an idea for the squash.

The egg-roll wrappers were more problematic, since they had to be deep fried and we don't own a frier. Some quick thinking later had them cut into shreds and turned into a chinese style pasta.

So we had four courses:

1. Butternut Squash Soup
   Boiled squash, lightly seasoned with cilantro garnish
2. #3 Potsticker with Columbian Brussel Sprouts
   Some of the third course, wrapped in a couple of the egg-roll wrappers we were experimenting with, shallow fried, with lightly seasoned brussel sprouts in a lemon joice broth
3. Pork chilli con cactus
   1 lb pork cubed, cactus leaves, mushrooms, onions, white kidney beans, two cerano peppers in a garlic chilli sauce
4. Open egg-rolls
   1 lb pork, shredded, with shredded leeks, carrots, mushrooms, onions, spring onions in a garlic, oyster, stir fry sauce with soy sauce and black pepper over the boiled shredded egg-roll pasta in soy sauce

Overall, it all seemed to go down well and no-one got stomach ache, so I think we passed the challenge.

We had a final course of Baskin&Robbins father's day ice-cream cake.

Oh, and lots of beer while we were cooking. Hey, it was father's day after-all.