‘It was so much fun.’ Phoenix chef wins ‘Chopped’

After three rounds of cooking with uniquely Southwestern ingredients such as quail, nopales, chiles ristra, prickly pear and mesquite flour, Phoenix chef and artist Derek Christensen emerged as the champion on Tuesday night’s “Southwestern Strength” episode of “Chopped.”

It’s the second Food Network cooking competition show in which the James Beard Award-nominated chef has emerged victorious, after winning “Cutthroat Kitchen” in 2015.

“I am two-for-two, just about almost 10 years apart,” Christensen says. “It was so much fun.”

The former Bacanora and Huarachis Taqueria chef walks away with $10,000, which he said on the show that he would use for an adventure with his wife, Caitlin, “having fun and getting into shenanigans.” Those plans are still to be determined right now, Christensen says.

He faced three other chefs from the Southwest: Ashley Brown of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Israel “Izz” Rivera of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Tony Smith of Santa Fe, New Mexico. In the show, the chefs are asked to create an appetizer, entree and dessert for a panel of judges. This episode’s judges were Kelsey Barnard Clark, Eddie Jackson and Chris Santos. After each round, one chef is “chopped” until only the winner remains.

Although Christensen, who now crafts an evolving pop-up menu under the name Nordborg at Sauvage Wine Bar and Shop two nights a week, has watched “Chopped,” he says other than knowing the theme, he did little to prepare. On the plane, he mapped out a list of desert ingredients that may be in the mystery baskets and ideated what he’d do with them.

“If you go in with the idea you’re just going to have fun, you’re going to be a little bit lighter mentally, you’re going to have a better attitude and you’re going to cook better,” he says.

Christensen projected calm on the show and shared his delight in upboxing many of the ingredients.

Through each round of the competition, he received positive comments from the panel and managed to edge out Rivera in the dessert course. The chefs were asked to use mesquite flour, ruby red grapefruit, white chocolate chips and cactus-shaped macarons. That last ingredient was the one that tripped him up the most.

“Those things are the worst,” he says.

But Christensen prevailed with a baked mesquite-spiced date clafoutis, a custardy French dessert that’s sometimes called a crustless tart or Dutch baby. He garnished the dish with a white chocolate crema, candied grapefruit and a macaron crumble.

On Tuesday night, as the show aired, he was on hand for a watch party at Wren House Brewing Co. But he rewatched the show on Wednesday to catch more of the commentary from the judges and his fellow chefs.

“It was nice and noisy at Wren House and everybody was excited and hooting and hollering,” he says.“It’s always funny to see yourself doing things and saying things, but it was so me."

Since the episode was filmed in January, Christensen has shifted his focus away from food and towards his work as a painter. Despite his stellar performance on “Chopped,” Christensen says he doesn’t foresee changing that focus.

“I have never been happier than where I’m at and what I’m doing right now,” he says.