No Sugar? No Salt? Is this: "Dinner, Impossible?"

My favorite show is back on Food Network! Dinner: Impossible with Chef Robert Irvine is creative, entertaining and down-right fun to watch. Since Food Network has found it fit to religate this show to an impossible time slot (Wednesday at 10 PM) for those of us that start work at the crack of dawn, I've been forced to leave the analog rhelm and get digital--I actually learned how to work the VCR. Trust me, this is a challenging feat for someone as techno-challenged as I am.

A recent episode started with the good chef being escorted through the Mohegan Sun Casino to a special gaming room. Here, Robert had to risk games of chance to determine the number of people he would cook for, the ingredients he would use, and the amount of time he would be given to accomplish the mission. He first rolled the roulette wheel and learned he would cook for 1200 people. Next, he played black jack to win key ingredients. He won the use of oil with his first hand, but lady luck was not smiling on Robert, and he lost the use of sugar and salt. Finally, he rolled dice and was allotted 7 hours to cook a 5 course meal within the stated restrictions.

Cooking with neither salt nor sugar turned out to be a facinating challenge for Robert and the team of professionals that worked with him in the Mohegan's miles of kitchens. As many Americans struggle with ill health reprocussions for over consumption of salt and sugar--hypertension and diabetes are rampant, for example---I watched with facination to see what the D:I team would do.

Sodium was replaced with salty tasting foods--predominately bacon, soy, various cheeses and sugar with sweet fruit, honey and chocolate. From all accounts, patrons who were lucky to sample the various dishes found them to be perfectly seasoned and didn't miss the added salt or sugar that is normally found in fine dining-type dishes. In an effort to try to come up with a dish that would mimick the spirt if this challenge, I came up with a grilled scallop salad with Asian dressing. I mixed 1/4 cup peanut oil, 1 tbsp. fresh garlic, 1 tbsp. ginger (from a tube), 2 tbsp. sweet thai chili sauce, 1 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce, 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp. dark sesame oil, 1 tbsp. honey and a pinch of red pepper flake. Those ingredients wisked together into a beautiful, thick dressing that could also be used as a marinade for chicken, seafood or pork. I then took a half dozen small sea scallops and seared them quickly in a hot pan with minimal oil. While the scallops cooked, I tossed a small salad with muscalene greens, cherry tomatoes, red pepper strips, carrot, and toasted nuts. Once the scallops were cooked through, I plated the salad, topped it with the scallops and drizzled dressing all over.....YUM! This was Dinner: Incredible, not Dinner: Impossible!