Oprah and Gayle choose two cooks as winners at State Fair

By STEPHANIE ALLMON

sallmon@star-telegram.com

Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King nearly came to blows when they had to pick the "Best of the Best" at the State Fair of Texas last month.

As millions of viewers witnessed on Oprah’s show from Dallas, which aired Oct. 26, neither of the gal pals was giving in on her top choice, so they awarded each of their favorites the grand prize — a kitchen appliance suite.

Here, courtesy of the State Fair, are the recipes for Oprah’s favorite, the spectacular lemon mousse pie, and Gayle King’s favorite, the cheesy chorizo strata.

All the Best of Show recipes that they judged are on oprah.com. (Click on or search for "State Fair of Texas recipes.") They will be included in next year’s State Fair cookbook, which will feature all the winning recipes from the 2009 State Fair of Texas.

Spectacular lemon mousse pie

Makes 8 servings

Crust:

3/4 cup toasted almonds, ground

1  1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

6 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Lemon curd:

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

1 cup fresh lemon juice

4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten

1/2 cup butter, cubed

2 bars (4 ounces each) white chocolate, chopped

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 cups heavy whipping cream

Lemon topping:

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons butter, cut up

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon lemon peel

1. To make the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch pie plate. In a medium mixing bowl, combine almonds, crumbs, butter and lemon peel. Press evenly on bottom and sides of pie plate. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes. Cool completely.

2. To make the lemon curd: Bring sugar, lemon peel and juice to a boil in a heavy 3  1/2 -quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and gradually whisk about 1/4 of the hot juice mixture into egg yolks; add egg yolk mixture to remaining hot juice mixture, whisking constantly until well-blended. Place saucepan over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, at least 10 or 12 minutes (mixture will be puddinglike in thickness). Add cubes of butter, in 6 batches, whisking constantly until butter melts and mixture is well-blended after each addition. Remove from heat and pour mixture through a wire-mesh strainer into a bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on warm curd (to prevent a film from forming); chill 3 hours. Makes about 1  1/3 cups.

3. Microwave the white chocolate in a small, microwave-safe bowl on high for 1  1/2 minutes or until is is melted and smooth, stirring at 30-second intervals.

4. Beat softened cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add melted chocolate and beat until blended, stopping to scrape down sides. Add lemon curd and beat until blended.

5. Beat heavy cream at high speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gently fold into lemon mixture. Spoon mixture into prepared crust, mounding the mixture in center of crust. Chill 3 hours.

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