Verona Resident Wins Premiere Episode of 'Cook Your Ass Off'

Top Chef Season 5 contestant Ariane Duarte of Montclair's CulinAriane is known for her seafood and simple dishes prepared with seasonal ingredients. 

The Verona resident also makes a mean grilled cheese.

Duarte emerged the winner on the premiere episode of HLN's Cook Your Ass Off Sunday night with her rendition of the classic comfort food, as well as a healthier take on the Indian samosa and a fried rice-style dish starring quinoa.

The cable network's new cooking competition, from the producers of Chopped, challenges chefs to create healthier versions of a special guest's favorite dishes.

On Sunday night's premiere, "Stop Carbing", Duarte and two other competitors helped a vegetarian with Lyme disease cook more nutritiously for herself and her son.

Duarte's smoky pear grilled cheese with fresh tomato soup wowed the judges in Round 2 of the timed cook-off. 

"On the surface I looked at this and thought, 'Boring,'", said judge Nate Appleman, "and then I saw the kale inside, and then I tasted the smoked cheese ... and there is nothing boring about this."

Appleman told the mother of two, "I can tell that you're a mom because you snuck in kale without really knowing."

In Round 1, Duarte gives samosas a makeover, reducing refined carbs with an Indian-inspired quesadilla stuffed with vegetables and paired with a yogurt sauce. 

As the winner of the first round of the competition, Duarte got to choose one of three "twist" ingredients her opponents had to use in the grilled-cheese round.

Her choice? Ostrich eggs.

"I think this will trip them up a little bit," she said.

Indeed, one chef gets sent home and Duarte moves on to Round 3 to create an "ideal meal" using garbanzo beans and kohlrabi. 

Duarte gets the hat trick — and a chance at the $50,000 grand prize — by taking the rice out of fried rice and substituting it with quinoa.

Cook Your Ass Off airs on Sundays, at 7 p.m. EST, on HLN.

Cook like Ariane Duarte at home. Get the Smoky Pear Grilled Cheese and other recipese.

Erika Desimone contributed to this article.