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Zumbo show update

Here’s a media release from Channel 7 from last week:
Top pastry chef Gigi Falanga joins a crème de la crème line-up on ZUMBO’S JUST DESSERTS.
She will appear alongside hosts and judges, Adriano Zumbo and Rachel Khoo, as Zumbo’s assistant.
Under their watchful eye, 12 dessert makers will put their sweet making skills to the test until the ultimate dessert king or queen is crowned.
Gigi will act as time keeper and report back to Adriano and Rachel. “I’ll be keeping a close eye on everything the contestants are doing,” she says. “I’ll be asking them lots of questions; is that the right consistency? Do the flavours work well together?”
Originally from Brazil, Gigi is one of the most exciting emerging talents in the Australian dessert industry.
After moving here in 2004, she has ascended the ranks of Sydney’s best fine dining restaurants including the Shangri-La Hotel, The Bathers’ Pavilion, Manta and Jonah’s.
Her combination of elegance, finesse and creativity has been moulded by some of the country’s best pastry masterminds including Anna Polyviou, John Ralley and Alfonso Ales.
Australia’s most passionate dessert makers are ready to make some magic in Zumbo’s candycoloured Dessert Factory.
They’ll bake. They’ll create. But only one will rise. Who will be Australia’s best?
ZUMBO’S JUST DESSERTS – an original Channel Seven concept from the makers of MY KITCHEN RULES – is coming to Seven after the Olympics.


The Olympics end August 21, so it’s while off yet.
And here’s a pic from Gigi’s Twitter. Amazing!


Here’s a link to her Facebook page if you want to see more of her stunning creations.



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MasterChef – Wed, June 22

In this gourmet cinema team challenge, the judges reveal that the contestants must cater for 165 cinema goers at a very special cinema event – the screening of MasterChef Australia’s greatest hits.

The contestants have to cook for diners who are watching a special film: MasterChef’s Greatest Hits. I wouldn’t mind seeing that, especially some of the dishes from the early seasons

Brett is captain of the blues, which also includes Heather (sans headband), Chloe, Theresa, Elena and Harry (sans top knot).
Red captain is Intense Matt, aided by Trent, Karmen, Elise and Mimi. Because red is short a member, they get to cook fewer covers but it’s still tough when the other team has two members per dish.
Both teams go with a Japanese theme and two members of each team head off to Coles, MKR style, to shop for protein such as you’ve never seen in your local supermarket.
Then it’s off to Caulfield racecourse to prep for movie night.
Brett is a bit thrown to learn red is doing similar dishes and his usually excellent leadership is a bit lacking when it comes to describing the dishes.
Over at red, Matt is communicating to his team well. Karmen is making yet another parfait for their matcha flavour choctop.
Matt tells G & G red is cooking honey-glazed salmon and beef tataki, and is reminded the dishes need to be able to be eaten with a fork while the moviegoer is reclining in a deck chair.
Brett says blue is making torched salmon (yum!) and grilled beef with a soz but is very light on detail for course two. Luckily Heather decides to sort out the beef dish and Elena lends her a hand. Chloe and Theresa are making a Japanese-inspired black sesame pavlova for dessert – Chloe sure loves her meringue.
Karmen is pretty much doing the red team matcha and lemon curd parfait on her own as Elise keeps getting pulled away for other tasks.
Oh god – George is doing his “yes, George!” demand. Urgh.
And then Gaz gets to be the bad guy, trying to put the frighteners on Harry that his dish can’t be eaten with fingers. Gaz easily picks up the food and then deliberately drops the rice base. Enough with the fake drama! Harry says if they toast the rice more even unco people like Gaz will be able to eat it.

The MasterChef movie starts screening and god those judges looked more dishevelled back then. Nice to see the lovely Adam Liaw on screen.

The judges taste


First up is the blue team’s torched salmon with rice (can someone please deliver aburi salmon to me right now!): The judges like it, it’s well-balanced and it doesn’t fall apart.
The red team’s salmon with kimchi: George loves the fish and pumpkin miso puree. Gaz says it’s a hit.

Back in the kitchen, it’s George’s turn to pretend to be the unco fool who can’t put a forkful of slice beef into his mouth. “They’re not seals,” he tells IM. Come on George, no-one sits in a beanbag to eat thinking they are going to walk away unbesmirched. Easy fix – cut the beef smaller.
Over at blue they haven’t really counted their beef. Uh oh.

The judges taste
Red’s beef tataki with pickled daikon: It looks pretty and the judges like it, especially the soy caramel.


Blue’s ponzu beef salad with fried mushrooms: It’s very similar to the red team’s dish. Matt says it’s a subtle dish with lots of freshness.

Back in the kitchen, the blue team is short of beef. Elena’s earlier call to weigh it out fell on deaf ears. Brett knows, as captain, it’s his fault. At least they have a spare fillet ready to chop and cook. Crisis averted.
George utters the obligatory: “It’s going to come down to dessert.”
The teams are working on the desserts. The blue team’s meringues cracked but they smash them so it doesn’t matter.

The judges taste (as a Reynold flashback plays on the big screen)


Blue’s black sesame pavlova with apricot: The judges are keen to taste it. The combo of yuzu curd and apricots is “a dream”.
Red’s matcha and lemon curd parfait choc top: Matt loves the matcha and lemon curd ripple.


Service is done and everyone’s cheering when a waiter runs in to shout thery are 15 parfaits short. Yeah, as if. No way did that stuff up that count or the edit would have alluded to it earlier. The poor reds have to rummage through the parfait offcuts to get something together.
Cue cranky talk from the judges about inconsistent plating.

The winners are ..
Blue team because the judges loved the sesame pav dessert.

Some strong cooks in that elimination, although Karmen may be in trouble if it’s savoury and we haven’t seen Mimi or Elise cook a cracking dish for a while.



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US Bachelorette to start

bachelorettejojo
Fans of the US Bachelor series will be happy to hear Nine is fast tracking the latest season of The Bachelorette, screening episodes here only a few hours later.
Real estate developer JoJo was the runner-up in the last season of The Bachelor. She’s 25, which is over the hill in US TV land, so time is running out for her to find true lurrrve.
Tomorrow (Tues, May 24) 7.30pm on 9Life and it is repeated twice the following day.



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Eurovision is almost here

SBS is awash with Eurovision programming this week, with Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang again leading us through the confounding awfulness that is the competition.
Last year Guy Sebastian was our representative, since we’re not part of Europe, and this year it’s Dani Im from X Factor. I didn’t watch her season but I believe she’s rather good.


The esteemed Lee Lee Chin gets to read the votes again.
If you are mad keen you can get up at 5am Wednesday to watch the semi finals begin. Otherwise, the final coverage starts at 5am Sunday and goes for three-and-a-half hours. It’s then repeated at the more agreeable timeslot of 7.30pm, or you can be like me and just watch the highlights on the news.
Any Eurovision fans out there? Zhee – is it a big deal over there?



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Suvivor: The under the radar tactics of Mark the Chicken

A bit of fun from CBS (let’s hope it doesn’t mean he’s about to get the chop):

And here’s Julia’s Ponderosa video:



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MasterChef starts Sun

Only a few days until MC starts on 10. In the meantime, read this nice interview with the MC three.
story in The Age
Th first two nights are auditions while the blurb for Tuesday says: In the final round of the judges’ auditions, seven contestants all vying for the final apron must prefectly recreate Shannon Bennett’s popular chocolate bar in the first pressure test of the season.
And on Wednesday: The top 24 contestants enter the kitchen for their first mystery box challenge to create a dish with ingredients chosen by 2015 winner Billie.



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MKR – Mon – Lauren cooks

It’s the night where we see if Lauren and Carmine can beat the Curlies’ 60. They hop off the plane and allegedly go straight from the airport to shop. Really? Wish I looked that fresh walking through the airport.

Did they really just get off a plane?
Did they really just get off a plane?

Their menu
Entree
Vitello Tonnato (veal with tuna sauce or as Pete calls it, Italian surf ‘n’ turf)
Duck breast with figs and vincotto
Main
Beef cheek ravioli
Lamb rack with crispy polenta and pea puree
Dessert
Tartufo
Citrus sfogliatelle

All sounds nice but nothing mind blowing there. While the Curlies blew some of their dishes last night they were definitely interesting and pushing the boat out in terms of flavour combos and textures.
They are shopping at Coles St Agnes, which is in northern Adelaide, and grabbing packets of beef stock. Amazeballs.
Back home they explain they are sous videing both their entrees, which is actually smart because once the meat comes to temperature you know everything’s perfectly cooked. Surprised they aren’t using a sous vide machine, but perhaps that’s an MKR no-no in a home kitchen.
Carmine is determined their polenta won’t be bland this time around. Somehow the talk turns to diamonds and Lauren mentions she’d rather have a PlayStation than diamonds. It’s one of the first likeable things they’ve shown her saying.
Then she warns Carmine not to get a hair in the pasta dough, as she flips her pony tail around. I kind of hope Zana does get another hair, just so we can see her expression. Lauren gets working on the sfogliatelle pastry and it does look like a lot of effort – I hope it pays off.
The guests arrive and they’ve put Jordan in a hideous dotty shirt.

Not his usual snappy self.
Not his usual snappy self.

The guests are seated and talk turns to past performance. Zana is expecting pasta but questions whether they’ve actually done it successfully in the past. Jordan jumps in to remind everyone of the RSL challenge – the one where Lauren cooked this ritolo [sic], as it was listed on the blackboard.


Plus One then comments Lauren and Carmine are the only team to have received a one and a 10 for their dishes. Did a producer just whisper that in your ear, Gianni? Manu gave them a 10 for their saffron cockles and mussels and croutons, and then ducked into the kitchen to request a doggie bag of broth, much to Carmine’s delight.


And the ones were bestowed upon them by Fass and The Khoo when they did their infamous seafood in a bag. (This was way back in February and the other guests at the time were Dee and the Mute, Stepsies, Dad and Tarq; Chris and Cookie and Mr and Mrs Chops. Bet you’d forgotten some of those teams were every in the comp.)
Here come the judges to the tunes of Bodyrockers’ I Like the Way You Move, and again Manu gets the weird jacket while Pete looks sharp in his usual grey or blue tones.

Don't spill anything on that jacket, Manu.
Don’t spill anything on that jacket, Manu.

Orders taken, it’s back in the kitchen but not before we get the American accent. Ick. They are serving the duck on a parsnip puree – which is the umpteenth time we’ve seen that in this comp. When did parsnips get so trendy. Lauren is determined their plating will look better this time as it’s been “crap” in the past and she’s right. The veal definitely looks pretty; the duck not so successful as it’s all rather brown.

Time to chew


Manu has the duck and it’s a huge portion: “I feel that I skipped the entree and went straight to main course… it’s a beautiful dish.” He wanted to the duck skin crispier.
Pete has the veal and tuna and loved their modern take on it with the plating and adding texture. “I can’t fault the dish. The sauce is absolutely delicious.”
Everyone is surprised they had such a strong start. All that practise cooking under pressure in the sudden deaths is paying off.

Back in the kitchen they get on to main, but the beef cheek ravioli they prepared before are all sticking to the Chux upon which they’ve been laid, which is meant to be damp but looks rather dry. Lauren manages to do some patch-ups on the “ravs” and fries the polenta. Hope they tasted it. The lamb rack looks well cooked. They plate up and they are definitely not as pretty looking as the entrees – they need lessons from Mitch and Laura. Looking at the lamb I think they should have done wet polenta. And why make delicate ravioli and then smother it in cream sauce so you can’t even see it?

Time to chew


Pete had the lamb and it was “perfect”. The polenta gets two thumbs up.
Manu had the ravioli and he liked the elements but thinks they didn’t go together as the porcini sauce overwhelmed the beef cheek. Both Laura and Zana only have a few bites of ravioli.

Back in the kitchen it’s dessert time and we learn they are serving the tartufo in a glass with a choc disc on top, which will melt when a caramel sauce is poured over it (a la last season’s MasterChef). Sounds fun but hope it’s not too sweet.
Plus One loooves sfogliatelle and Lauren is happy with them, although they look a little blond. But they are having trouble with their choc discs as they’re stuck in the moulds. Wouldn’t you just temper one layer of choc, let it cool on acetate, then do cookie cutter discs? Luckily Carmine uses his concreting skills to salvage a few discs with a palette knife. The last thing they do is pour their hot caramel soz and they’d better sprint to the table before it cools.

Time to chew


Carmine is freaking out about the temperature of the soz. worriedsoz

Even Pete cracks a smile when the soz melts the disc.
Even Pete cracks a smile when the soz melts the disc.

Poor Manu has to struggle to eat the pastry with just a spoon. Yet again no dessert forks! He says Lauren should be proud of the pastry. “Crispy, golden, bewdiful. The inside perhaps a little dry…” And it wasn’t sweet enough. “But it’s a brilliant e-fought.”
Pete says the tartufo was perfect and delicious and he liked the theatrical element.
It’s fun watching the Sisters enjoy pouring the soz and Zanna and Plus One wisely decide to eat the pastry with their hands. Zana and Gianni give props for the pastry, which they admit is incredibly hard to make, but agree with Manu on the filling.
Looks like Lauren and Carmine will beat the Curlies, and deservedly so based on tonight’s efforts (yes, I know – it hurts!). If only the Curlies had simplified things!

Scores
Teams
Sisters 8; Curlies 5; Zana and Plus One 7; Anna and Jordan 7. Total 27/40
Judges
Entree Pete 10, Manu 7; Main Pete 9, Manu 7; Dessert Pete 10, Manu 7, Total 77.

Tomorrow night: It’s Anna and Jordan and it looks like the pressure gets to Jordan, at least. And we hear Manu say: “I would never talk to my mum like this.”

Windsong, are you crying right now?
Windsong, are you crying right now?

And … Just flicked the channel to Nine and it’s semi finals on Reno Rumble. That bodybuilder guy is still in it. Does anyone care?



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Reno Rumble room reveals

Surprisingly, Reno Rumble is on tonight. I was thinking of recording it and fastforwarding through to see the room reveals, but this video pretty much covers it.
I quite like the bathroom with the exposed brick.



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