Despite Seven’s promo’s it’s not Mrs Spew cooking tonight – it’s Della and Tully. I reckon they will do well.
Seriously? That's a thing? 😃 pic.twitter.com/FgSF8bacYX
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) 19 February 2017
So just ignore this promo.
Promo here
Della and Tully are BFFs from Queensland. Tully works in indigenous health and Della is a construction lawyer. Google explains this latter profession to me thus: A construction lawyer provides expert advice in the areas of law relating to building, construction, and engineering and associated industries. Construction is Australia’s largest industry.
Entree is chargilled quail with couscous, pomegranate, feta and mint. Sounds delicious – but the judges are worried there may not be a soz.
Smoked duck with beetroot, grapes and cherries. It’s good they’ve kept it vague – smart move in case elements go pear shaped and they can’t put them on.
Dessert is orange cake with yoghurt sorbet and Della is using her Maltese grandma’s cake recipe.
They get through the shopping in good time and get home to set up their boho restaurant in what looks to be a gorgeous backyard. They start cooking bang on time – hooray, organised people.
I hope cooking the mini orange cakes so early isn’t a mistake. Being so small they could well dry out, and it’s not like they would take that long to cook in the final prep time.
The guests arrive and Mrs Spew isn’t impressed by the boho vibe of the spectacular set up – she’s more a fine dining girl.
Oh no, the girls are having trouble with the couscous. It’s written on the packet, girls! (I just boil the kettle and chuck it all in a large tupperware container to steam – easy!) The pressure is getting to them. Pete and Manu arrive and there are no wardrobe disasters tonight.
In the kitchen the girls are having soz dramas and keep having to add sugar to their pomegranate glaze. Della heads out to the barbie to grill the quail but she seems to be struggling a little with managing so many birds at once.
At the table, Deckhand Model says he’s happy to lowball scores even if his wife disagrees. Kind Court responds with: “Where’s your pride if you’re scoring people poorly and overriding your wife and her opinion? I think people that score strategically need a kick in the shins.”
Meanwhile, Della realises some of her quail is undercooked. Uh oh – shouldn’t have walked away from them, Della, and you had the heat up too high! Get it together – I want you girls to do well. She chucks them back on the grill. They get everything on the plate and their glaze is caramelising as they pour. Oh dear.
ENTREE IS SERVED
Mr Tool (aka Physio Matt) is not happy because he is being forced to eat carbs. Guess he could run to the loo for a spew, as his wife did.
Pete’s quail is too raw for him to eat and the soz was too reduced. Manu says it needed a minute more on the barbie.
What a shame.
Over dinner chat, Mrs Spew reveals she met Mr No Carbs at a seafood festival and proceeded to shove him against a wall and pash him. Lovely.
In the kitchen, Della is starting to crack when she realises her duck isn’t cooked enough in the smoker. She has a little moment but pulls herself together and the ducks looks fine in the end.
Does it need a crunchy element, though?
MAIN IS SERVED
“This is what I was expecting from you two,” says Pete. He and Manu think they had too many components, though, and should have ditched the aioli and maybe the grapes. Pete reminds them there is a cheffy trend to only have three things on a plate.
The girls are making a fruit salad to go with their orange cake and yoghurt sorbet when Pete pops in to remind them to keep it simple, stupid.
Tully dishes some tough love on Della and tells her to dish the fruit salad that was created by her 100 aunties named Theresa. Instead they make some candied oranges and an orange syrup for moisture. But Tully decides the syrup is too much. They plate up and it looks fine but the so-called caramelised orange looks rather thick and sloppy.
DESSERT IS SERVED
The judges are going to say it was too dry. Manu says the sorbet was a bit icy and the cake too dense. Pete likes that they showed restraint but he wishes they’d put soz on to add moisture. Manu says the caramelised orange was not cooked long enough. Pete: “I don’t think we’ve seen the best of you tonight.”
THE SCORES
Teams
Sisters 5
Court and Dunc 5
Brothers 4
Spew and partner 5
Deckhand/Model and wife 5
Judges
Entree Manu 5, Pete 4 (generous really, given the main element of the dish was inedible)
Main Manu and Pete both 7
Dessert Manu 5 Pete 6
Total 58
So they are in the bottom two, with only one team left to cook. I hope they make it through and Della can shake off her nerves, because it looks as though they know flavours and can cook – just not under pressure.
But the promos are all about some big cheating scandal at Mr and Mrs Speworthy’s instant restaurant and we see Pete telling them to go back to the kitchen to grab some offending item. Ooh – what is it? A bottle of soz? Remember a while back when someone used a jar of bought curry paste, and then there was Mr Chops last year and the easy peasy lemon squeezy dramas.
