Tag: Nigella

General chat with Bobi – May 12

Many thanks to Bobi for sending in a new general chat post – I’m focusing on posting this on TTV while MasterChef contestants fawn over Nigella – Juz

Just a reminder to all that it is election month. I recognise the leadership debates have been riveting – Right? Right, guys? – but now that they are over, I don’t need any more emotionally fraught ads. In my defence, I am an early voter and, having made my decisions, I am now in blah, blah, blah territory. It’s such a relief.

I don’t have any Netflix recommendations. I am thinking of cancelled my Netflix subscription out of pique (they cancelled two of my favourite shows) and I am watching more and more off ABC iview and SBS streaming.

I am loving Mum (ABC). It is one of those delightful short and sweet British shows with fabulous actors that can use their faces to show emotion; a little bit over the top in parts but it adds to the humour. I don’t actually laugh out loud but I smile a lot.
(Juz’s note: You can read more about Mum
here at The Guardian

QI (ABC) is one of my favourite go-to’s. I am sure everyone is familiar with the concept but it never fails to delight. The spin-off podcast (No such thing as a Fish) by the QI elves is one of the best for walking the dog. I am always open to podcast suggestions – the tedium of walking the greyhound for half an hour every day around the same couple of blocks is only mitigated by a good podcast.

The Good Fight (SBS) is so much fun. Again, I seem to be late to some of these shows. I can’t possibly be alone?

I am watching Sally and Possum (ABC Kids). I know – I said it would be random. I am learning Auslan and it’s good practice. And some of these kids shows are charming: if you have a spare half hour, try Hardball (ABC Me).

I am tuned in to Agatha Christie ABC Murders. It’s not a fabulous story line but it has John Malkovich. It’s worth watching just for him.

More randomness; we went to Melbourne to see West Side Story. I was disappointed, not so much in the play – which hasn’t changed in 60 years – but in my reaction. To recap, almost-engaged girl meets boy father-wouldn’t-approve-of, boy kills girls brother, girl sleeps with boy, almost fiancée kills boy (revenge/jealousy? : who knows/who cares), almost fiancée goes to goal (or jail because it’s American), girl says it’s everyone else’s fault, everyone’s remorseful, they kiss and make up. And let’s throw in a rape scene just for laughs. What a fun night out.

If we are going to ban Michael Jackson, then I think we need to revisit musicals like this, and can we throw in Rigoletto just to round things off? So offensive. Rigoletto, that is.

Feel free to correct my use of : and ;. My grammar is iffy at the best of times and more so when I become annoyed.

And to finish on a lighter note, yay to Harry and Meg. I was getting a little tired of them and then Harry was such a happy-chappy when the baby was born that I could only be happy too.

Bobi



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MasterChef – elimination and Nigella masterclass

Masterclass is back – yay! But first we have to get through that pesky elimination, so the episode runs for two hours.
The blurb says: The contestants in the losing team are in the kitchen for what will be the last time for one of them. Plus, the first Masterclass of the season with Nigella Lawson.



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MasterChef – Nigella Week starts

Nigella Lawson is here for the week, so hopefully she will try and teach George manners again.
It’s a mystery box challenge.


Gorgeous dress.

Everyone is freaking out that Goddess Nigella has descended from the heavens. The judges are in all blue and Matt has toned things down so as motnto distract from the colour pop that is the goddess.
What’s in her Mystery Box?

Marsala
Chicken livers
Squid
Cons milk
Ginger
Chilli
Cherries
Passion fruit
Anchovies “the bacon of the sea”, she says
Thyme

They also get the usual staples; 75 min to cook. Five dishes will be tasted.

The winner wil be in the immunity challenge and is flown to London for afternoon tea with Nigella. Cue exploding heads.

Reece is playing it cool until Heston week.

The judges wind up Kristen by telling her passionfruit with squid is a dicey combo but I googled it and there are tonnes of recipes.
Nigella is giving contestants some handy tips, like using a spoon to peel ginger. Nice change from disinterested Heston.
Oh no, we are getting a talking head from Genene about her rough trot thus far. So she’s in trouble. And she’s making semifreddo, so there will be setting issues.
Hoda is making “cotton candy” but I guess she means Middle Eastern fairy floss, which is less sweet.
The young dessert girl, Jess, has the red mounds of death out. She’s doing a Snow Egg inspired dessert.
Reece is doing chicken liver parfait with crackers.
Uh oh – Hoda is having fairy floss trouble because she does not have lemon juice. Try vinegar, Hoda! Nup – she had to ditch it.
Gina the Italian nonna has made a really interesting looking pasta and squid dish.
THE JUDGES TASTE
Reece’s parfait: it looks like that room Matt and Kim did on The Block that was paint splatter everywhere – the crime scene. But it tastes good.
Genene: I was wrong – she got a dish up. It’s an A cup of passionfruit semifreddo on a round of thyme crumb. They adore it. Poor Genene is overcome by the praise and starts crying.
Gina’s pasta with salt and pepper squid: they like it (and I realise Matt pronounces it pas-ta not pass-ta).
Jess’s “snow egg”: she was 10 when Peter Gilmore had it on the show. Yes, it’s eight years since Callum and Adam made it. She tells The impressed judges she has never travelled because her mum keeps her “in a bubble”.
Kristen’s squid: “That is really quite something,” says Nigella.
THE WINNER IS …
Kristen! Good one, South Straya! She’s thrilled.

INVENTION TEST
It has to be a dish that snaps, crackles or pops – the judges are all about aural. Open pantry, garden in play and 75 mins.
Adele of the dodgy corn fritters is doing Cajun chicken pasta with chicken skin. I am worried about Adele.
Ben the seafood specialist does a smart pick, using crab claw for “snap”.
Jenny’s snap will come via tempered chocolate – tricky in a warm kitchen with little time.
Khanh is using pork crackle and Jess a black sesame tuile.
Loki is doing a coffee and chai ice cream with popping candy.
A few randoms explain their dishes and then it’s Hoda again, with halva, date ice cream and kataifi pastry. Ambitious.

The judges tell Adele that Cajun chicken pasta is weird, so she switches to chicken and mushroom pasta. She’s still in trouble.
Chloe is not making noodles – she’s doing a nougat dessert with Snickers flavours.
Reece has gone back to his usual dessert comfort zone and making a chocolate mousse with tuile.
I like that we are hearing from more contestants but I still have no idea what Sashi and Brendan and that butcher guy are making – and Brendan is getting the early days silent edit with the odd flash of brilliance that means he could be a finalist.
Oh – Lisa is in the comp! She’s cooking fried chicken.
The judges head back to Adele and tell her they still don’t like her dish. To her credit she keeps changing it up, and decides to fry her pasta noodles.
Jenny is having trouble with chocolate seizing.
Aha – Hoda is making a Middle Eastern cornetto. Cool.
Jenny is definitely bottom three – her chocolate work is dodgy. And she knows it.
Chloe’s nougat as not set and it looks unfortunately turd like.
We get shots of a lot of pretty dishes by people who did not get camera time.

THE JUDGES TASTE
Ben’s vodka chilli crab: They love it.
Khanh’s Vietnamese pancake: Good.
Jo: Pork with crackle and parsnip chips. Good
Jess: sesame panna cotta with squid ink tuile. Super pretty.
Jenny’s chocolate bowl: Nigella has trouble cutting into the truffle and Jenny must be dying inside. It’s bad.
Reece’s warm. Vic mousse with burnt butter ice cream and tuile: “sensational”, says Nigella.
Adele’s chicken pasta: She knows she’s in trouble and wishes she’d made her original dish. It’s a dry plate of food, says George.
Lisa’s double fried chicken: There’s a lot of crunching. Gaz is in heaven.
Sashi’s sour fish with crunchy skin: “so good” says Nigella.
Brendan’s squid noodle pad Thai with prawns: they like the crunch.
Model Michelle: her white choc dome worked and they like the sesame nougatine and ice cream.
Chloe’s Not Snickers bar: it looks bad but she hopes the flavours work. “It’s near inedible because it hasn’t set,” says Matt.
Loki’s ice cream with popping candy crumble: He’s made it for his son and is a failure as a stay-at-home dad if it sucks. Ok, Loki, just turn the analysis down a notch. Nigella says it’s one of the best ice creams she has ever eaten.
Hoda’s Middle Eastern cornettos: Matt says 10/10. “I’d fly from London to Melbourne for that – I have!”

I’m thinking Chloe, Adele, Jenny for bottom three and top three Hoda, Reece and Loki.
Oh – it’s Ben, not Reece, but he gets a shoutout from Matt, as does Lisa for her crunchy chicken.
The bottom three are as expected. What a big drop for Chloe, who was in the immunity test last week. Perhaps the extra experience she has had cooking under pressure will help her and she seems calmer in the kitchen than the other two.

TOMORROW NIGHT
The bottom three have to make four of Nigella’s chocolate desserts.



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MasterChef – May 26 – Cake challenge

The blue team from last night’s fete challenge is facing the firing squad. Well, the cake squad. They have to play Name That Cake. I hope, as with all these challenges, that they don’t bomb out early so we can play along at home.
The first three contestants to fluff on their cake knowhow will be sent to elimination, where they have to bake – you guessed it – a cake. And this will be the last night we see Nigella.


The contestants enter and the cakes are already on display, so as the judges talk they are sneaking peeks. Intense Matt is very worried but you’d imagine if Charlie or Con go through to elimination they at least are used to doing sweet stuff.
Matt gets first pick and chooses what looks like a brick of a lamington – but he’s worried it may be a trick and they are messing with his mind. But, yes, it is what it seems.
Airline captain Brett picks the Swiss roll and then it’s Con’s turn. He picks a carrot cake and Elise grabs black forest (one of my faves), Charlie gets cheesecake. Mimi has orange and poppyseed cake and it’s Matt’s turn again. He grabs the ginormous Victoria sponge cake (how many eggs went into that monster?) and Brett then gets mudcake. So far no tricks. Con gets opera cake, Elise angel cake (does she mean angel food cake?). Charlie is up and he’s sweating bullets. He’s up between what looks like two fruitcakes and Gary and George do the “wow, brave man”. “If you name this, you’re a legend,” says George. Charlie knows it’s not right but he says “fruitcake”. It’s a simnel cake – a type of Easter cake. So Charlie is the first one to bomb.
Mimi grabs a Paris brest, which is like a giant profiterole. Matt selects a cake with chocolate truffles on top but he gets a surprise when he slices it. “I’m worried for you, Matt,” says Gaz. “Even my palms are sweating.” Matt says “chocolate truffle cake” but it’s a Dobos torte. Never heard of it, but thanks to the magic of Wikipedia I now know: A Hungarian sponge cake layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with caramel. The five-layer pastry is named after its inventor, Hungarian confectioner József C. Dobos, who aimed to create a cake that would last longer than other pastries in an age when cooling techniques were limited. The round sides of the cake are coated with ground hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts, or almonds, and the caramel topping helps to prevent drying out.
If Intense Matt goes tonight I will be cranky.
Brett reckons it’s time to pick a cake he’s had his eye on from the start and has been keeping up his sleeve – but then he cuts it and he starts second guessing himself. But he goes for moon cake, the Asian treat, and he’s right.


Con comes up for his third go and picks what looks to be some kind of layered meringue. He says continental cake but it’s some Icelandic cake called Vinarterta. So that’s our bottom three – damn – I wanted to know what the other cakes were.
Elimination challenge
Con, Charlie and Matt have 90 minutes to bake a cake. It’s not long to mix, bake and cook a cake for decorating.
Con is making a pound cake but he reckons he doesn’t have a tried and true recipe. He must only know finicky desserts and ABPC recipes. His cake will have a savoury strawberry and thyme savoury syrup and lemon creme fraiche filling.
Intense Matt is making carrot cake with lemon cream cheese icing. Yum, but he’d better tricksy it up a bit – chuck some $7 rocky road on it, Matt. He’s following his mate’s mum’s recipe but he’s spicing it up a bit.
Charlie is baking a chocolate and raspberry sponge cake with hazelnuts but he puts all his mixture into one pan, so it will take longer to cook. Nigella comes over to tell him off for not splitting the mix.
Con is worried about timing so he cranks his temp up to 200C, until Nigella comes over to tell him off as it needs a low, slow, bake. I’m sensing a theme here. Will Intense Matt get a talking to next?
After panicking, Con decide to ignore Nigella and stick with the pound cake. I’m thinking Con is going home.
Matt is doing an onion and carrot jam with star anise and cinnamon for the centre of this cake. He’s the only one doing something a bit different. Then he works on the best bit of any carrot: the lemony cream cheese icing.
Poor Charlie says “it’s do or die” as he realises his sponges aren’t cooked in the centre and he has to bung them back in the oven.
Intense Matt is getting a lot of confessionals about how much fun he’s having, whereas Charlie’s are about all the glitches.
“Now it’s time to just go to town on this bad boy… to make it overloaded with love,” Matt tells the camera.
However, Con is surely going because he got the back story about quitting his job and delaying his wedding.
Charlie has done lots of fancy pants decorating stuff with toffeed hazelnuts, while Matt has gone the rustic look and Con’s cake looks, well, simple and fine, but he’s worried it’s dense.
The judges taste


Matt’s carrot cake: “To me that is everything a home-baked cake should be … it looks generous and it looks like you want to feed someone and make them happy,” says Nigella. George dishes up and it looks terrific. Nigella likes the zing of the marmalade and Gaz is in hog heaven.
Con’s thyme pound cake: “It looks heavy,” say the judges. Nigella says it’s not evenly cooked because he bammed up the heat. Matt says the syrup has barely soaked into the cake: “It’s rubbery, it’s bouncy.” The love the flavours he’s used but not the texture. Oh dear.
Charlie’s choc raspberry hazelnut sponge: The judges say it looks dense. Matt loves the mix of flavours but Gaz says “that cake’s dry and dense” and points out he’s not going back for seconds. But Nigella defends the cake’s honour: “I don’t think it’s a failure as a cake … I don’t think it’s offensive.” Matt says Charlie overbaked it.
They do the “Matt’s safe but the other two are sooooo close”. Yeah, as if you are going to send golden boy Charlie home.

And the loser is …
Ok, first it’s time for the judges to praise Intense Matt and it’s lovely to see the look of joy creep over his face as he absorbs Nigella’s praise. I’m Team Intense Matt.


And Con’s gone. Go home and marry your fiancee – and in a surprise twist, the remaining contestants will cater your wedding! Now, that would be fun. Gaz, for once, is not wearing his cranky pants and tells Con he has talent. And where’s Con now? Moved to Hobart to open a Melbourne-style cafe.
Time for masterclass so I’m out.



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MasterChef – Team challenge – May 25

The contestants rock up at MC HQ and – once they get over the shock of Matt’s magenta suit and waistcoat combo (is that dupion silk) – and Gaz tells them they are feeding a huge crowd at an MC fete that’s being set up just up the road at the Melbourne Showground.
There are three teams of six, each of which must prep a savoury and two sweet dishes – and one sweet dish has to feature jam. So expect lots of jam doughnuts – not that there’s anything wrong with that.
The team captains are Heather (yellow), Mimi (blue) and Teeny Top Knot (red).
It’s a money-based challenge, so the team with the least money in the till is up for elimination.
They also have to factor in that they have to get the food from the MC kitchen out to the fetegoers, with no heating equipment at the fete. So I guess no jam doughnuts, then.

What they’re cooking


Yellow team (who are being smart about picking stuff they can churn out in big quantities): Rocky road popcorn; corn on the cob; blondies with jam (white choc brownie).
Gaz is worried the corn will go cold (can’t they just wrap them in foil to keep warm?) and Heather thinks on her feet as to how they can use the corn they’ve already cooked. They decide to do a potato, bacon and corn salad. Heather notes Gaz has a catering company, which I didn’t realise, so he knows about feeding crowds.
Blues: potato chorizo frittata; chocolate cupcakes filled with jam; hedgehog slice. I don’t know about their decision to do three chocolate dishes.
Reds: Asian chicken salad; scones with jam; brookies (the cookie/brownies Harry made for Nigella in the midnight feast challenge). Do people really want to eat a cookie at a fete?
Gaz is worried that Harry’s recipe for 12 brookies won’t easily convert to high volumes. Dessert champ Cecilia has been put in charge of them and it’s taking forever just to melt the chocolate for the first 10 batches. Scooping each one on to the tray individually is also adding to the time – blue team has the right idea with hedgehog slice which you can just press into a tray, bung in the fridge and slice up.

I’m a bit sad no-one is doing food on a stick, which is surely compulsory fete food. Luckily for the blue team, Cecilia suggests to Harry they do choc chip cookies instead as they’re quicker to prep. To his credit, he listens, and decides the brookies they do have will be sold as “limited edition”. Way to spin, Harry.
We keep coming back to Intense Matt talking about his frittata, so you know there will be a problem. Luckily Nigella tells them there’s no way their uncooked sliced spuds will cook in time, so airline captain Brett decides they’ll deep fry the sliced spuds to have crisps to scatter over the top.
On the teeny top knot team Theresa and Harry are having maths dramas figuring out their chicken salad portion size. Luckily Cecilia – yep, the one with a brain injury – knows how to do maths. She’s been a champ this episode. Her team has picked another labour-intensive dish which requires a tonne of shredded cabbage and laboriously shredding poached chook.
It’s fascinating watching the yellow team mixing up their huge vat of blondie mixture and their bath-sized tub of raspberry jam. They are paying the price for Nose Ring Chloe cooking one huge batch of blondies rather than splitting it into more manageable quantities. So they have nothing in the oven as yet. They need to cool their bath of jam so dish it out into metal trays which they put on glass shelving in the freezer and CRACK! The shelf shatters and they have to chuck out heaps of their jam lest they injure the public. Luckily they made a humungous amount so it’s not too bad.

Time to sell
Blue team decides its prices and settles on cupcakes for $5, frittata $7 and hedgehog slice $5.
Yellow team decide on $7 for rocky road popcorn, blondies with fresh raspberries $10, potato salad $12. Wow – seems a bit exxy.
Red team will sell brookies for $6, choc chip cookies $3, scones $6, Asian chicken salad $12. They could have bumped up their scone price, I reckon, but hopefully will sell heaps of Cecilia’s cookies as they are the cheapest thing on offer.

The red team’s salad is selling well – I guess it’s the only full meal type dish on offer – so Harry has to do the sprint back to the kitchen to stock up on more supplies.
Brett is a good salesman for Blue, heading out into the queues to flog cupcakes to hungry punters.

The judges taste
Nice to see Matt and Nigella in hats, sending a sun smart message you don’t usually see on reality TV. Nigella looks like she would sizzle if the forecast was anything better than “overcast” and Matt’s fedora makes him even more pimp like – an image aided by his gold pocket watch.
Blues: The cupcakes gets the thumbs up. Nigella says her grandma used to make a similar dish to the hedgehog slice but the frittata is a flop. The quantities are out of whack but the flavours – and the crunchy crisps topping – are tasty.


Yellows: The long-awaited blondies get an “oh yeah” from George. Nigella says “such a pleasure”. Rocky road popcorn should be a big seller, reckons Matt. The potato salad is a bit old school, says Gaz, being smushed together. Nigella thinks it’s still tasty but the other judges aren’t so keen.


Reds: Chicken salad is a winner. Miles’s scones are “a very happy little mouthful”, says Nigella. The brookies don’t look as plump as when Harry made them in the previous challenge and the judges are far keener on Cecilia’s choc chip cookies.

Over at Blues, Brett sends Matt out to check on the competition’s prices and they realise they are the cheapest stall – not really their fault – they were first to set up. It could bite them later as it’s been alluded to a few times.
With a few minutes to go prices are slashed and the teams are running out into the crowd to beg punters to take the food off their hands.

Time to announce the winners


The three teams have raised almost $18,000 between them for a children’s hospital.
The winning team $6326 is Yellows. Good one, girls. They had the top-selling dish of the day: rocky road popcorn.
There is only $208 between the other two team. Red team earnt $5892.
So Blues, led by Mimi, are for elimination. The others are Intense Matt (I’d be surprised if he went), Charlie (ditto), Con, airline captain Brett and a blonde girl we’ve barely seen – I think it’s Elise.

Tomorrow night: It’s a name-the cake-challenge – that’s my kind of challenge. The first three contestants who fail to correctly name a cake go into a cake bake-off elimination challenge.



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MasterChef – Immunity challenge – May 24

It’s Mimi, Karmen and Harry’s chance to compete for an immunity pin.
The blurb says: Matt Preston and Nigella Lawson arrive at the contestant house in the middle of the night as the three best from Nigella’s invention test are asked to create a midnight snack for a chance at immunity.
Please tell me Matt will be wearing a red velour dressing gown, black satin cravat and uggies.
Here we go – because everyone wants to be on national TV in their PJs.

We start with Matt and Nigella creeping into the MC house and waking up Harry and co. Bit sad the judges aren’t wearing their PJs because I would have loved to see Matt’s night-time get up. Peter Alexander missed a sponsorship opportunity there.
They have to make a midnight feast and Nigella wants it to “feel like a snatched pleasure”. They only have 30 minutes to cook.
Harry works in hospitality and says he usually turns to chocolate for his late-night snack. He’s making a “brookie” – a cross between a cookie and a brownie. Nigella is going to love this.
Karmen is going American diner with fried chicken with waffles.
Mimi is doing brioche French toast with maple bacon, which is probably too simple.
The other contestants have wandered into the living area to watch the action and look very sleepy.
Nigella is worried Karmen’s chicken won’t cook through but she’s cut it small. She’s also doing a chilli-infused maple sauce – yum! The girls are moving fast but poor Harry is stuck staring at the oven, willing his biscuits (I can’t bring myself to call them cookies) to bake in time. He cranks the heat to 220C and makes a Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur) cream to go with them.

These are the three finished midnight snacks:


The judges taste …
Mimi’s French toast with maple bacon and bananas: Is a worthy contender, says Nigella.
Karmen’s chicken and waffles: Matt loves the crunch but Nigella says it needs salt.
Harry’s “brookies”: Nigella is digging in and loving the gooey centres.

And Harry wins and gets the chance to cook for the immunity pin. He looks good in chef whites but check out his teeny top knot:


He’s up against Lachlan Colwill of Hentley Farm, who’s a young gun SA chef who’s won a lot of “best new” awards here recently. Here’s a link to the restaurant Hentley Farm
Harry has to cook between Christmas Sweet and Savoury and goes sweet, so he can do a take on his mum’s pavlova – a move which surprises everyone who thought he’d go ape for the seafood. However, he may also be thinking that it’s likely Lachlan doesn’t do a lot of desserts, as he’d have a pastry chef to focus on those.

He sketches out his idea for a meringue “sandwich” with berries and ganache but Shannon does not look happy. Shannon explains how he plates pav at Vue de Monde and it sounds all deconstructed bits and bobs. But Harry isn’t keen. Fair enough – not everyone can pull off modern fancy pants plating. At least if he gets all the elements ready he can think about the plating as he cooks.

It’s Lachlan’s turn to start and, while he’d much prefer to be cooking savoury, he decides to do an ice cream pudding for an Australian summer-friendly cold Christmas dessert – a wise choice given that Shannon said that’s what he made for the Bennett household this year. And he’s using almonds because they remind him of home – heaps of almond growers here in SA.
Harry takes his meringues out of the oven but they are not sturdy enough for him to fill as he’d planned. is it time for Shannon’s idea with meringue blobs and a brulee torch?
But it’s ok – Lachlan’s having trouble, too. He’s tempering chocolate but has spread it out on a stainless steel bench to cool – not realising the oven is underneath. The onlookers on the gantry are worried for him. Eventually Cecilia tells him of his silly mistake.
Harry pulls his meringues into little artsy blobs and whips up a white choc ganache with passionfruit.
Lachlan has grabbed the compulsory red silicon moulds to slop his ice cream into – will they set in time? Yep, they do.
Harry is slowly plating up – tweezers are involved and George would be so happy – and Shannon tells him he needs more of the passionfruit cream and to fill the plate with the elements. But Harry only puts a few delicate bits of everything on. It looks cute but it’s barely a mouthful.
Lachlan is happy the ice cream worked but is regretting not doing a brandy syrup for a boozier flavour.

Time for the judges to taste


They like the festive look of Harry’s pav. Gaz finds the meringue very sweet so the dessert needs more tartness to balance it. The port-soaked cherries get the tick of approval.
Gaz is licking his chops at the look of Lachlan’s pud. “I think it’s a fun idea of putting a snowball on the table,” says Matt. Gaz loves the choc and the nut “snow”. Nigella wants more booze and George thinks it needs more fruit to be Christmassy.

The scores
Harry’s pav: Gaz 6, George 6, Nigella 7, Matt 7.
Lachlan’s pud: Nigella 6 (the crowd is shocked), Gaz 7, George 7, Matt 7.
So, Lachlan wins – and he’s relieved to have survived the pressure of the TV cameras.
And it’s a win for us, the viewers, us there were no items from our “MasterChef should ban this” lists. yay.

Tomorrow night: It’s a team challenge at some kind of show or festival where they have to serve heaps of people. And Matt is wearing an amazing magenta suit with a white fedora so we can easily spot him in a crowd.



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MasterChef – Pressure test – Mon, May 23

Tonight it’s Pierced Nose Chloe (sans tie dyed shirt) versus Ranger Miles and Brother Jimmy in a Pressure Test allegedly set by Nigella.


Note how Nigella looks even younger when she’s not wearing her clingy plum dress. You can tell by her complexion she hasn’t spent much time in the Southern Hemisphere.
If you are a Nigella fan make sure you have a look around the web for her Who Do You Think You Are? episode. Her Mum was the heiress to the Lyons Coffee House fortune. Or you can just read the synopsis here BBC write-up.
Miles and Chloe did quite well last time they were in the bottom three, so perhaps Jimmy will get in a tizz tonight and go?

I was going to do a recap but had to start fast forwarding when we got the sob stories. And then Cloche 3 was lifted to show ABPC. So I’m out, but a few thoughts:
There is no way ABPC would set in the fridge for an hour. They must allow for another three hours of production time for them to really set.

Theresa needs to shut the hell up.

Watching Jimmy flap is excruciating.

Watching Nigella quote Latin at Jimmy to stop him flapping is excruciating.

I was happy to see Miles using a mandolin with the safety on. Phew.

No, Miles, your burnt soz does NOT have to go on the plate.

Even I can tell from looking at the outside of Jimmy’s lamb it’s going to be raw.

Intense Matt barely made the edit last night but he’s had a few talking heads tonight. He’s in it for the long haul.

It’s funny seeing Nigella freaking out as she realises contestants may not get elements on the plate.

OMG, Chloe – ABPC is more important than soz! Just get it on the plate already.

Nigella’s shirt looks like a black saying PJ top.

So, Jimmy is obviously going home so time to skip through the judging.

I Googled the ABPC recipe and it says minimum four hours in the fridge needed.

Urgh – all that unrendered fat on Jimmy’s lamb.

Matt’s pondering about the dessert possibly saving Jimmy is ridiculous – please just give the viewers some credit and tell it like it is.



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MasterChef – Nigella week starts

Nigella Lawson Week starts tonight.
Contestants have 75 minutes to create a delicious dish based on Nigella’s divine indulgences. The top three will have a chance at immunity while the bottom three face elimination.

RECAP
Matt Preston says this week’s guest is a food hero of his and when he says her name the contestants go berserk. They seem more excited than for MPW (perhaps the producers promised those who cheered hardest they could escape the MC for a caffeine fix).
“I want flavours that are bold but not tricksy; I want food that is made to give pleasure, not to impress …I just want to be made happy when I eat your food. And I’m wearing something stretchy – I can eat a lot.”
She’s in the figure-hugging jersey dress we’ve seen in the flogged-to-death ads but next to the other judges she looks so pale skinned and much younger than her 56 years.

What’s in Nigella’s box?


Yum – lots of great flavours there that automatically go together. Anything with feta and pancetta is a winner is a must eat for me.

After no air time since a strong showing in the first week, Mimi makes a reappearance. She’s doing a layer-style cake of pumpkin sponge with cumin ice cream. With only 60 minutes to bake a cake and cool it enough to fill it with ice cream, is the reason we’re seeing Mimi purely because she’s heading for a fall?
Zoe is also doing a pumpkin-based dessert – a mille feuille filled with pumpkin, cumin and chestnut filling. Wow, it’s going to be really tough to do puff pastry in that time.
Here’s Heather the jus queen (wearing a headband so we can tell her apart from the other pony tail wearers) and she’s doing a pumpkin filo stack. Is anyone NOT using pumpkin? Nigella tells her you should be able to read the newspaper through super-thin filo pastry.
Finally, someone who is at least using the chicken. Jimmy is doing cumin and ginger chicken with pumpkin and chestnut puree. He is going to “hero” the ginger.
Oh my god – Elena speaks!! She’s doing pumpkin parfait, pancetta crumb and cumin tuille. She’s a high school visual arts teacher who wants to inspire young people to grow their own produce. This is a lot of air time on Elena. Is she the winner?
Nigella and Matt pop over to tell Zoe she’s mad for trying rough puff in 60 minutes.
Dessert enthusiast and golfr Charlie is doing savoury: crispy chicken with cumin and pumpkin puree with a pancetta and chesnut crumb. He wants to take the pumpkin “really far” – is this MC speak for burnt?
But what are Karmen, Harry, Intense Matt and Theresa cooking? Anastasia? Chloe? Ranger Miles? Trent? Airline captain? The judges come over AGAIN to hassle Zoe about her pastry.
Elena – after asking Karmen for some quick advice on praline – is happy with her tuille. Zoe takes her pastry out of the oven and it’s a flop.
It’s plating up time and Mimi’s cake is boiling hot so she can’t put the ice cream in it. Just put it in a side dish, Mimi!
The challenge is over – did no-one use the pipis? Surely someone made ravioli? Did Con do pumpkin panna cotta?

The tasting
The judges pick five dishes to taste.
Heather’s filo pumpkin stack: Nigella loves the textures and flavours: “This is something that creates joy.”
Jimmy’s chicken with ginger and cumin: Jimmy is beside himself to be in the presence of Nigella. “I can’t believe it,” he whispers to Matt. Gaz is more enthusiastic about it than Nigella is – the skin wasn’t crispy.
Elena’s pumpkin ice cream stack: It’s her first time being tasted and she’s thrilled to be there. Matt loves the cumin tuille but the deconstructed nature of the dish makes it hard to enjoy the flavours together. Nigella likes the flavours.
Zoe’s mille feuille with pumpkin chestnut cream: “It’s kind of a successful failure,” says Nigella, adding the pastry tastes like caramelised butter cookies.


Charlie’s chicken with cumin feta pumpkin puree: George eats with his knife and Nigella pulls him up on it – thank you, Nigella! Please, teach him some manners. “Absolutely delicious,” says Gaz, kindly pointing out how much nicer it is than Jimmy’s dish. Nigella thinks it’s fabulous.

Who will the judges pick?
The judges have two fave dishes and let Nigella make the final pick. They are Heather and Charlie’s dishes. Surely Heather gets points for making filo?
And Heather With The Headband wins – well done.


She’s whisked away to the pantry and shown three core ingredients from which to pick.
She has to make something divine and indulgent and gets to choose from chocolate, lemons and pistachio. Heather chooses chocolate and everyone should be happy with that.

Aha – Anastasia speaks again … so, she’s in trouble?
Karmen is thrilled to have a chocolate challenge and she’s doing a miso caramel with sponge and mousse – it sounds as though there are a lot of elements.
Chloe, who did so well in Reynold’s “Moss” pressure test, is wearing a tie-dyed shirt because they want you to know she’s more chilled than a parfait. Inspired by Reynold’s mousse recipe, she’s doing mousse with fruit and nut granola. We’ve heard she has a photographic memory so she should do okay with the mousse at least.
Harry plans to do his first dessert – a dome filled with meringue, parfait and fizzy chocolate something. Jimmy is making a tempered chocolate berry sphere while Mimi is keen to redeem herself with a beetroot sorbet and salted chocolate tart.
Heather is doing some kind of chocolate crackle; Charlie semi freddo; Zoe a choc raspberry tart.
And Anastasia has gone rogue and is doing a savoury dish – a beef stew with cacao powder. Good on her for trying something different.
Who haven’t we seen at all today? Con, Nicolette, Intense Matt and airline captain Brett for starters. Is Cecilia still in it?
Ranger Miles is doing a cheesecake with lots of components and Matt is worried it’s too much.
Back over at Chloe’s bench, she’s stuffed up Reynold’s mousse mixture – the one thing about which she was confident. She switches to Plan B: semi freddo.
The company which makes those red silicon moulds must be happy with all the exposure they are getting. Karmen’s domes work but Jimmy’s are buggered. And Miles has realised Matt was right and he made way too many things – none of them well. Poor Chloe is serving a plate of crumbs and puddled semi freddo.

Time for tasting
Mimi’s salted choc tart with beetroot sorbet: It looks cute and it’s not dome shaped, so it stands out from the rest. “I just adore these flavours,” Nigella says. She gives Mimi a kiss.
Chloe’s puddle: “You’ve got to stick to what you know,” George tells her. “If you try and do things beyond your reach, you’re going to fail.” Isn’t this the EXACT OPPOSITE of the whole MasterChef ethos? Did he take a Grumpy Gary Pill today? Luckily Nigella pitches in to say Chloe had a bad day and we need to make mistakes so we can learn from them.
Anastasia’s chocolate Mexican bowl: Nigella likes it.
Elise’s (ah – there’s one I forgot) lime white choc mousse: Nigella loves it
Charlie’s white choc semifreddo with strawberry consomme: Pretty and good technique.
Matt’s fennel and almond butter cake: He’s made a dukkah and the judges think it’s clever.
Heather’s snap, crackle and pop: Not chocolately enough. So much for the advantage.
Zoe’s white choc raspberry tart with lychee and rose sorbet: “It’s making me smile,” says Nigella.
Jimmy’s “buried chocolate”: As he feared, Nigella can’t hack through the chocolate of his failed dome. Gaz winces at something he tastes. George tells him he has so much potential but he doesn’t know how to temper chocolate.
Harry’s white chocolate and rose royales: They aren’t perfectly finished but the judges are keen to pick them up in their hands and chomp away. “I’m enchanted,” says Nigella.
Miles’s cheesecake and gelato: It’s another puddle – two in fact. It sucks, but Nigella loves the tea cream and says if he’d done that and a simple choc cake he’d be safe.


Karmen’s “chocolate decadence”: The judges are thrilled by how interesting it looks and Nigella loves the ice cream. They all love it. “This is rock ‘n’ roll stuff,” says George.
There we have it – not even a tasting edit for some contestants.

Top three
Mimi, Karmen and Harry
Bottom three
Miles, Chloe and Jimmy. No surprises there. So it’s the 24-year-old versus the two “old” guys.

Tomorrow night
The bottom three have to cook three Nigella dishes in an hour.



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