Tag: Cecilia

MasterChef – Tues, June 14 – returning contestants

So, the eliminated contestants are back, with a one in 12 chance at winning re-entry to the comp, and it’s the sweetest thing to see Charlie run and hurl himself into Intense Matt’s arms for a massive bro brog.


They have 60 minutes cook a dish from the following ingredients: Greek yoghurt, rosemary, beetroot, lamb rack, fennel (it had to be there), lemon, chocolate, quinoa, gelatine, botrytis, green cardamom pods and raspberries.
As the wearer of the cursed apron, Anastasia has the power to choose a returning contestant who can pick one extra ingredient. Pffft – call that a power? She picks her friend Theresa.
Theresa is excited because she’s been doing work experience with Reynold (the dessert king from last season who now has his own eatery) and has a dish in mind, for which she needs desiccated coconut. She’s making a snowball and choc rocks with raspberry centres.
A break from the comp has given Charlie a chance to rid his fringe of its floppiness and it’s back to its usual perfect state. He’s making a choc mousse raspberry sphere.
Cecilia is, of course, also making a dessert: a yoghurt sorbet with beetroot curd. She has been working hard at home on her plating (so, thank god, no more stuffed turnips).
Miles is making a choc beetroot parfait with nougatine wafers. Perhaps he’s not confident doing savoury with the ingredients available as there are no Asian flavours. He did well in the Shannon Snickers challenge but that’s when he had a recipe to follow.

Back from the ad break and it’s more Theresa, trying not to panic, as she so often in the past. Can’t we see what the others are making – not just random shots of lamb being Frenched (trimmed, that is).
Swishy Pony Tail Zoe – back before we could blink – is making a beetroot bavarois with confit beetroot, crunchy quinoa and candied fennel. Remember the old days, when the only dessert made of vegetables was a carrot cake? Those were the days …
More Charlie … Come on – surely we can spare a sec for Jimmy and amp up the sibling rivalry? Or Nidhi?
Zoe wants to show she’s learnt something new my making a tempered chocolate disc, but she’s rushing it and has to use the blast chiller. So, not tempered chocolate after all. “It’s perfect,” says Zoe, describing her dull, sheenless chocolate. She cracks her disc peeling it off the acetate – why did she only do one? Up on the gantry, Nicolette has a conniption.
So, the judges chatted at the start with Con – who got married straight after he left the comp – but the edit doesn’t bother showing us what he’s cooking. Grrr.

Should we add the phrase “elevate my dish” to the list of things MasterChef needs to ban, along with panna cottas and parfaits? Theresa just used it when discussing her idea to combine rosemary and raspberry.
Shannon pops over to turn up the heat on poor Cecilia, leading her to add a cardamom tuile to her dessert. Cut away to her repeating a lime a producer no doubt gave her: “Fifteen seconds is all I have between success and disaster.”
Miles’s choc parfait is a pile of poo and he knows it. Charlie’s mousse – which seems to parfait anyway – has worked, despite being in the red silicone domes of death.
Cecilia – who must have made a million tuiles before – is having bickie drama but finally gets it. She also shows off some fancy sugar work.
Charlie covers his choc sphere in choc plop – it looks rough as – what did he do to torture that chocolate? He needed to add coconut oil to create some Ice Magic.
Ooh – there’s a glimpse of Nidhi making a dessert. We’ll probably never know what it was.

Time to taste


Cecilia’s yoghurt sorbet with beetroot curd: She’s done a fancy, modern presentation to one side of the plate and shown off many techniques. Shannon: “You can tell you’ve worked damn hard.” The judges love everything. “That is a dish worthy of winning a place,” says Matt.
Miles’s choc parfait with raspberry botrytis jelly: His plating really has not improved – he needs to ask Cecilia for some lessons. But the judges love the flavours. Miles pretends for the camera he’s in with a shot but he knows he’s got Buckley’s.
Nidhi’s cardaomom parfait with choc crumb and raspberry sauce: Ah, we DID get to see Nidh’s dessert. It’s tasty.
Nathaniel’s lamb with fennel rings and choc rosemary sauce: Yep, he WAS in the comp – I swear. The lamb is well cooked. Wish we’d heard what they thought of the soz.
Con’s lemon ice cream with roasted fennel and toasted quinoa crumb (so Zoe wasn’t the only one with that idea): His dessert looks super pretty – I wish we’d seen him making it. Shannon likes the ice cream.
Charlie’s choc mousse sphere with raspberry gel: George could need a jackhammer to get through that chocolate shell. It looks nice inside. George loves the mousse, the raspberry gel and the crumb. Gaz says he nailed it.
Zoe’s beetroot bavarois with with puffed quinoa, candied fennel and choc: Shannon says her tempering of the chocolate was flawless. What the? “I like it, but for me it needs more chocolate flavour,” says George. Gary is more enthusiastic.
Adam’s crusted lamb rack with veg and lamb jus: “It’s good cooking,” says Gaz.
Jimmy’s choc mousses dome with sponge: “There’s lots to love in this dish,” says Matt.


Theresa’s yogurt rosemary snowball with chocolate raspberry balls (just call it Snow, Theresa): The judges let out “ooohs” when they crack open the choc rocks and raspberry spurts out. Matt is smiling as he eats. “There’s some skill in there, backed up by some really great flavour,” says Shannon. Gaz thinks it’s fantastic.
And that’s all we get to see. Sorry, Olivia and Ashley – you’re both the new Invisible Elena.

And the winner is …
As was bleeding obvious, it’s between Cecilia and Theresa. as with Highlander, there can be only one … and it’s Theresa. Will she be be able to keep a lid on the flustering and faffing this time round? At least her decision not to go home to Canada after her first boot, in order to do work experience in kitchens, has been validated.
But I do wish Cecilia had won.
Theresa also gets the power apron but we have to wait until tomorrow to find out what the new poisoned chalice is.

Tomorrow night …
It’s a service challenge and Curtis Stone is the guest chef. More importantly, Matt Preston wears an eye-popping candy pink ensemble.



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MasterChef – May 12 – name the ingredient challenge

TV blurb says: The contestants from the losing pub lunch challenge team must correctly name an ingredient to avoid the elimination cook-off challenge, as the contestant with the least impressive dish will go home.

We know from the preview it’s an alphabet challenge and there were some tricky ones shown. I wonder if they get to taste them to help? What will X be?
I like these name-the-ingredient contests, except when someone bombs out early and we don’t get to see what all the other ingredients are. Wonder if they have to cook a dish with all the correctly named ingredients?

I’m watching on TenPlay the morning after (so annoying not being able to skip the ads!), so just a few thoughts.

Matt's wearing his light blue/grey picnic tablecloth suit again, with a pink floral cravat for a pop of colour.
Matt’s wearing his light blue/grey picnic tablecloth suit again, with a pink floral cravat for a pop of colour.

Matt goes on and on about how the challenge will work, just to ensure the contestants are absolutely packing death over which letter to choose.
Ranger Miles is first and he’s lucky to get an easy one: Basil. Then it’s Anastasia’s turn – wait – who?
I have totally been here the whole time - I swear.
I have totally been here the whole time – I swear.
D is for Dijon mustard. Intense Matt gets a liquid which he confidentally announces is mirin, while Con – who produced that great panna cotta and sago dessert for the pub challenge – picks C for celeriac. Are they choosing based on their name initials?
Adam picks R and it is the red, spiky fruit rambutan, but he does not know it. “Its always a tricky one,” says Gaz, not hiding the glee in his voice.
Sadly, lychee does not start with R, Adam.
Sadly, lychee does not start with R, Adam.
Poor Adam is the first person sent to stand in the area for condemned prisoners.
Zoe of course chooses Z, playing strategically, and it pays off because it is indeed zucchini. Cecilia is L for lamb; Harry T for “toona”; and Trent the blond electrician G for green tea.
Olivia picks F and it’s a brown rice-type grain that thinks it is farro but is not sure, so George freaks her out by asking if she has heard of freekeh. But it is indeed farro. (Wikipedia says: Farro is a food composed of the grains of certain wheat species, sold dried and prepared by cooking in water until soft, but still crunchy (many recommend first soaking overnight). It may be eaten plain, though it is often used as an ingredient in dishes such as salads and soups.)
Everyone’s now had a go so it’s back to Miles again: H is for horseradish. Anastasia: Nutmeg. Matt: Sage. Con: Kecap manis. Zoe: Quail. We’re getting lots of voiceovers from Cecilia about how scary it is, so of course she’s going to bomb. She picks J and it’s some weird bulbous vegetable that she has actually cooked with but doesn’t know the name.
J is for jicama. That was tough.
J is for jicama. That was tough.
Apparently jicama is also known as Mexican turnip. So Cecilia is off to join Adam in the dock.
Harry: Artichoke. Nicolette: Emu. Trent: Yoghurt. Zoe: XO sauce. Miles: Oats.
Good on you, Anastasia, for knowing these are Inca berries.
Good on you, mysterious Anastasia, for knowing these are Inca berries.
Poor Intense Matt gets the only cloche left: U.
Matt is in Freak Out City.
Matt is in Freak Out City.

What the heck are these?
What the heck are these?
Matt goes out on umeboshi – a Japanese plum. No shame in that, Matt.
So that makes three. Matt should be safe – he has proven to be inventive and a good balancer of flavours.
Oh – but that is not the end. I missed the bit where they said four people would go through to elimination. They bring out a second batch of cloches and Harry is up first. C is for … I am thinking crocodile, which MC has used in a previous season, but Harry looks spooked. He says “cod” but it was in fact croc.

Elimination round two
They have 60 minutes to cook and they can used the 23 ingredients correctly named, plus the usual staples.
staples
Matt is doing quail with celeriac and chargilled zukes. His “food dream” – take a drink, everyone – is to start a food truck. That is definitely achievable.
Adam is doing a type of mixed grill with zukes – hmmm – and Harry a Japanese-inspired smoked tuna with celeriac -yum. He is showing technique by using the green tea in a smoking gun.
Back in black, Cecilia is again having trouble coming up with a dish but at least she is doing vegetable prep rather than freezing like last time.
Gaz and George saunter over to make Adam nervous and tell him his idea for a dish is rubbish.

George is not happy about the lamb dish - and the fact his shirt is buttoned to the top without a tie because they are trying to make him look hip.
George is not happy about the lamb dish – and the fact his shirt is buttoned to the top without a tie because they are trying to make him look hip.

At least George gives him lots of ideas as to what he could be doing with the same ingredients. Adam seems to be making the same thing but calling it a different name.
Intense Matt confides he has only ever deboned and cooked quail once – no doubt in preparation for the comp, which was smart.
Finally Cecilia kicks into gear and decides to make brined, smoked tuna with salad – sounds familiar.
There are “aarghs” from the gallery as Harry stuffs up his mayo in a food processor. Get the stick blender out, Harry. But, no, he does it old school with a whisk.
Continuing their trend of putting the wind up contestants, George and Gaz tell Matt the judges are hungry and need a second quail.
Adam is the only contestant using one of the unusual ingredients from the alphabet challenge; he is rehydrating the inca berries to use in his salad, which should impress the judges. But then he loses his mind under the pressure and tips cream into a pan full of lamb fat – nooo! Who was the guy who fried his ravioli? Adam knows he has stuffed it up.
Prompted by Con, Cecilia checks on her tuna and it is brown and icky. She has left it way too long. With just a few minutes to go, Marco comes over to chew the scenery and more of her thinking time. At least she then sears some tuna in the pan, so she will have a dish that would be made in 10 minutes instead of an hour. However, she has not tasted her mayo, so that will be an issue.

The judging
Poor Matt gets the teary quivers in front of the judges but you can tell just by looking at the plate he is safe. The judges love it.

Q is for Quail, Z is for Zucchini, B is for Basil. S is for Safe.
Q is for Quail, Z is for Zucchini, B is for Basil. S is for Safe.
Next is Adam with his grilled lamb and zucchini.
G is for Goodbye.
G is for Goodbye.
Gaz is not excited by the dish but Matt says the elements are cooked well and he likes the Inca berries and basil and globs of fat. But “not a disaster” does not keep you safe on MC.
Harry’s tuna dish looks tasty and he deftly defends his decision to serve the end piece of tuna to MPW with “that’s my favourite part”.
harrytuna
The judges like the dish and Matt backs up Harry’s decision to use the end piece. So, Harry is safe.
Which brings us to Cecilia of the lovely desserts and the stuffed turnip. MPW takes his glasses off for a serious chat about how awesome she is. Matt is puzzled by the yellow mayo but says the salad looks pretty. Gaz likes everything but the mayo, which is too eggy. We all know Cecilia isn’t going home yet – she’s had far too much airtime and is yet to have a chance to create a showstopper dessert by herself.
It’s bye-bye, Adam. Go home and enjoy cooking with Vegeta again.
Best of luck, Adam.
Best of luck, Adam.
Here’s the link to Adam’s profile on LinkedIn – he looks quite different to when he’s in his chef clobber and has done some interesting stuff in his life which he didn’t hear boo about on the show Adam LinkedIn
Harry and Matt are looking like stayers but that’s the last challenge in which we’ll see MPW. It’s time for MasterClass and then it’s back to Blighty, presumably.

Masterclass
I’ll fast forward through this later – I can’t stand watching George with his tweezers faffing about. Oh, George isn’t there. Phew. MPW is showing them how to make the perfect risotto. Didn’t George do this when they went to Italy? Gaz will do pho, Matt is making a baked cheesecake (but will it be better than Mrs Duck Nutter from MKR’s?).

So, are we glad MPW is gone?



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MasterChef – May 9 – MPW day 2

It’s day two of MPW week and we get to see Cecilia, Nathaniel and Con watch as Marco prepares a dish and follow along.
Tonight it’s John Dory so let’s hope they’re up with their filleting skills.
Last year the contestants had to butcher a lamb to make MPW’s noisettes.

From 2015.
From 2015.

Who’s your tip to go?

No recap from me tonight – watching Louis Theroux instead.



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