MasterChef – Wed, June 15 – Curtis Stone

Guest chef Curtis Stone joins the MasterChef off-site team challenge.
Each team must prepare a six-course degustation menu for 50 guests in only two and half hours to avoid the elimination challenge.
Warning: Matt Preston’s garish outfit may offend some viewers.

The contestants arrive at Sails on the Bay (http://sailsonthebay.com.au/), where they have to prep a six-course degustation. They’re in teams of two. Uh oh – what if your partner sucks? Theresa gets to choose one contestant to sit out of today’s challenge – in effect saving them from potential elimination. She returns the favour by picking Anastasia (who used the power apron to let Theresa pick an additional ingredient the previous night).
The teams are:
Elena and Theresa
Nicolette and Chloe
Intense Matt and Heather
Elise and Trent
Karmen and Harry
Mimi and Brett

IM and Heather should be a force to be reckoned with but I’m still worried about Theresa’s ability to focus (my recap from the returning contestant challenge is now up, by the way).
And here’s Curtis, in town for MasterChef and to film more Coles ads, no doubt. He tells them their theme tonight is citrus. This rings a bell and (thanks, Google) it’s because when Curtis was on MasterChef in 2014 (the year of Brett and Laura) he also set a citrus-themed service challenge. So, in 2018 we can expect Curtis back with another surprise citrus challenge? This time, the teams won’t know what citrus they have until they enter the kitchen.
He takes Mimi and Trent into the kitchen to discuss their ideas for the first course. They have mandarins so pick seafood for a light start. They are making a grilled prawn and rocket salad.
Harry and Karmen are up next and get lemons. They are making salmon sashimi with a lemon zest cure with microherbs. Hopefully Karmen had input on this dish, because Topknot seems to be doing all the talking.
IM and Heather get oranges and go for duck breast with candied beetroot, roasted fennel, pickled orange and madeira duck jus.
Mimi and Brett get limes and will do eye fillet with beetroot and lime. Brett’s the meat man so he’s in charge of that and Mimi gets everything else.
Back in the kitchen, Trent is a bit worried the starter dish is too simple. As they practise their plating up, Curtis and the other judges tell them it’s not fancy enough (something that could have been mentioned at the start). Perhaps Elise could make wongtongs? Curtis flat out tells them to do a pesto.
Elena and Theresa get tangelos and they have already chatted with the final team to plan that they will make some kind of warm pud and Nicolette and Chloe will do a sorbet to finish. But Curtis reminds them that, in the real world, the sorbet comes first as a palate cleanser and then the heavier dessert. They are making Star anise crumble, creme fraiche cream, tangelo segments, tangelo granita and tangelo juice inside chocolate spheres. It sounds like a tonne of work.
Now, the first team has decided to do a cold starter of mandarin-cured prawns with rocket pesto and mandarin reduction. Will their prawns cure in time?
Curtis grabs the last team of Nicolette and Chloe, who get ruby grapefruit, and delivers the bad news that he wants them to do a heavy dessert. All the planning they’ve been doing while they waited has gone to waste. Uh oh – no it won’t. They’ve decided to ignore Curtis completely and keep doing their lighter cold dessert. Forget that a degustation is meant to flow and the team before them is doing a cold dessert. Their youth is showing here.

The tasting begins


Elise and Trent’s prawns with mandarin: The dish looks interesting but they are worried because they changed their concept the prawns won’t be cured enough. What the heck is George wearing tonight? Some spotty kind of shirt and one of Matt’s cast-off brown and navy check jackets. George and Matt says the prawns aren’t cured enough and a lot of diners won’t eat them.
Everyone seems to be going well in the kitchen. The last team – the rebel girls – are doing grapefruit sorbet, a meringue shard and grapefruit gel.


Harry and Karmen’s salmon with lemon: It looks pretty on the plate – wonder if Karmen did the plating? Gaz thinks it looked refined and had good flavours.
In the kitchen, IM and Heather are feeling great as they have 30 minutes to go, which is plenty of time to cook and rest the duck. But, no, Curtis tells them they only have 10 minutes. This smacks of a producer swifty to add drama – I can’t see both Heather and IM getting the time wrong.
Poor IM is worried he’s lost track of which duck rested for how long in the confusion.


IM and Heather’s duck with orange: “I love everything about that dish apart from the duck,” says Matt. The duck, while looking pink, is apparently “over rested”. If Heather or IM goes home off the back of this I will be even crankier than Gary on a normal day.
Back in the kitchen, the rebel girls are adding a choc ganache to their dessert to heavy it up.


Brett and Mimi’s beef with lime: The judges love everything about it.


Elena and Theresa’s tangelo dessert: It looks absolutely delightful and the choc-coated juice bursts are a hit. “Oh my,” says Matt, cleaning his glass. “It’s a thoughtful dish,” says George.


Chloe and Nicolette’s sorbet with meringue: Looks lovely but is definitely not the heavier dessert Curtis wanted. “Do you want two sorbet/granita desserts in a row?” asks Matt. Gaz says it’s refreshing but is not the memorable end to a meal it should be. “This degustation ends not with a bang but with a whimper,” Matt says. The sorbet is overchurned (which explains why it was trying to escape from the churner.

The judges decide
The judges says the dish of the day belonged to Theresa and Elena. The teams in the elimination challenge are Trent and Elise and Chloe and Nicolette. Phew – IM and Heather survived. Elise is the eternal black apronner – it could stand her in good stead if she doesn’t have a brain freeze, a la the frying challenge.

Tomorrow night: The contestants must make a dish inspired by either sea shells or autumn leaves. How vague is that! It could favour the dessert girls.



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MasterChef – Sun, May 29 – Mystery Box


To quote Brad Pitt: What’s in the box?

Matt Preston is back in purple but it’s more of a strong lavender shade tonight, with an Impressionist-style white, purple and green cravat. The contestants have 60 minutes to produce a dish and – here’s a twist – the winner gets a shortcut straight to the immunity pin challenge. And they are told not to waste too many mystery box ingredients. Anyone who’s watched the show before knows they’ve previously cooked with kitchen scraps, so the savvy ones should stockpile some ingredients for the next round. Here’s what’s in the box:

Mmm, pork belly.
Mmm, pork belly.

I expect we’ll see a lot of fish or pork dishes with Asian flavours, as everyone always goes straight for the protein. I hope someone does a lime dessert – Charlie? Karmen?
Will Anastasia get airtime tonight? We haven’t seen her for a while. Who else? Elena? Cecilia? Electrician Trent?
We get a talking head from Brett about his barra bromance, so it will be great or dreadful. Intense Matt is getting airtime about hispork belly so perhaps there’s yet another victory in store for him – go Intense Matt!
Nose Ring Chloe is getting the ditherer edit usually reserved for Theresa but decides to go with a smoked nougat.
Oh, here’s SWishy Pony Tail Zoe – we haven’t seen her for a while. She’s doing sponge with smoked vanilla ice cream. Smoking is hot, hot, hot this season. Anastasia gets to speak – the editors are giving some of the usual suspects a rest. She’s doing pork belly.
Wow – and Trent can talk! He’s never been tasted – but he’s never had any shockers. He’s making miso pork and corn dumplings with miso caramel sauce. Matt Preston is pushing him to make a broth so there’s no repeat of the dry ravioli-style dishes they’ve been seeing.
Brett is getting the flashback about his pilot background and his food dream of running a gastro pub in Victoria with his daughters. So he’ll get tasted.
The edit is focusing a lot on Intense Matt’s pork belly and whether it will be tender or not. I predict a triumph. Anastasia is getting the same edit (again pronouncing it missoo) but I reckon her pork won’t cook.
Trent is having dumpling dramas – they don’t look right so he rolls more dough. Zoe is staring at her cake as it’s not cooked in the centre. It’s a small cake but why didn’t she do a second one that was just muffin sized? They always need a back-up plan. George tastes her smoked ice cream and loves it, so even if her cake flops she’ll get tasted – as has happened before.

Time to taste five dishes
Pilot Brett is up first with his crispy barra with corn two ways and pickled beetroot: Matt says it’s classic, delicious and well rounded.
Anastasia’s vanilla sticky pork with beetroot: “This is a cracking dish,” says George, but it needs salt. Matt says it needed more time in the pressure cooker to be perfect. Gaz likes her.
Trent gets his first tasting for his pork and corn dumplings with a miso and caramel broth: Gaz loves the presentation. Matt says the balance of flavours is great. They all love it.
Zoe’s sponge with miso glaze and smoked vanilla ice cream: “That is one of the best ice creams I’ve tasted in this competition,” says George. But her cake sucks. Matt says she should have just served the ice cream with the miso caramel sauce.
chloemay29
Chloe’s smoked lime and vanilla nougat with lime crumb and beetroot caramel: Ooh – she gets the Matt tap of the spoon. And then from George. And then even Gaz comes to the party. They think all the elements are in balance. “I do want to lick the bowl,” says Gaz. And, yes, Chloe has won. She’s been a bit up and down this season but has done quite well when put in a pressure situation.

Invention test
There’s no pantry and no herb garden but they do get the usual staples. They’re cooking with whatever’s left in that mystery box, including their scraps – and they get extra credit for using scraps creatively.
Elena gets a talking head – she and Harry both have some barra left. Given most people would have cooked with either pork or barra in the first round, they still have opctions.
Heather is doing barra mornay with coriander root and corn cob-infused bechamel.
Mimi us making coriander ice cream with lime syrup cake – quick, get some smoke in there, Mimi, or you won’t have a chance.
Pilot Brett is doing a pork sanger with flatbread and miso mayo.
Intense Matt is making san choy bau with barra wrapped in beetroot leaves.
Karmen is doing a savoury dish for once and it sounds interesting: barra with pickled beetroot “scales” and a burnt miso sauce. If only we knew what she’d cooked in the first round – presumably a lime dessert.
Charlie is making miso ice cream but it may not set.
Brett is making a miso mayo to go with his sanger but he is running out of ingredients (presumably egg) and stuffs it up. It’s because you didn’t drizzle in your oil, Brett!
Oh – here’s Theresa. She’s doing vanilla miso ice cream with a corn custard. The judges are a little worried she’s doing two soft-textured. Gaz as much as tells her to make pastry.
Charlie’s miso ice cream is too runny so out come the trusty red silicon moulds.
Matt is making floss and crispy skin with his barra for crunchy textures. No sign of many of the contestants featured in the first round, so they’re out of the running.
Elise is making a parfait and a soil – haven’t had one of those for a while. What’s the difference between a soil and a crumb?
Heather is trying to make a rough puff to go with her mornay and Matt pops over to give her instructions on using the smoking gun. Smoking guns are the new sous vide – expect to see a lot of them on MKR next year.
Mimi’s dome-shaped lime syrup cakes look delish, but Elise is having cake trouble – she’s doing one of those siphon microwave cakes in a paper coffee cup but her siphon isn’t charging. George and Gaz tell her it’s because her cake mixture is way too thick. Uh oh.
Intense Matt says his dish is “a texture bomb” and it does look inviting. Karmen’s fish with beetroot scales also looks fabulous.

Uh oh - nose wipe alert - hope that was sweat, Theresa!
Uh oh – nose wipe alert – hope that was sweat, Theresa!

Time to taste
Will we see what people like Miles and Elena have made?

Intense Matt’s barra san choy bau:

Good one, Matt.
Good one, Matt.
The judges love the look of it. “You have no idea of the pleasure of this dish … I’m just thrilled that you’re putting up beautiful food,” says Gaz. “That is making the hair on the back of my head stand up.” So Gaz is Team Intense Matt, too. They even liked that he did two sauces.
Happy intense Matt and a rare Cecilia sighting.
Happy intense Matt and a rare Cecilia sighting.

Charlie’s miso ice cream with corn crumb (but his caramel has seized): George tries to smash the caramel with his spoon just to rub in to poor Charlie how much he’s ballsed it up. The ice cream is a bit funky – and not in a good way. He’s usually perfect hair is all floppy. So he’s bottom three.
Heather’s barra mornay: Matt likes the idea of the dish. And he loves the flavour and textures.
Brett’s roasted pork in coriander flatbread: Matt loves the pork. “Is it a disaster dish? No.” George says the bread is undercooked and “blanket-like”. Ouch. As Brett already knew, it needed soz.
Elise’s vanilla parfait with lime curd and coriander sponge: Ok, but it could be better.
trentmay29
Trent’s lime and vanilla tart with semifreddo: (This plating with mini meringues torched with a creme brulee torch must be hot right now) Gaz loves the tart.
Elena’s corn fritters with miso pork fish floss: “Very impressed,” says Gaz. Just to remind you, here’s what Elena looks like.


Zoe’s pork belly with miso butterscotch: “Another great dish,” says Gaz.

You can see her dessert plating come into play here.
You can see her dessert plating come into play here.
Karmen’s barra: “It just utterly makes sense,” says Gaz – his cranky pants must be in the wash. George says it’s incredible and she can win the comp.
Theresa’s sweet corn milk tart and miso ice cream (she whispers “sorry” as the judges taste): Matt says it tastes like tuna mornay: “I really don’t like it.” She’s bottom three.
Mimi’s coriander ice cream with lime syrup cake: Gaz thinks it’s clever and moreish. “It’s as if the coriander says ‘I need to be in ice cream always’,” says Matt.
That’s it – no Anastasia, no Nicolette, no Miles and no Harry all episode.

Top three
Going through to the invention test and a chance to fight for immunity with Chloe are easy picks: Intense Matt, Karmen and Mimi.
Bottom three are also obvious: Charlie, Theresa and Brett

Tomorrow: Chef Jason Atherton sets the pressure test and it’s a quail afternoon tea. What? Google says he received a Michelin star and previously worked for Gordon Ramsey. And he hosted the UK’s version of MKR, but doubt that will get a mention. I don’t know how Brett will go in this as it looks quite fiddly and he’s more about bold flavours, not flashy techniques.



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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 – 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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Farmer Wants a Wife – Ep 3

Hooray for guest recapper, Daisy:

Tonight on Farmer Wants a Wife…..
We pick up where we left off last week, saying goodbye to the first round of home stay girls. Now we know, ttv readers, that our hearts have warmed to Farmer Matt, but (slaps own face) we have to remain objective, and no free pass for our toothy cattle rancher.
The show begins with Famer Julz, 36, who wants to prove that there is fun to be had in Tumby Bay, so he takes his girls to segway park. Hmmm, I hope Tumby Bay gets better than segway. Adam chooses something to test his girls’ cooking skills and dinner table conversation, and takes them to a cooking class. Still not a lot of fun. They get a class in tortellini making. Hayley is on edge and feeling insecure. Not a good look, Hayley.
Samantha is developing feelings for Oyster Farmer Jedd, but photographer Kerry gets the jump on her and, camera in hand, goes to the beach with Jedd and Gregory. Gregory gets to show off his canine modelling, and Jedd is probably going to ask Greg if he likes Kerry. Jedd is still being bashful.
Now the screen heats up as we see Farmer Matt drive in on his enormous machine. He is definitely the producers choice for sex and sizzle. The word dirty gets mentioned a lot now. The girls aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, and we saw Matt’s dirty hands last week. It’s very sexy work, cattle rustling. There sweat, singlets, skin and phemerones are going crazy. April is drooling. Amelia is gushing. But Gabi is feeling left out.
Now on Lachie’s farm, he wants to make sure he makes the right decision-he is running out of dating show options. His girls are dolling up for a day out at Camden races. Lachie has invited his mates to check out the girls, while the girls do their best to appear bright, witty and charming. But Lachlan is bombing out with Jess, who didn’t feel any sparks.


Over at the rodeo, Lance brings his mate Bob to help lasso a filly. There is some bull handling and Lisa doesn’t want anything too big or frisky between her legs. Not sure if she means Lance. In the meantime, Julz takes beautician Alex to feed parrots.


For a nice interlude, the parrots are pretty. Alex and Julz get on well enough for Alex to thank Julz for sharing his budgie.
Here we have some farmer related ads for those of us who might need a tractor and then it’s back to Farmer Matt, taking his cowgirls to a beautiful creek for a frollick. I think April and Amelia are OK with a threesome and we all get to see Matt’s bum, rewind, bum again, rewind, bum…..OK move on. The slap and tickle in the creek has left Gabi once again feeling a little behind, but not the same behind that April felt. Matt takes Gabi off into the bushes and asks to see every side of her.


Gabi obliges and they lock lips. Well played Gabi! Matt tells the camera he is lost for words.


At Adam’s sedate luncheon, talk turns to relationship goals. Christine’s heart is melting, but Hayley is floundering. She doesn’t cope well with competition and her inner bunny boiler is showing. Hayley’s eyes tear up. She wants Adam to herself. She is anxious about the other girls’ ability to engage Adam in witty banter. At the rodeo, hot and cold Karen is off the boil again. She doesn’t want to hurt Lance, but she writes him a dear John letter, even though he is only in the kitchen.


Lance was sad, but resilient. That little “rip snorter” was his favourite. Lance must be partial to a sad sack. Karen drives away as Lance turns his attention back to spoiling his two remaining “lovely ladies”.
Back at Camden race track (do dah, do dah….sorry), the girls are hitting the juice and have loosened up. They are enjoying Lachie’s mates and cousin Stu, all of whom look a bit like a bunch of codgers. Julz’s feelings for Megan are beginning to waver, so he takes her for a deep and meaningful walk on a jetty, while Jedd takes Samantha to sit in a vineyard. Jedd finally gets over his shyness and zooms in for the smooch. He does well, for a slow starter. Returning to Camden, Jess lets Lachie down gently with an ‘it’s not me it’s you’ and an offer to stay friends. She has no regrets, perhaps because she can now go on to do First Dates. Lachlnan is pragmatically still looking forward to his future.
Now be patient viewers because as the episode winds up, we are told that next week ….the claws will be out. Miaooow. Till next week ????



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