All posts tagged: masterchef

Shortbread Jammy Dodgers

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My first memory of cooking is making salt dough decorations. If you’ve never made salt dough with kids it’s so much fun. The recipe is basic: 2 parts flour, 1 part salt & 1 part water. Mix into a dough, roll and cut into whatever shapes you want. Pierce each with a pen so you can string them up later. Bake in a low oven at 100˚c for 3-4 hours until they are completely dry. Cool, then paint and hang with string. Note: do not eat! You will be sick. Now, the only biscuits I really enjoy baking (and can be trusted to make) are ones where all the ingredients are mixed up in a food processor, rolled and cut with my retro cutters, just like salt dough. The shortbread recipe I use is from Adam Stokes on Great British Chefs. It’s tried and tested and i’ve made them so many times – it makes light buttery biscuits that are lush and soft in the middle with a short snap. I’ve taken the vanilla and cinnamon from the recipe …

Michael Sander’s E7 Supper Club

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The prospect of a night of communal eating with strangers can be a bit daunting. Especially when you’re not on holiday in a tropical village, sitting on the floor eating with your hands in an attempt to  ‘live like the locals’, and instead in London, where if you try to start a friendly conversation on the tube you’ll probably end up on the front page of the Metro as: Creepy Welsh girl who made conversation with stranger on London Underground is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for too-social behaviour. But this week my boyfriend and I visited our first supper club and all our reservations were thrown out of the window. Michael Sanders (MasterChef 2014 Semi-finalist) and his girlfriend Naomi run their pop-up restaurant/ supper club every month in E7, underneath a railway arch, in The Wanstead Tap. A table of 20 sat people from all walks of life, some locals, some from far away; but we all had one thing in common. We all just wanted to eat great food – that is the beauty of …

Beth’s Swansea Scotch Eggs

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My black pudding bonbons have become famous. They started off as a humble Glamorgan sausage (a Welsh vegetarian croquette made of leeks and cheese). Then I introduced my old friend, the mighty black pudding and experimented a lot before I perfected the recipe. They’ve been called ‘yummo’ by John Torode, ‘delightful’ by Thomasina Miers and ‘banging’ by my very honest flatmates/ food guinea pigs. But behold… they have transformed again, into Scotch Eggs, with a hidden runny yolk inside! Beth’s Swansea Scotch Eggs Makes 5 large scotch eggs 7 medium eggs 1 leek 5 sage leaves a small bunch of parsley a small bunch of thyme 400g black pudding chubb 1½ tsp English mustard 200g extra mature cheese, grated ½ loaf of white bread (nothing fancy) Salt and pepper 4 heaped tbsp flour oil, for deep frying Take two eggs, separate and keep the yolks and whites together. Add the yolks to a mixing bowl, and the whites to a deep baking dish for dredging later. Cut the leek lengthways three times then very finely slice. Add to …

Beer Battered Cod & Triple Cooked Chips & Chip Shop Curry Sauce

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There’s nothing better than proper Fish and Chips. Cooking this dish was the first time I felt completely in my comfort zone in the MasterChef kitchen, it brings back so many fond memories of home and my childhood (and I don’t doubt it does for lots of others too!) I even brought my own chip shop paper and chip forks for the show; I think it makes it taste better.  Pale ale gives a great flavour to fish batter. I use my cousin-in-laws’ home brew iota, which gives a sweet malty taste. My curry sauce is a take on the Chinese style curry sauce that everybody loved at the my local chippie. Serves 2 Ingredients For the fish: 2 cod fillets groundnut oil, for deep frying 100g plain flour, kept cold in the fridge until use 150ml pale ale, or your favourite lager ¾ tsp baking powder a pinch of salt For the skin-on chips: 3-4 large Maris pipers groundnut oil for deep frying malt vinegar and sea salt For the chip shop curry sauce: 1 small onion …

Popty Ping – MasterChef and my homage to last year’s winner

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‘Popty Ping’ means microwave in welsh. Although there is not a microwave in sight in the below recipes, it does give a clue as to the inspiration for the Malaysian dinner party I hosted a few weeks ago for my nearest and dearest, in celebration of my upcoming TV debut. And the loose theme I chose was Malaysian, as an ode to last year’s MasterChef Champion 2014, the fabulous Ping Coombes. It was Ping’s flawless home-style Malaysian cooking and attitude to food that prompted me to submit my application! From the beginning her dishes were amazing, giving John and Gregg, and the viewers at home a real culinary lesson. She cooked from the heart, using flavours and techniques learnt from her family, and made everyone realize that you don’t have to dine out in expensive restaurants to know about amazing food. So I prepared a (maybe not so traditional) Malaysian feast, with a few of my own little touches too. Entertaining for a big group in a tiny flat takes plenty of planning and lots of …