Tonight was a team challenge on Masterchef. The contestants were in the King Valley and had to cook for Italian families. The losers will be going to elimination.
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Georgia was captain of the red team and they decided to make a cold chicken salad for entree and a slow cooked braised lamb as their main. Their dessert was a chocolate pana cotta.
The blue team captain was Jessie. Her original plan for the entree was a prosciutto and goats cheese salad, but George wasn’t too happy with this dish, he thought it was too simple. They had to re-think the idea. Their main was a Prosseco roasted chicken recipe. Reynold was in charge of the blue team’s dessert. He was doing a take on a classic bellini with a Prosseco jelly with grilled peaches recipe.
Matthew was cooking the red team’s chicken in stock. But George came over and was worried they were overcooking their chicken by letting it sit in warm stock. Matthew was right on it and put the chicken on ice to cool it down.
The blue team is having problems with their rockmelon soup. Jessica suggests rendering the pork fat to add to the soup to make it less sweet and more savoury. They decide to ball the rockmelon and freeze the balls to add an extra element to the dish.
The red team slices up their poached chicken and it is cooked perfectly.
The lunch guests arrive! 15 minutes remaining.
Red team begins plating up. The blue team has not begun plating up as they want to keep their soup cold.
Red team served a sangiovese poached chicken salad and the blue team have served a rockmelon soup with prociutto.
Matt loves the rockmelon soup. Otto Dal Zotto loves the soup too.
George really loves the poached chicken salad, he said its a lovely dish. It ticks all the boxes for him. Fred Pizzini enjoyed it too.
For main the red team are cooking a braised lamb with a pine nut gremolata. The polenta mix is not working and they decide to start it all again. The polenta is still no good. They are struggling to think of a solution. Matthew suddenly fixed the polenta, he added more milk and fixed it. Georgia described him as her angel.
For main the blue team are cooking roast chicken, lentils and grapes with a prosseco jus.
Matt tastes the blue team’s chicken and says it is so good. George says it’s got a yummy sweet and sour flavour. Matt did question the mushy lentils.
Matt and George agree that the red team’s dish is good. The meat is very tender and the polenta is smooth. Matt questions whether there are too many pine nuts in the gremolata.
It’s time for dessert.
Red team is making a chocolate panna cotta. They are attempting to remove the panna cottas from the moulds but they are not coming out. Finally the panna cottas come out of the moulds.
Blue team is making a prosecco jelly with grilled peaches. Reynold is plating up the dish and Jessie is very happy with how it looks.
Matt and George love the prosecco jelly dish made by the blue team.
It’s time to taste the red team’s panna cotta. Matt loves the sangiovese syrup and the panna cotta.
Matt says it’s some of the best food they’ve ever seen in a team challenge. That it might be a tie.
It’s judgement time. Matt calls the entree round a tie. Both dishes were amazing. For dessert both dishes were perfect. So again it’s a tie. It’s up to the main course. He says it was a tough decision. The red team had too many pine nuts, the blue team’s lentils were overcooked. The blue team had the best cooked chicken and that is why they have won today.
The winner of the team challenge on Masterchef today is the blue team.