Episode 3 Junior MasterChef

The competition to find the best young cook in the country is back.

From over 1,000 applications, only 32 cooks have made it to the heats.

Now top chef John Torode...

and food blogger and TV cook Donal Skehan

have to decide which cook is good enough

to win the title of Junior MasterChef.

We have four cooks who are passionate about cooking.

I'm so excited for them to come in here and show us what they have.

Today our cooks face two big challenges.

First, a masterclass from me on how to make spinach and ricotta ravioli

with a sage and basil sauce.

What I'm looking for is a really lovely continuous piece of pasta.

And afterwards they get a chance to cook their own food for us.

I can't wait.

Competing today are Emiel...

Alice...

Georgie...

And Charlie.

Amazing. It is the biggest thing.

I haven't told anyone, which is good because I talk a lot.

'I really, really love cooking.'

I could cook all day if I didn't have to go to school.

'I'm going to put loads of effort into this.'

If I make one little mistake, it's all over.

I'm really nervous. But if I try my best,

I think I can be the next Junior MasterChef champion.

All four of these cooks will be out to impress today.

But we only have one quarterfinal place to give.

It will be a tough decision.

Welcome to Junior MasterChef. Today's masterclass is all about pasta.

And we're going to make spinach and ricotta ravioli

with a sage butter sauce.

-Has anyone made ravioli?

-Yes.

-No.

-But it sort of failed.

-It failed?

-Yes.

Well, today let's hope it works.

The ricotta in the bowl.

Take a spring onion and then cut it very, very finely.

Take the spinach out and just chop the whole lot up.

And then add grated pecorino cheese.

And now just black pepper.

The next stage is to roll out the pasta dough to make the ravioli.

Feed it into the machine.

Slowly turn your handle.

Fold it over again.

Put your end in again.

You can see he needs the space!

What I'm looking for is a really lovely

continuous piece of pasta.

Take a spoon,

and about a half a dessert spoon of filling goes into each one.

Bring them over and let the whole thing just fall over and flop.

Right, here is my stopper.

Take a bit of pasta dough and mould it.

Dip it in the flour.

Around the edge of each one, gently push the air out.

And then each one you cut into individual pieces.

So there we have it. There's our pasta.

And gently now drop your ravioli parcels

into your boiling-hot water.

Whilst they cook I'm going to do the sage butter.

Now, the butter needs to just change from being golden

to where it starts to go brown round the edges.

Add your sage to the butter.

Add your pasta.

Little shake again. Please be careful here.

You've got us around if you need us.

If you're at home, you'll need a responsible adult with you.

And now to serve it up.

I'm just going to put three pieces on a plate.

And then butter over the top.

Wipe your plate. and then you have it -

spinach and ricotta ravioli with a sage butter sauce.

-Amazing.

-Yes, it looks good.

Now it's your turn. Wash your hands and then let's cook.

11-year-old Charlie is from Gloucestershire.

He likes to use fresh ingredients from his family's veg patch

and once cooked for 15 people at his sister's birthday.

'Cooking makes me feel very good'

because I'm not very good at school work

but I'm... This is one thing I'm good at.

Charlie, you're in the MasterChef kitchen. Can you believe it?

No, I can completely not believe it!

It is the best thing that's happened to me. It's amazing.

Charlie, you said you made ravioli before and it didn't work.

-Tell us what happened.

-Air bubbles were kept in and it went pop.

-And they all blew open in the water?

-Yes.

-OK.

-But you still ate them?

-Not really.

-DONAL LAUGHS

-I did, but they tasted a bit manky.

Really? Terrible.

12-year-old Alice comes from East Sussex.

She started baking with her mum, aged two,

and always makes the puddings for her mum's dinner parties.

I've got so many cookbooks at home.

'I'll follow a recipe

'but if I can, I'll put my own twist on it.'

It's more exciting.

-Obviously, today, making ravioli.

-Yeah.

-How do you feel about the task?

-Nervous.

The pasta is the most nervous cos it can break or crack or fall apart.

-You believe in yourself and I'm sure it will be delicious.

-Thank you.

Guys, 20 minutes are gone.

11-year-old Georgie comes from Bolton.

She bakes for her family every weekend.

And she also likes science.

I like that I'm creating something from scratch.

'I like to challenge myself. Sometimes things go wrong'

but it's more fun when you challenge yourself.

Where does this real love and passion for cooking come from, Georgie?

I'm not sure, really. Both my mum and dad really like cooking.

I think I just followed in their footsteps.

And, Georgie, how does cooking make you feel?

It makes me feel happy cos I like preparing it

and watching people eat it -

making them enjoy something that I've made.

12-year-old Emiel is from Barnet.

When he's cooking, he likes to experiment with different flavours.

Sometimes I get my mum to get random ingredients

so I can just practise things and I put them together,

see if everyone likes it and then I'll do that again.

Emiel, where did you get your inspiration to cook?

My auntie taught me loads of recipes from around the world.

Because I love art, I feel that I can express my art in my cooking.

-OK.

-Like the presentation is everything.

-Emiel, we'll leave you to it. Keep it rolling.

-OK.

Last 60 seconds. You should be about to plate up.

Guys, your time is now up.

Step away from your benches.

It's now judgement time.

Is the pasta thin and well cooked?

Is the filling perfectly seasoned?

Is the sage butter cooked the right amount?

Charlie, let's start with you.

We've got little parcels filled with a wonderful, creamy, rich ricotta,

Your sage butter is brilliant. For me,

I would have liked a little bit more spinach in the filling.

-Do you not like spinach, Charlie?

-Not particularly.

Well, I think it went very well. The pasta wasn't too overdone.

And, yeah, it was nice. It was better than the last time I made it.

Well, Alice, your ravioli all look even. They look delicious.

You've got the seasoning right, the balance of flavours,

earthiness from the spinach, creaminess from the ricotta

and salty kick from the pecorino.

I think the pasta dough might have been worked a little bit too much,

so you have a chewy texture.

But for somebody who's never made ravioli before,

it's clean, it's crisp, it's well seasoned.

It's an absolutely sterling job.

'It was nice to have a bit of criticism, so I can work on it.'

I'll definitely make it again.

Emiel, you worked really hard on that pasta.

You rolled and you rolled and it has paid off because it's paper thin.

It's really delicious. You ran out of time at the end

and the result is that butter is not brown.

And that's something for you to learn because your raviolis are perfect.

Thank you.

'I worked my hardest. John was saying about the timing.'

So I've got to make that right.

Georgie, good-looking plate of ravioli.

I don't say this often, but this is as good as mine.

-Thank you.

-It's amazing.

Your pasta is absolutely perfect. Your filling is big, voluptuous.

I think it's really, really, very good indeed.

Georgie, that is a plate of ravioli to be proud of.

But I have one problem - raw sage leaves dropped over the top.

You take a mouthful of that, you'll taste nothing but that sage leaf.

-How old are you?

-11.

11? And you make ravioli like that?

Well done, you. Fantastic.

'Yes, I am pleased...'

because I thought that it would go wrong, the pasta.

'So, it stayed together and it went well.'

But I'm still really nervous.

You've completed the masterclass with flying colours.

Enjoy your break. You're going to need it. Off you go.

-You're happy, aren't you?

-Yeah, I am pleased.

I think we've got a really good competition. A good group of four.

It's going to be interesting when they cook their own food.

Welcome back.

You're going to be cooking two of your favourite dishes for us today.

Now your chance to really prove what sort of cook you are.

One hour. At the end of this, one quarterfinal place.

Ladies and gentlemen...

let's cook!

Here in the MasterChef kitchen, our cooks have us on hand,

but if they were doing this at home, it'd be important

to have a responsible adult close by.

Emiel, you've quite a selection of exotic ingredients out here.

It's going to be interesting. What are your two dishes you're cooking?

I'm going to cook a teriyaki salmon on a bed of oriental salad.

And for dessert, I'm going to cook mango pudding.

Why do you love the food of the Orient?

Because they use such exotic ingredients.

-You haven't bitten off more than you can chew, have you?

-No.

-No?

-No.

-Confident?

-Yeah, very.

I think Emiel has got some great ideas.

It's whether he's got the time to make sure

those dishes are absolutely perfect.

My fright is that that pudding of his is not going to be set.

He's guaranteed us big flavours. I just hope he can deliver.

Alice, what are the two dishes you're going to cook for us?

I'm doing piri-piri salmon baked in the oven

with citrus couscous and a ratatouille.

And then I'm doing a lemon mousse with ginger biscuits.

I've never had piri-piri salmon before.

Quite a bit of chilli in it or is it mainly peppers and onions?

I don't know. It's a mix between it all, really.

Alice, what is your big dream when you grow up?

Um, I want to open my own restaurant in Paris.

-In Paris?

-Yeah.

-Why in Paris?

-I really like French cooking.

-Would you serve piri-piri salmon in this restaurant?

-Hopefully, yeah.

Alice has got a real fusion dish.

We've got piri-piri salmon, and an amazing spicy sauce

that comes from Portugal and a ratatouille,

something which is classically French or Mediterranean.

I'm a little bit worried about the combination of the two. Let's see.

We've reached the halfway mark, guys. 30 minutes to go.

Charlie, what are you going to cook for us?

For main, I'm cooking lamb with double-shelled broad beans

with a redcurrant reduction.

Then a starter of crab with a bit of a coriander

and chilli with some watermelon.

Chilli, crab and watermelon.

Really interesting, adventurous dish.

Where's the inspiration for this come from?

I just gave it a whiz and it tastes good, so, I'm doing it.

-So you just gave it a whiz?

-Yes.

Are these dishes ones you think are going to impress us today?

Hopefully, because the lamb is pink in the middle

and the reduction is sweet.

Nice.

Charlie has an extraordinarily interesting menu.

A crab mayonnaise, sort of cocktail,

sitting on watermelon. I don't know how that's going to work.

He's got that quite out-there starter,

paired up with a very classic main course.

If Charlie gets both dishes right, I'll be really impressed.

Georgie, what are the two dishes you're cooking for us today?

For my starter I'm doing chicken rolls with lemon and rosemary

and that's wrapped in pancetta.

For my main course, I'm doing pan-fried sea bream

on a bed of ratatouille with a tomato coulis.

-Very sophisticated dishes.

-Thank you.

-Tell me about the chicken?

-In the end it will be rolled in the middle

and the sauce drizzled over the top and it looks good as well

because when you cut it in half you can see the roll of the chicken.

Georgie's food, it looks really easy

but there's a huge amount of work in that.

Ratatouille,

if done right, is wonderful.

If the aubergines are hard, it's like eating bullets.

It's going to be interesting, two ratatouilles in the one day.

I'm looking forward to seeing which is the best.

Last five minutes, guys.

Really start thinking about your presentation.

Try and make it beautiful.

Yes!

That's it, guys. Time's up, step away from your benches, please

Thank you.

Georgie's starter is chicken wrapped in pancetta,

which is Italian bacon, served with a lemon and rosemary sauce.

The chicken is soft, the pancetta round the outside is very, very good.

But the rosemary is the thing that really shines through.

One tiny, tiny thing, and that is your chicken

is starting to go a little bit stringy, it's a little bit overdone.

For me, those are the sort of flavours I grew up with.

Every Sunday dinner, chicken, rosemary,

you've got that lovely light chicken coated in that rich sauce.

It's perfect.

To follow, Georgie has done a pan-fried sea bream

on ratatouille, which is a vegetable stew,

served with a thick tomato sauce, called a coulis.

Georgie, your fish is cooked really, really well.

Really crispy skin and crispy underneath at the same time.

Your ratatouille is dense in flavour, it's rich, it's thick.

You've put your tomato coulis around the outside,

which really gives it something I didn't expect,

almost as if I'm having a glass of tomato juice sitting next to it.

-A good dish, Georgie.

-Thank you.

Georgie, the fish is perfectly cooked and combined

with those earthy flavours in the ratatouille,

and the freshness of tomato coulis, it really pops in the mouth.

There were some things that I wish I hadn't done,

but I'm pleased with my overall result.

I'm simply astounded by your presentation, Charlie.

I think they look amazing.

Charlie's starter is crab mayonnaise with chilli and coriander,

served on a circle of watermelon.

There's two things there which I have never put together before -

crab and watermelon - but there's a freshness between the two

and it seems to work.

I think it's a really interesting combination.

The chilli, that lovely lime zest,

the strong, little tiny bits of coriander,

that really fresh sharpness of the watermelon.

But, for me, the crab's getting lost.

Charlie's main course is lamb with double-shelled broad beans,

peas, new potatoes crushed with butter and mint,

served with a redcurrant sauce.

Charlie, that beautiful rich lamb meat with those minty potatoes.

The addition of the broad beans, the peas,

they're all classic touches and you have really got this dish right.

-Charlie... How often do you cook this dish?

-Once a month-ish.

When you cook it next, can you invite me round to your house?

Because that's really good. I like your sauce,

I thought it was going to be too thin, I'm completely wrong.

I'm trying to find a fault and I can't find one.

John is like, super tough. He likes to tell you where you went wrong

and if he couldn't fault it, it means it's pretty much perfect.

For main course, Alice has cooked salmon

with a crust of piri-piri, a traditional Portuguese seasoning

and served it with citrus couscous and ratatouille.

Alice, the piri-piri salmon, I was expecting a sauce

and we got that really nice crispy crust on the top.

Your salmon is cooked absolutely beautifully.

Then we've got a very rich ratatouille with olives

running through it.

The couscous itself is unflavoured.

All cooked really well, Alice.

Just get something in your couscous.

Alice's dessert is a classic lemon mousse, served with ginger biscuits.

This is the sort of dessert I like, because it makes my face do things.

So sour from the lemon, it makes you shrink into yourself

and then you've a wonderful comforting warmth of the ginger

on the back of your throat.

A really wonderful, refreshing dessert.

Alice, you've got that fantastic ginger heat in those cookies,

but I'd love them to be a little bit more crisp.

'I'm really happy.'

Even if I don't get through, I'm still going to know that

John Torode tasted and really enjoyed my food.

That would make me really happy.

For main course, Emiel's cooked his salmon

in a Japanese teriyaki sauce

and served it with oriental salad, on a banana leaf.

Emiel, I think really interesting presentation.

At first I thought it was just going to be a sweet, sticky,

salty bit of salmon with a teriyaki

and then I realised you've got a salad underneath there

which is sweet from coconut and the sharpness from green mango.

It's really, really good.

I've been to south-east Asia recently and those are the flavours.

This is a really well composed salad. The salmon is beautiful.

I think you've done really well on this dish.

Emiel's made a coconut milk mango pudding, served with passion fruit.

You've got this very, very sweet, condensed, heavy coconut milk

with refreshing sunshine and mango.

It's all lifted up by that wonderful sourness of the passion fruit

and the fragrance of your mint.

I think, for me, I'd love if you made it again.

Just so that it would be a little bit more light and airy,

but the flavours, you've got the combination really right here.

Those comments were unbelievable. I did not expect that.

But whoever goes through, I'm going to root for. So...

-We tried our hardest.

-Yeah.

An extraordinary round, I think, four really good cooks.

Emiel has a great sense of those Asian flavours.

That salad instantly transported me back to South East Asia.

The dessert, I like the texture.

I know you thought it was a little bit too set, but I quite liked that.

With all the ingredients he had,

I thought no way in the world was he going to finish off those dishes

and he did it. He did it.

Only one person gets through which is kind of nerve-racking.

Alice, I think, cooked well under the pressure.

The salmon with the piri-piri, I liked the crust

and Alice's ginger biscuits may have been soggy, but I really liked them.

That's where we differ.

I was expecting crisp little ginger biscuits,

but I think as a dessert, it really worked well together.

I think I've quite a good chance.

They said they really liked it, so...

Georgie's a good cook.

She overcooked that chicken a little bit,

but Georgie's food today, that's the food that you want to eat.

It's good food, it's tasty food.

She wanted to impress today and she definitely did.

I want to stay in it so much, because I've learnt so much.

I think, if I get through, I'll learn even more.

Charlie is a game of two halves.

We had the most extraordinary lamb dish, cooked perfectly,

an absolute classic.

But I don't think the combination of watermelon and crab quite works.

Charlie today was confident and wanted to take risks.

He showed us in the dishes he produced

that he was willing to take that risk.

I'd like to learn and cook more but if they go through,

I'll just wish them good luck and then I'll feel happy for them.

-Good luck.

-High fives.

So who is it going to be? Who is going to be our quarter-finalist?

Who has what it takes to go further in the competition?

It's very close.

You're all incredible cooks and you produced some wonderful dishes.

For us, it's a tough decision

because we've only got one quarter-final place to give.

Our quarter-finalist is...

..Georgie.

-Well done, Georgie.

-Thank you.

Congratulations, Georgie.

Yay!

There's a sense of achievement getting this far.

It's been like lightning that's just injected into you

and you're frazzled and you're happy.

Today's inspired me to be a chef, I think,

because I can cook under pressure.

That's given me more confidence I could be a chef.

I'm really happy with the comments and they tried my food

and they liked it. That's the main thing.

I'm really surprised. I'm just really excited now, and happy.

I'm so excited, I can't move. I'm just, like...

Georgie will be back for the quarter-final

when she'll compete with three other heat-winners for the title

of Junior MasterChef.

If you'd like to make John's masterclass dish,

visit CBBC's Junior MasterChef page for the recipe.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd