Episode 9 MasterChef

It's the MasterChef quarterfinal.

And this week's best amateurs are back.

I'm putting 100% into the competition.

I'm living it, eating it, breathing it.

Yes! Result!

A quarterfinal place is good, but it's not

good enough, because I still want to keep coming back.

Come on!

I never really realised how much joy I do get out of cooking.

To progress in the competition would be just phenomenal.

Tonight they will face just one challenge -

to cook an exceptional dish from a brief set by

renowned restaurant critic Tracey MacLeod.

I want to see the energy, John. I want to feel the passion.

I want to know that they seriously want this title.

Today it's going to be steamy and hot in our MasterChef kitchen.

Welcome back. This is a big day.

This is a MasterChef quarterfinal day.

You've been set a brief and you have a choice.

You have to either cook a savoury dish using rice,

or a dessert using almonds.

That brief was set by restaurant critic Tracey MacLeod

and she will be here later to taste your dishes.

You know what you've got to do. You've got to impress.

Ladies and gentlemen, one and a half hours, one plate of food.

Let's cook.

Tracey has set a brief,

either a main course with rice or a dessert with almonds.

I've just been round the room and nobody's doing anything savoury.

It's all sweet. It's all about the almonds.

It'll keep the bald bloke happy.

I'm very pleased that I'm going to eat six different almond dishes.

I absolutely love any pudding that's made with ground almonds.

It's absolutely my first pick on any menu.

So many flavours go well with almonds.

It's an ingredient that marries well,

and it's the basis of quite a number of classic desserts,

so I've given them scope to do quite a range of things.

Talk about pandering favour from Gregg.

He's just going to love me after this.

A six-pudding day!

Doesn't get any better than that.

Richard is a cook in my opinion who makes crowd pleasers.

We've seen a piece of chicken spiced well with couscous.

Some sea bass with potatoes and chorizo.

And a panna cotta with a sauce.

However, he makes little mistakes -

dices the chicken up on the bone,

the potatoes and the chorizo are slightly burnt,

and the panna cotta, no sugar.

Today, for Richard it's got to be no mistakes, please.

I think I'm definitely going for it in this round.

I think I have to impress the judges.

Today I need to show John and Gregg

that I can be error-free and do

the best I can with what I'm confident in doing.

Richard, good to see you again.

-You made it, mate. You're a quarterfinalist.

-I made it, somehow.

It's fantastic to be here. I can't quite believe it, but I'm here.

What are you making, Richard?

I'm making a amaretto, raspberry and almond tart with amaretti cream,

-almond tuile, almond crumb...

-And how much would you love to go through to knockout week?

To get this far, to say you are a quarterfinalist, is brilliant.

Once you've got this far, you've got the taste...

You've got to get past Tracey MacLeod yet.

Yes, that's a challenge all in its own.

-Keep going.

-Cheers. Thank you.

Richard sounds good. All he's got to do is make sure he puts sugar in

things, doesn't make a mistake and it looks OK.

Everything that Giovanna cooks, she cooks very well.

But she also divides you and I.

We saw that with the quail and the caponata

and we saw it again with the polenta and the partridge.

However, we were united on that beautiful poached pear.

Giovanna puts herself under a lot of pressure.

She gets nervous. That's not the best way to cook.

I want her to relax.

Giovanna, importantly, I need to ask you. How are you feeling?

I'm good. I'm feeling great.

I'm cooking my own food, so I'm a lot more calm.

-I think.

-You said that in the last round.

-Yeah.

And you looked about as calm as a man about to be eaten by a shark.

Yeah, that was different.

You get so little time.

-There was a lot to do.

-What are you making for us?

I'm making an almond ravioli made with almond pasta,

and it's filled with chocolate and almonds and a bit of orange zest.

And then almond sauce.

-Wow.

-I'm serving it with confit orange and confit orange peel and

-an almond brittle.

-And the inspiration?

I love making pasta.

I haven't made it yet.

This challenge didn't really lend itself to that, so I sort of shoehorned it in.

-Giovanna.

-Yes?

-Stay calm.

-I will.

-Carry on.

-I shall. Thanks, Gregg.

Just putting sugar in pasta, it does work.

You do that with pastry, you can make it sweet or savoury,

so there shouldn't be any reason why it shouldn't work with pasta.

It's a bit of a risk.

I just hope the almond ravioli's not chewy,

the centre is lovely and oozing.

I hope there's going to be enough flavour in the whole dish

and it's not just going to be of damp almonds.

I think Lyndsay the DJ is actually a cookery force to be reckoned with.

But she's so ambitious that she doesn't control her timing.

She gives herself too much to do.

I'm only doing five million things

instead of eight million things today.

Hopefully I can get a really nice plate of food out

and show them that they were right to give me a chance with putting me

through, despite my timekeeping in the last round.

Lyndsay with a Y. We've got two "Lindseys."

You've got the choice. You can be Lyndsay with a Y,

or you can be DJ Lyndsay.

I'll go for DJ Lyndsay.

What are you going to make for us?

I'm going to use all the different ways you can use almonds.

So I'm using the almond milk to make a panna cotta.

I'm doing an almond cake with the ground almonds.

I'm using flaked almonds to make a tuile,

and I'm doing marzipan ice cream and raspberry sorbet.

So are you seriously going to attempt five desserts? Yes?

Yeah, yeah, we've got ages.

I don't care what you're going to cook, you know what I care about.

-Are you going to get it done on time?

-On time!

You've got panna cotta to set.

Ice cream to churn. Cakes to bake.

Tuiles to make so they're lovely and thin.

That's a lot of work to do in one and a half hours.

And presently, all I can hear are the clippety clop

of Lyndsay's heels up and down this kitchen.

You are halfway.

45 minutes gone.

45 left.

Adam's been a real surprise for me,

because that young man has a swagger about him, and he delivers big,

bold flavours. The sea bass with the Asian vegetables,

absolutely fault free.

He has got a lot of knowledge and a very good touch

for a contestant so young.

I don't think there's any room to forgive anything going wrong today.

It's a competition.

If one element is wrong,

it's just going to ruin everything.

Adam, I seem to have hit you in the middle of a tuile crisis.

-Yep.

-What's happening?

Everything's going wrong. My tuiles have not quite gone as planned,

or how I practised. A little bit bubbly, a little bit dark.

So I'm going to have to remake the mixture and try that again.

Just burnt my caramel for my almonds as well,

so I'm in a little bit of a hiccup at the moment.

And then I come along.

What are you making?

A panna cotta flavoured with vanilla seed and amaretto

with an almond tuile, some candied almonds,

dark chocolate ganache and a cherry coulis.

You're the youngest one here.

Apart from me and John, and you're a very good cook.

Just chin up, soldier on.

-What will be will be.

-Que sera sera.

-Thanks, Gregg.

Round two on the tuile mix.

I'm quite worried right now because, for Adam, things are going wrong.

Adam needs to get himself together and hold on to his nerve.

Come on!

Lindsey is a great cook, a generous cook,

a homely cook who has lots and lots of skills.

But she likes to put lots of things on a plate

that don't really need to be there.

Lindsey, what are you going to make for us?

Almond panna cotta with a amaretto and bitter orange jelly,

almond ravioli filled with chocolate orange,

almond butter and ricotta

in an orange soup and an amaretto biscuit to dunk.

Where did the idea of this come from?

I've seen sweet ravioli made

and so I thought I would use it but chose my own filling.

I love the idea of a lot of this, especially the jelly.

Lindsey is making us a hot ravioli dessert,

and she is making us a cold panna cotta.

If you put that cold panna cotta with hot ravioli,

the panna cotta's going to melt.

It doesn't make any sense.

I'm pushing myself to do new things with this dish.

I never had a pasta machine until about a week ago,

and the only pasta I've made is sweet pasta.

So I've put something in there that's completely new to me.

20 minutes left!

You've got 20 minutes left, people.

I like Visha because she cooks with the beautiful spices

and flavourings of India.

Who doesn't love those?

It's a beautiful cuisine and she has mastered it.

I need to nail it.

I need to make sure every single thing

on my dish is perfect.

I just want them to look at it and go, "That is pretty cool.

"That is amazing."

I am completely out of my comfort zone today

and I am making an almond bavarois.

The base is a biscuit and then you've got the cherry curd and

the bavarois at the top.

The bavarois is basically a custard and you fold whipped cream into it.

Because you're so good at the food of India,

I thought you'd have done a rice dish?

I didn't want to keep doing the same thing I do at home.

I wanted to show to you guys that I don't just know the curries and my

spices, I can do something else, I can tackle something else.

Visha, love the smile on your face.

-I hope it reflects in your bavarois.

-Thank you, I hope so too.

A bavarois.

Bavarian creams and then the curd and then a crumb across the top.

Could be absolutely delicious.

But is it going to get on the plate looking the way she wants it to?

That's the question.

Yes!

Result.

I've ruined it.

-Right, so what's happened?

-My pasta's gone wrong, twice.

-Your pasta's gone wrong twice?

-Yep.

-OK.

The thing is, at least you've got a panna cotta, you've got a dish.

-Yeah?

-Yeah?

Ten minutes left of this quarterfinal.

Just ten minutes left.

Just four minutes, please.

Lyndsay, you've got to get stuff on plates, mate,

-otherwise you're going to not serve a thing.

-Yep.

Lyndsay, come on.

Lyndsay, put that on a plate. It's time.

Time's up. Stop.

That looked a little bit stressful to me.

Well done.

Now, what I want to do is introduce you to the lady that caused this

stress, that actually set you this brief.

Ladies and gentlemen, restaurant critic Tracey MacLeod.

Adam, please, up you come.

First up is 23-year-old Adam,

who's cooked an amaretto and vanilla panna cotta,

caramelised almond spikes,

a chocolate and almond ganache

served with cherry coulis

and an almond tuile.

Your tuile looks a bit the worse for wear.

Yeah. Yeah, it's not gone very well at all.

Your chocolate sauce has split, as well.

-Correct.

-A shame.

I would probably think you could be a bit bolder with the flavouring.

-OK.

-Because really what we're getting is kind of cream

-to the power of cream.

-OK.

When things go wrong, they go wrong, don't they?

I mean, today, you burnt your caramel, your sauce split twice,

your tuile mix didn't work twice,

but you fought on, Adam, and I really, really appreciate that.

-It's not quite perfect but a nice panna cotta.

-Thank you.

Mate, there's a couple of issues.

I tell you what I don't get a lot of, I don't get a lot of almond.

-OK.

-Shame.

Technically, I think you're a lot, lot better than this.

I'm just extremely disappointed in myself

for making the mistakes that I did make.

But I've done as much as I can do and now it's just a waiting game.

Music teacher Giovanna has made dessert pasta,

almond ravioli filled with ricotta,

chocolate, orange and almonds,

served with confit orange,

a crushed almond brittle and almond sauce.

I think it's absolutely wonderful.

That combination that you've got of chocolate and orange

with a really good taste of almond is a really winning one.

I think it's subtle, I think it's sophisticated,

-I really, really enjoyed it.

-Thank you very much.

You've celebrated the almond, especially in that brittle.

The filling inside the ravioli,

with the chocolate and the ricotta is smooth and wonderful.

I've got to admire your skill,

I've got to admire your invention and I've got to admire your use

of the almond. Yeah, I like it a lot.

We can't always agree.

Tracey really likes it, John really likes it. In this case,

I really like it as well.

I think it's a wonderful, wonderful dessert.

Oh, my goodness, I can't believe it.

I really like that dish but it's quite out there.

There's a lot of elements, I was like, they might hate it, so yeah,

-I'm over the moon.

-That's great, well done.

Berkshire-based Lindsey is serving a white chocolate

and almond panna cotta topped with amaretto and bitter orange jelly,

set in an orange and almond soup

served with amaretti biscuits.

You do bold things and you put things together

and I don't know whether I'm pleased the ravioli didn't work,

because I wondered if it was going to be too much. I don't know.

Well, you've got some really vivid flavours in here.

I absolutely love that orange soupy sauce.

It just springs to life in your mouth.

It's sort of Technicolor.

And the almond biscuit, I love that texture.

You've got the crisp giving way to that lovely melting almondy centre.

I think your flavours are good.

-But I think they're fighting against each other.

-Right.

It's got to do with the creaminess of the panna cotta and the

soupiness of the sauce.

-It's creamy, soupy flavour.

-Yeah.

I absolutely love that.

I think I had three spoonfuls.

I'll wait to see if they were going to finish

because I'll go in for the last bit.

There is something that really appeals to me about that sweet

and that bitter, like marmalade, with the amaretto heat.

I just absolutely love it.

I was a little bit disappointed that I didn't get my ravioli

out on the plate.

At the back of my mind, I'm scared that I haven't quite done enough.

Shropshire-based Richard has made an almond, raspberry and amaretto tart,

served with amaretto cream

an almond shard

and amaretti biscuit crumb,

a flaked almond tuile,

fresh raspberries and a raspberry coulis.

You've got some good, strong flavours in there.

There's a real sharp kick to that coulis

but although the frangipane tart is fine,

there isn't quite the snap to the pastry,

not quite the contrast between the frangipane and the base

that I would have hoped for.

I like your tart.

I mean, the almond flavour with the sharp raspberry,

it's a marriage made in heaven.

It's a lovely combo and I like it.

There's not a great deal more going on.

I think you've celebrated the almond very, very well

but your frangipane needs to be lighter and those raspberries

themselves are making it quite wet.

And the thing I don't understand the most is the dust.

You made biscuits and then you crushed them up.

Serve the biscuits.

I haven't made any major errors,

which is a step up from the last round.

So that's pleasing.

I'd like to think I can go through but I don't know yet.

DJ Lyndsay has made an almond milk panna cotta with dehydrated

raspberries, raspberry and almond frangipane cake

served on a raspberry coulis,

a flaked almond tuile,

honey roasted nectarines

and marzipan ice cream with raspberry sorbet.

There's loads of things there that I'd love to dip my spoon into.

Unfortunately, it's arrayed in such a scruffy manner because, again,

you almost ran out of time again.

Again! This lesson doesn't seem to be sinking in at all.

There are so many wonderful things here that you could strip

two or three of the not-so-wonderful things out

-and you would still have a really lovely dessert.

-Thanks.

I mean, that is probably the best panna cotta we've had today.

Light, airy, subtle.

And the sponge, which is for me the centrepiece of the whole thing,

lovely texture, not heavy at all.

And the flavour of the raspberry coulis is lovely with it.

Thank you.

Panna cotta, cake, ice cream,

sorbet and a tuile do not all belong on one plate.

The cake with your marzipan ice cream,

I love that marzipan ice cream.

I think it's fantastic. I know you want to push yourself, Lyndsay.

You know, save something in your tank for later on.

You don't have to do it all now.

There are also bits on here that I really admire and I,

like my two friends here,

are wondering why you attempted so much

when it was obviously unnecessary.

I am worried because they said the same criticism as before which is

putting too much on the plate and giving myself too much to do,

but I can assure you I have learned my lesson now, that's for sure.

Last up is company director, Visha,

who's made an almond bavarois with a base of amaretti biscuit,

cherry curd and topped with flaked almonds

in a sticky cherry sauce,

served with almond ice cream.

I suppose the reason I chose almond as my brief was because

I really love the flavour of almonds and, to me,

the flavour that's coming through is cherry, so,

I want a bit more foregrounding, perhaps, of the marvellous almond.

I love the cherries.

I have to tell you, I love the sort of bittersweet cherry that's

underneath with the amaretti biscuits.

I think that's really lovely but it needs to celebrate the almond

a little bit more, rather than the cherry.

I like it. I like it and I'll tell you why I like it,

it tastes to me and reminds me of a cheesecake.

I like the flavours.

I'm not sure there's a great deal of sophistication going on there.

Your ice cream's flavour's nice

but it hasn't quite worked properly, has it?

-No.

-Visha!

-I know.

Mixed feelings.

Should have added more flavouring into my main concept of the dish

but, overall, I'm hoping that they like it enough.

Our job now is to make a decision.

We're going to ask you to step outside and as soon as

we've made that decision,

we'll call you back in again.

Thanks very much indeed. Thank you.

ALL: Thank you.

I've never seen that before. I've never seen every contestant pick

the same option. I think it made for a fascinating day.

Giovanna was definitely our star cook.

Great ravioli, really interesting, very exciting, great delivery.

Beautiful, beautiful dish.

She needs to go through. It's been her strongest round so far.

I've got to say, I'm gutted for Adam.

I'm really, really gutted because we have seen great food from Adam

through this competition,

but that panna cotta with the split chocolate sauce and the

failed tuile was not very good at all.

He messed up in a quarterfinal

and it's probably the end of his MasterChef career.

Visha made for us a Bavarian cream or a bavarois but it didn't

really show off the almond and it really wasn't the brief.

I liked the flavours of Visha's dish.

Unfortunately it was the flavours of cherry cheesecake

and not of almonds.

My God, I can't express it as to how much I want to keep doing this.

I stepped out my comfort zone, so let's hope it pays off.

DJ Lyndsay's plate was a cacophony of things.

Too many things on one plate but you've got to admire the fact

that she made a panna cotta beautifully,

she made that centrepiece of that frangipane cake beautifully,

she made a really well-flavoured ice cream.

It's just she's trying to do too much.

How many chances are we going to give her?

I think that's up for discussion.

Despite all the trauma and all the pressure and all of that,

it is great fun. Yeah, I'd be gutted to leave.

Richard went for a classic frangipane and raspberry tart.

The thing was, that tart wasn't quite right.

The pastry should be crispier, the frangipane should have been lighter.

Richard gave a decent tart without it being an exceptional tart.

The fact we all choose to do an almond dessert

means there's nowhere to hide,

so I think those little things that went right or wrong will play.

Lindsey didn't get to make her ravioli and she was upset by that.

I, personally, absolutely loved the amaretto panna cotta.

I thought it was divine.

I didn't really like the panna cotta with the jelly and the orange sauce.

However, Lindsey's determination is good,

her technique is good and she did impress YOU, that's for sure.

I think today is going to be one of the closest rounds so far.

Fingers, legs, toes, you name it, everything's crossed.

John, we've been here before.

I think we should only put through the people that we really think have

the potential to lift the title.

Tough decision, I have to tell you.

You guys all pushed yourselves.

We've decided we are going to take three of you

through to knockout week,

which, of course, means that three of you are leaving us.

The first person going through...

..is Giovanna.

-Well done.

-Thanks, guys.

Congratulations.

The second person going through to knockout week...

..is DJ Lyndsay.

Very good.

The third person going through to knockout week...

..is Lindsey.

Congratulations, Lindsey.

Well done.

Very disappointed. I am disappointed, but hey, I've got this far.

I'm a MasterChef quarterfinalist.

I'd love to have been a finalist, I'd love to have gone further,

but, no, delighted. The experience has been amazing.

I've come to this point.

I would have loved to have gone to the knockout week,

but I'm proud, yeah.

Being in the competition has definitely encouraged me to experiment more

and just go out there and just try something else, because food,

it is exciting. It is. Yeah, play around.

Ladies, you three are through to knockout week.

Well done. Very well done.

I actually don't know what I feel at the moment.

I've gone through nearly wanting to cry and now the smile.

It's going to be there for a long, long time.

Right now, I still can't quite believe it.

I've just got through.

Me and my crazy cooking.

I'm so excited for knockouts and all the madness that comes with it.

I have absolutely no doubt that from now on it just gets tougher

and tougher and tougher and it's already pretty tough.

Next week, eight more cooks battle it out for a place in the quarterfinal.

My mind's just gone blank.

I can't even think about what I can cook.

The pastry is falling to bits.

What a disaster.

You've got 15 minutes on your dessert and your mousse is

still in the blender.

This has got elements of greatness.