Episode 7 MasterChef

These eight contestants are some of the best amateur cooks in the country.

They're here because they've proven they can create food

with its own individual style and flair.

Tonight, they'll have to show another side of their skill.

They've each been asked to cook just one dish from the European cuisine

that inspires them the most.

Spanish, French or Italian.

These three countries have had a huge amount of influence on this country's own cuisine,

and now we want to expose our eight cooks to that great influence.

At the end of this challenge, one of them will be going home.

I've got to keep learning.

If I don't, if there's one day where you're only half in,

that could be your day.

I have an awful lot to prove.

I really do feel that I am in the danger zone at the moment,

especially with my last dish.

I would be in tears if I had to leave today.

I just feel that I'm getting a spring in my step.

I don't want this journey to end just yet.

There's just one challenge today - to cook the best dish they can.

But before they do,

the eight are being sent to a masterclass in their chosen cuisine.

They are going to learn from chefs who have breathed, eaten, lived

nothing else but the cuisines that they love.

Tom, Shelina and Aki have chosen Italian.

I'm feeling really good about going to an Italian restaurant.

My husband is Italian, so I've learned a lot.

But I think in the actual kitchen with an Italian chef is going to be a real eye-opener, I think.

The contestants will be under the tutelage of chef Francesco Mazzei.

His restaurant, L'Anima, is famous for its contemporary interpretation of rustic Italian fare.

Italian cooking is about family.

If I go to my mum and have the cavatelli, it tastes one way.

If I go to my aunt, it tastes a different way. This is the power of Italy.

That's why I think it's the best, most versatile, and most popular round the world.

Hi. What we've got today, we're going to do some very interesting

pasta called malloreddus.

As you can see, we've got five ingredients to create a fantastic dish.

This is the philosophy of Italian cuisine. Simple ingredients

treated with respect, OK?

This what mamma teach you.

What we need to create is this beautiful, smooth, lovely, textured pasta.

I'm just going to mix it slowly, slowly, yes?

Pasta, people think is a simple dish to do, everybody can do it.

There's so many kinds of pasta.

Italy is not just spaghetti, it's not just pizza. It's malloreddus. It's cavatelli. It's ferrazzuoli.

Pasta is like a muscle. The more you work it, the more it gets nervous.

So when you do your pasta dough, you've to leave it to rest.

Then you get this. The pasta goes down, and it's doesn't come up.

That means the pasta is ready to be used. As I am going to show you now.

Fantastic, look at that. Beautiful. A small piece of pasta.

What we need to do, guys, is this.

With your thumb, just turn the pasta round.

You have this kind of shape, OK? This is what we call malloreddus.

It's amazing how you can make those shapes. That was so simple.

-It's beautiful.

-You guys want to try? Come on, two each.

-You've to be confident, just roll it. Nice.

-Ah!

That's it, perfect. Shelina, come on.

You've got a bit of Sardinia on you, so come on.

That's well done, well done. Just roll it.

OK? Quite happy with it?

Tom. Crack on.

Well done, Tom.

When you roll your malloreddus-shaped pasta,

you've to cook it in four or five minutes.

If they stay at room temperature, they get very hard, very dry,

and then you feel the hardness too much. We don't want that.

Another very important thing.

When we cook the pasta, always boiling salted water.

Just get the clams, and put them inside the olive oil.

We're going to add these beautiful cherry tomatoes as they are.

Again, quite rustic. Just a few, just a few.

How is it looking? Look, they all open up.

This is Italian cooking. Simple, great ingredients, OK?

And that's the result.

This is the first time I've wanted pasta at nine in the morning.

Your beautiful malloreddus with clams is ready for you.

Try it.

The pasta's phenomenal. The texture is just...

it's like nothing I've ever had before. It's fantastic.

It's got such a lightness to it. It's just delicious.

Best pasta I've ever had. So delicious! I'm going to cry.

No, don't, please. It's a long day. If you start to cry, we'll have trouble.

To drive the lesson home,

the contestants now have to cook in service.

Tom has to make the spinach and ricotta tortelli.

-I think I want that one little bit bigger now, yeah?

-Bigger?

Look, quite irregular, as well. Not like this, but like this, OK?

No problem. Quite hard. Well, very hard.

Shelina's been given the crab salad on passata.

Chef, I'm ready with the crab.

Add a bit more movement. I don't want a pyramid.

I don't want nothing precise, OK? Rustic.

And Aki, the Sardinian seafood fregola, a toasted couscous dish.

Brava.

Tom!

Well done. Bravo.

Today's done me the world of good, and I think I'll be able to take what I've learned today,

and I think John and Gregg will see it, and it'll show in my food.

I'm happy with this, OK? I didn't taste it, so I'm going to ask the customers.

-OK.

-If they no happy, I'm not going to be happy.

-OK, Chef.

-OK, carry on.

Service!

The customers on table ten, they were happy about your crab.

-They love the taste. They love the look. So well done.

-Thank you, Chef.

The biggest thing about Italian cooking is that the people who cook the food are passionate,

and love what they do. That's what makes the difference.

Brava, brava, brava, brava, brava. OK, let's go!

I'm really happy.

My Italian cooking skills were zero at the beginning of the day,

and now it's somewhere, so that's a factor of infinity improvement.

For their masterclass, Eamonn and Andrew have chosen Spanish.

I love consuming Spanish food,

so I'm really looking forward to what lies ahead.

I'm hopefully going to learn a lot.

They'll be taught by chef Ben Tish at the Salt Yard,

which is renowned for its modern take on Spanish tapas, elevated to new levels.

What I really love about Spanish cuisine is there's some amazing ingredients and produce.

Big hits of flavour. It lets you play a bit more.

They've just got some really amazing stuff going on.

OK, guys, so the masterclass today is my take on a Spanish tortilla.

It'll show you the essence of Spain.

Every tortilla you'll make will be different due to the water content of the onions, the size of the egg.

It's all about using your eye and tasting.

I've got some good olive oil here. This is Arbequina olive oil.

All the ingredients need to be really good.

Because it's so simple, you can't hide any flavours, yeah?

So, Arbequina olive oil in the pan.

We get our onions into there.

We don't really want any colour on them, and just soften them.

Potato in the fryer. Again, cooking them without colour.

I'm just going to transfer these onions into this bowl here.

Let's have a look at these potatoes.

You can see they're ready straight away. And into the tortilla mix.

This is really crucial, this stage. Check the consistency.

It's quite loose, but not so loose it's watery.

That's the perfect consistency.

You've got the jamon iberico,

and then here I've got some aged manchego cheese.

It's important you get the pan very, very hot,

otherwise it'll stick straight away.

A nice sizzle there, so you know the pan's hot enough.

This one will be delicious. I'm happy with this one.

In it goes. So, have you guys eaten many tortillas in your time?

A few bad ones, just at friends' houses, tapas evenings, but always overcooked.

Well, hopefully this one will impress you.

I am going to make a really simple little salad, and it involves fennel.

I love raw fennel in salads. I think it's delicious.

And then here I've got some beautiful Spanish caper berries.

Because the tortilla's so rich, this salad will kind of just add

a freshness to it and make the dish complete.

That's looking good. If I can show you guys here.

It feels nice and soft in the middle, but set around the outside.

Yeah.

And there you go. jamon manchego tortilla with fennel and caper salad.

Spain on a plate.

That's stunning. Absolutely stunning.

That's a pretty good tortilla, I'd say.

To compare that to the ones I've had previously, it quite literally is chalk and cheese.

Well, now you know how to do it, you can create that at parties.

I'll be inviting my Spanish friends round and showing them how to do it.

Service has begun.

And Chef has given Andrew the lamb rump with honey roasted pumpkin and mojo verde.

OK, lovely lamb, nicely cooked. Let's get this plate clean, yeah?

Presentation you need to work on a little bit.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Eamonn is on the chargrilled octopus with peperonata.

OK, that's enough, that's enough.

Put it back over there.

OK, get that octopus off, let's get it cut. We want this plating.

-Octopus away, Chef!

-OK, very good, thank you.

Those are just wonderful. I've thoroughly enjoyed myself today.

The dish that I've got coming up,

I'm already rethinking some of the ingredients,

but it's the presentation as well that I've really learned a lot today.

OK, good, nice.

It's inspired me, and I've learned a lot about wonderful Spanish ingredients,

and knowing how to put them all together in very simple ways

that lets the ingredients speak for themselves.

A good time. I hope I can show John and Gregg that.

Finally, it's Afsaneh, Emma and Jay,

who have chosen French for their masterclass.

I can't wait to find out which French chef we're working under.

I really can't wait.

I love French cooking, love French chefs,

so it'll be a great experience.

I'm hoping to learn a lot about fine cuisine.

They will be under the guidance of chef Bruno Loubet.

His modern bistro is heavily influenced by the techniques of regional French cuisine.

I think it's important to absorb

the French philosophy about the food, especially for the techniques.

If you understand the foundation, you can build from it.

I'm going to show you our Toulouse Daube de Boeuf Bourguignon.

This is essential French cooking, because it's a build-up of flavours.

So we're going to start with the beef.

We give it a nice colour.

And in the same pan now, I am going to cook the vegetables.

Again, we're going to give a nice colour. The bouquet garni goes in the veg as well.

-Do you guys love French cuisine?

-Yes.

-I used to have a French girlfriend.

-She cooked for you?

I used to like the home-cooked stuff like cassoulets.

-You say you used to have a girlfriend?

-Yeah.

-She wasn't cooking very well?

-It was a lot of years ago, Chef.

Now, we add the red wine. So, a lot of red wine.

We're going to bring it to the boil.

This will take away the harsh flavour, especially of the alcohol.

And also, the customer won't get drunk. They can buy a bottle of wine as well.

-We add the stock.

-How long will that cook for?

Now we are going to bring to the boil and braise in the oven

and that will take about three hours.

As always, I have one which I prepared early. OK?

I was here at five o'clock and I prepared this.

You can see the beef is very tender

and it's a bit gelatinous.

Very nice. Now we are going to finish the sauce.

Then we put the sauce to reduce.

During this process we need to skim the top,

always take out all the impurities and fat on the top, yeah?

And to help the process, we add some ice cubes,

so this will lower the temperature of the sauce and it will have

natural clarification. Everything will come to the top.

You just need to skim it.

My sauce is reduced.

I need some pepper.

I worked three years for Raymond Blanc

and if I learned one thing through him it's this -

never be content with what you do.

Always test and test again because sauce is very important.

To me, when you eat a dish, you have a piece of meat

and you have a beautiful sauce. That's French cooking, you know.

Beautiful, shiny sauce, you know,

and that is the result of eight hours of work.

There you are, guys. Daube de boeuf a la bourguignon.

I hope this inspire you.

Please test. Tell me what you think.

-It's good, I see a bit of smile on your face.

-I am speechless!

Fantastic!

Absolutely delicious. >

OK. We all happy?

That's what we are looking for.

Beautiful depth of flavour.

Let's do some work now. Let's go.

Jay has been given the roast lamb

-with gratin a la grecque.

-Come on, guys.

Don't forget, French cuisine,

good sauce. Test your sauce.

-You test your sauce?

-Yes.

-Good.

Chef, one lamb.

Good cooking, good finish, Jay, very nice.

-Thank you, chef.

-Maybe you can start work next week!

Afsaneh is on the roast wood pigeon with Brussels sprouts

and a green pepper sauce.

Chef, one pigeon.

That's good, you're getting it right.

Good, thank you!

And Emma has been asked to make the black-legged chicken

with Swiss chard.

-Well done. That's good. You're getting it.

-Thanks, chef.

I had a wicked time in the kitchen. I really enjoyed it.

I've learnt an awful lot, especially around how

to get more flavour into something.

Hopefully, I'll do French cuisine justice.

I've learned a lot from today, about French cuisine,

about how passionate they are about their food.

It was great. Good day.

That guy in there's awesome.

And you learn a lot from him in such a short time.

Tomorrow, I've got to go in and nail that French dish,

more the French sauce,

impress John and Gregg and stay in this competition.

Our cooks have just had an extraordinary masterclass.

Now, it's time to come back and show you and I how good they've become.

Let them create one dish.

If they don't send me to either France, Spain or Italy,

we will send them home.

Being in a Spanish restaurant has, kind of, lit a fire under me.

Today, I've got to deliver.

I've taken an awful lot from the experience of working under Bruno.

I really want to show what I have learned.

I'm very nervous, today, about cooking this dish.

If I didn't go through, I'd be absolutely gutted.

You been to my restaurant yesterday, and you cooked my food,

my Italian food, of course, so today,

I want to see your Italian food.

I want fantastic dish, and you got one hour

and 10 minutes to do that, so let's crack on.

Italian food is my favourite, favourite cuisine in the world.

A French chef will take a nice product

and he'll make something technically brilliant out of it.

An Italian will just kiss it gently, put it in a pan,

stick it on a plate.

It tastes extraordinary, it's got wonderful texture,

it just makes you alive!

Today, what I want to show John and Gregg,

is I have the ability to cook outside of Mauritian food,

so the dish I'm cooking is chestnut tagliatelle

with a wild mushroom sauce, with white truffles.

I think my dish is a lovely pasta dish, so as long as

I don't shake too much, hopefully my tagliatelle will be straight.

-Shelina, your pasta looks good!

-Thank you, Chef.

-You have to clean that, you know?

-Oh!

A lot of sand here, and as you know,

it's the most expensive ingredient in the world. OK?

You don't want your beautiful pasta to taste like sand, you feel crack on your teeth, yeah?

Make sure it's nice and clean, then you shave the end.

-I'm very happy about your pasta, though.

-Chef.

Shelina, I think she's trying to impress, because she's got

half of the family Italians, but I do not understand

why she's going to use white truffle on top of other ingredients.

White truffle is a king. It needs to be used by himself.

When I see the result, I will make a judgement at the end.

Today I'm doing roasted pheasant

and a porcini mushroom risotto.

What I learned in Francesco's kitchen,

the simplicity, the love and care for the food, and I've actually

stripped back my recipe somewhat, so that I can give it the attention

it deserves and hopefully my dish will be better for it.

Test with me. Taste a bit.

Can you feel the white wine, the acidity?

-Make sure the wine evaporates completely.

-Chef.

A bit of acidity is good for risotto, OK,

but it is a bit too much.

Ow!

Tom is doing pretty well.

A good risotto, I just give him a little tip how to cook risotto,

it is also quite a difficult dish but he's doing pretty well.

Right, guys, you got 35 minutes from now. Then you're ready to go.

I'm cooking a sea urchin spaghetti

and some truffled green salad.

It's going to be simplicity itself.

It's going to be exactly,

100% southern Italian.

-You love garlic, yeah?

-Bit too much?

No, it's fine. The smell of it is great, it goes very well with that!

Careful when you put the sea urchins out,

you do not want oil to go on your beautiful face! Yeah? OK?

Aki, not sure about her combination, to be honest.

We don't serve pasta and salad at all.

You serve salad as a starter,

next to steak, or grilled fish. Not next to pasta.

All right guys, you got 11 minutes.

Make sure you got enough time to plate properly.

I lost my truffle.

-Have you cleaned your truffle?

-Sorry?

-Have you cleaned it while you're there?

The white truffle was on the chopping board.

I took it and put it on this board, because the meat there...

I've emptied this chopping board in the bin. >

I emptied this into the bin. >

You'd better check there. Truffle's there. Want to bet?

Oh my God.

Don't worry about it. We find it and clean it better than before.

And then we'll taste it.

My truffle was on the chopping board, over on that board.

Tom cleaned his chopping board and the truffle went in the bin!

God! It was like a near-death experience for me.

Two minutes, guys, and I want the food over here to look beautiful.

OK. Two minutes from now.

Three, two, one, done.

Come on, stop it! Stop it, stop, stop it! OK.

It's looking good!

Well done.

I'm going to the dining room, now, to taste your food.

Ciao, boys.

-Very exciting.

-Yes, very exciting,

there is a few interesting combinations,

-but, so far, so good.

-That's not filling me with confidence!

Tom, we're going to start with you.

Tom has roasted a pheasant, and served it on wild mushroom risotto,

with fried porcini mushrooms and crispy bacon.

I think it looks simply stunning.

I think it's a beautiful example of the pride of ingredients

the Italians have.

Everything is cooked perfection - the ceps nice sealed, beautiful,

the pheasant as well. Overall, it's a good job.

The combination of the roast pheasant, the thyme,

the mushrooms and that rice underneath, perfectly cooked,

I think it's absolutely perfect combination.

For me it lacks a dimension, and that dimension, I think, simply,

is some pepper.

Otherwise, it's a very, very good dish indeed.

This dish is brilliantly well made and brilliantly conceived,

because I didn't know how you would serve risotto with pheasant.

Brilliantly, brilliantly well made.

Shelina has made chestnut tagliatelle

with a porcini wild mushroom sauce and chilli

topped with white truffle shavings.

For me,

it's perfect.

It's absolutely perfect.

There's almost a sweetness in there.

I can pick out the strength of the wild mushrooms.

My only issue is

I'd like some more truffle on there.

Apart from that, well done. You're on a roll, sugarplum!

-Thank you.

-Aren't you?

I think I'm getting into the zone.

This is the Italian dish. OK?

It's the kind of dish your mum gives to you.

The combination with your mushroom, which brings through

the sweetness of the chestnuts, itself, is pretty spot on.

I like the hint of chilli, as well, which, also need to know,

chilli doesn't go very well with truffle, also.

You know, a few tips. Next time, stick to mushroom,

garlic, chilli, and you done a perfect Italian dish!

I think your chestnut pasta is beautifully made.

It still has that wonderful bite to it

and the chestnut sweetness, I think, is fantastic,

against the smokiness of the mushrooms, and it's not just made

technically, it's made with feeling.

I said that good Italian food makes you emotional and that, for me,

-makes me emotional, so good on you! Well done!

-Thank you very much!

Aki's dish is sea urchin spaghetti and a salad of asparagus,

broccoli, baby spinach, tomatoes and mooli,

dressed with truffle oil.

Pasta and salad, together, in Italian cuisine,

doesn't work.

The problem I've got with this dish, today, Aki

is that we got too many things, too many ingredients going on here.

If you taste the garlic, chilli, sea urchin

and then go to the salad, you have truffle vinaigrette,

so in your mouth there's really a big confusion.

Saying that, though,

the pasta you did, is very, very, very good.

This sea urchin spaghetti actually, for me, is surprisingly delicious.

I didn't expect to like it, I think the pasta is beautifully made,

I like the sea urchin, the spice, it's well seasoned.

It's a nice spaghetti dish. And I wish you hadn't put salad anywhere near it.

I really wish you'd have had the confidence to go with

a bowl of pasta because all three of us would have been saying good job.

In Japan, you do have lots of different courses

all served at the same time. That's the way I enjoy things.

So I couldn't break out of that mentality and I really regret that.

If that sends me home, oh well.

That was honest, really honest. It is what we thought was happening.

I respect your honesty.

Thank you, all three of you. Some great food.

We will see you soon.

You can see what they've picked up from working with you

because actually, all of these dishes are very skilled. All of them.

These guys have got passion.

Don't forget they've been in my kitchen for one day.

What they have learnt has made me happy and proud.

They are three people who have learnt a huge amount in a short time.

I have learnt a big lesson today.

One dish is one dish

and the flavours need to go together, which is different to Japanese food.

I hope they keep me in and give me another chance.

Beautiful Italian food. Now bring on the Spanish.

You have an hour and 10 minutes to cook your dish. Let's go!

For me, of the three cuisines, this is definitely the most exciting.

It has the spice background I love.

It is an exciting cuisine which fills your mouth with joy.

The main job for the contestants today is to recreate

some of my loveliest holidays.

Give me sunshine, give me tomatoes, give me spice.

Give me the soul of Spanish food.

My dish today is hake.

I've also got red peppers, chorizo, patatas bravas and aioli.

There are strong flavours on that plate. It will be a bit dangerous.

But I have to use what I learned in The Salt Yard

to let the ingredients shine with each other.

So, there's lots of elements to this dish.

You have cherry-picked your favourite tapas dishes.

That's how I started.

There were more to start with, I have brought this down.

Spanish flavours are very bold. That's why there aren't usually many elements on the plate.

So, I will be quite interested to see how it pulls together.

There is a lot going on with Andrew's dish.

He is a very good cook. Each individual element will work

but it's how it works as a plate that will be the interesting thing.

OK guys, half an hour to go. We need to step it up.

-Eamonn, how are you going?

-Good, chef. On time.

The dish I am cooking is pan-fried bream fillets with a romesco sauce

with broad beans on the side with Iberico ham.

I hope the whole thing will be beautifully balanced.

-So, what are you doing here?

-I'm pin-boning the bream

and making a stock which I'm hoping will give it a bit of background.

How much it will work, I don't know.

That needs to reduce right down.

Do you think you've got enough time for that?

Like I say, I might not be able to add enough in as I would like.

-That's got to be the right consistency. That is the plan, Chef.

-Good.

Eamonn, I think his dish is much more in line with what we do at our restaurants.

I like the fact he's using sea bream,

and I'm quite excited about Eamonn's dish.

OK guys, 14 minutes left. You have to bear in mind you have the plating up to do.

So, things should be coming together now.

Come on, let's go. Andrew, quickly please.

-I will see you in the dining room shortly.

-Yes, Chef. Thank you.

-How are you?

-How are they getting on?

-They got it together in the end.

A couple of seconds to spare. All good.

Andrew has made crumbed hake with aioli-filled patatas bravas,

served with padron peppers, roast red peppers,

a chorizo, orange and saffron sauce and a squid ink beurre blanc.

-Beurre blanc is French where I come from!

-I agree, John.

Hm, I love it.

I am absolutely love it. I think this may be the best cooking you've done so far, Andrew.

Because it centres around flavour,

not just your eye for presentation, that's lovely.

I quite like it, guys.

I can tell!

-I think it's wonderful, Andrew!

-It's Spain on a plate.

The colours, it's vibrant, it's exciting, it's fun.

The patatas bravas I was concerned about.

Again, fish is beautifully cooked.

If I got fish cooked like that by one of my chefs I would be more than happy.

You have all the elements of sunshine and sea

and the colours that go with fun, exciting, Spanish food.

I think it's really well made

and what I'm more pleased about is you have taken the essence of Spain

and used your style, rather than your style and dropping Spanish flavours in.

And that, for me, was the exercise today.

So, good job. Really good job.

Eamonn served his sea bream on a romesco sauce topped with

paprika and olive oil and broad beans with Iberico ham.

Really enjoyed that.

The beans and ham mix, a classic. Really good.

I was slightly concerned about the bream standing up against the romesco sauce.

But I don't think it's too pungent, the romesco. It's nicely balanced.

-It was a lovely plate of food.

-Thank you, chef.

Good-looking dish, brilliant flavour combinations.

The beans, ham and onion is delightful.

All in all, good cooking.

The cooking on your dish today has proved you've taken a lot from the restaurant experience.

You are learning what makes the difference.

That fish crispy on the edges but still soft on the flesh.

I think that, for me, is where I can see growth. That excites me.

I believe the pair of you have really understood the flavours and ideas of Spain brilliantly.

I really do.

Gentlemen, thank you very much indeed.

Thank you, chef.

I think at this level, and they are amateurs, everything's been amazing.

These two are on a fast learning curve.

I'm on holiday, looking for the bloke with the pedalo!

All goes for us really well.

Just nice to hear them almost confirm what you know

and that is that you are picking things up.

To hear Gregg say that's my best cooking ever is what you want to hear at this stage in the competition.

Last to cook is Afsaneh, Jay and Emma with their take on French cuisine.

You have one hour and 10 minutes. Please go.

I admire French food but for me it's very rich, heavy and big.

I want sunshine in my life!

I want to my heart thump rather than fill me with richness.

You can keep your sunshine. Give me butter and cream and sugar!

I want to show them that I have learnt a lot from being with Bruno yesterday.

Today I am doing a bouillabaisse.

That, to the French, it's like fish and chips to the English.

They absolutely love it. It is a fish stew but I will refine it.

It's a fantastic dish.

-So, this is your version of bouillabaisse.

-Yes.

I see your stock is quite loose and clean.

Usually it has more body to it.

I'm going to reduce the stock so it's just the stock

and I've also got some orange zest in there.

-For a little bit of citrus.

-It's a reinterpretation of bouillabaisse.

-All the lemon separate, build up together.

-That's exactly it.

It's a classic dish but it's Masterchef,

I've got to put my interpretation on it.

I understand. Voila. I'm waiting for that.

Today, he's deconstructing a bit. It will be interesting to see the end result.

If he puts it together, that would be fantastic.

Today I'm cooking chocolate and banana profiteroles

with ice cream in a caramel sauce.

I haven't decided what flavour of ice cream I am going to make.

It may be caramel ice cream, it may be vanilla. It may be banana.

We will wait and see what happens during the hour and 10!

It's going to be nice and crisp outside and soft inside.

Yes, hopefully. Hopefully, if it works out!

-What ice cream you doing?

-I am not 100% sure yet.

What I am thinking is with the caramel with it which is a banana

caramel that I might swirl that through vanilla ice cream.

But I've never done that before so I think that will work.

Emma seems to be concerned about what she's doing.

I don't think she knows what the result will be.

So, that's a concern.

30 minutes gone, 40 minutes left.

Today I am cooking apple and cinnamon flan cake

with vanilla and Calvados ice cream.

I'm worried about the cake, I'm worried about the ice cream

because when you put alcohol in the ice cream,

it does not set as quickly.

So, I have a few things to worry about.

Can you explain to me about the dessert because I am not sure

if it is a flan or ...?

It doesn't rise as much as a normal cake

so it stays sort of shallow and looks like a flan but it's not flan-based.

-It is more spongy and moist?

-I hope so!

Does it look like a flan or a pancake at the moment?

It looks like a flan at the moment! I hope it stays like that!

Afsaneh is doing a dessert, I am not sure what it's going to be.

It sounds like a hybrid between a sponge cake and a clafoutis.

Hopefully it will be soft and moist and beautiful.

OK guys, you have 17 minutes left.

Make the most out of it, I want to see something fantastic today.

I just noticed the ice cream is not setting.

-Three minutes and three portion.

-Chef.

Emma, come on, come on! This is the end.

Chef, my ice cream. It was done, and then

what I tried to do was make it into a caramel swirl,

and the caramel melted it all.

-Yes.

-So it didn't work.

-OK.

It is time to stop now. Finished. We go.

Let's start with yours, Jay.

Jay has made his take on a bouillabaisse,

consisting of pan-fried monkfish and gurnard, mussels, fennel

and saffron potatoes.

I love the way you've cooked the fish, and the potatoes are perfect.

Everything is cooked really well,

and I can pick the saffron

out of the base of the bouillabaisse

but it lacks the depth of a proper French bouillabaisse.

It's all very well done.

The fish is perfectly cooked. The fennel is good.

All the elements, individually, are good,

but together, it's too many ingredients. You have to separate it, I think.

You've that wonderful tinniness of the saffron,

the soft, waxy potatoes, the richness of your broth

with the strength of fish

which is not overpowering, and I like your mussels,

but for me, the joy of the bouillabaisse has sort of been lost,

by taking it apart and putting it back together again.

Afsaneh has made an apple and cinnamon flan cake

served with Calvados ice cream.

This is very much a classic marriage of flavour,

nevertheless there is quite a few mistakes there.

The cream is very loose.

Maybe not enough egg yolks.

So on the whole, this is a dish so simple that it should be...

It could be only perfect, to be French.

I think that today your technique has let you down.

The apples should have had a lot more colour,

a lot more butter on them before they went on top of the sponge.

The ice cream, you should have burnt away the alcohol

before you tried to churn it.

What we know you're capable of isn't really on show.

As a concept, I think an apple tart with a Calvados ice cream

is a brilliant idea.

I mean, such a wonderful combination of flavours,

if you'd have pulled it off.

OK.

Emma has made profiteroles filled with banana creme mousseline

and topped with milk chocolate and spun sugar,

served with a caramel and vanilla ice cream,

caramel sauce and banana slices.

What happened was I made the vanilla ice cream

and then put some of the caramel in it, and then that melted it.

So what we've got is ripple puddle.

Yep.

I quite like your choux pastry.

They're irregular shapes.

I'd like them to be a little bit bigger.

But the whole thing is too sweet, even for me.

Yep.

For me, the trouble is soft chocolate on the choux,

which makes it sticky and very sweet.

In the French way, we probably will have done

a caramel and dip them, so you have the crunch.

Choux pastry is about the texture,

the crusty pastry outside, soft inside,

if you add the caramel on the top, you even have this extra bite.

Just really too sweet and too sticky, I think, for me.

Emma, I've got to applaud the amount of work you put into this dish.

Making choux pastry, making a proper creme patissiere

to fill up the centre of those, which is actually lovely and thick,

making a custard base for your ice cream, a chocolate topping,

a caramel sauce. There's lots of work in here.

But in that small amount of time you've had,

it means that the detail is not quite there.

Thank you very much. That was a fascinating and new journey

around the dishes of France.

Thank you very much. Off you go, guys.

The only dish today that I think

has actually captured France at all is Jay.

I completely agree with you.

To me, these desserts, really, are more English -

even if they were done perfectly - than French.

The creamy things, the sweetness.

There's not enough difference of texture

and technical aspect to it.

I'm disappointed because I wanted my ice cream to be there

as an ice cream, not like a runny custard,

but obviously you make mistakes and you need to correct it

and deal with it and get on with it, and carry on.

No, that didn't go very well for me today at all,

and it may cost my place in this competition.

We have brought the best bits of Europe into our own kitchen.

Around Europe in eight plates. It was brilliant.

Well, it wasn't all brilliant, but I've had a brilliant time.

The Spanish food was my favourite.

I think Andrew and Eamonn completely and utterly nailed it.

They evoked the flavours of Spain, the spirit of Spain,

-and they deserve a place in the next round.

-Andrew and Eamonn, safe.

Italy next?

I thought Shelina did a brilliant job.

for Shelina, it seems the food of Italy really got hold of her.

She understood the principles, cooked with sympathy

and just delivered with absolute singular majesty.

I feel proud right now. I feel pretty happy.

And hopefully my Italian family will be proud as well.

Tom cooked for us a risotto of wild mushrooms with pheasant and ceps,

and I have got to say, it was stunning. Absolutely stunning.

So in the Italian round, the cooks we really like are Shelina and Tom.

Yep, they're definitely safe.

Aki, I really liked the salad, and I really liked the spaghetti,

just no way did they ever work together.

The components of the dish were actually good.

Just the one thing that I put it together,

so that's why I'm really gutted.

It's like saying I love chocolate, I love anchovy,

put them together, boom!

If you're willing to forgive her I am, because

I thought her spaghetti was very, very well made.

OK, fine, then. Aki stays. Shall we move to France?

France was a different kettle of fish for me.

I was quite disappointed in France, apart from Jay.

Jay made a bouillabaisse fish stew, of sorts.

It didn't go as good as I thought it would. It's a classic dish -

I shouldn't have played around with it.

He was disappointed but the flavours were there

and it really embraced what France was about.

It was opulent, it was exciting, it was rich, it was vibrant.

Jay has made the grade.

As for Emma, I don't think she went anywhere near a Parisian cafe -

more towards a major supermarket.

Emma's profiteroles weren't perfect but they were passable,

but she filled them with banana cream,

we had a toffee sauce, and we had an ice cream which didn't quite work,

but for all Emma's twists, John, we kind of like

that dangerous side of cooking. We like people who push themselves.

I'm feeling disappointed in myself.

Very disappointed in myself.

I've just got to hope and pray that they give me another chance.

Afsaneh's apple flan cake was neither a flan nor a cake,

and she promised us ice cream that turned into cream.

We had issues there.

Afsaneh's dish wasn't that good.

Slices of apple on top of a batter, almost a cake mixture,

served with some ice cream,

and I don't see what it displays about France.

I'm hoping that they're going to see that I cook from the heart

and I've got the potential

and I'm going to be kept in the competition.

Both of those ladies had weak rounds. It happens.

But who's done enough to warrant a lifeline?

We are in a real quandary here. Who has the promise?

Who can turn themselves around, pick themselves up quick enough

to be able to cope with the strength of the competition?

For us as judges, an extraordinary challenge,

a real insight into your potential.

Eamonn...

..Andrew...

..Shelina...

..Tom...

..Jay...

..you're staying with us. Well done.

Aki...

you've done enough to stay with us, Aki. Well done.

The contestant leaving us...

..is Afsaneh.

I know it's a competition and you've got to go out

at one point or another, but to be honest,

it's hard.

It's hard.

But I've had a wonderful time.

Just being part of it is fantastic.

I have found so many things about myself that I never knew.

I wouldn't change any part of it for anything, apart from the last one.

SHE LAUGHS

All the best to the rest of them.

They have a huge journey in front of them and it's going to be exciting.

SHE LAUGHS

I feel absolutely elated. I can't believe it.

I'm incredibly, incredibly lucky to be here right now.

You OK?

I'm just really pleased I've been given

another opportunity to cook and redeem myself.

Well done, darling.

The magnificent seven.

I can't believe it, do you know what I mean?

Has it been whittled down quick or what? Do you know what I mean? Phew.

Next week, the contestants take to the wild...

Welcome to a very windy Cumbria.

..and have to impress two of the country's most exciting chefs.

They've got to think outside the box.

I'm looking for perfection.

In my mouth now, I've got a floral, sweet, oaty fish biscuit.

You've broken my heart here today.

This is really wrong.

For one contestant, the dream will be over.

The person leaving us...

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