Episode 14 Celebrity MasterChef

16 celebrities are battling it out to win the coveted MasterChef crown.

I don't want to leave the party early. I need to prove to myself that I'm good.

These celebrities have already reached the top of their profession.

But can they cut it in the kitchen?

Everyone's been cooking really well. Yeah, I think it's wide open.

I'd like to win if I can stay the course. You've got to be made of steel.

Cooking doesn't get tougher than this.

All this week, these three celebrities have been set challenges to determine their expertise.

At the end of the week, only the best will go through to the semi-finals.

We've got three great cooks.

Three people now have their eye on the title.

This is where we start to see whether they can raise their food just one more level.

Allora, ragazzi, marcia!

Today, they're thrown in at the deep end,

cooking to professional standards in a busy London restaurant.

Not bad for the first one. Let's go.

Then they'll have to show John and Gregg what they've learnt.

If my chances were judged by the level of nerves I have, then I'd win.

I'm just terrified all the time.

I completely want to do well. I want to stand back and say,

"For goodness sake, Justin, you're a brilliant cook!"

It has kind of taken over my immediate life.

I guess I've caught the bug.

It's 9am and Danny, Sharon and Justin are heading to cook in their first professional service.

I'm looking forward to shouting, "Yes, Chef," and stuff like that.

I hope I can feed them, the poor people coming in to eat this food.

I'd like to think I'm not going to kill anybody today,

either by knife attack in the kitchen or food poisoning.

This is L'Anima in the city of London

which is famous for its contemporary Italian cuisine.

They will be working under chef-patron Francesco Mazzei.

-Good morning, guys.

-Good morning.

-It's going to be a very busy day. We've got 120 on the books.

The food has to be spot-on. If not, we're going to have an issue.

-All right? So let's go, let's start.

-Thank you.

Each celebrity will be in charge of one dish during a busy lunchtime service.

The starter portion is three, the main course portion is five.

Actor Sharon will be cooking a pumpkin tortelli with a sage and brown butter sauce.

-What we want you to achieve.

-OK.

-Well done.

-Sharon, the first one, I'm quite impressed, but you're going to do 100.

-100?

-Yeah.

Now we're going to make some brown butter with a bit of sage.

It's important we don't burn it because we'll use the sage leaves to decorate the dish.

Two, three.

-Ciao, ciao. OK?

-Yeah.

-When it starts to...

-Bubble.

-..your butter is ready. We don't want the butter too brown.

A bit of Parmesan underneath.

The beautiful brown butter. Look. Huh?

That's your dish.

It has to be spot-on.

Nothing less than this.

Fantastico.

Musician Danny is in charge of a starter of octopus, cannellini beans and ricotta cheese,

topped with a watercress salad.

Danny, here... Look at that.

Your thyme... Beautiful, beautiful flavour. Beautiful flavour.

OK? I like my garlic to be golden.

And then look, water and the cannellini together.

-OK? Nice.

-A handful?

-Yes.

It smells good? Look, huh? Bellissimo!

-Then salt, pepper...

-Salt and pepper.

-Then we leave it on the side.

In the meantime, we make sure the pan is hot enough, and next to it, we put the octopus.

Very important, Danny. It has to be a very hot pan. Is it nice?

-It's starting to go golden.

-Beautiful. That's what we want.

You've got the cannellini here, the octopus, the ricotta and the dressing.

So cannellini here on the plate...

OK?

A little bit of juice from the cannellini... Always helps a bit.

One...

Two...

Three.

Then the ricotta mustia on top. OK?

This beautiful octopus. OK?

Then you use your hands.

OK?

-Then you can do this.

-A little bit round the edge.

-And you're ready to go.

-If it doesn't come like that, I will shout at you. You don't want that.

-I'll try my best.

-Good.

What I want you to do is this. OK, look.

-What you'll do...

-Shave off those little bits?

-Yeah.

Interior designer Justin will be responsible for the special of the day -

asparagus and a bean mix, topped with an egg and black truffle.

-This one cost me £1,000 a kilo.

-Wow!

-So you'd better make the dish perfect.

-I won't waste a bit.

-If not, we'll have trouble at the pass.

-OK.

-This dish will be sold for £30.

-£30?

-30. Three-zero.

We're going to cook peas and broad beans. OK?

-The asparagus are ready for me in two minutes, two minutes and a half. Now we do the broad beans.

-OK.

-Broad beans in the water.

-OK.

-OK?

Fantastic. Look at that. Now...

-A little butter here... Got a nice shape.

-OK.

-Asparagus here.

Your broad beans. OK?

Parmigiano-Reggiano on top.

OK, they're going to gratin together.

OK, easy. No?

-Fantastic. Done.

-Perfect.

-What we're doing now is this.

We'll do this one here on the plate. OK?

-Bring on the egg.

-The egg on top. Be careful not to break the egg.

-Do you understand now why it's £30?

-Oh, my goodness! Wow!

I don't want this dish to be clean at all. I want it to go out as messy as it is with the truffle.

-That's your dish, OK?

-Well done.

-Justin, that's what I want at the pass. OK? No mistakes.

If I send it back, the customer will suffer and you will suffer.

I want a runny egg and I want a very crunchy taste of the vegetables.

-I want to get this right. Do you want me to start preparing the vegetables now?

-Start preparing them now.

-OK.

The celebrities now have two hours to get everything ready ahead of service.

Danny gets to work preparing his octopus.

I feel fairly confident.

But sometimes when you're really confident about something, that's when it all goes wrong.

Meanwhile, Sharon rolls and cuts her pasta.

It's a full-time, full-on experience, this cooking lark.

I've never done anything like this in my life before.

This dish is worth £30. It's topped with black truffle shavings, so bags and bags of pressure.

If I screw up, I waste this restaurant 30 quid a pop. I'm not going to do that.

I'm all prepped up and ready to go.

I think it's going to go mental.

All right, guys, 120 confirmed,

so we'll have 10 to 20 walk in, yeah? 140. Rock'n'roll, huh?

Viva la mamma!

-Allora, marcia! Four scallops, one tortelli!

-Yes, Chef!

Sharon and Justin have the first orders of the day.

This is breaking.

Shall I take it out again?

-That's breaking as well and that's the new lot.

-Yeah, do a new one.

-Chef!

-Marcia!

-Chef, I've got to do the tortellini starter, yeah?

-Yes, three.

-Three?

-OK?

You've got three minutes to go.

Marcia! Due Norcia, a starter of the day, which is asparagus.

Hello!

I think we're in business now, so I've got to get the process right.

Under there.

-Sharon, one minute to go.

-One minute to go?!

I gave you three minutes three minutes ago.

-Plate it on the pass.

-OK, I just need to know.

-Sharon, we're running late.

-What do I do? Bring the plate over there?

-Yeah, you've got to plate the dish by yourself.

-Will somebody check if it's cooked?

-Yeah.

-Is it cooked?

-Good.

Is it cooked? I'm nervous. What if it's not cooked?

If you don't think it's cooked, go back again into the water.

OK, I've got the scallops ready here. I need my tortelli, please.

-Sharon...

-Parmesan on top?

-More Parmesan on top.

Excuse me.

You put a bit too much sage for my taste, but not bad to be the first one.

Wow, that looks great.

-OK, it's not bad.

-OK.

-£30 - more truffle, please.

-More truffle.

-A little bit less butter. I like the way you cook your egg.

-Is it good?

-Yes, it's good.

Marcia!

Four starter of the day, four asparagus, my friend. Two - no eggs.

Sharon, she was pretty good for the first one and also Justin.

I want to see now how he copes under pressure.

Oh, no.

Two with eggs, two without?

Starter of the day, baccala, fritto misto, parmigiana!

-One more for you, Justin, yeah?

-All right.

OK, here we go, a VIP. It's got one, two... No, one carpaccio, one more starter of the day!

-I need to have six of these. It's not gratined properly.

-No?

-It's not gratined.

-More? Oh, my God!

Come on, quick, quick, quick!

Give it to me. Start to plate those two, please.

Two without the egg first, guys.

-Justin, more truffle.

-OK.

-£30 dish.

-More truffle, guys. Hold on a second.

-Go!

-OK, that's it, go! Marcia!

-Go, go, guys! These are ready.

-Don't waste my truffle. It's expensive. One more starter. Run, run, run!

-Two more!

I had the asparagus. It was very nice.

It complemented the egg and the black truffle very well. Very enjoyable.

-Marcia! Octopus, carpaccio, due pork belly, parmigiana, rabbit!

-Si, Chef!

30 minutes into service and Danny suddenly gets three orders at once.

Marcia! Octopus, crab, baccala!

Si!

This is cold.

Hey! Danny, try... Try the beans.

-Cold.

-Cold, no salt. What shall we do? Come on, do it again.

-OK.

Quick. Do it again, quick!

I'm not as busy as everyone else. Everyone seems to want those truffles and that octopus.

Danny, I need the octopus in three minutes at the pass. Come on, quick!

That's much better than the one before. Leave it there. Clean the dish and let's go!

Whoo! I think... Have I got another one?

It's intense, but mental.

Danny, Danny, come here. Look at the beans. They're dry! They're dry!

They're no good! The water, the emulsion.

I can't wait any more, so I'm going to do this one quick, quick.

Put it back in. OK?

You see this water? This is what we've got the water for. You see why? That, that... Its own water.

This is what I want.

Like that. Moist, moist.

-OK.

-Come on. That's it.

Hey, next one like this then.

-OK?

-Have I got another order now?

-Yeah, you've got one more.

You're already late. Come on!

I can't get my damn beans right.

-Allora, marcia! One octopus, due tortellini, one asparagus!

-Si!

-Is that two tortellini you've got there? Two starter portions?

-Yeah, three and three. OK, well done.

That's good, that's good. Keep going, keep going.

I had the pumpkin and sage tortelli and it was absolutely delicious. Really enjoyable.

Danny is doing his best. I'm on his back. I don't know if he likes that.

He's not sure about my beans.

Maybe he just likes me.

-Do your best.

-OK.

If not, I don't let you cook any more, yeah? Do your best.

Come on, take it out.

Watch out. That's really hot there, man.

OK, they're getting very dry. Put a bit on the plate.

How about this?

Bravo!

Octopus and ricotta... You show me at the end.

-OK, already a good improvement. Come on, man.

-OK.

You've got a nice touch.

You've got a very nice, gentle touch.

Rock'n'roll! Bravo, bravo! Let's go, two octopus, quick, quick, quick!

I had the octopus with the cannellini beans.

I thought it was fantastic. It was perfectly tender, the octopus.

And the vinaigrette on top of the salad was fantastic.

It was delicious.

Danny, Sharon, Justin, thank you very much. You've done a fantastic job today.

Clean your area, please, ready for the next challenge, something very exciting. Well done for today.

Grazie, ragazzi!

I'm impressed. Sharon did a fantastic job.

There's not much bad about it. Only thing I can tell - bit slow.

But overall, I'm impressed.

It's tiring. You've got to respect it. I will never look at food in a restaurant in the same way again.

Justin, incredible. He sold about 20 of our special today at £30 each.

Overall, I'm quite impressed, quite impressed.

Today, I had the most expensive dish, but I think I pulled it together with aplomb and I'm really, really proud.

Danny, I think he's got good taste,

but he served the beans dry a couple of times and he panicked a bit.

So I went on his back, showed him again and the guy, he got it. And the result was good at the end.

I've been in more stressful situations, but not that many.

I've maybe got a bit of ground to make up.

After a busy service, the celebrities must now cook chef Francesco Mazzei's signature dish -

a bone marrow stuffed with Parmesan mash and covered with tagliata

or slices of black Scotch beef, served with blue cheese, fried marrow and a red wine sauce.

It's important we seal all around because when it cooks, it doesn't lose the jus.

This is the nice colour we want. Bit of butter...

And now I'm going to put this one inside the wood-fired oven, OK?

Beautiful. Five, six minutes for medium to rare.

In the meantime, we'll finish our sauce over there.

Shallots, marrow bone...

I'm going to add the red wine, OK?

Don't be shy.

While this one is cooking now, we do this beautiful mashed potato.

Take one of these bones here and we're going to stuff the bone with this.

We put this in the oven as well, guys.

While this one is cooking,

I'll take the fillet out.

Right, OK?

Now it's time for this beautiful fillet to rest for a few minutes.

Marrow bones here, a bit of thyme to give it flavour.

Wow! Let's assemble our beautiful dish.

Use a bit of this beautiful beef to go round,

then our beautiful marrow around the plate.

Now we're going to add our beautiful sauce which we did, OK?

-Beautiful.

-This is a bit of chervil.

-It's really beautiful.

This is what I'm expecting from you today. Ready to go? You've got 20 minutes. Let's go.

I think the key is getting the meat medium-rare, so quite pink in the middle.

Deep purple.

Ah!

Ooh!

Hmm.

The mashed potato, the blue cheese and the Parmesan and the marrow

it's well done. So well done with that. Very good.

-But the sauce is not there.

-No.

There's no sauce here, only fat.

If you present a dish like that, people will not even eat it. There's too much fat going on. OK?

Aaargh!

I've had a pretty terrible day. It's really tough.

If I'd known this, I don't know whether I'd have bloomin' started.

I'm actually confused now. I don't remember.

They make it look so easy, don't they?

I haven't got much sauce there.

I'm going to put those on the meat, which he didn't, but I am.

Hi, Sharon.

Hi, Francesco.

I like the presentation.

What happened to the sauce?

The marrow bone is very good. Perfect, not dry. Enough moisture.

This should be one minute more. It can become a very dry and boring dish

without sauce. You see?

-I panicked. I thought the sauce was going to burn.

-Shame for the sauce, but you are nearly there.

Shame for the sauce.

I won't sleep tonight, thinking about that sauce.

But I'll also try to remind myself in my wakeful sleep that he said it was a good dish.

I love this dish. I love steak, the sauce,

the thyme, the whole bouquet garni is amazing.

I've had a real disaster.

I think this is too salty.

There you go.

The mash is good. Good balance between the cheese and potato and bone marrow.

-The way you cook the meat is very good.

-OK.

-The sauce is wrong. I'm not enjoying this.

-I tasted the gravy

and I thought it was a little bit too sharp, so I added what I thought was sugar. But I picked up salt.

-And I slung in a bit of potato.

-Ah, this is the potato there.

-To thicken it.

The sauce you did ruined your dish.

'I spent such a lot of time on it. I just goofed it.'

Yeah, I think it's been my hardest day so far. I really struggled.

I think I've just got to regroup my thoughts

and make sure I do some good cooking later on.

I learnt such a lot from that. If I'm going to be leaving, maybe I did OK today.

After this experience, I really still want to do well.

If I didn't feel competitive before, I really feel competitive now.

Welcome back. I hope you had a great time in the restaurant kitchen.

This is an invention test. On these benches there are a set of ingredients,

-an extraordinary and beautiful set of ingredients.

-Go and select your ingredients, please.

They must invent two dishes from ingredients including...

red snapper, pork sausages pork and beef mince,

Parma ham, tomatoes,

peppers, porcini mushrooms, Arborio rice, cheese and chocolate.

I'm going to tell you the truth - my mind's gone completely blank.

Two minutes, please.

Right, guys, here we go. Back to your benches, please.

It's time for you to truly impress.

One hour 15 minutes. Your two dishes.

Let's cook.

Today is all about inspiration and creativity.

Who can step up and give us something professional and classy?

Justin started this competition throwing things at a plate, hoping it would make his food better.

And it didn't.

Inside we have lamb sausage, beef, mushrooms, aubergines,

-cheese, pasta, salt, pepper, milk.

-And bacon lardons.

And bacon lardons! Brilliant.

Now we're starting to see Justin refine his food, get excited

and understand his true potential.

I really love that. Honestly, that is lovely.

And there's not a sparkler or an umbrella or anything silly. Well done.

My question for Justin is can he keep that momentum going?

I think I perform best under pressure. Today's the invention test.

It's potentially an area where I can do well.

Justin, you're missing something.

-I'm missing Colin.

-How do you feel?

-When Colin was in the contest,

I wasn't really enjoying it. I didn't want to be competitive with Colin.

-Now I feel much more competitive.

-Good.

-What are you cooking for us?

-Fish pie and ratatouille.

And a dessert with boudoir biscuits and peaches, figs and orange.

-You are really pushing yourself.

-I want to perform under pressure.

Justin is making a fish pie served with ratatouille.

A mixture of courgettes, peppers, onions and acidic tomato. On fish pie?! Really?

I do like the idea of the dessert he's making. That could be absolutely delicious

if he can make it look elegant.

You have 30 minutes. 30 minutes have gone.

Danny is a renowned musician and he's a bit of a character.

I've watched his food grow and it is seriously good. That souffle was as close to perfection as you get.

It's a raspberry souffle in a raspberry sauce. Faultless.

-Absolutely faultless.

-I need to know if Danny was just a flash in the pan.

He had a little wobble in that kitchen, people screaming orders, lots of hustle and bustle.

Today he's got a lot to prove.

I feel a bit more apprehensive.

My confidence was higher and has taken a knock.

Smash it up!

-Danny, what are your two dishes?

-Sausage and mash with onion gravy

-and an open fish ciabatta Italiano.

-A fish sandwich?

-No, an open fish ciabatta Italiano.

-Sausages and mash and a fish sandwich?

-Yeah.

I'm trying to be inventive on this. It's a different sort of dish.

I'm not exactly 100% sure what I'm doing. Maybe that's how you learn.

Danny is doing sausages and mashed potato, which, in a way, might be OK

because he's decided to reach for those dry porcini mushrooms. We may get lovely gravy. Is it enough?

Then he wants to do some fried fish on bread with tomatoes.

It sounds a bit muddled to me.

15 minutes left, guys. 15 minutes.

Sharon is an actress on stage and screen. Her food is decent. It shows a decent touch.

It's all very light and fresh, but big on flavour. I don't mind telling you I really liked that.

But it hasn't wowed. It hasn't thrilled.

It's nicely made, it tastes nice. It needs something else and that something else is a sauce.

I want better than nice from Sharon.

My confidence is restricted only by my knowledge.

That freaked me at the beginning.

-Tell us your two dishes today.

-I have absolutely no idea.

-I'm literally doing it as I go along.

-Oh, no.

-But it's coming.

-Like a snowball rolling down a hill.

-That was very poetic.

If your food can be as poetic, brilliant.

If it could be, yeah!

-Just decide what you're gonna do and deliver it.

-Sharon, thank you.

-Thank you.

Sharon, she's cooking some mince and she's going to bake that in the oven with some potatoes.

Then she's completely unsure what her second dish is going to be. She's cooking fish and some peaches.

That slightly concerns me.

Four minutes to give us something impressive!

Just 60 seconds to finish off your dishes, guys.

Stop! That's it. Finished.

Justin has cooked a fish pie with ratatouille, followed by a dessert of stewed peaches and figs

topped with marsala wine, cream and sponge fingers.

I really like the creamy mash on top of your pie and I like the rich mushroom sauce, well seasoned,

but for me the acidity of that ratatouille with the cream is just a very strange texture.

Almost curdling on your palate.

Right.

-I like your fish pie.

-Thank you.

-It's thick and it's creamy. Don't want to eat that ratatouille.

-Doesn't match.

-From fish pie...to dessert.

Instead of it looking absolutely beautiful, which it could have, it looks a bit cheap.

What is in there is, in essence, a perfect flavour combination.

What its outcome is is quite a mushy, indescribable mix of things.

And I think that's a real shame because I was really looking forward to that.

That is mostly cream and chocolate.

You can taste fruit in the background and it's all a little bit wet.

You seem to throw things at a plate and it becomes a bit heavy.

Just lighten up a little bit and free yourself of that burden of feeling you've got to do more.

You don't need to.

'I don't know if today took me that much further than I was at.'

How sad. Oh, gutted.

Sharon has made baked fish with peaches wrapped in Parma ham, with a rocket salad

and a white bean puree,

followed by a vegetable and minced beef tray bake.

I'm surprised that I don't dislike the peach and the fish.

What is difficult here is the texture - all that chewy, salty ham and dried fish. That is an issue.

The addition of stewed peach with fish, it doesn't quite work.

-Sorry.

-That's OK.

-That was your fish.

Let's try your bake.

This isn't right. I don't know how it was ever going to be.

-You've got to have a clear idea of where you're going.

-Yes.

No, not at all. You're getting water off the courgette, meatiness, potato and cream.

-It doesn't feel right or taste right.

-Don't worry.

OK.

For me, it doesn't work, Sharon. You know it doesn't work. It's not there.

I'm not feeling destroyed because I know where I failed.

But I also know what I was trying.

I really wanted to try today. To try.

I have no desire to fail,

but I'm not sure how much I've got left in me in terms of stamina.

It's painful! It's really hard.

Danny has cooked red snapper on ciabatta,

followed by bangers and mash with a wild mushroom gravy.

The fish sandwich, it's creative, it's interesting,

it's individual. It's definitely one in a million. It could work.

Who knows?

Your fish on top is cooked absolutely beautifully, seasoned well with some pistachio nuts

for a nice background to it. But the whole thing does just taste like a toasted tomato sandwich

because the tomatoes and those onions and the garlic and basil sitting underneath that fish

is so powerful, it overpowers the fish altogether.

It's not a write-off. Not at all.

The fish is nice, fish and tomatoes is nice. The tomatoes and bread is nice. You just lose the fish

with all that bread and tomato.

I think you've got the makings of something good there. It just needs a little bit of work.

Your sausages are cooked well, but they are full of fennel

and that means it's quite difficult to match them with those flavours of onion gravy and potato.

Yeah.

The flavours are nice. The mashed potato is really smooth, there's sweetness from the onions and gravy.

It's well made. It tastes good.

Danny, you seem a bit down and I don't know why.

I'm a bit disappointed that I did sausage and mash. You need to be more creative.

I think it really just shows you as a cook and when you get frightened, you revert back to things you like,

things you find comforting. That's not a bad way to go.

'After today, I'm going to have to cook really well, I think.'

There's a lot banking on the next task.

We sent you to that restaurant to see what you'd learn. Now we know.

There were a couple of mistakes in the room. It's OK, so long as we move on from those mistakes.

Thank you for all your hard work. Off you go.

I think that Justin today has understood what he needs to do - just a little bit of refinement.

He's done it before, he's made the massive leap, he's taken away

all those weird things he decorated his food with.

Now he needs to just think about the heart and soul of each dish.

Not completely successful today, but I'm happy that he's going in the right direction.

I hope that Sharon's learnt that she has to plan before she starts.

She can cook well, but that is what happens when you don't plan.

Sharon is a good cook at heart. Her food is always crowd-pleasing, well-seasoned,

always well-cooked. Today it was confused, as Sharon was.

The creative side of Danny came out with his fish sandwich. It was a great dish in the making.

He shouldn't be so hard on himself. He wants to create masterpieces every time.

I think Danny's a good cook. Now I think all three of them are, but they've got to prove it.

Tomorrow the battle for a place in the semi-finals reaches its climax...

No! Where have my tomatoes gone?

..as the celebrities face the harshest of critics...

-This does not work for me.

-I'm not quite sure it's cooked.

..and find out their fate.

The person leaving us...

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2011

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