Marco Pierre White saw out his epic week in the MasterChef Australia kitchen with an elimination challenge.
Laura strategically decided to hand over her immunity pin, opting to watch on from the gallery as Colin, Brent, Kira, Tash and Emelia from last night’s losing team fought for their place in the competition.
A knife pull revealed that they would be cooking the dreaded MasterChef Australia “death dish”: risotto. In 60 minutes, they had to create the perfect risotto. But to impress Marco Pierre White, it needed a second dimension.
Knowing Marco is a traditionalist, Tash opted for a simple, classic flavour combination: asparagus with lemon and mint. Putting her rice on to cook with half an hour to go, she wanted to avoid it having a chalky texture, but soon panicked that she might have begun too early. Tash then added too much wine to her rice and had to hope against hope that there would be enough time for the wine flavour to cook out.
Kira went out on a limb and honoured her food philosophy, preparing a pumpkin and kale quinoa risotto with a tomato salad. Brent feared his mushroom and hazelnut risotto might be too salty thanks to the pancetta and that his poached chicken breast may be undercooked.
In the tasting, while Marco was initially hesitant about Kira’s dish, the fact that it was al dente and inventive won Kira dish of the day and she was safe.
Emelia and Colin were safe after impressing with their prawn risottos, leaving Brent and Tash in the bottom two. While Brent’s chicken was poached perfectly, his dish lacked seasoning and salt.
While Tash’s risotto had the creamiest consistency of the five, her delicate flavours were overpowered by too much acidity from both the lemon and wine. It was this imbalance that ultimately put an end to her time in the MasterChef Australia kitchen.
The judges praised Tash’s skills as a “shining light” of the competition, from turning out amazing desserts to finely tuned savoury dishes and great street food.
Tash is currently completing work experience at Ezard in Melbourne. She has also started working on an online video series
