Masterchef challenge recipes

10 April 2012

This weekend, the Olympia exhibition hall plays host to Masterchef Live, where top chefs will demonstrate cooking techniques and recipes alongside Steve Groves and Marianne Lumb, the winner and runner-up of this year's Masterchef: the Professionals.

The Evening Standard asked five of those involved to undertake the successful TV programme's Invention Challenge, to book a dish in 30 minutes from a box of mystery ingredients.

Each chef was given a chicken breast and a box including 200g of pancetta, a fennel bulb, a courgette, puy lentils, green olives, soft goats' cheese, anchovies and fresh thyme, mint and tarragon.

Larder ingredients such as garlic, ginger, potatoes, lemons, shallots, cooking onions, spring onions, white wine, vinegar, sugar, salt, various types of rice, tinned tomatoes and various spices and pastes were also supplied.

Here's how they did...

STEVE GROVES, SOUS CHEF AT LAUNCESTON PLACE AND WINNER OF MASTERCHEF: THE PROFESSIONALS.

Poached chicken breast on a bed of lentils with courgette salad

Remove the skin from the chicken breast, place it between sheets of baking parchment, and bake in an oven between two baking sheets at 180 degrees for 15 minutes.

Wrap chicken breast with 15g of butter and a pinch of salt in clingfilm, with the ends tied: get as much air out as possible. Poach gently in water that's just off the boil for 10 or 15 minutes.

Sauté half a chopped onion, one chopped clove of garlic and four sprigs of thyme in 1 tbsp of olive oil until soft.

Add 20g of pancetta, then 75g of puy lentils and a litre of stock. Cook until most of the stock evaporates and the lentils are soft. Season with grated lemon zest and chopped thyme for taste.

Shave half a courgette with a peeler, coat with a dressing made from 1dsp lemon juice, 3 dsp olive oil, five diced green olives, a sprig of chopped thyme, salt and pepper.

Leave to sit for a minute or two to soften in the vinaigrette and add a couple of slices of sliced pancetta.

Cut the cooked chicken breast in half, diagonally lengthways, arrange on a bed of lentils with the crispy skin between the two halves, and arrange courgette salad around it.

Cooking time: 26 minutes.

Launceston Place (1a Launceston Place, W8, 020 7937 6912, www.launcestonplace-restaurant.co.uk)

MARIANNE LUMB, PRIVATE CHEF AND RUNNER-UP OF MASTERCHEF: THE PROFESSIONALS.

Char-grilled chicken breast with fennel risotto and beurre noisette

Preheat an oven to 200°C. Marinate the chicken by mixing with lemon zest, garlic, thyme and olive oil, set aside.

Lay two pieces of the pancetta between two sheets of baking parchment, sandwich between two baking tins and bake in the oven for 10 minutes until crisp and golden.

Chop three or four more slices of pancetta into lardons; heat a pan and fry gently with half a bulb of finely diced fennel until crisp and golden (about 15 minutes).

For the risotto, heat 10g butter and a tbsp olive oil in a wide, heavy based pan, when butter is foaming add the 1 small chopped shallot.

Cook until translucent without colour, then stir in a clove of crushed garlic. Cook for 1 minute, then add 100g risotto rice. Stir until all the grains are coated.

Add 50ml white wine and stir until evaporated, then add 4000ml vegetable stock a ladleful at a time, stirring over a low heat as it evaporates.

Heat a char-grill (or a griddle pan) until hot, drain the chicken breasts and season and char-grill (keep checking and stirring the risotto). Transfer the chicken to a small roasting tin and roast for 15-20 minutes until perfectly cooked.

When the rice is just al dente take off the heat and stir in 50ml double cream, chopped mint and tarragon, and the fried pancetta and fennel.

Check for seasoning (careful, the pancetta is salty) and set aside.

Remove the chicken from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Divide the risotto between two warmed plates. Carve the chicken breast into slices and place on top of the risotto with the crispy pancetta.

For the finishing touch: heat a small frying pan until hot, throw in 50g cold butter and allow to sizzle.

After the butter has foamed and quietened down, add a pinch of salt and carefully squeeze in the juice of a lemon (it will spit) add a pinch of chopped tarragon and spoon over the chicken and risotto. Serve at once.

Cooking time: 30 minutes.

Marianne Lumb cooked at Sub-Zero & Wolf on Brompton Road (www.subzero.com)

LU YE, CHEF, MIN JIANG AT THE ROYAL GARDEN HOTEL

Shredded chicken with sweet and sour sauce

Heat a wok or a deep pan to a high temperature.
Slice 200g chicken breast laterally, then cut into strips. Top and tail 20g spring onions and cut into strips.

In a bowl, mix 10g of ginger, 20g of shallots, and 20g of chopped fennel.

Coat the chicken in a marinade made from 5g salt, 10ml white wine, 5g chilli powder, one egg and 10ml olive oil. Remove the marinated chicken strips and coat with flour.

For the sauce, mix 100g tomato sauce with 5g chilli powder, 25g harissa paste, 100g sugar, 30ml red wine vinegar and 10ml olive oil.
Pour the sauce into the wok, cook through and remove from the heat.

Heat a large quantity of oil in the wok and deep-fry the chicken strips for one or two minutes. Remove, skim the oil with a fine sieve to remove any impurities and refry the chicken to make it extra crispy.

Remove, pour out the oil and wipe the wok. Add the shallot, ginger and spring onion mix to the wok and cook until soft, then add the chicken and the sauce and blend together.

Serve on a bamboo leaf and garnish with the chopped spring onion and a sprig of chopped tarragon.

Cooking time: 17 minutes.

Min Jiang (Royal Garden Hotel, 2-24 Kensington High Street, W8, 020 7361 1988, www.minjiang.co.uk)

CYRUS TODIWALA, CHEF/PATRON OF CAFÉ SPICE NAMASTE

Roast chicken breast stuffed with pancetta and goat's cheese, served with a rice pilaf, fennel and courgette and potato and eggs

Chop two small onions and sauté in olive oil with 1 tsp of cumin. Cook 500g of basmati rice in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, add the onions and cumin and a sliced lemon and place in the oven at 130 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Slice two small potatoes, blanch for a couple of minutes in boiling water. In 20g of butter, sweat a handful of spring onions and a pinch of cumin.

Add the blanched potato, sauté for a couple of minutes, then cover with water and allow to simmer. When they are ¾ done, break two eggs on top and cover the pan: the steam from the evaporating water will coddle the eggs.

Chop pancetta and sauté with a handful of chopped spring onions, 1-2 tbsp harissa paste (according to taste) and 10g each of chopped garlic and ginger.

Allow to cool, then mix with 150g goats' cheese. Set aside to allow it to become firm.

Dice one courgette and one bulb of fennel, toss in a pan with one chopped shallot, a pinch of cumin and a pinch of chilli powder. Add a pinch of fresh mint.

For the sauce, sauté a handful of chopped spring onions. Add a clove of chopped garlic once they begin to soften, a pinch of chilli, 1tbsp of harissa, and 200g chopped tomato, and allow to simmer. When finished, add double cream to thicken.

Once the stuffing has cooled, slice the chicken breast laterally, removing the small inner fillet.

Place the stuffing in the breast, cover with the inner fillet, and fold the breast back together. Place in a pan with olive oil to brown, skin side down, then flesh side down.

When the chicken has coloured, remove the rice pilaf, raise the temperature to 150 degrees, and cook the chicken in the oven for 12 minutes.

With a mould, arrange the rice on the plate, and the cooked courgette and fennel.

Cut a slice of the egg and potato arrange on the plate. Pour the sauce onto the plate, and when the chicken is ready, place on top and serve.

Cooking time: 30 minutes.

Café Spice Namaste (16 Prescot Street, E1, 020 7488 9242, www.cafespice.co.uk)

THEO RANDALL, CHEF, THEO RANDALL AT THE INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL

Roast chicken breast on a bed of potatoes and fennel with courgette and goat's cheese risotto

Thinly chop two potatoes and a bulb of fennel. Blanch the potatoes in boiling salted water and drain.

Heat olive oil in a pan and seal the chicken breast to get the skin crispy. Season the chicken, wrap in pancetta with a pinch of tarragon.

Drain off the oil from the pan, add the potatoes and fennel, put the chicken on top and roast in the oven at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes (if you want the potatoes to be crispy, put the chicken in the oven in a separate pan).
For the risotto, chop one large courgette into quarters and fry in olive oil, with salt and pepper to draw out the water.

Chop half a small onion and sauté in olive oil, then add 100g risotto rice and stir until each grain is toasted. Add a glass of white wine and allow to evaporate, then stir in 250ml vegetable stock a ladleful at a time, stirring vigorously all the time.

Remove the rind from 100g of goat's cheese and chop. When the risotto is almost ready, add the cooked courgette, 50g of butter and the chopped goat's cheese, reserving a handful for garnish. Stir vigorously and season.

Place the potatoes on a plate, cut the chicken breast in half, place on top. Deglaze the chicken pan with a splash of white wine and lemon juice, to remove any nice brown bits.

Add 1 tbsp of stock, a splash of cream and a handful of chopped tarragon, stir until it emulsifies and pour over the top of the chicken.

Serve the risotto on the side or on a separate plate, sprinkling with the last of the goats' cheese and a pinch of chopped fresh mint.

Cooking time: 20 minutes.

Theo Randall at The Intercontinental (InterContinental London Hotel, 1 Hamilton Place W1J, 020 7318 8747, www.theorandall.com)

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