Aneira
Date of birth: 16.04.1981
Address: Aberdare
Occupation: Finance Officer at Glan Hafren College
Describe herself: friendly, happy, honest
Added information: she enjoys socialising as part of the Young Farmers and she loves competing on behalf of the club in various competitions in cooking, dancing and wool-rolling. Her favourite recipe is Red Onion and Goat's Cheese Tart, and her favourite chef is Matt Tebutt. If she had to choose a favourite restaurant she would head for Diddier & Stephanie Restaurant in Swansea. Aneira appeared on Casa Dudley last year but believes that by now she has learnt a lot more and has spent a significant amount of her time in professional kitchens gaining further experience. She is one of seven children and therefore has the experience of cooking a variety of different foods for large numbers.
Bye-bye Aneira
Aneira on the experience
Which experience stays in the mind?
The first task where we had to cook a secret recipe. I was so nervous that I sliced my nails, boiled the rice water too much that it went all over the hob and I got a piece of garlic in my eye so tears was streaming down my face - I had to have Dudley to rescue me!
What have you gained from the experience?
Meeting some amazing people, some I consider friends now. I have also gained confidence and more passion towards cooking and learning new things.
In one / two words describe the experience?
Incredible and fun.
Aneira on the others
Gethin very funny, good company and intelligent, happy and totally confident in his own skin – a great lad.
Hefina a talented cook and a determined person, lots of fun.
Daniel a lot of fun, very funny. He’s a very creative person.
Llŷr very intellectual and had no problems in voicing his opinion, we had a lot of fun.
Huw a fellow 'southie', he is a man and a half! Huw had amazing skills in the kitchen he also had loads of great stories about his life experiences.
Sion a gentleman and in my opinion the best cook. Sion always thought of everyone else before himself, he’s a lot of fun. It was a pleasure to meet and know Sion. .
Wendy a lovely woman. Wendy was very modest in her cooking; she was successful in every task that she completed.
Rhaglen 3
Just for fun
If you could take any person in the world out for a meal, who would it be and why?
Dafydd Iwan because he could serenade me after the dessert!
If you were put on a dessert island with only one meal what would it be and why?
Soup, because is full of nutrients, lovely comfort food.
First Impressions
What was going through your mind when Dudley told you that you were going to Spain?
I was scared in case someone would say it was a mistake.
What were your first impressions of the hotel, cookery school and area?
The region was so beautiful with sunflowers everywhere. When we arrived at the hotel and saw the rooms and the cookery school it was like being in a dream. I never though I would see such a perfect place in a competition like this.
Programme 2
Filet of sea bass on a bed of jamon- wrapped asparagus with a mussel, rosemary and white wine sauce
500g mussels
3 cloves of garlic
250ml dry white wine
2 shallots
4 sprigs of rosemary
500ml double cream
8 asparagus
4 slices of Serrano ham
30ml olive oil
Butter
Salt and pepper, to taste
Method:
- Clean the mussels.
- Finely cut the shallots and the garlic and place them, along with the wine, in a pan on a moderate to high heat.
- Once the wine has started to boil add the mussels. Cover and stir occasionally, cook for around two minutes, until the mussels have opened, then remove from the pan, leaving the remainder of the ingredients in the saucepan.
- Once the wine has reduced, add the cream and place on a low heat.
- Slice the jamon into eight thin slices and wrap each one around the asparaguses. Melt a knob of butter in a frying pan and fry on a moderate to high heat for two minutes each side. Remove from the pan and place on the centre of the plate.
- Strain the sauce through a sieve, remove the meat from the shellfish and add to the sauce.
- Season the skin of the sea bass. Pour some olive oil into a frying pan and place on a medium heat. Once the oil has heated, place the bass (skin side down) in the pan and cook for around three minutes until the skin is crisp and brown. Turn the fish and cook for another minute or so.
- Serve the bass on top the jamon wrapped asparagus and drizzle with the wine and shellfish sauce.
The Judgement
Dudley
A clean, simple plate of food, but thoroughly effective. All the ingredients blended well together.Llinos
She certainly seemed very confident in the kitchen, and had obviously been practicing. The recipe wasn’t overly complicated, but it was well executed, very nice.Bryn:
The sauce was too heavy and had too much seasoning for my liking.Overall mark: 8/10
Programme 1
Clams in a Tomato and White Wine Sauce
2 medium tomatoes, skinned and de-seeded
½ onion
2 cloves garlic
1 bacon rasher
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp thyme
75ml olive oil
2 glasses dry white wine
¾ lb clams
Salt and Pepper
Method:
- Finely cut the onion, cube the bacon and thinly slice the garlic.
- Put the oil in a saucepan and place on a medium heat.
- Once heated, add the onion, bacon and garlic.
- Whilst these are sweating, dice the tomatoes and finely chop the parsley and thyme.
- After a minute, add a glassful of wine whilst continuing to stir.
- Season to taste and leave on the heat for 5 minutes.
- Pour a second glass of wine into another pan and place on a medium heat.
- Whilst the wine is heating, clean the clams.
- Once the wine has started boiling, add the clams. Cover the pan and cook for around 2 minutes until all the clams have opened, giving the pan a good shake every now and then.
- Transfer the clams into a bowl and cover with the sauce.
- Serve immediately with fresh bread.