Richard Michael John
Living: Porthmadog
Occupation: Catering student at Menai College, Bangor
Michael loves cooking and reading books about food, for example Harold McGee Food, Science and Culture.
He loves creating new and unusual recipes and in his spare time he plays snooker, football rugby and more cooking!! He appeared on the popular Welsh youth programme Uned 5 showing his snooker skills!
Favourite Recipe: Marcel marinated in a pomegranate tequila with lime sauce and placed on a fennel salad.
Three words to describe themselves: confident, kind and talented.
Programme 3
10 Tomato Challenge
To create a tomato salad with 10 different varieties of tomatoes - each one with their own unique taste. Michael John was paired with Anna
Michael was looking forward to today after the struggle of the previous challenge and was fairly confident with their tomato salad. However Michael was shocked to learn that there was another challenge to come... "I didn't realise the tomato dish was a challenge, I thought it was supposed to be a bit of fun, to learn something new".
The Mille Fuille Challenge
The task was to create a Mille Fuille with lemon curd and strawberry sauce. Michael was very nervous but tried to keep his cool.
"It turned out better than I thought and I enjoyed it more than yesterday" But unfortunately for Michael, it was his turn to go home!
Programme 2
Michael had come to Provence fully prepared for the challenge ahead. He'd brought a suitcase full of cooking books from home.
"I would had brought the rest with me if Iąd had a chance, but I had to bring clothes with me!"
The 5 ingredient challenge Michael pan fried the fillets of fish and served them with an onion salsa
How did they feel they did? "It was a shambles! I didn't know what I was doing - nightmare!"
What did the judges think? He didn't take the bones out. Too ambitious and just not good enough.
Programme 1 - Round Two
Posh Sunday lunch.
Michael's Recipe
Serves 2Ingredients
2 chicken legs
50g chicken livers (optional)
2 slices of streaky bacon - chopped
2 slices of dry cured bacon
8 baby onions
2 asparagus tips
8 baby carrots
6 button mushrooms
2 potatoes (Maris Piper) - peeled
75g butter
handful of thyme
clove of garlic
25g plain flour
2 pt chicken stock
250ml welsh white wine
100ml brandy
salt and pepper
Beurre Manie:
50g butter
30g plain flour
Method
Heat the oven at 220°C/Gas 8.
Put 1_pt of the stock in a saucepan and bring to the boil, add the potatoes, garlic, thyme and half the butter and transfer to the oven.
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add the carrots and blanch for 50 seconds, then add the asparagus and blanch for 30 seconds and place to one side.
Prepare the meat by separating the chicken legs from the thighs. Stuff the chicken livers into the thigh and wrap with a slice of dry cured bacon. Place the meat in a frying pan and brown on both sides, add the streaky bacon and transfer to an ovenproof dish.
In the same frying pan, fry the baby onions until they are tender then add the brandy.
Add the wine, to clean the bottom of the pan and allow to reduce by half before adding the stock and thicken with beurre manie (see below)
Gently fry the mushrooms in the butter and add to the chicken and streaky bacon.
Re-heat the carrots and asparagus.
To serve - place the meat in the middle of the plate, pour the sauce together with the mushrooms and bacon over the chicken and serve with the vegetables on the side.
Beurre Manie
In a bowl, rub the flour and the butter together then gradually add to the sauce until the sauce thickens.
Programme 1 - Round One
Lemon panacotta with a lime syrup and shortbread
Judges opinion
Taste: lime sauce was exceptional.
Presentation: simple