Programme 4
Well, things are starting to heat up at Chez Dudley! None of the contestants expected Michael John to be sent home so early in the competition, but that was the decision taken by René Bérard after the task of cooking a Mille Feuille dessert.
The first challenge this week will require the contestants to put together a creative menu and work effectively in a team, whilst the second will involve concentrating carefully on a special method of preparing a totally new ingredient for all the contestants - scorpion fish.
Max Callegari, a famous cook from Provence with his own restaurant will join René Bérard and Guy Gedda to decide who deserves to stay in the competition - at least for one more week...
The Contestants
Max's Challenge
Owain and Michael have left Chez Dudley and there are only six remaining. Aldwyn is back in the kitchen, and because of her success in the pudding task, Jan had to decide whom she wanted on her team today. The first challenge was to prepare a special meal for Max Callegari - a starter, pudding and a glass of wine.
Jan chose Nesta and Anna to be in her team, which left Aldwyn, Eleanor and Nerys in the other team. The task created a bit of tension between members of one team and brought the other team closer together. Jan, Anna and Nesta were the winners. We will leave you to decide which team worked well together!!
Of course there had to be a twist at the end of the task and another challenge was needed to decide who was going home! The punishment for the losing team was to choose one member of the winning team to join them in the next task. Unfortunately Aldwyn choose Anna by mistakenly thinking he was giving her a break from the competition... but no, she had to join Aldwyn, Eleanor and Nerys in the next challenge...!
The Scorpion Fish Challenge
An ugly fish was part of the next challenge, and the task at hand was to create a traditional local recipe - stuffed scorpion fish. To put them on the right track, Guy Gedda gave them a 'demo'.
There is a special technique to making this dish - they had to remove the fish's gut through its gills and not it's stomach!
After sweating and having numerous scratches on their hands, there was only going to be one winner and one returning home. Nerys won the task and unfortunately Eleanor returned home to Wales.
The one that went out...
Stuffed Scorpion Fish
Recipe
1 scorpion fish (3lbs)2½ oz of potatoes - remove skin and cut into cubes
2 small onions - finely chopped
1 tablespoon of tomato concentrate
1 courgette - cubed
1 aubergine - cubed
1 red pepper - remove seeds and cut into cubes
1 green pepper - remove seeds and cut into cubes
1 bulb or garlic - remove skin
1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
3 sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf
pinch of salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C/Gas 4.
Prepare the fish
Remove the fins and scale the fish. Remove the central bone by cutting down each side of the backbone, stopping just before the tail and the head. With a pair of strong scissors cut through the bone and empty the fish, reserving the liver. Remove any fine bones with a pair of tweezers and reserve all of the bones for the stock. Sweat the onion, garlic and the peppers in the olive oil for 5 minutes until soft.