Masterchef Live November 2009 @ Olympia, London

We all know how much I LOVE Masterchef so you can imagine my excitement when I heard the Masterchef Live show would be gracing us with its presence up in the capital! The advert read "an exciting day out featuring many of the elements and personalities from the successful BBC MasterChef series" - I didn't need much/any persuading - the tickets were booked and the count down began! I bought entrance only tickets for £18 and an audience ticket for The Invention Test at £5 plus £10 worth of dining currency to be used at the in-house mini restraurants.

The night before I made sure everything was in place so I wouldn't waste any time dilly-dallying in the morning, as my man will tell you - it's what I do best. The camera was charging (it had been since 3 days ago - just in case!), my bag was packed, my photo/meet hitlist was made! The morning of the show I bounced (literally, my alarm scares the hell out of me in the mornings!) out of bed at 6.45am and looked outside - torrential rain and gale-force winds...how typical...but nothing was going to stop me getting to the Masterchef show! Off we trotted to the Olympia near Earls Court. First impressions were great - the show was very well organised and we were whisked in within minutes, no hanging around or queues. The Olympia itself is a mahoosive venue, this is no understatement! The floor was filled with hundreds of quality food and wine producers which were not only offering lots of scrummy samples but also affordable and exciting products - perfect for the run-up to christmas! This wasn't just on the ground floor, this was on the second floor too! Madness! Dotted around the venue I could see they'd set up mini-theatres called "Hot Tips" where a celeb chef would be passing on a few words of wisdom throughout the day. Right at the back were the main theatres, The Invention Test and the Masterchef Theatre.

At 10.15 we sat down to watch The Invention Test where thirty contestants have just 30 minutes to produce a single dish using a small selection of ingredients while accompanied by a trainee chef. The selection from the show we viewed included a salmon fillet, raspberries, spinach, fennel and range of store cupboard ingredients like oil and rice. What in god's name were they going to do with that lot! The Plenty (wo)men were entertaining the crowd before a very excitable Andi Peters introduced the contestants, their helpers and Mat Follas and Steve Groves, who would be choosing the top three dishes to be put forward to the Masterchef judges, Gregg Wallace and John Torode. Everyone chose to do salmon, a few did asian inspired flavours, a couple focused on hollandaise and one or two braved the spice rack for some "unique" looking dishes. Tickets for this part of the show were £65 which included your entrance fee as well as your 30 mins of fame as a contestant, or like me you could save yourself the embarassment and just get an audience ticket for a fiver!

The Masterchef Theatre was £24 and included, as well as your entrance fee, a seat in the audience to watch past Celebrity Masterchef contestants, such as Wendi Peters, cook alongside Gregg and John. I didn't have tickets for this but, like the other sit-down events going on, you could easily watch from the side with pretty good views! In fact loitering around the side of the events was the best place to bump into the celebs as I found out. Not only did I manage to meet up with Mat Follas, Masterchef Winner 2009 and Restauranteur, but I also found Olly Smith, the smiley wine enthusiast from Saturday Kitchen, and a hyperactive Andi Peters, who attacked Olly and myself during a photo! then there was Gregg. The Gregg Wallace. We spotted him popping out for a breather imbetween breaks from the Masterchef Theatre and we made a bee-line straight for him. He very kindly obliged to having a photo taken with me despite me screeching "Greeeeeeeeeegg!" over the mumbling of his granny-fans. He even recognised me from Twitter! That was it, I could die happy (I know I said that in my Le Gavroche blog, but whatever!) Gregg Wallace. Recognised. Me! Awesome. I rang my mum straight away, "who the hell is Gregg Wallace?!"...never mind mum.

Me and the energetic Andi Peters

Me and Masterchef Winner 2009 Mat Follas

Me, Olly Smith and Andi Peters...again

Me and the housewives favourite, James Martin

Me and The Gregg Wallace!!

Anyhoo, back to the show, the stalls were fantastic, as mentioned above, each one handing out not only generous samples but excellent product knowledge and useful tips and suggestions for cooking with said product. Producers included Traditional Chiltern Chutney, The Little Sauce Company, The Devon Cream Company, Loopy Lisa's Fudge, Mr Singh's Punjabi Food and many MANY others! No questions asked, I stocked up! After only a handful of stalls, I was full to the brim from scoffing so many free samples! Then we visited what I aptly named "piss alley", a long aisle running down one side of the hall designated to the wine and liqueur stalls...oh dear...enough said.

Anyway, on to the mini restaurants. The dinning currency I had bought earlier - I didnt really see the point in it but whatever, it was gimmicky - was one for one so 10 pounds bought me 10 dinning currency tokens to spend on food. Dishes cost between 3 and 5 DCs and were available from mini stalls of some of London's top restaurants including Cafe Spice Namaste and Theo Randall at The InterContinental. I spent 5DCs on a Venison Burger from Launceston Place Restaurant which was ok - at the time it tasted pretty good, it was only when I walked passed the buffalo burger stand that it didn't seem to taste so good anymore...My last bits of DCs I spent in the Masterchef Restaurant. Here you could sample some of the previous winner's dishes and the one I headed for was Mat Follas's Lavender mousse with hokey pokey and berry sauce. I remember watching Mat making this on Masterchef and thinking at the time, I'm going to try that! And I did! Admittedly it wasn't made by the man himself but I'm undoubtedly sure that it was made following a strict set of instructions and under the watchful Follas eye - because he told me so. Anyway it was divine, the mousse was perfectly flavoured with the light aromatic lavender and was delicious with the sweet sharp berry sauce and crunchy hokey pokey! Genius!

Launceston Place Venison Burger

Mat Follas' YUMMY lavender mousse, hokey pokey and berry sauce!

All in all, the whole day was excellent. I had such a good time! I had eaten some of the best samples, had a good old natter with Mr Follas, bought some christmas goodies and even completed my photo/meet hitlist! If you missed out this year, I highly recommend you get tickets for the next show which also visits the NEC in Birmingham, don't miss out!

Jamaica-Me Crazy! A Study Of Caribbean Cuisine And It's Rise In Popularity

The week commencing 19th October was my last week at my admin job in West Ealing so my amazing workmates put on a fantastic buffet lunch! This included Keith aka The KMAN's curried goat and Charlene aka MINTEDiva's nan's rice and peas, fried plantain and bun and cheese! Also gracing the table was a selection of pizza, salad and sausage rolls provided by the rest of my fabulous team. This blog post will be focusing on the West Indian elements of the lunch.

KMAN's curry goat

The Spread

KMAN wouldn't give me his recipe for his curry goat - no matter how many cups of tea I offered to make/cups I promised to wash so I had to google it and study various methods. MINTEDiva wasn't sure how her nan had assembled the rice and peas so this was also googled. Both KMAN and MINTEDiva are of British-Jamaican descent (we had this debate in the office - just ask them for details) and the Jamaican cuisine is one style of cooking I have never explored. I think it's because as far as I was aware I wouldn't have much access to it. However, after watching Rick Stein ages ago on some channel 4 programme eating Bread Fruit out of a food van in Brixton my eyes were admittedly rammed open to this whole new style of cooking that could be explored! I soon discovered that at the back of a fish mongers, near where I was working in West Ealing, was a small West Indian grocery store tucked neatly away. I dragged MINTEDiva in there one lunch break to show her. I wanted to try this curious bread fruit that I had seen Rick Stein munching on and cooing over, alas they didn't sell it. My research continued and I occassionally pressed KMAN for details over his cooking methods such as his special oxtail soup and MINTEDiva's nan's rum cake. Shortly after this I also discovered that on the very street that I walk along twice a day to-and-from the tube is a Caribbean take-away shop! What is wrong with me - I seriously need to wear my glasses more!

So I was now fully intrigued by Caribbean cuisine so I dug out my old university books and reread some of the stuff I'd studied on the social history of food. The bee in my bonnet was buzzing louder and I furiously began googling stats and figures and I thought I'd share my knowledge and interesting finds with you. Before we start let's get some terms and facts sorted out. So Jamaica is an island located in the Caribbean sea, one of many islands collectively named the West Indies. The Caribbean is an extremely diverse region with a culture built on many influences, from the indigenous Caribs in South America (the first inhabitants of the Caribbean) to French, Spanish, Dutch and British colonisers, enslaved African people and Asians, including Indians and Chinese. Several native American tribes, including the Arawaks and Caribs, were the first inhabitants of the Caribbean islands. Their daily diet consisted of vegetables and tropical fruits like papaw and guava. The Carib Indians were known for their love affair with spice and also added lemon and lime juice to their meat and fish dishes.

Despite the cuisine being an amalgamation of several influences, the most prominent influece on Caribbean cuisine has been that of the enslaved African people. The European explorers brought African slaves into the region, this was to have a tremendous impact upon the traditional Caribbean cuisine. The slaves had to be quite inventive when it came to cooking as they usually had to make do with the remnants of food from the plantation owners. This lead to the integration of dishes such as cow heel soup into Caribbean cuisine. The Africans introduced okra, callaloo, fish cakes, saltfish, ackee and many more. The best and most well-known example of the African influence upon Caribbean cuisine is Jerk. Jerking is a traditional Jamaican way of curing meat using a variety of spices. It's a process that was invented by the Maroons, freed African slaves who lived in the inhospitable mountains of Jamaica and fought the British to resist capture.


After slavery was abolished the Europeans went further afield to India and China to look for labour. With the introduction of these nationalities, came more new cooking styles and ingredients. Much of the Indian cooking culture remains alive and well in the Caribbean of today with the introduction of curried meats and curry powder. Indians call it kari podi, and we have come to know this pungent flavor as curry. The Chinese introduced rice, which is always a staple in home cooked island meals. Many West Indians, including KMAN and MINTEDiva, have claimed to not even be able to eat without rice present!

The Europeans themselves even had an impact upon Caribbean cuisine. Many different fruits were introduced by the early Spanish explorers. The fruit trees and fruits brought from Spain include orange, lime, ginger, plantains, figs, date palms, sugar cane, grapes, tamarinds and coconuts. All of these fruits have developed into prominent flavours within Caribbean cuisine. The early Portuguese sailors also introduced the popular codfish.

So it's no wonder Caribbean cooking is so rich and creative with the flavors of Africa, India, and China, along with Spanish, Portuguese, French and British influences. Food served in the Caribbean islands have been influenced by the cultures of the world, but each island adds its own special flavor and cooking technique. The cuisine itself tells a story about the culture, as all cuisines do. The Caribbean story begins with fresh and bountiful ingredients cleverly utilised by the natives. Later this was to be adapted to suit the supressed majority. The cuisine then flourished under a great wave of various influences from across the world.


In case you were wondering Jamaicans make up the fifth single largest ethnic group in London and in 2007 the number of Jamaican born people living in the UK was estimated at around 350,000. As with all migration, with the Jamaicans came Jamaican food and more and more has crept into the larger supermarket chains. In March of 2007 Sainsbury was the first to stock Levi Roots popular Reggae Reggae Sauce followed by other supermarkets and restaurant chains such as JD Wetherspoons and the Slug and Lettuce. I know this is not a true representation of Caribbean cooking but it is still a big step in influencing the way we eat today. Roots definately helped spark curiousity amongst the non-Caribbean residents of the UK and interest in the West Indian cuisine has definately increased dramatically.

In the last few years the Caribeean style of cooking has really taken off. I went to my local Sainsbury to see how many Caribbean inspired products I could find. You never know - you may already have them in your kitchen cupboards and if you do then now you know how it got there.

So with all the rich and diverse culture combined with the slow trickling of these new and exciting products into the UK market, it would be a travesty not to experiment with these flavoursome ingredients! Why don't you try to make yourself a curry goat or even have a slice of bun and cheese. If you do, let me know how it turns out and send some pics!

The Star-Struck Lunch At Le Gavroche!

I. LOVE. MASTERCHEF. FACT. After watching pretty much every season of Masterchef in the last couple of years - including the most recent series, Masterchef The Professionals, I was extremely keen to check out Michel Roux Jr's much celebrated restaurant, Le Gavroche, in Mayfair. This was spurred on by several chance meetings with the lovely Monica Galetti, Roux's sous-chef. Prior to my lunch at Le Gavroche (or the Gav as I came to call it) I have only eaten in two celebrity restaurants, one being the fabulous Helene Darroze's Parisian restaurant and the other being Smiths of Smithfield, belonging to John Torode (Toad) of Masterchef. So I did have some good foodie expectations before my lunch at the Gav.

The Gav is located on a quiet street in Mayfair, just 5 minutes walk from Marble Arch tube. It's discrete entrance was not at all what I expected, needless to say I liked the air of mystery provided by its subtlety. Upon entering the Gav, your reservation is checked and your coat taken. You are then lead through the bar and down the steps to the basement restaurant room. We didn't get a chance to stop in the bar before lunch but I did have a good old gander before being led away to the main room. Unfortunately the bar did not wow me as it looked a tad shabby and it need of a good refurb. The actual bar itself was small and the seating area equally cramped. However the point of going to the Gav was to eat in the restaurant, not to drink in the bar so I let the decor pass. Anyhoo down the stairs we went and into a smaller-than-expected dimly lit restaurant room. First impressions were curiousity as it just wasn't what I expected at all but I liked it. It was so classically un-British, from the heavy burgundy coloured carpet to the bizarre bronze farm animal ornaments on each table. At the far side of the room were several screens covering the entrance to the kitchen and dotted along the walls were numerous scribbly paintings...I'm not selling it am I? What I liked about it is that it just isn't what you would expect from a 2 michelin star restaurant - and that's not a bad thing. It's comfortable, cosy and warming which is highly unusual. I had the same feeling when I visited Darroze's restaurant in Paris - it must be a French thing.

So at the moment I'm just in a daze over the fact that I'm actually here and I might see Michel but I'm also blown away by the service. Basically the service is extraordinary. The waiters and waitresses are very welcoming, approachable and will do whatever they can to make their guests happy. Everything on the menu was explained to us in great detail and I was even given the joy of approving the wine! Their services also include an escort to the loo! Don't get me started on the loos! They're immaculately clean and include the deliciously scented molton brown soaps and even flannels with the Gav's signature - which I may or may not have stuffed into my bag...(Mum - before you say anything, you know you would have done the same!)

So as I'm not a millionaire we opted for the "Business Lunch Menu" which is 48 pounds per head and includes a 3 course meal, half a bottle of wine per person, bottled water, bread and petits-fours (the imbetweeny bits). This, I thought, was a steal! Eating at a world-renowned 2 michelin star restaurant, with the possibility of seeing the god of cookery himself - bargain!

Before making our choices from the menu the first of the petits-fours arrived, 4 little savoury pastries. 2 were filled with a heavenly rich goats cheese and 2 had some sort of bitter sweet shreadded cabbage which I can only compare to a sauer krout flavour. Our chosen red wine arrived and the whole thing went down a treat as we placed our orders. While waiting for our starters, the second deliciously miniature petit-fours arrived. A small square of grilled eel carefully positioned on top of a sweet tomato salsa, garnished with watercress and a strange but moorish criss-crossed crisp! It was so yummy that I instantly wanted more!

From the menu we both chose the starter of langoustine broth, which came in a bowl slightly larger than that of a cappuccino cup and was a shade of off-white. Chunks of succulent lobster and silky sweet scallops bobbed in the milky broth which was delicious but rich and filling. My company found the texture to be too milky, however the scallops were divinely sweet. This was accompanied by freshly baked bread from a basket carried around by one of the waiters who visited our table several times, each time I had to resist the urge to fill up on the doughy goodness. (Having made that mistake in Helen Darroze's restaurant, I had learned my bread lesson!)

For the main course I had chosen roast guinea fowl with a jus. I had never tried guinea fowl but had heard people say "it tastes like chicken" so I decided to put that to the test. It does indeed share similar qualities with chicken, however the meat was white and succulently tender and covered in a golden crisp skin. The flavour of the meat is more earthy and smokey than it's plain chickeny cousin. Definately not like any chicken I'd ever eaten. The joints were positioned on a neat bed of creamy mashed potato with purple sprouting broccoli and an intensely meaty jus drizzled around the plate. Fantastic. I gobbled it all up and had to stop when I realised I had started lifting the plate up to my mouth to be licked clean. Classy. My company had chosen braised beef cheek which was so perfectly cooked it melted in the mouth. This was finished with another scoop of creamy smooth mash, shallots and carrots all soaking up the flavours of a beefy jus.

Yet more bread was brought around and I was quite proud of myself for resisting the temptations - I knew I would suffer and I was determined to eat every single morsel of food that I was paying for! I was quite enjoying myself, my wine and water glasses were refilled without me even noticing (dangerous!), the food was incredible, the loos were great, everything was going swimmingly and I was feeling quite calm. Then it happened. The thing that I had hoped would happen happened. Michel Roux Jr whizzed across the restaurant floor in his starched white chef's top. That was it - I went to pieces. "There he is, oh my god, there he is". This happened several more times and with each whiz through to the kitchen I realised my heart was beating faster. I began to point, open mouthed, eyes now transfixed on the kitchen entrances that he was whizzing between.

The dessert menu was brought and we perused. I had seen the humungous cheese table wheeled in for a couple sitting a few tables down. Despite my on-going steamy love affair with cheese (ooh the picos blue wrapped in vine leaves from spain!) I just could not possibly stomach the salty fromage goodness from the array available. I'm absolutely kicking myself now because I saw some fabulous and stinky vintage blues that I would have loved to have tasted but remembering how full I'd become by that point I deemed the comsumption of the heavy, fatty, thick, unforgettable, dreamy cheese unwise. I chose a prune souffle instead. I have also never had souffle - savoury nor sweet. This was the biggest dessert I have ever seen (not including the Missippi Mud Pie, enough for a family of 40, that my parents and I "devoured" in Florida's Jungle Jim's). It was like a miniture cloud resting on my plate garnished with soft sweet prunes and a glorious creme anglaise. Every mouthful felt like I was nibbling on a cloudy sky, the souffle was light, airy, sweet and fluffy and was perfectly accompanied by the fruit. My company had chosen a selection of sorbets - a wise choice perhaps considering we still had a final petits-fours to go! Alas I simply couldn't finish my souffle! I left about 4 large mouthfuls (out of the 100 it took to coming close to finishing it - it was HUGE!). I did however manage to lap up all of the creme anglaise and most of the prunes. Done. So I thought.

The final petit-fours arrived, a slim glass plate with nutty nibbles neatly arranged along it. Curled sesame crisps, small glazed fruits and little puffs of nougat completed the meal. I have to admit if I'd have eaten any more I would have exploded and poor Michel would have had to clean it all up. Not cool.

Now that the food bit is done I have to tell you about the piece-de-resistance of the meal! Just before our desserts were served Michel Roux Jr began doing his infamous rounds of the dinners - I had read about these but hadn't got my hopes up just in case they were just an urban myth. They weren't. I couldn't breathe, my heart was racing, he was getting closer and closer to our table, what would I say? Should I courtesy? Would I throw up from fear/excitement/over-eating? ... He arrived at our table. Oh emmmmm geeeeeee! "Hello, how was your meal this afternoon?". I managed to stutter my name and stuck my hand out for a handshake. Ha! The blondes on the table next to us, who had been equally as excited as me at the prospect of seeing Michel, hadn't thought of offering a handshake! Ha! Now I had touched the hand of a kitchen god. One - I was never going to wash that hand. Two - I could die happy. After my constant wine refills I was feeling quite confident so I bravely asked for a photo - Ha! The blondes didn't think of that either! HA!!! Michel was more than happy to oblige and immediately sat next to me and put his arm around me for a photo - OH EMMM GEEEE! I had started a trend - the blondes then demanded a photo and so did the previous table, Michel even shouted back down to our table with a cheeky grin "Look what you've started!" Ahhh I'll always be the girl who started the annoying photo trend. And then in an instant he was gone, darting around the other tables before disappearing behind the screens. I asked for a signed copy of Michel's 'A Life in the Kitchens: Recipes and Reminiscences from a Master Chef'. The words inscribed were "Happy Kitchens, Michel Roux Jr". *happy sigh*

As I mentioned before, I'd had several "chance" meetings with the lovely Monica and she had said to me that I could see the kitchens if I mentioned her name - and yes I'm not above name dropping. So once the bill was settled I asked the head waiter if we could possibly see where the magic happened. The waiter was very happy to lead us behind the screens and through the sliding doors into the steamy bustling kitchen. Michel had left by this point (damit!) nevertheless we were given a 20 minute tour of the kitchen with descriptions and details of each area. We were also informed that Roux opens up his kitchen to the public during weekday prep for observation free of charge - we were even told to bring a notepad and pen for note taking if we decided to go! Due to the curious stares coming from Roux's chefs we sensed they weren't used to "observers" but they were smiley and waved.

All in all it was quite a day. The food, the service and the experience were beyond all expectations and I simply can't wait to go back to sample next season's business lunch menu!

A business lunch at Michel Roux Jr's 'Le Gavroche' will set you back £48 per person which includes a 3 course meal, 1/2 bottle of wine and water each, petit fours and bread. I managed to glance at the regular menu and saw starters ranging between £20-60 and mains starting at £30. To make your reservations, aim for a minimum of 2-3 weeks notice. Signed copies of Michel's 'A Life in the Kitchens: Recipes and Reminiscences from a Master Chef' are availablem for £25 from Le Gavroche (ISBN 978-0-297-84482-2).

Happy Kitchens!