ManicMammy’s Blog

I confess I had been disappointed with the first regional final last week of this TV series. None of the dishes greatly appealed to me and some in fact did the opposite. But this week its the turn of Angela Hartnett and Stephen Terry to compete in the four course cook-off to see who’ll go through at the end of the week to represent Wales.  So I tuned in hoping for better.

So far so good, I haven’t been disappointed. The first evening dealt with starters. Angela opting for a more complicated and technically challenging Quail Ravioli and Stephen going for a simplier approach of Asparagus, cured ham and goat’s cheese sauce.

photo credit: Michael448

Their approaches to cooking seem to be totally at odds with each other, Angela having prepared and tested her dish on numerous occasions whereas Stephen admitted to trying his dish for the first time that evening. The banter was entertaining and both dishes looked very appealing though I agreed that the ravioli was perhaps too large a dish for a starter in a four course meal. I thought the crispening of the asparagus by quickly deep frying the stalks looked interesting.

The following night though for me has been the highlight, both fish courses looked fabulous. I would have gladly devoured either. Angela presented Pan-fried Pollack with curry spices, fennel, confit tomatoes and onion pureé. Whilst Stephen went for smoked salmon, organic salmon, crab and cockles served in three different ways. It looked divine.

My only minor quibble with this series this week is the amount of repetition that takes place. Every evening the same introduction etc etc. Much the same as occured in Masterchef. Thankfully it helps that we have Sky+ and can fast forward through the worst of it. I have the rest of the week’s episodes to look forward to and of course the climax on Friday when all dishes will be presented to the judges and the winner of this round announced.  At this stage I really don’t know who I want to win. Its a pity one of them has to lose. Both preferable to last week’s contestants. Maybe there should be a place for best runner up in the finals?