The chance to cook for Raymond Blanc? Who wouldn't want to challenge themselves?
I was one of the 11 contestants who signed up to Kenwood Disaster Chef 2016 this year. The goal was to improve my skills in the kitchen and get down to the final three, where, if I made it (!), I would have the chance to impress Mr Blanc himself.
Sadly I didn't make it to the finals, but I can safely say that my "kitchen curse" has been lifted... with the help of my fancy new Kenwood equipment I feel like a new and improved chef!
Click through the gallery to see how I got on in the competition...
And well done to Bassam Al-Yasseen who was crowned this year's Disaster Chef!
Challenge 1 - Tuile biscuits
Baking has never been my forte so I must admit I wasn't that excited about making the tuile biscuits. But after watching Raymond Blanc's online tutorial and setting up my brand new shiny Kenwood Chef Titanium, I was feeling more positive. He made it look so easy! Five minutes prep and five minutes cooking time, what could go wrong?
Well, firstly I got the measurements for my butter wrong - classic me. I also couldn't find our sieve so ended up not sieving the flour which meant lumpy flour for me.
Then came the decorating. I tried to go for a leaf shape... alas my freehand skills aren’t great! I made half chocolate and orange biscuits and half lemon and coconut. They actually smelt incredible in the oven, but because they were so thick, I ended up baking them for around 25 minutes instead of 4!
They didn't look that bad, but when I tried to tear them off the tray they kept sticking... We’ve nibbled the edges but let's face it, greaseproof paper doesn't taste good! I definitely haven't earned the title of star baker this week.
Challenge 2 - Banana Bread
This week it was time to make banana bread! I triple checked the measurements after my maths fail last week and it was all going smoothly apart from one slight hiccup - I forgot to take the plastic wrapping off one of the blades. Luckily it didn't get into the mixture and get ripped to shreds!
I've made banana bread a few times but never with gluten free flour, or a Kenwood machine. The machine was amazing, it made mixing so much easier!
I added all of the chocolate drops as there wasn't any sugar in the recipe, and layered the bananas on top - think it made it look a bit more creative!
As soon as it was baked, me and my friends tried a couple of slices... it looked great, but to be honest it was a bit too bland for my sweet tooth! It was also quite springy and bouncy - did anyone else find that?! I may have also added a bit too much cinnamon but hey, I've learnt for next time!
Challenge 3 - Burgers
They may not look good in the photos, but these lamb burgers were pretty tasty! Or maybe I was just starving after making them for about two hours and willing to eat anything...!
Like my past Disaster Chef experiences, my timing seems to be way off and I ended up spending about an hour forming the actual burgers, followed by another 35 minutes or so in the oven. They were worth the wait though!
I must admit using the mincer did gross me out at first, seeing the chunks of meat transform into mince as the Kenwood machine churned away... but I soon got over it and had a lot of fun forming the burgers by hand. It felt healthier cutting off the fat and seeing what exactly went into my burger too. I chose a mozzarella and chilli flakes stuffing for all four burgers - delicious! Loved how they melted.
They smelt so good out of the oven that I quickly took a photo so we could gobble them up straight away - forgot to actually snap the burger in the bun!
Overall a success, apart from my off timings and my cleaning up fail - I now have a stained mincer after putting it in the dishwasher!
Challenge 4 - Larb Gai
I absolutely loved Chessie's recipe! It was so easy to make, especially with the Kenwood machine doing all the hard work (!), and was so unbelievably tasty and fresh. I couldn't believe how filling it was too considering it was just salad and protein - new post-workout meal discovered!
I must admit I'm not a huge fan of turkey, or salad, but the turkey mince mixed with all the herbs and veg was amazing. It was so nutritious, so colourful and so fragrant in the wok - especially the ginger and lemongrass, two of my favourite ingredients! Unlike that fish sauce... pungent! It was also comforting to know exactly what went into my mince.
Thankfully I didn't have any major disasters this week. It was all quite smooth and such a fun way of presenting compared to normal salads! Yum!
Challenge 5 - Spaghetti Vongole
Well now I understand why this recipe was saved till last - it was really quite difficult to get the pasta right! Raymond Blanc made it look so easy but for some reason my dough just wasn't sticking and was really, really crumbly! I added a bit of water to it in the hope of salvaging it, but then made it too sticky.
The result? When I put the dough through the spaghetti maker, the bits of spaghetti all stuck to each other. I ended up having to roll it all up into a ball again and start from scratch - the second time round was much better! Smooth spaghetti!
I loved how fresh the pasta tasted, and how quickly it cooked - I'll definitely be using the Kenwood attachment again to make lasagna and ravioli!
As not all of us were seafood fans, I made two batches - one with the clams and one with freshly made pesto using the herbs and oil.
Wow, what a difference to store-bought pasta is all I can say! Prep time definitely didn't take me 15 minutes... but it was well worth the wait!