Masterful Offerings

I love Masterchef, but most especially I love Masterchef Australia - not only because I long to see my hometown in the background.  I enjoy cooking and eating good food, so luckily I married BoyWonder who is an imaginative and skilled cook.

The past weekend we were watching the latest season of Masterchef Australia, which is currently screening in the UK.  Inspired by Matt Moran of Aria Restaurant, BoyWonder made the Gnocchi in Burnt Butter from part of the celebrity chef challenge recipe.  He'll have to make it again, as I completely forgot to take any photos, but it was mighty delicious!

He followed it up with a blueberry meringue pie with blueberries from our own bushes.  There's also a rhubarb and apple lattice tart, again with rhubarb from our garden.  Photos were taken with my phone, so apologies for the quality.

So no one was more surprised than me when I arrived home quite late this weekday evening, thinking I was going to have a quick thrown together dinner, only to be banished from the kitchen.

And this is what arrived on my plate...

OMG, it was the Eggnet with Pork, Prawn, Beansprouts & Cucumber Relish from Martin Boetz of Longrain Restaurant's celebrity chef challenge in Season 1!  A slight amendment to the recipe as we had scallops in the fridge rather than prawns (shucks!), and he also added shaved waterchestnuts and bamboo shoots.  Absolutely delicious layers of flavour with lots of umami, freshness and utter, utter yumminess.

I'm typing this as we're watching another episode, and Alvin's Drunken Chicken with Bruised Salad is getting accolades, so I'll keep my fingers crossed and keep you posted!

Cheers, KangaRue

PS.  We keep debating which is the not-to-miss restaurant in Sydney... Aria, Longrain, Rockpool, Red Lantern... the list goes on.  Which would you pick, or do you have another suggestion?