A critical error which resulted in a doughy steamed bun spelt the end of Sydney friends Ashlee and Sophia’s My Kitchen Rules journey last night .
With even more power to choose the ingredients each team were cooking with, the cocky duo chose to cook with kidneys, forgoing more common ingredients of walnuts and apple for their opponents.
“The only way we’re not going home is if Kitchen HQ burns down,” said Sophia with her usual assertiveness. “The other teams might think kidneys are really hard to work with, but Ash and I are fearless. We know we can smash this one; that’s how good we are.”
But their diversion into French cooking with sautéed kidneys with red wine sauce and potato gratin didn’t end in the result they’d hoped for and their kidneys were overcooked.
While Dan and Steph moved straight through to the finals with their braised veal shanks with apple sauce and mashed potato, the girls prepared to face off against Victorian cousins Sam and Chris.
In creating their signature dish, the girls resorted back to Asian cooking pork belly with caramel sauce, Chinese steamed buns and Asian salad.
Sophia said: “This dish has our personality all over it – it is risk taking, it’s bold, it is a strong, confident dish. I’m not worried about Sam and Chris being our competition as I know they’ll do something very vanilla.”
Up against the boys’ salmon with celeriac puree and dill beurre blanc sauce, the judges were divided when it came to choosing a favourite with just one point separating the teams.
While Guy Grossi said the boys’ dish was “cooked perfectly” and “well executed and showing some classic personality on the plate”, Colin Fassnidge disagreed saying: “I find it a little bit creamy. Because salmon is quite a rich oily fish and the celeriac is quite rich as well and then we have a butter sauce. It’s signature dish and for me it’s not making a statement.”
While Pete Evans said of the girls’ dish: “This pork is remarkable, it’s memorable”, Karen Martini was “disappointed with the steam bun”. “I was expecting something light as a pillow and it was anything but,” she said.
But despite the failed steam bun, Colin said: “In the morning I’ll remember your dish better than their (Sam and Chris) dish.”
Manu Feildel said it was the hardest decision he’d had to make in the entire competition.
But in the end, the girls’ decision to serve a mediocre element on their plate sealed their fate.
“It sucks, but we always said we wanted to finish how we started: confident and fearless,” said Sophia. “I don’t think tonight is a loss. They beat us by a hair and only because we made one mistake.”
Adds Ashlee: “I know we gatecrashed the instant restaurants and it was a bit controversial. But doing that, we learnt so much from the both of you (Pete and Manu).”
There’s no doubt Ashlee and Sophia will fire things up when they cook alongside their arch enemies Angela and Melina this Sunday in MKR’s Comeback Kitchen with both fighting to win just one place back in the competition.
My Kitchen Rules airs Monday-Wednesday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 6:30pm on Seven
Source 7 press release taken from throng
