As Legends Week came to a close on MasterChef Australia last night the boys finally lost a cook following a deli challenge set by acclaimed UK chef Yotam Ottolenghi.
After failing with the Indian menu during the HWKR street food team challenge, Blake, Ben, Anushka, Tati, Christina and Simon kicked off round one of the elimination by taking turns naming ingredients from Yotam’s Deli.
After incorrectly guessing coppa, Blake found himself competing in round two against Tati and Ben. The trio were asked to present a dish featuring ingredients from the correctly guessed items in Yotam’s Deli.
Opting to present his take on filet mignon, Blake set out to make a crumb using herbs and bacon, as opposed to the traditional method of wrapping the steak in bacon.
Blake was on a roll, until he burnt his herbs in the oven, which forced him to ditch the idea of roasted herbs and instead he was restrained to using fresh herbs from the garden.
Confident he would be able to beautifully cook his steak, Blake ran out of time and ditched his sauce, instead focusing his attention on blitzing his potatoes. This decision was met with groans from George and the gantry as they knew that blending the potatoes would release the starch and result in a pomme puree that resembled glue.
Blake was shattered as he was aware that he was in serious trouble but he was left with no option but to plate his bacon and herb crumbed beef with pomme puree and broad beans, with the hope that his other elements were enough to scrape him through.
While Gary thought Blake’s beef was nice and blush and the beans were cooked well with the right amount of texture, it was the potatoes that were way off the mark. Yotam thought Blake’s treatment of the bacon was disappointing and Matt described the sauce as having a horrible texture.
Even though Ben’s dish was described as ‘just bits on a plate’ with ‘no oomph’, in a close battle it was Blake that was announced as the next contestant to be eliminated from the MasterChef kitchen.
Since leaving the MasterChef kitchen, Blake has moved from the bar to the kitchen at his parents restaurant Puerto. He still dreams of owning his own restaurant in Spain.
