Tonight on MKR, Spanish foodies Nicky and Jose felt the pressure of plating up a feast of Spanish classics, including a second-generation paella recipe from Jose’s dad.
Lack of flavour proved to be the team’s number one enemy on the night, with judges Manu Feildel and Matt Preston saying their dishes needed more seasoning. A score of 62/110 put them in third place on the leader board.
Nicky and Jose served Tortilla de Patatas for their entrée, a dish Jose’s grandmother used to make for him. Matt congratulated the team on the consistency and texture of their patatas, but said their mayonnaise lacked flavour.
Manu said it was a good entrée but wanted something to open his palette more: “I think you need to bring a little more seasoning. It’s a kind of plain dish. There’s a little bit of chorizo in it, but not enough to bring any extra flavours.”
Matt was also looking for flavour: “It’s quite bland. I would have loved some smoked paprika to give it a bit more oomph!”
The team missed the mark with their entrée and hoped to impress with their main of Paella, a risky dish to cook in a competition given its numerous ingredients.
Manu acknowledged the team for taking on the difficult dish: “It was a very, very brave thing to cook paella in this competition. The issue you may have had was the ratio of rice to stock. Even though you had a socarrat, it wasn’t very crispy because it was still a little wet.
“I feel for you because I know paella means a lot to you, but it didn’t get to where we were hoping.”
Matt agreed with Manu that, while the dish was beautifully presented, it lacked flavour: “For me, the use of the crab was great, but it was overcooked. The chicken was beautiful, and I reckon I might be the only person at this table with a great piece of socarrat on the top of my bowl. For me the whole dish is lacking some va va voom.”
Nicky and Jose were looking to make up some lost ground with their dessert of Churros with Chocolate Sauce. As owners of a churros truck, expectations around the table were sky-high, but Nicky and Jose were confident.
Disaster struck when Nicky accidentally diluted the chocolate sauce by adding too much milk. It also became clear that one batch of the churros had been prepped better than the other.
Manu was served from the “good” batch and was happy with the churros but faulted the team’s chocolate sauce: “The texture is fabulous; crunchy on the outside, golden on the inside and fluffy. The chocolate sauce, it’s very sweet and I feel it makes the whole dessert a bit too sweet.”
Matt wasn’t a fan of the Churros: “Beautiful platting, but crunchy on the outside and doughy in the middle; not good. There’s too much bi-carb, so they taste soapie and funky.”
