Celebrity Best Home Cook episode 4: The first challenge takes us away from the dining table and into the living room as Mary Berry challenges the cooks to make their ultimate burger and chips for a TV dinner. Some of the celebrities keep it classic, opting for a good quality beef burger, oozing with melted cheese, while the others are hoping a vegetarian option or a delicate fish burger will be enough for them to get a Judges’ Favourite and a step closer to avoiding the dreaded Eliminator.
Day two gets off to a frosty start, as Chris reveals frozen peas as the secret ingredient that the celebrities must make the star of the dish for his Rustle Up challenge. One cook is particularly dis’pea’sed with the ingredient, while the others are excited by an Asian-inspired larder. With everything from curry to scones, the judges have a difficult decision deciding who will go through to next week and who will be cooking again for safety in this week’s Eliminator challenge.
Taking both challenges into consideration, the three judges decide who will be cooking again in this week’s Eliminator following one of Angela’s toughest recipes to date. Judged blind, the tiniest of details can be the difference between survival and going home. Making a dough, deep frying and technical piping push the cooks to their limits and result in a shocking blind tasting by the three expert judges.
The hunt to find the first Celebrity Best Home Cook is heating up as the competition nears its halfway point. The celebrities will once again be donning their aprons and rolling up their sleeves to impress produce expert Chris Bavin, Michelin star chef Angela Hartnett and queen of home cooking Dame Mary Berry. All with the socially distanced support of Claudia Winkleman.
Celebrity Best Home Cook episode 4 recipes:
Cannoli
Cannoli are crisp, bubbly, fried Italian pastries, traditionally filled with creamy ricotta. Their name means ‘little cane’ and they were first made by wrapping the pastry around a piece of sugar cane before frying; these days you can buy cylindrical metal cannoli moulds.
Method:
- Put the flour, caster sugar and bicarbonate of soda in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub in with your fingers until it resembles fine crumbs. Mix the egg yolk with the Marsala in a small bowl, then tip into the flour mixture and combine, kneading until you have a smooth dough.
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough until it is paper-thin (you won’t need to use all of the pastry). Using a plain 10cm/4in round cutter, cut out six rounds. Wrap each circle tightly around a cannoli mould, using a little egg white to seal it together firmly – take care not to get any on the mould.
- Fill a deep-fat fryer two-thirds full with the oil and heat to 180C (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.) Fry the cannoli on their moulds in two batches for 30–45 seconds per batch, or until the dough is golden and bubbly. Drain on kitchen paper. Once cool enough to handle, remove the cannoli by gently twisting the moulds, being careful not to break the pastry.
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a small pan of simmering water. Dip each end of the cannoli in the melted chocolate, holding them at an angle so the chocolate coats the edges, then place on the lined baking sheet. When you have dipped all the cannoli, place the baking sheet in the freezer to set the chocolate.
- To make the filling, squeeze the ricotta in a muslin cloth to remove any excess liquid. Beat together with the mascarpone until light and fluffy. Add the orange zest, sift in the icing sugar and cinnamon and mix evenly, then transfer to a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe the filling into the cannoli, then dust with icing sugar.
Tandoori fish burgers – Celebrity Best Home Cook episode 4
A colourful Friday night feast. Once you’ve shaped the tandoori fish burgers, leave them in the fridge to firm up while you prepare the mango salsa, cucumber raita and sweet potato fries.
Method:
- To make the burgers, place the chopped white fish, salmon and prawns in a large bowl.
- Heat a small frying pan over a medium heat, add the ground spices and toast for a minute or two until they are fragrant. Add to the fish along with the salt and a good grinding of pepper and mix well. Add the ginger, garlic, spring onions, breadcrumbs, bicarbonate of soda and chopped coriander and mix well. Add the lemon juice a little at a time – the mixture should not be too wet, so you may not need it all.
- Shape the mixture into six patties with your hands and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour to firm up.
- To make the mango salsa, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- To make the raita, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.
- For the sweet potato fries, bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the sweet potatoes for 4–5 minutes, until they are soft but not falling apart. Drain and dry the chips on a tea towel.
- Make a thin batter by whisking the cornflour with 6 tablespoons of cold water in a large bowl.
- Fill a wide, shallow pan with vegetable oil, so it generously covers the bottom of the pan. Heat over a medium heat until the oil reaches 190C on a food thermometer. In batches, coat the sweet potato chips in the cornflour batter and shallow-fry in the hot oil for 5–6 minutes, carefully turning with a slotted spoon until they are crisp. Carefully remove and drain on kitchen paper. Sprinkle with sea salt. Repeat with the remaining fries.
- To cook the burgers, preheat the grill to high. Arrange the patties on a greased baking tray and grill for 5–7 minutes on each side until cooked through and lightly coloured.
- To serve, arrange lettuce leaves on the bottom halves of the toasted buns and top with the fish burgers, a dollop of cucumber raita and mango salsa and the top halves of the buns. Serve the sweet potato fries and the remaining mango salsa and raita alongside.