Celebrity Best Home Cook episode 7: It’s the semi-final, and the four remaining celebrity cooks have their sights on a place in the first ever Celebrity Best Home Cook final. Mary Berry has high expectations as she challenges the celebrities to cook their ultimate Friday night fish supper. They must demonstrate technical skills by filleting their own fish. Then, produce expert Chris Bavin asks the cooks to rustle up a dish that puts mushrooms front and centre.
One gets inventive with a mushroom-infused bread, while the others play it safe with soups and stuffed mushrooms. For the eliminator round, Angela Hartnett goes back to her Italian roots, asking the celebrities to follow her technical recipe for crab ravioli with homemade pasta dough. With none of the cooks having made pasta from scratch before, they are in uncharted territory as they fight for a place in the final.
Celebrity Best Home Cook episode 7 recipes:
Mushroom casserole
This quick, creamy mushroom casserole is sure to become a family favourite. Serve for a midweek meal with pasta, rice or a hunk of crusty bread.
Method:
- Heat a deep non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the butter and when it sizzles, add the leek and bacon and fry for 6–8 minutes, until the leek is softened and caramelised and the bacon crispy.
- Pour in the wine and allow to bubble for a couple of minutes before adding the mushrooms. Cook for 2–3 minutes to soften, then add 350ml/12fl oz beef stock and season well with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 25–30 minutes, adding a touch more stock if needed.
- Stir in the crème fraîche, paprika and a knob of butter and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
- Check the seasoning and serve garnished with chopped parsley.
Lemon sole with spiced brown butter shrimps
Simply cooked lemon sole finds a perfect match in spiced brown shrimps with a nutty, herby butter. Smart enough for a dinner party, easy enough for a midweek meal. Ask your fishmonger to fillet the fish.
Method:
- Preheat the grill to high.
- To make the spiced brown butter, heat the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat until it turns a nut-brown colour – this may take a couple of minutes. Add the shallot, reduce the heat and cook gently, stirring, for 1 minute.
- Take the pan off the heat and add a generous pinch of each spice. Swirl the pan for a minute or so and then add the capers, lemon zest and juice and the shrimps. Return to a gentle heat for about 2 minutes, then add the hazelnuts and herbs. Season with salt and pepper.
- Sprinkle the lemon sole fillets with salt on both sides and lightly drizzle with olive oil. Place the fillets on a baking tray lined with foil, skin-side up.
- Place under the hot grill for 3 minutes. If the skin peels off the fish is done; if not, continue to cook for another minute.
- Carefully peel off the skin from each fillet and transfer to serving plates. Spoon the spiced brown butter shrimps over the top and serve immediately.