Yes that's right Masterchef season 1 hopeful, that was me in the summer off 2013. Lucky for me retail meat cutting did not disqualify me, nor did the sub 100 hours I had put in as a sous chef at a local banquet hall. I was so pumped up when I received a V.I.P. audition after the good folks at Masterchef Canada watched my audition video (which got me a guaranteed audition in the first group of day 2). But what should I make??? And it had to be served cold and be pretty much made as there was only a 5 minute time allocation to plate and have my creation ready to serve the myriad of judges and producers ready to put me through to the next round. I had so many ideas but wanted to look fancy, stand out from the crowd and generally impress. I turned to my favorite fancy cook book, Margaret's Table: Easy Cooking & Inspiring Entertaining by Margaret H. Dickenson (which I recommend everyone should own). The recipe I thought was a sure winner, Smoked Salmon Kasha/Wild Rice Martinis.
I figured I could pull it off, the presentation would look amazing and it would represent Canadian cuisine. Ill let you in on how its made, keep in mind this recipe serves 4 and I only made one dish for the audition ( I had made the other 3 servings for a chef, my girlfriend and her mom to "Eatz" to give me their opinion/feedback prior to the 3:30 a.m. departure to make it to down town Toronto for the 6:30 a.m. e.t.a to wait in the audition line).
Ingredients:
How do you make this wonderful dish? Grab 4 martini glasses. Make the lemon mustard sour cream sauce by adding the 3 ingredients together and mix. Add a bit of the rice to the martin glass, level, add 1 tbsp of the lemon cream sauce and then add about 1/3 of one portion of the smoked salmon. Continue this process by adding a bit more of the rice, sauce and salmon creating a trifle effect in the martini glass, finish with the last 1/3 of your salmon portion (I attempted to make a rose looking piece of salmon to top of the martini glass by folding the salmon into a flower resembling spiral shaped object). Refrigerate at least 15 mins before serving, garnish with capers and lemon zest just before serving.
So I thought I had a winner. I had my components all ready in a cooler and waited in line outside of the audition. I was given my V.I.P. bracelet and was part of the first group to be judged. Closer to 10 a.m. 50 of us were corralled into a meeting room at a conference center, given a 3 foot section of a folding table and put on the clock, 5 mins to plate our creations and await our fate. The judge strolled up and asked me some questions. Did you smoke the salmon yourself? Did you make your own sour cream? How did you make your wild rice? I answered no, no and Uncle Ben's (I opted to go with Uncle Ben's after the chef I had try my dish said the wild rice I made from scratch was visually unappealing and inferior to my main man Uncle Ben's creation).
And so ended my quest to be Canada's first Masterchef. I wasn't all that disjointed as Gordon, Joe nor Graham were going to be judges, nor were any of my favorite TV chefs from Food Network Canada. On a plus note I learned that my girlfriend and her mom don't care much for smoked salmon. I also replicated the dish again when I had my mother over for a Jay Eatz cooked mother's day dinner in her honor cooked by her 1 and only (also favorite son, because she called children quits after I was born) son. Coincidentally the rest of that mother's day dinner is also the pic in the background of my website, so I would also recommend this recipe as a great starter for a surf and turf meal. Buy Mrs. Dickenson's book and try it for yourself but if your going to use it as your Masterchef audition dish due ensure to make your own sour cream, catch and smoke your own salmon and travel to China or the deep south in U.S.A. to harvest your own rice to really impress those judges and producers. Sorry Uncle Ben....... (even though your rice really makes the dish)
I figured I could pull it off, the presentation would look amazing and it would represent Canadian cuisine. Ill let you in on how its made, keep in mind this recipe serves 4 and I only made one dish for the audition ( I had made the other 3 servings for a chef, my girlfriend and her mom to "Eatz" to give me their opinion/feedback prior to the 3:30 a.m. departure to make it to down town Toronto for the 6:30 a.m. e.t.a to wait in the audition line).
Ingredients:
- 5 oz smoked salmon, sliced and divided
- 1 cup savoury kasha or wild rice (cooked and cooled)
- 1 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (use the lemon you zest to extract the juice)
- 1 tbsp small capers
- Lemon Mustard Sour Cream Sauce
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tsp grated lemon zest
- 1 drop of yellow food colouring (optional, I opted out)
How do you make this wonderful dish? Grab 4 martini glasses. Make the lemon mustard sour cream sauce by adding the 3 ingredients together and mix. Add a bit of the rice to the martin glass, level, add 1 tbsp of the lemon cream sauce and then add about 1/3 of one portion of the smoked salmon. Continue this process by adding a bit more of the rice, sauce and salmon creating a trifle effect in the martini glass, finish with the last 1/3 of your salmon portion (I attempted to make a rose looking piece of salmon to top of the martini glass by folding the salmon into a flower resembling spiral shaped object). Refrigerate at least 15 mins before serving, garnish with capers and lemon zest just before serving.
So I thought I had a winner. I had my components all ready in a cooler and waited in line outside of the audition. I was given my V.I.P. bracelet and was part of the first group to be judged. Closer to 10 a.m. 50 of us were corralled into a meeting room at a conference center, given a 3 foot section of a folding table and put on the clock, 5 mins to plate our creations and await our fate. The judge strolled up and asked me some questions. Did you smoke the salmon yourself? Did you make your own sour cream? How did you make your wild rice? I answered no, no and Uncle Ben's (I opted to go with Uncle Ben's after the chef I had try my dish said the wild rice I made from scratch was visually unappealing and inferior to my main man Uncle Ben's creation).
And so ended my quest to be Canada's first Masterchef. I wasn't all that disjointed as Gordon, Joe nor Graham were going to be judges, nor were any of my favorite TV chefs from Food Network Canada. On a plus note I learned that my girlfriend and her mom don't care much for smoked salmon. I also replicated the dish again when I had my mother over for a Jay Eatz cooked mother's day dinner in her honor cooked by her 1 and only (also favorite son, because she called children quits after I was born) son. Coincidentally the rest of that mother's day dinner is also the pic in the background of my website, so I would also recommend this recipe as a great starter for a surf and turf meal. Buy Mrs. Dickenson's book and try it for yourself but if your going to use it as your Masterchef audition dish due ensure to make your own sour cream, catch and smoke your own salmon and travel to China or the deep south in U.S.A. to harvest your own rice to really impress those judges and producers. Sorry Uncle Ben....... (even though your rice really makes the dish)
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