Chilling Secrets

A successful self saucing ravioli starts with great tasting stocks and sauces. To enable the soup (or sauce) to hold inside the ravioli, the filling must be well chilled with the accompanying sauce stablized with gelatinous stock or gelatin. The principle behind the soup in the ravioli is the same as for Shanghai soup dumplings, xiao long bao.

The ORIGINAL recipe presented below is for a ravioli with a buttery French style sauce with a hint of Japanese ginger, lemon and green onion. The lemon myrtle is used in place of yuzu (native Japanese citrus) zest. Lemon myrtle is an Australian bush herb which you can obtain fresh by mail order from Tumbeela. In Perth, Zanthorrea Nursery stocks plants which grow well in pots. This recipe is a beautiful "fusion" dish which relies on sauces that take time to perfect. There should not be any overpowering garlic from the stock.

Lemon Myrtle Scented Self Saucing Ravioli

Wrappers
Dumpling skins, from oriental stores or make your own, or use homemade pasta sheets
Fresh herbs for decorating such as coriander, parsley, basil or oregano

Filling
1 chicken breast
1/4 cup julienned soaked black cloud ear fungus
1/4 cup enoki mushroom
1/4 cup julienned spring onion
1 tablespoon chiffonade fresh lemon myrtle leaves (finely slivered with leaf spine removed)
1/2 cup chicken veloute, chilled (recipe follows)
1/2 strong gelatinous chicken stock or white glace, chilled (recipe presented previously)
salt and pepper to taste

Poaching stock
chicken stock
shallot slices
ginger slices
garlic and fried shallot olive oil infusions, optional
salt to taste
handful of fresh lemon myrtle sprigs (or substitute with strips of lemon zest)

Accompanying Dressings
Peppercorn sauce or pepper jus flavoured with mountain pepperleaf and green onion
Olive oil infusions
Lemon myrtle white wine vinaigrette

Suggested side vegetables
Blanched asparagus, spring onion or beans

Garnish
Mustard sprouts
Spring onions
Shallots, thinly slices



To make the dish:

1. Moisten 2 dumpling skins with a damp tea towel. Place herb in a decorative pattern on one skin before covering with the second skin. Roll the assembled skins on a pasta machine (or with rolling pin) until single thickness again. Trim to shape with a pastry cutter. Cover with a dry tea towel and refrigerate until needed. If using fresh pasta sheets, check out Chef Chopper Dave's version with cheese, pear and duck glace.

2. Bring the stock for poaching to boil, then add the shallot and ginger. Season with salt and olive oil infusions of choice. Simmer for 5 minutes until aromatic. Add the lemon myrtle sprigs. Dip the chicken breast in the poaching liquid briefly and remove. Bring the liquid back to boil. Drop in the chicken breast and cover. Remove the pot from heat immediately. Let the chicken sit in the pot for 10 minutes. Remove the chicken and chill in the freezer immediately for a juicy tender texture. Do not worry if the the chicken is slightly under cook.

3. When the chicken is well chilled, dice or shred and add to the remaining filling ingredients. The veloute and gelatinous chicken stock must be stiff enough to cut with a knife. The ratio of veloute to chicken stock can be adjusted to allow for a more soupy or saucy dish depending on whether the dish is for starter or main course. Chill for 30 minutes until needed.

4. To assemble the ravioli, place tablespoons of chilled filling in rounded mounts in the centre of a wrapper. Moisten the edges and cover with another wrapper, carefully pressing out all the air. Keep refrigerated. May be stored frozen.

5. Bring the poaching liquid to boil. Carefully lower a ravioli into the pot using a skimmer. Boil for about 5 minutes until the ravioli starts floating off the skimmer. Cook until the sauce is heated through by which time, the ravioli skin will puff slightly with an air pouch showing. Remove to a warm plate.

6. To serve as a main course, arrange 3 ravioli in a stack like pancakes, or a single layer around a plate. Tuck side vegetables under the ravioli. Drizzle with dressing of choice around the plate. For a soup course, place one ravioli in each soup dish. Spoon in enough poaching liquid without immersing the ravioli. Drizzle dressing of choice over the ravioli. Garnish as desired.

Chicken Veloute (pronounced veh-loo-TAY)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 cup strong gelatinous chicken stock made with pork rind as a booster
1 teaspoon gelatin, optional
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Cook the flour in butter without browning until a roux (thickened paste) forms.
2. Bring chicken stock to the boil.
3. Add the gelatin.
4. Add the boiling stock to the roux while rapidly beating with a wooden spoon or whisk.
5. Simmer for 15 minutes for the flour to cook through for a smooth glossy sauce.
6. Adjust seasoning.

Note if the sauce is lumpy or grainy just add a bit more stock and simmer longer, or strain the sauce.

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"An Electronic Restaurant" - Take Two

Noodle: Computer wake up! Oh... it must have power outage overnight. Can't remember a thing and that red wine giving this headache. Let's try a cold BOOT.

Computer: Blink, blink, blink. New temporary files detected. Do you wish to open files?

Noodle: No way! Virus scan immediately!

Computer: No virus definition available. Press enter for file scan details.

Filename: Sarah Filesize: Slim Filetype: Masterchef Host
Filename: Gary Filesize: Medium Filetype: Food Critic/Mentor
Filename: George Filesize: Medium Filetype: Food Critic/Mentor
Filename: Mr Yummy Filesize: Extra large Filetype: Food Critic
Filename: Mike Filesize: Corrupted Filetype: Caricature

Noodle: Hey! They look familiar, like in my dreams last night! Where do the files come from??

Computer: You created them!

Noodle: I can't remember after that red wine. What are the files for?

Computer: Performance enhancement.

Noodle: Hmmmm, I'll just recompile and see...

Computer: Whiz, grunt, rumble, silence....Compilation completed. Press enter to display.

Noodle: Looks good. Good job computer. Let's get this published.


An Electronic Restaurant starring....

Host, food critics:
Sarah, Gary, George, Mr Yummy



... and now introducing the Judging Panel, the world's harshest critics, responsible for a world war zone in the home kitchen.

The junior judging team:
Ninja Nath, Cathy Roadrunner, Tiny Tom



... and
Princess, Chubby Chup



The senior Ladies judges:
Jetset Nan, Nutri Jan, Chairman, Super K



The senior Men judges:
Oz Grunt, Big Tom, Action Man



... the Hero and Villain:
A mini-series would not be one if there is no hero or villain! So here are Noodle Cook, the electronic Masterchef hero, and home food critic John the "secret reviewer" as the villain. John's "secret" visit, the first to this weblog, was recorded in the guestbook for all to see! John also keeps no secret how bad everybody else's cooking tastes!



...and last, but not least, the caricature, Mike.

The cast of "An Electronic Restaurant", Take Two, is asked a simple question:

What makes a successful electronic restaurant?

The junior judges:

Princess - NO peanuts, NO capsicum, NO tomato, NO green bits. Simple - it's gotta be cheese pizza!
Ninja Nath - NO peanuts and only if served with tomato sauce. It's the basics! You don't need maths and computer to work out that pizza oughta get on the menu!
Chubby Chup - only if there's plenty of it like pizza!
Tiny Tom - only if it makes you smart like pizza!
Cathy RoadRunner - only if it's fast like Cathy Freeman! I love olives and Parmesan like in pizza!

The senior judges:

Nutri Jan - only if healthy, low fat, low salt, taste and look like salad. Although boiling and steaming are OK
Jetset Nan - only if it's traditional Chinese and eaten with chop sticks
Super K - only when grace goes with the meal, amen
Big Tom - only if the meals cost more than $100 per head, and served to fine dining standards, using brand name produce
Oz Grunt - only if it's Australian and eaten with a fork!
Action Man - action speaks louder than words, but I say profit, profit, profit
Chairman - concur with all above, so long as there is strategic management in place, and re-engineering to evolving specifications, employing innovative marketing to direct targets, using quality management principles to evoke a total solution, and in collaboration with the workforce, and need I add more.

The responses are to be expected. Most judges believe that the key to success lies in good food that appeals to a large cross-section of diners, together with a high standard of service. The judges also noted good management, marketing, and a focus on profit as important factors.

What do the EXPERT food critics think?

John - only when I do the cooking myself!
Mike - anything which washes down well with a $100 bottle Barossa Valley red.
Gary - give it a French name and cook to le cordon bleu standards
George - if my Greek mama likes it, you've got it made
Mr Yummy - big on taste and lots of it!
Sarah - food sexy enough for a glossy magazine

Noodle Cook takes advice seriously and sets about improving the restaurant.



"South Park"-style cartoon characters created with "South Park Studio Version 2"

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Masterchef Secrets

This is the big day where professional chefs taste Noodle Cook's food, the long awaited privilege of having food critiqued by industry experts, an experience to die for for any wannabe Masterchef. No one cooks an untested dish, with an original recipe concocted after 11 hours of auditioning, on the day of a do or die judgement, except the one and only 2-minute Noodle Cook. With a dish aptly called "Secrets", the events of the day remain a secret for the time being.



With a pack of 2-minute noodles as part of contingency planning and a red packet for good luck, the enclosed money already spent on the audition food, Noodle Cook can't lose. For support, John the villain hangs around the neck in the form of a pearl necklet, a bit like a mill stone as the expression goes. Ominous, but perhaps not, as it has been John's expert destructive constructive criticism, that builds Noodle Cook's electronic cooking career, and it is John's cooking that develops the palate for traditional and classic dishes.



The ever well prepared Noodle Cook has already made a smooth lump free chicken veloute stabilized in gelatin. Hold on, is this a 2-minute shortcut waiting to be picked on by snobbish French trained judges? Yes and no. The quantity of chicken bones that went in the chicken stock even after boosting with pork rind gelatin from pork hock, was not strong enough. The veloute made with dilute chicken stock, butter, and flour still wobbles after chilling. This consistency is not stiff enough for the intended dish, so some gelatin is needed to make the veloute suitable for cutting when chilled.



A quick lick of the pot confirms the tastefulness with just a touch of seasoning when making up the dish. Wash the pot, pack everything, including mobile phone, and drive off to impress the judges. Did someone say "everything"? The pot sits drying on the kitchen sink wondering why it isn't starring on TV.

I N T E R M I S S I O N

Behind the scene, the battle for the chef hat in the home kitchen continues. Expert food critic, John (the villain in this blog) has the upper hand with over 20 years experience as "executive chef" in home cooking.

Noodle: I'm back from the audition with your field hat!

John: I should be the one at the audition with my 20 years experience!

Noodle: What do you reckon I should have cooked for the audition?

John: DUMPLINGS! Your dumplings are fantastic!

Noodle: So, I am no good at cooking anything else?

John: Says you!

Noodle: Of my cooking, what sort of dish do you enjoy?

John: FRENCH lamb shank in red wine. Not too keen on Persian pomegranate walnut chicken. You should have let me cover the cost of the audition and do something Asian-European.

French lamb means NO coriander

Noodle: What is Asian-European?

John: The Australian food we eat today. Mike's coming.

It looks like a long night of "geospeak" for the blokes over a bottle, perhaps 3 bottles, of $100 Barossa Valley shiraz. This is petrol that keeps geologists going.

Noodle: Hi Mike!

Mike: Your hair looks a mess, though your outfit in green and gold is very Australian.

The green top, which matches the colour of this blog, is made in France.

Noodle: You should hear about my day in front of the food experts. Ever since my younger days I knew I had something going after being disallowed in cooking competitions for being under age: I ended up in the "Open" section to compete with people 20 years older and won. Did you know what I cooked for the experts today?

John: DUMPLINGS!

Mike: Serve them up now!

With expectation of some great dish both eyed Noodle Cook greedily.

Noodle: I didn't bring the leftovers....

John: There are some in my freezer.

Noodle: What's the pasta sauce doing here?

A half emptied jar of Noodle Cook's caramelized semi dried tomato and onion sits on the kitchen bench.

Mike: I ate it for a snack. Fantastic, the greatest!

With the $100 wine as a perfect pairing? What a compliment!

Noodle: Does it taste Italian?

Mike: Yes, Italian, the top in the world! If it's not too late for Saturday night, wouldn't mind some dumplings, a meal perhaps....

Noodle: You are expecting me to cook as if its my job!

No answer implies affirmation. There are no shortage of enthusiastic tasters, nor any leftovers where Noodle Cook's famed cooking is concerned. A meal at short notice with disparate ingredients from somebody else's pantry becomes a breeze with universal and versatile noodles, THE essential pantry item. Even "hard arse" geologists develop a soft spot for noodles, especially when served Thai style with dumplings in 2 minutes flat.

The clock approaches midnight. What an amazing 2 days, when an electronic persona, the comical, 2-minute Noodle Cook, self proclaimed electronic Masterchef, comes alive, closely, eerily, unintentionally, mimicking the partly fictitious, over-dramatized story portrayed in "An Electronic Restaurant", of an individual's dream of owning a restaurant.

Noodle Cook, exhausted, under the effect of 1 egg cup of shiraz, falls asleep, like Dave, the robot in Steven Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence, a contented Pinocchio floating off to the place of dreams and desires.

Lights dim, power down, camera off. The computer needs a reboot to launch "An Electronic Restaurant" back into electronic reality when Noodle Cook wakes up in the morning with the computer programmer's tech hat on.

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Masterchef Audition Day

The big day arrives. The dish cooks to perfection. Noodle Cook feels like the winner with the Masterchef hat already. What do the judges think of a platter which explores new tastes while showcasing Australian bush spices and herbs? Would the judges accept melding of opposite tastes as implied by colours of black with white, or red with green? What about the European and oriental tastes crafted by adjusting aniseed myrtle?

The platter demonstrates Noodle Cook's low temperature cooking skills such as slow roasting at 75 degrees Celsius to achieve a tender juicy pink texture for beef shin. Also featured are olive oil infusions and flavoursome sauces from chicken stock and veal glace.

Salad of black fungus and enoki mushroom with deep fried salt bush, dressed with onion, ginger and garlic olive oil infusions:



Beef shin two ways: slow roasted with mountain pepperberry bush spice crust, and confit in lemon myrtle, aniseed myrtle and mountain pepper leaf infused oil:



Two sauces to compliment the beef - quandong gastrique with red wine, and a mildly spiced pepper jus flavoured with mountain pepperleaf and green onion.

Glazed wattleseed figs in red grape juice reduction with aromatic herbs:




.... amazingly, the judges want Noodle Cook back for the Day 2 audition!

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Masterchef Hat Swap

With one day left, there nothing much to do as cooking only takes 5% of the time according to John Torode of Masterchef UK.

The cooking starts at 6 pm with an estimated completion around 12 midnight. Saving electricity on the oven, a confit, scheduled for completion in around 10-12 hours, cooks simultaneously. All Noodle Cook has to do is to prepare the rest of the dish at 5 am and drive off to the audition with the winning dish at 7 am.

Noodle Cook's dreams of swapping field hat and boots for a real chef hat, instead of a paper one from internet competitions, and chef shoes, start to take shape, even if it is just one day at the Masterchef audition.

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Masterchef Stock and Sauces

Noodle Cook's great tasting dishes centre around well made clear, flavoursome, gelatinous stocks. For the audition dishes, the bulk of the budget ends up in quality bones leaving next to no budget for the dishes. Sadly, there is no budget for a nice Margaret River shiraz for the planned quandong gastrique, nor a quality white wine for a mountain pepperleaf jus, and a lemon myrtle vinaigrette.

If taste is what makes a great cook, then Noodle Cook has what it takes, a natural talent to combine disparate ingredients, a skill that turns a disastrous meal into one fit for a dinner party or a top restaurant.

No budget is no excuse for Noodle Cook, more determine than ever to be a real Masterchef. Fillet steak is out, but beef shin only costs $6.50 per kg. Is braised beef shin, better known as gravy beef, a cut popularize by grandma's generation, a dish for Masterchef? Perhaps not.

Suddenly, a light flashes at the end of the tunnel. Beef shin slow roasted at low temperature using Neil Perry's technique produces a steak like roast, with a beautiful moist pink texture, and sumptuous, melt in the mouth gelatin. With time for salt curing of about 72 hours, a confit in flavoured oil at the same low temperature produces a similar moist texture.

Now back on track, Noodle Cook, with confidence back, finishes planning the dish that will impress the judges. There is no time for a trial run since slow roasting takes 6 hours for 600 g of meat. Really, the trial looks like a time waster, since Noodle Cook makes very few mistakes: every disaster can be fixed with a great tool like Photoshop.

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Masterchef Dishes

Excitement mounts when the promised email, with audition details, arrives. There is a chance to cook for the judges on the next day after passing the first day with a prepared plated dish. Therefore, two dishes need to be decided upon before the audition.

Browsing through the electronic restaurant,  three easy dishes stood out as potentials: beef carpaccio, self saucing ravioli, and sausage chains with quail egg locket.

Meatballs do not sound very classy, however when plated up, the dish looks appealing enough for fine dining instead of a day to day family meal. Frugal turkey mince becomes "Chain with heart of gold".

John remains adamant that only Noodle Cook's dumplings taste good and everything else just LOOKS good. Regardless of which dish goes to audition, Noodle Cook plans ahead by making a good chicken stock. After the fiasco with the stove, the crockpot seems the best appliance to use.

Back to the shops again. The IGA butcher declares no chicken bones due to the hot summer. Not deterred, Noodle Cook grabs 2 marked down whole chicken. With instructions from Jamie's Kitchen, Noodle Cook practices cutting the chicken for saute, or French style boning. Problem solved, the carcass bones go into the crockpot.

Chicken Stock

1 slice of pork hock

2 chicken carcass

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

1 teaspoon peppercorn

1 knob ginger

1 onion

6 garlic cloves

2 carrots

1. Simmer overnight on low. 

2. Defat.

3. Strain the stock.

4. Reduce 50%.

5. Store in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use.

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Masterchef Progress Fires Up

Everything that can go wrong happens sooner than one can brag on a blog when the stove decides to take John's side. The demi glace emulsifies while Noodle Cook watches in horror. The stove's thermostat jams on high, no doubt the result of John's "fix" to the lose oven door during the previous week. It looks like simmering for 24 hours out of question, not to mention COOKING the audition dish on a stove that no longer works. But nothing stops a determined electronic Masterchef with Olympics size vision, not even when dishes suffer the dreaded "fusion curse", a hangover from Noodle Cook's fusion style cooking. Driving 35 km to another kitchen makes no difference, not much at all, when you think about being closer to some of the better, cheaper produce in town.


Noodle Cook rushes out for more marrow bones, onion, parsnip, celery....

Noodle: Well, these are the produce that will give me my 2 minute of national TV fame on Masterchef cooking programme.

Sue at IGA: Really?

Noodle: There are a lot of talented chefs out there. I am just a home cook.

Sue at IGA: Good Luck.

Noodle: Thank you!

Whew! Hopefully Sue fails to notice the marked down goodies from the reject trolley during the conversation. A Masterchef in the making has to start somewhere, and a humble beginning is just as a good place to start as any.

Veal Glace
2.5 kg mini marrow bones
1 parsnip
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
2 onions
4 tablespoon olive oil
1 t peppercorns
2 L boiling water
1 tablespoon whole Australian bush tomatoes

1. Roast the marrow bones at 200 degrees celsius for 1 hour until golden brown. Discard the oil.
2. Cut the vegetables into 5 cm pieces. Place in a large stock pot and caramelize vegetables in the olive oil.
3. Add the roasted bones, peppercorn and water.
4. Simmer, at 1 bubble per second, overnight or around 24 hours.
5. Defat and then strain the stock.
6. Reduce the stock until thick and syrupy.
7. Add the bush tomatoes in the last 30 minutes of cooking to impart a caramelized sun dried tomato taste.
8. Retrieve the bush tomatoes for future use, such as on a cheese board or in a salad.
9. Refrigerate or freeze the demi glace until required.

There is no brown roux thickener, wine or European herbs in this version of demi glace so as to make it versatile for a range of dishes including oriental. Appropriate wine, herbs and spices are added at the time of making the sauces or soup. This sauce base is particularly suitable for adding a savoury character to fruit based gastrique, such as in oriental-style sweet and sour dishes.

Noodle Cook, being the 2-minute expert, uses baby food thickener as the instant fix to runny sauces.

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A Secret Confession

With an obsession for cast iron cookware, Noodle Cook falls in love with Jamie Oliver At Home. The beautiful 26 cm lime green tegame comes from Kitchen Discounts. At $89.95, it is 55% off RRP.

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Masterchef Audition Preparation

While John the villain in this blog keeps no secret on how bad everybody else's cooking tastes, judge John Torode from Masterchef UK has this to say: "Have fun. Oh, and a little tip. The shopping and reading and sourcing and eating is 95 per cent of food and the cooking is just five per cent. Love all the other stuff and the cooking will be a breeze."

In contrast to John Torode's opinion, Noodle Cook spends 95% of the time DESIGNING using principles of design, as used in visual art. In food, the artistry goes beyond visual, with taste adding a extra dimension, and ambiance, such as temperature, lighting and sound, contributing to the overall success of a dish.

Reading and drooling over the mind blowing creations from 3 hat chefs seem like fun. As an inexperience suburban home cook, Noodle Cook, who plays second fiddle to the executive chef in the home kitchen, has no chance of achieving those dishes in less than 5 days. Suddenly, the two Paper Chef hats which bring Noodle Cook from suburban obscurity to international limelight, on the computer screen, amount to nothing in comparison to real life 3 hat chefs.

Peter Gilmore - Quay
Shannon Bennett - Vue de Monde
Mark Best - Marque
Chui Lee Luk - Claude's
Guillaume Brahimi - Guillaume At Bennelong
Greg Doyle - Pier
Peter Doyle - Est.
Neil Perry - Rockpool
Tetsuya Wakuda - Tetsuya's
Justin North - Becasse
Armando Percuoco - Buon Ricordo

Of admiration are Chefs Neil Perry, Tetsuya Wakuda and Chui Lee Luk who demonstrate exceptional talents in their mastery of oriental ingredients.

Noodle Cook's version of confit salmon result from ideas gleaned from Chef Tetsuya's confit ocean trout.

With no chance of affording a Rockpool "session", Noodle Cook successfully slow roasted at home using Chef Neil's cookbook instructions for slow roast rib of beef.

John Torode's five per cent cooking sounds good until the preparation time is taken into account. Noodle Cook needs a good stock to make demi glace, which takes 24-48 hours. There is no time at all to lose as Noodle Cook rushes to the local IGA shops for marrow bones which costs around $2.90 per pack.

With a non-existent budget for fresh restaurant grade produce, Noodle Cook seeks out local shops with a high turnover, noting the "market" days when the shop replenishes supplies. Seasonal produce usually cost less, and amazingly, the full flavour, mature produce in the reject trolley cost even less!

The budget groceries from oriental shops gives a cheap skase like Noodle Cook plenty of inspirations. However, a slight problem arises when Noodle Cook's rudimentary language skills cause miscommunication in both directions. How does one use an unfamiliar product with an unpronounceable name???

With confidence dropping lower by the minute, Noodle Cook starts on the demi glace while searching inspirations for a dish that impresses the judges. There's still that essence in Noodle Cook, a burning desire to succeed, to bring alive a passion for good food in a real restaurant. Masterchef gives the opportunity to follow through the electronic dream lived out in this blog....

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Masterchef Rivalry

Noodle: I'm selected to audition for Masterchef! What do you reckon I cook?

John: Masterchef??? You??? You've got no experience unlike me! I fed 2 ravenous boys. I should be the one selected! I am THE master chef. Your food is BEAUTIFUL, but INEDIBLE. Why don't you just stick to dumplings.

Noodle Cook's attempts to prove otherwise at breakfast with buttered mushroom, cooked to golden perfection...

John: The smells make me puke!

No one can possible goof up on boiled egg...

John: Don't do me a boiled egg. It's always too hard!

Scrambled egg with cheese, perhaps...

John: Is this egg?? What is this???

Noodle Cook's confidence starts to sink like the Titanic as villainous John remembers and reminds of the "United Hearts" debacle, an overambitious attempt at French cooking to be like top Chef, Chui Lee Luk of Claude's.

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Masterchef Inspiration

The call from Masterchef Australia appears genuine. So, with less than 8 days, Noodle Cook rushes to cookbooks by top chefs for inspiration, like Neil Perry's "The Food I Love, Beautiful, Simple Food to Cook at Home".

BEAUTIFUL plays some importance, but it appears success lies in the word SIMPLE, after the lessons learnt in the artistic "United Heart" (同心) creation, a French style dish which utilizes Australian desert limes and Chinese ingredients like dried oysters, onion hearts, and Chinese celery. The flavours prove too complex for the tasters. In particular John, the villain in this blog,  proclaims the dish inedible (sob, sob, sob) after the other tasters try not to grimace.


Australian Desert Lime jelly and oyster avocado mousse, fused together as united hearts, garnished with onion hearts (flowering stalks with buds) twisted in a knot. A chilled appetizer or cheese course served with a beet root fruit sauce and an oyster flavoured cream.

The dish that Noodle Cook creates must be simple, beautiful AND withstand summer heat. With so many ideas running through the head, Noodle Cook's cool, level head, starts to puff up like a Michelin Chef, and then deflates, as stage fright takes over: the chill goes down the spine and the feet suddenly feel cold. There's no time to perfect "beautiful, simple food" like Chef Neil in 8 days!

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Masterchef Dreaming

The mobile phone rings at midday while Noodle Cook, the self proclaimed electronically qualified "Masterchef", with geologist boots on instead of chef hat, looks down a microscope for evidence of the next diamond mine.

"Congratulations, you have won one of 100 places out of 6000 applications to audition for Masterchef!"

Stunned, Noodle Cook tongue twists into a knot while the brain races excitedly. Maybe it's no more running a restaurant electronically through a blog: Pinocchio getting a chance to become real???

"You need to impress the judges with a dish on 16 January. Please bring 2 plates. There's no refrigeration..... You'll get an email shortly with details."

Noodle Cook, the dreamer, starts visualizing the dishes created for Paper Chef challenges. The euphoria of winning the Paper Chef's hat for the month with Bush Tucker Lamb starts coming back. The winning dish features Australian bush herbs and spice in a beautiful green marbled lamb parfait with orange basil seed champagne jelly.



By the time the caller says good-bye, Noodle Cook has forgotten to ask for the name of the caller, the time to show up, and the location of the audition, or in this instance, the place where dreams potentially become real....

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