Tag Archives: Khumo Twala

MasterChef SA Season 2 episode 16: ‘Quirky’ cooking, Mucking Afazing Charly’s Bakery, Khumo Twala flaps out!

MasterChef 2 16 Pressure Test Finalists Whale Cottage PortfolioThe Pressure Test that five Red Team MasterChef SA Finalists, who lost the cook out in the Company’s Gardens in Cape Town yesterday, had to go through seemed less stressful and more fun than some of the others the Finalists have been through, in that they could let their creativity shine through.  The winning Blue Team loved their visit to Charly’s Bakery in Cape Town.

The visiting Chef and ‘Bread and Butter’ column food writer for The Times MasterChef 2 16 Chef Andrea Burgener Whale Cottage Portfoliowas Andrea Burgener of The Leopard (no website for her restaurant, it appears) in Melville in Johannesburg,  Chef Pete Goffe-Wood calling her the ‘Queen of Creative Cuisine’, well known for her creative cooking, eclectic and playful dishes created by experimentation, and tasty food.  She presented three of her dishes, to give the Finalists an idea of what her restaurant serves, each dish having a twist on something well known, being ‘far removed from their origins’, she said.  So, for example the steak tartare was presented on a Moroccan theme, and there was a ‘Korean spagbol‘,  and MasterChef 2 16 SpagBol Whale Cottage Portfolioa Gazpacho made with raw ginger.  Textures are important, it was said, and Chef Andrea’s flavours ‘jump out‘.    Chef Andrew MasterChef 2 16 Gazpacho Whale Cottage PortfolioAtkinson provided the brief for the Pressure Test:  the Finalists had to create a dish of their own creation within 60 minutes, thinking out of the box, to be good enough to feature on Chef Andrea’s menu at Continue reading →

MasterChef SA Season 2: The Top 10 cook up a storm!

MasterChef Top 12 FinalistsThere are 12 episodes left in the next six weeks of MasterChef SA, and we are down to the Top 10, an amazing accolade for each of the Finalists, and will change their lives forever.  This is the MasterChef SA Season 2 Top 10 Finalist list, with their performance to date:

*   Tiron Eloff :  Into Pressure Test in episode 12, and did reasonably well. Twitter: @TironEloff

*   Karen Els : Top 5 dish in episode 7. Did well in her fish dish in the Pressure Test in episode 10, after not doing well in the Spice Test.  Won best dish in episode 11, and won a MasterClass in ice-cream making at The Creamery. Twitter: @kelsfoodie

*   Khumo Twala : Into Pressure Test in episode 6. Made a perfect hollandaise sauce, and was allowed to join the other Finalists in episode 6.  Top 5 dish in episode 7. Was in the Spice Test in episode 10, but was allowed to join the other Finalists.  Survived the Pressure Test in episode 14, making Chef David Higgs’ macaroons and panna cotta.  Twitter: @Simply_khumski Continue reading →

MasterChef SA Season 2 episode 14: Chef David Higgs’ Macaroon and Panna Cotta dish the final crunch for Herman Cloete and Mary Martin!

MasterChef 2 14 Pressure Test Finalists Whale Cottage PortfolioThe Macaroon, sorbet, and Panna Cotta dessert, which top Chef David Higgs of Five Hundred restaurant at the Saxon Boutique Hotel prepared for the Pressure Test on MasterChef SA’s 14 th episode last night, was a tough one to replicate, and cost two of the Finalists their aprons in the competition, the final 10 being whittled down to the winner in the next six weeks.

Chef David was introduced by Chef Pete Goffe-Wood as one of our country’s top chefs, who was named as Top Chef and Rust en Vrede Top Service and Top Restaurant in Eat Out’s Top 10 Restaurant Awards in 2010.  Chef David introduced his dish, which he said he had made with one of the country’s top pastry chefs, but the name was not mentioned.   He said that dining is more than about food, and preparing food for it can be tricky and technical too.  A chef is more than just someone cooking, he or she is an artist too. His dessert of liquorice macaroon with a litchi sorbet and litchi panna cotta onMasterChef 2 14 Chef David dish Whale Cottage Portfolio black crumble was exquisite in its presentation.  The Finalists were warned to follow the recipe carefully.  A macaroon must be crunchy on the outside, yet soft and chewy on the inside.  It’s all in the timing, he added.   His dish ‘is difficult but not impossible’,  he said.  The five Finalists in the Pressure Test had 2 hours in which to replicate the dish, and Chef Pete made the shock announcement that twoMasterChef 2 14 Chef David Higgs Whale Cottage Portfolio Finalists would be eliminated.  In doing the rounds at the work stations, Chef David had a kind word for each Finalist, telling them to ‘relax’, and to ‘not get carried away‘, i.e. to not be nervous. Continue reading →

MasterChef SA Season 2 episode 13: Dairy Challenge pans out for some, Kamini Pather creams it!

MasterChef 2 13 Finalists Whale Cottage PortfolioEpisode 13 of MasterChef SA last night marked the halfway mark for the reality TV cooking show, and focused on the use of Dairy.  Many panna cotta dishes were made for the Dairy Challenge, which panned out for some, and not so for others.

The episode began with the Finalists discovering that all their dairy products had been removed from the fridge in their house, and they reacted grumpily to not being able to have coffee to wake up with.  Herman Cloete said their mood was ‘scratchy‘.  When they arrived at the MasterChef kitchen, Chef Andrew Atkinson cheekily asked why they looked as if they did not have a good start to the day, knowing full well what had happened at the house.  It was meant to introduce the Invention Test, to test the Finalists’ creativity with the products most commonly found in households, being dairy.  The Pantry had been stocked with milk, cream, cheese, and yoghurts, and the Finalists were challenged to make any dish with dairy, be it a starter or dessert, as long as they got the basics right.  They were given 10 minutes to grab their products in the Pantry, and 60 minutes to prepare their dish. Continue reading →