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Mount Etna Raviolo
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Mount Etna Raviolo
WINNING DISH. Mystery Box challenge: the boxes held phones and tablets, and the brief was a dish from the cook's own culture designed to go viral on social media, judged as hard on visuals as on flavour, with guest judge Nick DiGiovanni. Julia built a single large squid ink raviolo filled with ricotta, anchovy paste and tomato around two whole egg yolks, set on homemade breadcrumbs coloured with charcoal to read as volcanic ash, inspired by Mount Etna in Sicily. The whole concept depended on the yolks staying intact until cut. Julia won the challenge, took the top 10 place for team Europe and the collaboration prize with Nick DiGiovanni.
Dialogue:
{Julia}: "I'm going to be making a squid ink ravioli filled with a anchovy and tomato paste."
{Julia}: "I'm gonna put two egg yolks, if I can, with volcanic ash breadcrumbs. It's inspired by Mount Etna, the volcano in Sicily. I wanna get the real, like, volcanic explosion."
{Julia}: "That would be insane. I mean, I really am not big on social media, but that is one of my goals, is to start establishing a presence, because I really want to open up a bakery, get some traction. So I feel like that would be huge."
{Julia}: "We love humble beginnings."
{Julia}: "Make sure that's well sealed."
{Julia}: "I think it's going to erupt just like a volcano."
{Julia}: "The ricotta filling. And then I put two egg yolks in there because I really want it to scream that it's lava."
{Julia}: "I was putting the caviar on top. You could feel the yolk."
{Julia}: "I feel so excited and so blessed to be the top dish in my territory. I'm just proud of praying to God that these yolks burst."
{Julia}: "This is a dish that I'm calling Mount Etna Raviolo, which is a squid ink pasta, and it is filled with ricotta, egg yolk, anchovy paste, and tomato sitting on a bed of homemade breadcrumbs with some charcoal to represent that volcanic ash."
{Julia}: "I'm in the top 10 of MasterChef. I'm so pumped. I cannot believe it."
{Julia}: "So I feel like I might pass out. I'm so excited and so blessed."
BEFORE TASTING
{Nick DiGiovanni}: "There's something here for sure."
{Nick DiGiovanni}: "Looking at this dish, I'm not totally sure yet if I get volcano. For me, the big thing is going to be cutting into this. If it doesn't lava, it's not so much of a volcano right here."
{Tiffany Derry}: "So the viral here is you're going to mix it in the moment. And then this is going to be part of the dipping sauce, essentially."
AFTER THE YOLKS BURST
{Tiffany Derry}: "I can breathe. I was a little worried."
{Joe Bastianich}: "Julia. You come up with great ideas, you communicate the territory, and then you make delicious food. And this, quite frankly, is delicious."
{Tiffany Derry}: "I love the little note of anchovy that's in there. It's not in your face. And the texture of, like, all the soil is really nice with the dish."
{Nick DiGiovanni}: "You know, I was skeptical about this dish. Its entire potential rested on the fact that it would actually erupt, and it delivered on that. This is a very difficult thing to make, and you nailed it."
{Gordon Ramsay}: "Julia. Tonight, you're cooking like a pro and shining like a star. Well done."
RESULT
{Gordon Ramsay}: "Now, as far as the best dish of the night, congratulations goes to Julia."
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