Masterchef UK Professionals
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Pistachio and Olive Oil Cake
Pistachio and Olive Oil Cake with Italian Meringue, Raspberry Jelly and Pistachio Ice Cream
Head chef Luke built his dessert entirely around pistachios. Luke: "The cake element in particular is what I did for my first ever chef competition about 12 years ago. I won that. Pierre Koffmann was judging the competition, and by the time I plated up, he'd eaten all of my trimmings of my cake." The pistachio and olive oil sponge was wrapped in a pistachio twill, molded while still hot before it hardened. Luke: "I'll be quite quick with these ones, because as they cool, they literally go to brittle." On top sat an Italian meringue, made by cooking sugar syrup to temperature and pouring it onto whipping egg whites. Luke: "I've done it many times, but you know, this is the place that I'm going to screw it up." A raspberry and rose water jelly was included alongside - with the rose water used carefully to avoid overpowering - and a pistachio and olive oil ice cream. {Judge}: "I want the nutty flavor of pistachio to come through, but also the flavor of oil. Rose water has got to be really carefully used - otherwise it is just too perfumed and completely overpowering."
{Judge}: "The pistachio sponge is lovely. I love the lightness of the meringue sitting on top. Your twill on the outside, it is slightly overcooked. I question why you cut the length of it shorter than it needed to be - they should be connected, they should be together. The sponge is delicious. It's got a really good flavor of pistachio, but for me, there's not enough sharpness of raspberry. I really want more of that. If you're dealing with something like pistachio, which is oily, you need something to cut it a bit." {Judge}: "The ice cream flavors of pistachio, yes, I definitely have that. But when you're using something like pistachio, having pistachio, pistachio - where's the point of difference? And it has to be there." {Judge}: "I think the pistachio cake with olive oil was good. I was quite surprised at how light the Italian meringue was on top, but there wasn't enough pop from the raspberries just to take it from just being pistachio. The twill - we all know there are issues with it."
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