Great British Menu ™
Baker:
Season:
Week:
Challenge Type:
The Quiet Explorer
Hannah: "These are onions going in just to make the caramelized onion broth. The name of the dish is "The Quiet Explorer" and it's based off of Isabel W Hutchison. She was a woman who traveled the Arctic and collected seedlings and herb samples and sent them back to the UK in our sample box. So that she's one of the main reasons we have all of the botanics that we do in Edinburgh Botanical Gardens to this day."
Hannah: "There's going to be a caramelized onion broth, seaweed tuille made with kombu and it's shaped like an actual boat with a mushroom risotto there."
Notes taken during cooking
For the base of her risotto, Hannah sautés mushrooms with shallots and celery.
Hannah: "I'll finish with some miso and some cashew paste."
With her mushroom risotto base done, Hannah pan roasts onions before shaping her seaweed tuille.
Hannah: "I'm just roasting the ingredients for my stock. It's celeriac, caramelized onions and Madeira. And finish it off with some more sherry. It should be very sharp and punchy."
Aktar Islam (behind the scenes, talking to the camera)
"I've just tried Hannah's onion broth. I'm really concerned because it's just not deep and rich as I'd want a broth to be."
Plating
First to the pass is Hannah
Hannah: "I am very happy with my boat."
With her boat shaped seaweed tuilles baked and her roasted onion petals at the ready ... Her risotto is shaped into quinelles, onion puree and char-grilled onion petals are first to the plate. The risotto is topped with matchstick potato. A tuille is moored to either side.
The dish is garnished with edible potatoes before being finished with whipped potato puree.
Aktar Islam: "Risotto quenelle. Should you ever be able to quenelle a risotto?"
Hannah: "I would say no if you were just eating risotto, but because it's got broth with it, that's why I didn't mind it being thicker."
Peers, tasting behind the scenes
"The risotto is a bit more like cold porridge, kind of like a savory rice pudding."
Back in the judging room
Aktar Islam: "The onion broth, is it deep and complex like you'd expect an onion broth to be?"
Hannah: "In my head, it makes sense how it tastes with all the other elements on the plate.
Peers, tasting behind the scenes
"The broth. It's very sweet."
"Mad sweet"
Back in the judging room
Aktar Islam: "Potato spuma? Is this how you wanted it to be?"
Hannah: "It's nowhere near as creamy and got that potato hit that I've had when I've done it before, so no.
Peers, tasting behind the scenes
"Texturally, lots of variation, but, like, the potatoes may be a little bit lost and things."
Final Judging
Aktar Islam: "Hannah, for your dish, "The Quiet Explorer." I really like the presentation for Isabelle's story, and it really came through fantastically. For me, if you can quenelle a risotto, it's wrong. The rice was overcooked, and the flavor of mushroom didn't really come through. The potato espuma, it wasn't right. It's just a bit gummy. Espumas work when they're rich. Now, I was looking for a deep, rich onion broth. It didn't give me the flavor that I was expecting. Overall, the dish was a little too sweet."
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