The Test Kitchen

Chef Chicken and Sous Chef Char

Chef Chicken extracting the oxtail meat

Lots of ingredients!

Braz managed to crack egg shell in the pasta mix

The guns were USELESS at kneading the pasta dough!

Paua mmmm

Chef Chicken doing the bulk of the prep work

The paua filling made by Chef Braz

Fun times making pasta

Pasta making took soooooo long...

...and ended up sticking together as the kitchen was so hot!

Luckily, Chef Chicken brought wonton pea as a backup plan

The oxtail and carrot filling, recipe (wrongly) provided by Chef C in Auckland

Brushing the pasta with egg

Sous Chef Vaughan taking over Braz' job

Sous Chef Char's immaculate paua ravioli on wonton pea!

Ready for boiling!

Oxtail ravioli on a bed of wilted spinach

Paua ravioli with beurre blanc

On to the main meal... Eye fillet on the hot plate!

Serving up the "Surf and Turf"

The finished product - Eye fillet and prawns with mango and avocado salsa, crispy rosemary potatoes and baby spinach and rocket salad. 

With just over a month to go before the Grand Dinner, the Chefs decided that a Test Kitchen session was in order. Top 10 things we learnt from the Test Kitchen:

1. It is essential that when Chef C sends recipes to Chef Chicken and Chef Braz, he sends the correct recipe with all the right ingredients and quantities. Otherwise, the oxtail ravioli will be as tasteless as it was that night.

2. Chef Braz really needs to concentrate harder and stop taking photos.

3. The Chefs need to keep a cleaner working space and have a prep table - the kitchen was chaos.

4. Char and Vaughan should not be left in charge of dessert.

5. Preparation needs to start earlier - we ate dinner at 10pm.

6. Wonton pea was actually nicer than homemade pasta.

7. Beurre blanc uses a shit load of butter.

8. Women need to be banned from the kitchen (except Char).

9. Micro-greens are non-existent in Wellington.

10. But most importantly, Braz now knows what a mango is, and that ravioli is not risotto.

There is now less than a month to go until the big event, and since 2 more courses have been added to the official menu by the ambitious Chefs, another Test Kitchen may be necessary...Watch this space!

Hainanese Chicken and Tom Yum Soup

Less is more, says Braz

MSH Christmas Dinner at The White House

The meal

Waikanae crab ravioli with pawpaw, lime and coriander salsa and Thai inspired coconut sauce

Karamea whitebait sauteed with garlic, fresh asparagus, cherry tomatoes and hollandaise

Live native Tio Point oysters shucked to order, served natural with mignonette sauce, rye bread and lemon

Angus beef fillet, medium rare, fried scampi, Worcestershire spatzli, young carrots, oxtail juice

Waimarino pork loin with puffed rind, roasted apple stuffed with pork rillettes, Black Bell black pudding, cured pork belly, apple puree and mustard fruits

Duck breast, served pink, slow cooked leg, braised cabbage and bacon, kumara mash and mandarin

Molten Valrhona chocolate pudding, malted chocolate soil, cultured buttermilk ice cream, fresh raspberries and raspberry puree

Vanilla bean panna cotta and strawberry crush, strawberry sherbet and sorbet cornet

Christmas pudding, poached cherries, vanilla bean ice cream, brandy sauce and English custard

The verdict
Do not go there. Unless you want a 2-star meal for 200 times the price. The duck was bland, the beef fillet was poorly presented, the chocolate pudding was far too rich, and the female waiter was sour and super rude (she poked Mum with a plate to get her to move out of the way! Hahaha!). I was so disappointed.

Apologies for the lack of verdict but I am rushing to post this before the whole Xmas period expires. Also, Braz will be on a blogging hiatus for a while, and will be back with lots of yummy posts from Melbourne!

Nigella's Dragon Chicken and Snowpeas with Scallops

 The meal

Braz' new food processor - whizzing up the Dragon Chicken marinade - garlic, ginger, red capsicum, chillies and spices

Pan-seared scallops bebe!

The scallops added to the homegrown snow peas

Presentation is key

Crunchy snowpeas and succulent scallops

Hot and spicy, just like Nigella!

It looks burnt but it was just right and crispy

Line up please

Complimentary chicken chow mein

The verdict

Taste: Braz usually burns chicken but these wings were just right. However the Dragon Wings were not as flaming as we expected, more chilli please Braz! The scallops and snowpeas were perfect, but Braz lied to us - they are not homegrown! Overall 8/10

Presentation: Beeeeautiful colouring and texture, the Dragon Wings looked even better with a bit of coriander sprinkled on top. Overall 8.5/10

X- Factor: The scallops and Dragon Wings were two great side dishes, but what happened to the main dish? The noodles were boring Braz. Get it together and make a complete meal! Overall 7/10

Graduates from the 3 Wise Men Cooking School

2010 graduates L-R: Masterchef Braz, Masterchef CC, Masterchef Chicken

After years of intensive training, Masterchefs Braz, CC and Chicken graduated from the 3 Wise Men Cooking School. Masterchef Braz thinks he is more successful than the others though, because he has his own blog! 

Char's Vanilla Satins

Lately Braz has passed his cooking obsessions onto me, along with his obsessions with his new camera. So I have decided to learn how to cook and bake like a REAL woman! Have not attempted to do Jamie or Nigella yet...but started off nice and simple by baking Vanilla Satins from my Kids Can Cook! book. Haha.

Had a bit of trouble with the icing - it was a bit too thin and the top biscuits kept sliding off! But apart from that, I would class the Vanilla Satins as a success. 

What do you think of the food photography? Before you complain that it is dark and hazy (Andrew), I put a vintage effect on it. Bonus points if you can spot Shaz.

Jamie Oliver's Incredible Roasted Shoulder Of Lamb

To all the regular readers out there (all 4 of you), Braz would like to apologise for the misleading blog title "BRAZ CAN COOK", because there have not been a lot of posts lately of Braz actually cooking. A few weeks ago, Annabel Langbein's Garlic Butter Sirloin was well on the way to making an appearance on the blog until BRAZ POURED BUTTER DOWN THE GRILLS OF THE BARBECUE AND SET IT ON FIRE. Two fire extinguishers later, Hayden put it out because Braz didn't know how to work a fire extinguisher. In all the drama I forgot to take anymore foodie photos. Shaz was thoroughly pissed, despite Braz pleading "It was a mistaaaake. Relaaax I didn't mean to." And we ate the rest of the dinner in silence. 

Braz spent the rest of the following day scrubbing the ashes off the barbecue and now claims it is in working order, despite the knobs not being able to turn.

But back to some home cooking! Braz discovered that the internet is FULL of recipes, EVEN Jamie Oliver ones...

The meal

Annabel Langbein's rocket, beetroot, feta and almond salad

The verdict

Taste: Shaz thought the lamb was overcooked but it was "alright". The kids all hate rocket so Annabel Langbein's salad was not a winner. I liked the mint gravy. Overall 6/10

Appearance: The lamb looked VERY good straight from the oven, but the potatoes could have been a bit more exciting. The salad added a bit of colour. Overall 6.5/10

X-Factor: Not much X-factor as roast lamb and potatoes is a pretty standard Sunday night meal. Not really pushing the boundaries Braz! Overall 5/10