Steamed Seafood with Leek and Potato

Recipe: Gary Mehigan, show judge

Ingredients:

• Parsley leaves: ¼ cup
• Tarragon leaves: ¼ cup, plus more for cooking fish and garnish
• Butter: 130g
• Sliced white and pale green part of leek: 250g
• Garlic, finely chopped: ½ clove
• Cream: 250ml
• Fish stock: 250ml
• Small potatoes, turned and cut into 2cm long, oval shaped pieces: 17
• Small salmon fillets, boned and skinned: 4
• Small whiting fillets, boned, skinned and rolled: 4
• Scampi tails, peeled: 4
• Broad beans, peeled, and steamed for garnish
• Baby leeks, for garnish

Method:

Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add parsley and tarragon leaves and cook until bright green. Remove from water and place in an ice bath. Once cool, drain and dry the leaves. Place in a blender and process until smooth. With the blender running, slowly add olive oil until well combined. Set aside.

Pour cream, fish stock and add a pinch of salt in a saucepan set over medium heat and bring to a boil. Put butter in another saucepan and set over medium heat to melt. Add leeks, garlic and sliced potato and cook until it starts to soften. Add boiling cream and stock mixture and cook until the leeks and potatoes are tender. Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. Pass through a sieve into a clean saucepan and set aside, keeping warm.

Place the turned potatoes in a saucepan and add enough water to cover. Set over medium heat and cook until tender. Remove from heat and drain.

Pour some water in a wok and bring to a boil over high heat. Line a bamboo steamer with butter wrapping or baking paper and lay seafood on top, sprinkle with salt and tarragon leaves. Turn heat under wok to low, place steamer in the wok, cover and allow the seafood to steam until just cooked through, for about 3-4 minutes.

Place 100g butter in a saucepan and set over medium heat to melt. Season with salt and add the cooked and turned potatoes, broad beans and baby leeks and warm gently, basting with butter.

To serve, place seafood at the bottom of each serving bowl. Add potatoes, broad beans and baby leeks. Gently pour the soup and drizzle with herb oil.

The Best Baked Cheesecake

Recipe: Matt Preston, show judge

Ingredients:

• Granita Biscuits (or any type of digestive biscuit): 250g packet
• Castor sugar: 60g
• Unsalted butter, melted: 75g

For the filling:

• Cream cheese, room temperature: 3 cups
• Castor sugar: 1 cup
• Eggs: 4
• Lemon juice: 2.5tbsp
• Vanilla extract: 1tsp
• Salt flakes: ¼tsp
• Double cream: 300ml

Method:

Preheat the oven to 175°C.

Line a 23cm spring form cake tin with baking paper. Double wrap the outside of the cake tin with extra-wide aluminium foil.

For the biscuit base, place the biscuits in a food processor and blitz to a fine crumb.

Transfer to a mixing bowl, stir in the sugar then add melted butter and mix until well combined.

Pour the biscuit base mixture into the prepared cake tin and press down firmly and evenly with the back of a spoon. If a thinner base is desired, use only part of the mixture.

Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Once baked, remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, for the filling, place the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand-up mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until smooth and creamy.

Add the castor sugar and beat until fully dissolved. Add eggs, one at a time, ensuring the eggs are fully incorporated in by beating well in-between each addition.

Reduce mixer speed and add lemon juice, vanilla extract and salt and mix until combined. Add cream and mix well until combined. Pour the filling over the cooled biscuit base and then place the cake tin in the middle of a large, deep roasting tray in preparation for a water bath.

Carefully fill the deep roasting tray with water to a depth of about 2cm and place in the oven. Bake for about 65 minutes until golden and cooked through for about 65 minutes.

Once baked, turn off the oven, but leave the cheesecake to cool inside the closed oven for one hour.

Remove the cheesecake from oven and allow it to cool completely, before releasing from the tin.

To serve, top with some fresh raspberries, blackberries and micro coriander leaves.

Carrot Cake with Candied Walnuts and Walnut Crumb

Recipe: Matt Sinclair, Season 8 runner-up

Ingredients:

For the carrot cake:

• Eggs: 2
• Vegetable oil: ¾ cup
• Vanilla: 1 tsp
• Brown sugar: 1 cup
• Grated carrot: 2 cups
• Molasses: 1tbsp
• Plain flour: 1 cup
• Bicarbonate soda: 1tsp
• Ground cinnamon: 2tsp
• Ground cumin: ½tsp
• Ground ginger: 2tsp
• Salt: a pinch

For the marmalade:

• Oranges, zested and juiced: 2
• Carrots, finely grated: 2
• Castor sugar: ½ cup
• Verjuice: 1tbsp
• Star anise: 2
• Cinammon quill: 1  
• Lemon juice: 1tsp
•  

For the cream cheese icing:

• Softened cream cheese: 375g
• Icing sugar: 1/3rd cup
• Lemons: 2
•  

For the walnut crumble:

• Toasted walnuts:  25g
• Sugar: 50g
• Plain flour: 25g
• Butter: 25g
• Salt: a pinch
• Roasted candied walnuts: 25g
• Castor sugar: 110g
• Water: 1 tsp

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease and line two 20cm round cake tins.

For the carrot cake, put together eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla, brown sugar, grated carrot and molasses in a bowl and whisk to combine.

Sift the remaining ingredients into a large bowl and stir to combine. Add the wet ingredients and mix well to combine. Divide the cake batter between the two cake tins and smoothen the surface with a spatula. Bake for 18-20 minutes in the pre-heated oven until cakes are light golden and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre. Once cooked, remove cakes from oven and cool in tins for 10 minutes. Once cooled, invert onto wire racks and set aside to cool completely.

For the marmalade, add orange juice and zest, carrot and sugar into a medium saucepan and cook over a medium heat until the carrots soften. Add the remaining ingredients and cook over a medium heat until the mixture has thickened. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

For the cream cheese icing, beat cream cheese in a stand mixer until smooth. Sift in icing sugar and add lemon juice and beat until smooth and fluffy. Set aside until needed.

For the walnut crumble, increase oven temperature to 180°C. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blitz to a coarse crumb. Transfer mixture to a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

For the candied walnuts, spread walnuts onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Place sugar and water in a small fry pan and simmer until sugar is dissolved and forms a dark golden caramel. Pour over walnuts and set aside to cool and harden.

Once the walnut toffee is hard, break into small shards.

To assemble the cake, trim and level one cake and place onto serving plate. Spread with cold marmalade and half of the cream cheese icing. Trim and level the remaining cake and place on top. Spread or pipe on remaining icing. Top with walnut crumble and shards of candied walnuts.

The perfect steak

Recipe: Marco Pierre White, 3-star Michelin chef and a mentor and guest judge on MasterChef Australia

Ingredients:

• Olive Oil: 100ml  
• Sirloin steak: 4
• Rosemary, picked: 1 bunch
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt to taste

Method

Drizzle olive oil onto a grill pan and set over high heat.
Drizzle oil on steaks and rub all over. Season steaks with salt.
Place steaks on grill pan, turning to make cross hatch marks.
Turn steaks, sprinkle with picked rosemary and salt and drizzle with olive oil.
Turn off heat and allow to finish cooking and rest.
Drizzle with lemon juice and serve.

Watch MasterChef Australia on STAR World and STAR World HD, Monday to Friday, at 9pm. Repeats 9am, 1pm, 5pm & 1am