Original subtitles

It's the battle for the ultimate culinary prize.

Hmm!

60 of the country's best home cooks...

I need to stop shaking.

..all with their hearts set...

Not really sure what I'm doing.

Flaming brilliant!

..on the coveted MasterChef trophy.

This is the sort of stuff that dreams are made of.

GREGG: That is a cracker of a job.

This is absolutely banging. Yeah!

NARRATOR: Each week, 12 extraordinary amateur talents...

..battle for a place...

Yum, yum, yum. Oh, wow, that's hot.

..in the quarterfinal.

I think it's delicious.

This is a revelation. Congratulations.

But only the best can earn their passports

to the ultimate cookery showdown.

A British culinary icon

is just about to enter the MasterChef kitchen.

Are we ready for this?

Concentrate. I cannot send it.

I like it. I love it.

I think this year has been an absolutely

brilliant competition.

We've found some amazing cooks so far,

but we're looking for a few more.

It's the final heat of this year's competition,

and the last six passionate home cooks

are arriving at the MasterChef kitchen.

But at the end of today,

only three will make it through to this week's quarterfinal.

I've been watching the show since I was a kid,

so it kind of feels a bit like a dream

that I'm actually here now.

I may be very calm.

I may not be very calm.

We're here to find out.

I'm so excited to be here, and it's my time to shine.

A very warm welcome to the MasterChef kitchen.

You are our final six contestants of this year's competition.

We may well have saved the best till last.

This, your first round, we call Basic To Brilliant.

We want you to take a basic, everyday ingredient

and make it the star of the show.

At the end of this, Gregg and I will choose our two favourite dishes.

And the people who've cooked those will get themselves

a MasterChef apron

and go straight through to the next round.

The rest of you will have to cook again

for the last two aprons.

You will have 1 hour and 20 minutes, ladies and gentlemen.

Make something truly brilliant.

Let's cook!

I'm feeling up for it.

We're practiced, ready to go.

And we're here.

NARRATOR: 46-year-old jeweller Zee, from Lancashire,

has a love of Italian cuisine

and once made 300 ravioli for her family

in an attempt to perfect her culinary technique.

It's a bit of a running family joke -

you should open a cafe, you should open a restaurant,

you should bake for a living.

But never in a million years did I think

I would be cooking in the MasterChef kitchen.

And then, all of a sudden, here we are.

Zee, welcome to MasterChef.

What prompted you, or who prompted you,

to come into this competition?

My son made me promise that I would apply.

And once you've promised a ten-year-old,

you don't go back on that, do you?

No matter how difficult and scary it is,

you just give it your best.

What's your little boy's name? He's called William.

William. He is everything, yeah.

Of course he is.

What's your chosen ingredient?

It's mushroom.

I used to hate them growing up, but when I went to Italy -

when I was working for an Italian jewellery company -

they have a lot of mushrooms and truffles and things.

I came back with a renewed interest in the flavours.

What are you going to do with this mushroom? What's the dish?

Mushroom and truffle burrata tortellini

with a mushroom tuile and a shallot brown butter and mushroom emulsion.

Whoa!

Zee's using four different types of mushrooms.

Chestnut mushroom,

an oyster mushroom, a cep, and also truffles.

This is a mushroom fest.

The only relief we've got from this mushroom is burrata.

It's a bit fierce, this machine.

I like the idea.

There's lots of process going on, huge amount of skill here.

Is it going to be mushroom overload?

NARRATOR: Head of fashion e-commerce Gabriel's food

is heavily influenced by his upbringing

in the south of Brazil.

GREGG: Gabriel, who taught you to cook?

My mum, my aunties.

Everyone back home.

I'm always inspired by the ladies in the kitchen.

What is your chosen ingredient?

Eggs. It is an essential ingredient for lunch, breakfast and dinner.

You can use it in any way, shape or form.

What's your dish, please?

A Brazilian flan called pudim.

In Brazil, on a Sunday,

we like to make this as a dessert.

So it is essentially just eggs, milk, condensed milk.

Like a solid custard?

Yes, a solid custard - with a brown top from the syrup.

Beautiful. So I grew up having this. I'm very proud of it.

And I think it tastes amazing.

It is simply a creme caramel.

It's an upside-down pudding, which is cooked inside a ramekin

with the caramel on the bottom of it, and turned out.

And he's going to serve that with some sugar garnish.

That's fantastic.

But he's got to make sure he's got those puddings

in the oven at the right time,

they're out and they're cooled.

Because if they're not cooled, he's not going to be

able to turn them out.

And if he doesn't turn them out, he doesn't have a dessert.

It is a recipe I know well.

I've done this many, many times.

But, you know, under the pressure of the MasterChef kitchen,

you never know what's going to happen.

But I'm going to do whatever I can to cook the best dish of the day.

20 minutes have gone, everybody.

20 minutes gone.

I'm having the best time!

I'm just having so much fun.

That's the only way to do it.

NARRATOR: 30-year-old Molly has been cooking since the age of four.

Originally from Bristol,

she moved to Scotland six years ago

and works as an assistant psychologist in Edinburgh.

Although I'm not vegetarian,

I definitely use vegetables at the centre of all my dishes.

I get a veg box each week from just a local farm

and then create the dish around it.

My basic ingredient is a cauliflower,

so I'm doing it in three different ways.

What is it that you find special about the cauliflower?

I think, on its own, cauliflower can be quite boring...

..but you can just absolutely pack it full of flavour.

So I'd like to show that and celebrate it.

What's your dish, please?

So we've got roasted cauliflower with miso and turmeric,

a caramelised cauliflower puree,

pickled cauliflower -

and there'll be a soft boiled egg on top as well.

How important is food to you in your life?

Oh, it's so important.

I'm actually starting to study nutritional therapy,

which I'm going to bring into the mental health practice that I do.

Food is obviously vital for our nourishment.

Good for you.

Cauliflower three different ways.

But she's going to use the cauliflower flower itself

as well as the leaves, and I'm really pleased about that.

But with that, we've also got some cavolo nero,

a really hard cabbage.

And she's just going to pan-fry it.

Cavolo nero needs to be boiled first

so it goes really, really soft.

Otherwise it's very, very stringy and quite strong.

NARRATOR: 62-year-old software developer Mel

didn't start his cooking journey until his late 40s,

but enjoys creating elegant plates of food -

focusing on classic Mediterranean flavours.

Mel, what sparked your interest in cookery?

Basically, when I found myself separated,

two small kids every other weekend, and I needed to feed them.

So I started to cook.

I've spent the last 20 years

just trying to be better and better.

Now, what's your basic ingredient, please?

Basic ingredient's egg.

Everywhere you go is egg, you know?

So we're turning it into pasta.

I'm making a raviolo with chorizo, some basil and some ricotta,

which is going to be sat on a pecorino sauce

with a bacon tuile.

Right, OK. Why have you gone Italian?

I love Italian food.

And I love the simplicity of that - three ingredients cooked well.

Those ravioli need to be nice and thin,

crimped around the outside,

lots and lots of filling in, with a really good sauce.

Because we've got ricotta cheese, we've got chorizo - that's great.

But it's going to need something else

to make sure it's lovely and moist.

What cooking allows me to do is to keep being creative

with flavours and textures, but also with presentation.

I'll be honest, you know, I love a pretty plate of food.

This dish should showcase process.

You are halfway, everybody. Halfway.

Time is going fast.

NARRATOR: Talent acquisitions manager Olivia

was born in Naples and taught to cook by her nonna.

She dreams of opening a restaurant showcasing

the southern Italian flavours of her heritage.

So, Naples is a city that is all about food.

I had to block my mum from telling the entire village -

like, she just wanted to go around to all my neighbours,

knock at the door and say,

"Hey, you know my Liv in the UK? She's on MasterChef!"

She's very proud of me for being here.

How often do you cook? Always.

I was born cooking.

I cook all the time.

Food is our soul, it's in our blood - it's everything to me.

And I hope I can show it to you.

What is your chosen ingredient, please?

My chosen ingredient is pasta, of course.

It's from Sardinia.

It's called fregula.

Then it will go with seafood.

We have mussels, clams,

we have Sicilian red prawns cooked in a prawn bisque.

Just very Mediterranean flavours from home, really.

I wanted to bring the seafood.

It doesn't really matter to me to show you today

that I can make fresh pasta - because of course I can.

I've always done it.

But I wanted the flavour to be right,

to pair right, and dry pasta is better.

Fantastic. Grazie!

The way that she's going to cook the fregula

is the same as people make risotto.

It's taking the pasta

and then adding stock to it very, very slowly

and until such time as all that stock is absorbed.

She has to be really careful here.

If she boils the stock too much,

the outside of the fregula starts to fall apart

and the inside doesn't cook all the way through.

It's a real art to get it absolutely right.

It's not cooked. It's not...

It's far from being cooked.

NARRATOR: Sociology professor Ali teaches at Cambridge University,

and, with his rich cultural upbringing,

is passionate about the fusion of worldwide cuisines.

My parents both came from Kenya to the UK,

so they're of Indian descent - but also Shia Ismaili Muslims.

So a lot of the cooking that we had at home

was kind of inspired by that. It's got Arabic influences,

it's got East African influences,

it's got kind of West Indian influences.

So I do like to bring a kind of Indian twist

to a lot of different kind of classical dishes.

My chosen ingredient is tomato.

We throw out over 700 million tomatoes in the UK.

I'm trying to show you don't need to throw out your tomatoes -

you can cook them in different ways. OK, good on you.

What's your dish, please?

Matzo paneer tortellini, which is an Indian dish.

So it's a rich tomato sauce with lots of Indian spices.

And then the pasta itself is also going to be filled

with sun-dried tomatoes, paneer and potato.

And then I'm also going to do some little tomato caviar

and spiced Bloody Mary jellies.

You have spent your life in academia?

Yeah. Why are you here on MasterChef?

Challenge myself to see how good the food actually is.

Hopefully bringing some exciting flavours.

I think that this dish in particular is quite novel.

Italian pasta going with Indian flavours.

This is really, really adventurous.

Ali's using tomatoes in many, many different ways.

We've got sharp and sour, we've got spicy,

we've got fruity, we've got smoky.

And lots of different processes.

He's got to be really careful here

how he balances all these different flavours.

Go big or go home, I guess. So... That's my plan.

You've got five minutes, everybody.

Yes!

Is your pasta cooked?

Very al dente, Gregg.

Finishing touches, please.

Triumph!

Your time is up.

NARRATOR: Showcasing her love of mushrooms,

jeweller Zee has made chestnut mushroom, truffle

and burrata-filled tortellini

topped with cep powder tweels,

with pan-fried king oyster mushrooms,

a brown butter mushroom and shallot emulsion,

and a Parmesan crisp.

GREGG: You're showing a lot of skill

and I really am enjoying these flavours.

It's really well made little pasta parcels.

I love the flavour of truffle going inside there.

The way you've used those mushrooms, it's almost beefy.

And then Parmesan and seasoning - I think that's great.

You've got lovely oyster mushrooms, pan-fried beautifully.

And then across the top of that,

that brown butter with more mushrooms.

I really like what you've done here.

I think John and Gregg's comments have given me

a bit more confidence.

It was nice to hear them say, "I'm enjoying eating this,"

which, at the end of the day, is why we cook.

Couldn't ask for anything more.

NARRATOR: Assistant psychologist Molly

has served cauliflower three ways -

caramelised cauliflower puree,

roasted turmeric and miso cauliflower,

and pickled cauliflower, with a soft boiled egg,

brown butter hazelnuts, capers and cavolo nero.

The use of cauliflower, I think, is really clever.

Creamy, earthy, almost nutty cauliflower as the base.

I really like that. You've got miso saltiness.

You've got turmeric smokiness on there.

Pickled cauliflower.

I really like the many different textures and flavours.

I like the fact you've actually taken a cauliflower

and used everything from it.

You've got these really lovely cauliflower leaves,

which are wonderful and soft. Your egg is cooked nicely.

But the cavolo nero doesn't need to be here.

It's really tough. It's just a bit chewy. Yeah.

Maybe I put too much on the plate, but I had such a fun time cooking.

It was just a celebration of the cauliflower,

which is all I wanted it to be.

NARRATOR: Software developer Mel's basic ingredient was egg,

and he's made ricotta and chorizo raviolo

served with pecorino cheese sauce and a bacon tuile.

You make really good pasta.

I mean, it couldn't be any finer if you tried.

Very, very well done.

But I think you're using too much chorizo here. Right.

It's very powerful.

For me, it overpowers the whole dish.

I've got a bit of a problem with the pasta.

It's all a little bit too wet.

It's creased and it's wrinkled.

I think the water's got in the... Yeah. Right.

But your flavours, I admire.

Pecorino being the flavour of sheep's milk, cheese,

very strong and distinctive.

I really enjoy it with that ravioli and the chorizo.

It's done. I feel great.

But it's the worst I've ever cooked that dish.

I think the pressure of the timing got to me.

But that's just life.

NARRATOR: Talent acquisitions manager Olivia

chose to cook Sardinian fregula pasta

in a prawn bisque with mussels, prawns and clams,

topped with raw Sicilian prawns and samphire,

finished with a chive oil.

I think your flavours are wonderful.

A little bit of sweetness of tomato in there

and salty freshness from the sea.

And it's nicely seasoned. Well done.

But I think your pasta needs cooking a little bit more.

It's just slightly too firm.

The mussels and the clams, cooked nicely.

That's good. The wonderful flavour of the prawns.

The chive oil - great for colour.

The fregula itself -

I like mine cooked a little bit more than this.

It's a little bit TOO al dente.

I do know how to cook a pasta.

Like, this is what I've been doing my entire life.

And I'm very annoyed

because I think that, like, Italy could actually

take my passport for delivering a raw pasta, you know?

NARRATOR: Using tomato as his basic ingredient,

Professor Ali has made tortellini filled with sun-dried tomato,

spiced potato and paneer,

served with tomato caviar,

chilli-spiced Bloody Mary jellies,

pickled cucumber and a chilli, cumin, garam masala tomato sauce.

I like the creamy tomatoey, almost cheesy sauce

that builds in layers of heat,

but the pasta's a little bit dry. But I very much admire

the work you've done, the knowledge you have

and the skill you have.

The little cubes of jelly are like a spiced drink.

I think they're great.

They're really nicely done.

The little caviar are quite sharp.

You've got different textures and flavours of spice and chilli,

but I don't taste tomato.

Not being able to taste the tomato was pretty bad.

If I have to cook again, I'm going to see it as a second chance,

a chance to redeem myself.

Because there's no third chance, right?

NARRATOR: Fashion e-commerce manager Gabriel

has made egg the hero of his dessert -

with a Brazilian flan,

vanilla, cinnamon and brandy set custard

with caramel syrup and a sugar dome.

I absolutely love that pudding.

Really creamy and soft.

And then the sugar is sweet, of course,

but it's also got that bitterness.

You are showing that you can do sugar work as well,

which is not easy.

Lovely golden top across there from the caramel.

A little flavour of brandy in the background,

and a touch of cinnamon as well.

To actually make sure this is perfectly set

and perfectly cooked, and for it to be as velvety smooth as that -

great use of the egg. Thank you.

Amazing!

Extremely happy with my performance.

I really want that apron so bad.

A great first round.

Some really good food.

Bit a fusion, a bit of adventure.

You have done very, very well indeed.

We have picked our two favourite dishes.

The first contestant getting an apron is...

..Gabriel.

No way!

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Wow. Wow.

The second contestant getting an apron is...

..Zee.

Please come and get your aprons.

Congratulations.

Thank you so much.

We did it! Oh, my God!

I am feeling on the top of the world. Yes!

Sitting in the white MasterChef apron feels official, OK.

It is happening.

To come out with an apron and not have to cook again

is just wonderful.

And I can get it really dirty next round.

LAUGHTER

There are two aprons there,

and they've got no names on them.

Keep pushing, keep fighting.

Get yourself an apron.

On your bench, you have a box.

And inside that box, there are three common ingredients.

Please reveal your ingredients.

Bread, potatoes and bananas.

We want you to cook for us a dish

using either one, two or three of those ingredients

alongside anything you like from the larder over there.

You will have to think on your feet.

You'll only have 45 minutes to cook the dish.

OK, off to the larder.

The most thrown-away items in British kitchens -

potatoes, bananas and bread.

It's the most random bunch of ingredients I've ever seen.

This, more than anything, tests their repertoire.

Because anybody that cooks a lot is going to be able

to use these ingredients in multiple ways.

My mind's kind of whirring at the moment,

but I think I've got a loose plan.

For a potato - curry to a rosti,

all the way through to hash brown.

And bread is really versatile -

if it's used in a pudding or, actually, as breadcrumbs.

If they're going to use bananas,

I hope it's something sweet and not something savoury.

The challenge is always the time and the pressure

and the surprise that you get.

What are you going to make, Mel?

So, I'm going to make a mashed potato.

And on top of that is going to be a piece of the cod

wrapped in Parma ham.

There's going to be a heritage carrot

and white wine veloute sauce.

What's the secret to good mash?

Cream and elbow grease.

LAUGHTER

Very good.

Mel is taking the potato,

and he's making mash out of it.

But I'm not sure whether this makes the potato

the centre of the dish.

We'll see.

However, I love mashed potato.

We want it lump-free.

I'm quite excited to cook again.

I always tell myself I'm excited when I'm nervous.

I'm going to do a banana bread

with some chocolate chips in it.

And then I've also remilled some of the bread to add as flour.

Have you got this recipe in your head?

Yeah, I've made this several times before.

It's a family favourite in our house.

She's remilling her bread.

So she's blending it all up so it's got the texture of flour,

and she's going to use that bread alongside almonds

instead of using flour to make her cake.

That's really clever.

I'll be even more impressed if she can add a bit of custard.

Cinnamon custard? Yeah.

I don't know what that means!

You are halfway, everybody.

Halfway.

Ali, what ingredients have you chosen from the box?

Er, mostly the potatoes.

So I'm going to make a gnocchi with them.

It's going to be a bit like an aloo tikki chaat gnocchi.

So spiced potatoes served with a coriander bechamel.

And then I'm going to use the bread a bit

to make some breadcrumbs to go on top.

A ginger breadcrumb. Fascinating.

Gnocchi with the flavours of aloo tikki -

aloo tikki being a street food from India.

A spiced potato cake, garam masala, chilli, coriander.

And a bechamel sauce.

That's milk. That sounds to me a little bit unusual.

Olivia, what ingredients have you chosen from the box?

I've chosen bread, John.

OK, so tell us, what are you going to make with this bread?

Some meatballs with cod.

I'm adding a potato just to give some texture to the meatballs.

Some fresh herbs, some raisins and some pine nuts.

Have you made this dish before?

From Naples, where I'm from, we do make some

fish meatballs with raisins,

with pine nuts in the tomato sauce.

But I haven't done it myself yet.

But it's the first time to try it.

OK. OK. So this is a bit of an experiment?

Si. Yes.

Bread and fish together in a ball with egg in it,

it's going to be quite dense.

I hope those little fish balls are quite small

so they're cooked all the way through.

She's from Napoli.

I would hope that she could make an absolute wizard tomato sauce.

The only issue I've got is,

raisins and pine nuts added to the fish

just sounds really odd to me.

You've got two minutes, everybody.

This is the moment of truth.

Never been so nervous to cook a little banana cake.

Just finishing off the last touches.

I'm quite confident with the colour and the way they're frying up.

Hey, look at that!

That's it. Your time's up.

I knew I should have done a banana sandwich.

I've got chilli in my eyes.

NARRATOR: Choosing to use potatoes from the mystery box,

Mel has served buttery mash

topped with cod in Parma ham

with heritage carrots, asparagus and a cream and white wine sauce.

Your mashed potato's lovely! It's really creamy and rich!

You've got a little bit of warmth of mustard

running through there as well, which is good. Yeah.

Got a bit of an issue with that sauce.

It hasn't worked, has it, Mel? Not at all.

Kind of pouring double cream across the whole dish.

I like your technique. Fish cooked nicely.

Salty ham around the outside.

Mashed potatoes smooth as silk.

The only thing letting this dish down is the sauce.

I knew the sauce was horrible.

So there's no surprise there.

But the mash was nice and smooth,

so we just wait and see, don't we?

NARRATOR: Olivia has used bread and potatoes

to make deep-fried fishcakes filled with cod,

raisins and pine nuts, in a tomato sauce with Parmesan.

I was really scared of fish and raisins,

but I'm really impressed.

They are really good little fishcakes.

They're really heavily seasoned.

There's a little bit of chilli in there as well.

Sprinkling of cheese across the top is giving it more saltiness.

I think this is really clever, really inventive.

Your tomato sauce is lovely,

sharp with the white wine in the background.

Good amount of garlic.

All my raisins seem to be on the outside of that fishcake,

and they've gone crispy with the breadcrumbs -

and they're slightly sweet. And it tastes really good.

I tried to bring a bit of my culture in the dish.

They loved it.

I mean...

LAUGHTER

Sorry! Sorry.

NARRATOR: Ali also chose the bread and potatoes,

and has made garam masala, turmeric and chilli spice gnocchi

in a coriander bechamel sauce

with broccoli and crispy ginger breadcrumbs.

I don't get the garam masala I think about with aloo tikki. Mm.

The main flavour within that potato gnocchi is that of turmeric.

But bechamel sauce, nicely made.

The crumb across the top with a little bit of ginger,

that's great. I think that's a great use of the potato.

A classic potato gnocchi.

I mean, well done you.

You've got chilli in the bechamel.

It's strong with heat, but it's also quite bitter. Mm-hm.

I'm not enjoying it.

It didn't go great, but, you know, I gave it my all.

NARRATOR: Finally, it's Molly, who remilled the bread into flour

and made banana and chocolate bread

with caramelised bananas and a cinnamon custard.

I can get the essence of the banana clearly,

but you haven't overdone it -

because bananas are very, very sweet.

There's also the slight bitter cocoa of the chocolate

running through there as well.

And the cinnamon custard I think is a stroke of genius.

Thank you. It's really nice.

Bingo.

Great use of the bread - and the bananas as well.

The bread, by taking it, remilling it back into flour.

Lovely and moist. Crispy on the outside.

I think it's a great dish. Really clever indeed.

Thank you.

I feel really proud of myself for how I handled that.

Yeah, thrilled.

I thought it was a really strong round,

but we've only got two aprons to give.

The last two aprons of this year's competition.

I'm really impressed with Molly.

She made banana bread!

She did it really well!

I like her style. I think she's a really good cook.

Molly's got herself an apron.

Ali has got cookery knowledge.

If he could just bring it together in a pile of delicious,

he's an out-and-out winner.

I can't argue with his technical ability,

but it doesn't necessarily mean that you love eating their food.

Mel's mashed potato was fantastic.

Cod wrapped in ham, nice and salty, crispy on the outside.

But the sauce wasn't right.

It was cream.

Olivia in this round really surprised me.

She chose bread with fish, raisins, pine nuts and a tomato sauce,

and it tasted great.

She made a mistake in the first round -

that pasta wasn't cooked enough.

But she was very, very impressive in this invention test

with the bread and the fish.

If I get an apron, I'd be over the moon.

But I'm also a realist.

I don't think I did quite enough.

If my competition's over,

then I'm going to feel quite sad about it.

I just want to cook and keep learning.

Cooking is everything to me and the place where I'm happy,

so I would like to showcase that.

We have a very, very difficult decision.

We do sadly only have two aprons to give.

That does mean that two of you will be going home.

But, from me, thank you very much indeed.

It was a real honour today.

Delicious food. Thank you.

The first contestant getting an apron is...

..Molly.

Molly, congratulations.

Our second contestant getting an apron is...

..Olivia.

Congratulations. Very, very well done.

OLIVIA LAUGHS

Sorry, sorry!

OLIVIA SQUEALS

Mamma mia!

Sorry, sorry!

Ali, Mel, I'm sorry you're leaving us.

It was great to meet you and taste your food.

Thank you very much.

It's kind of bittersweet.

I'm happy that I tried my best.

It's bitter because you don't get to stay.

I'm proud of what I've done.

I wish I'd done more.

But having John and Gregg taste and eat my food

has been brilliant.

Molly, Olivia, congratulations.

Come and get your aprons.

I'm quite shocked, I think, to get through.

But really, really pleased and really proud of myself.

I think I need a cup of tea

and then I'll be ready for the next round.

My apron - I borrowed it from a friend.

She said, "This is going to give you luck."

And it did. But I think I look much better with this one.

Yes!

A brilliant opportunity now for you to really showcase your talent.

We have invited some special guests in the dining room

for you to present your food to.

The first-ever winner from 2005, Thomasina Miers.

The runner-up from 2006, Dean Edwards.

And the champion of 2014, Ping Coombes.

This is a tough round - no two ways about it.

And you are cooking for the last three quarterfinal places

of this year's competition.

It does mean, at the end of this, one of you is going home.

Two courses, 1 hour and 15 minutes, and you've got to be on time.

Let's cook.

Eight plates of food in an hour and 15 -

it's going to be a challenge.

But, yeah, let's give it a go and see what happens.

I'm hoping to stand out in this round

just by putting excellent flavours together.

Get as many plants on the plate as possible

and show that you can really make vegetarian food

really, really delicious.

Molly, you are as cool as a cucumber.

You don't get flustered at all, do you?

I just channel my anxiety into excitement, so, yeah. OK.

What are your two courses?

I'm doing a celeriac carbonara -

but replacing the pasta with celeriac sheets.

And then we've got hedgehog mushrooms,

which I'm going to fry off, instead of the guanciale.

My friends and I are quite into mushroom foraging,

and they can hold a lot of flavour.

You call it a hedgehog? Yes.

In France, it's called a pied de mouton.

Yes. Mutton's foot.

Celeriac used as pasta is a really good idea.

Root vegetables - that works.

I just want to see how thin she actually slices

that celeriac. Cos if it's too thick,

it won't be at all like pasta.

And then, for dessert, I'm doing a dark chocolate

and olive oil mousse with thyme creme fraiche.

And then there's some salt and pepper balsamic strawberries.

I think they're two really classic dishes

that I absolutely love,

and I've just changed them a little bit to suit my type of eating.

Pepper, olive oil and thyme - all going into a dessert.

It's brave. It's clever.

But she's got to get the balance right.

My two dishes for this round is a whole mixture

of my Italian and Brazilian heritage.

My grandmother is from Italy,

so it's bringing that mixture of childhood and hearty food.

And I cannot wait to slay it.

So we have polenta served with chicken and chorizo stew.

In Brazil, free school meals were, you know,

something we relied on.

And this would be a dish that they would serve.

And my mum also made this at home for us.

So it's a dish I'm very used to and fond of.

A chicken and chorizo stew. That's fantastic.

We want tender, lovely chicken, rich with paprika.

The whole thing served with polenta. I love polenta, but it's bland,

so it needs to be seasoned really, really well.

And then the next course?

Will be a dessert - tiramisu.

Tiramisu? Yes.

So are you making your own sponge fingers?

Yes, I am. Have you timed this?

Have you done this before? Yes.

And it works?

Once.

Great. That fills us with joy there.

Tiramisu - mascarpone cheese,

coffee soaked onto biscuits,

a little bit of chocolate across the top.

Lovely. Usually made, then put in the fridge and left to set.

But he's making his own sponge fingers.

He's got to bake them,

then he's got to cool them before he even starts to assemble.

Can he get it done in time? That's the question from me.

I came here to show authentic Italian food.

It has a modern twist.

It's definitely different than the one that my nonna used to make.

But it's Italian food for real.

There's going to be a starter,

which is a deep-fried Parmesan cheese ball

topped with a steak tartare.

And... Yes, that's something that let's say I "invented".

And then the risotto is a pumpkin risotto.

There is a taleggio sauce on top.

And a crumble with sausage,

Italian sausage that has some fennel in it.

OK, how do you feel about serving our guests in the dining room?

I'm very excited, but I'm...

I'm not panicking yet.

You've got to show them how delicious your food can be.

Yes, yes.

The Parmesan cheese ball -

just Parmesan and egg yolk mixed together,

then deep-fried.

That steak tartare can't be wet at all

because it's going on a fried piece of Parmesan cheese.

Otherwise, it's going to go soggy.

I'm hoping, as an Italian, she can make a risotto.

Lots of stock added to that rice slowly, with taleggio sauce.

That's a lovely salty cheese.

I'd like the risotto to be not soupy,

but definitely not hard and firm.

Being one of the first people to get an apron was just incredible.

It was a real sense of pride for me.

So it's just given me a fire in my belly

to keep cooking and keep producing food that people want to eat.

Zee, are you happy to be here?

Very happy to be here.

Just to get back into the kitchen and be able to cook again

is just incredible. What are your two dishes, please?

Katsu curry with jasmine rice.

For dessert, I've got a green matcha tea creme brulee

with a snowy mountain shortbread.

What's a snowy mountain shortbread?

It's a piece of shortbread in the shape of a mountain

with some white chocolate on the top.

I was inspired to make both of these dishes

by our trip to Japan earlier this year.

And we eat katsu a lot at home anyway.

It's William's favourite dish.

William is your son, who seems to be your critique of choice?

Oh, he is. We call him William Sitwell.

Do you?! Yeah. That's his name at home!

Yeah. Fantastic! That's great!

Katsu curry - chicken, breadcrumbed, fried, perfect.

And then the curry sauce.

Matcha tea creme brulee.

Matcha tea is slightly smoky - very, very bitter.

So we need to make sure it's sweet enough.

I'm feeling like I need about another hour right now.

I always have high expectations when I come into this room -

because I know the standard of cookery

in the MasterChef kitchen,

it just gets bigger and better every single year.

I'm looking forward to some good food.

And most of all, I'm looking forward to being surprised.

Winning MasterChef was incredible for me.

It gave me the confidence to really chase a career in food -

and do it wholeheartedly.

We've got 14 restaurants now. It's been amazing.

Doing what you love is such a privilege.

And I honestly think every day I wake up

just feeling really lucky.

This challenge, you have to create a menu that you're proud of.

You want to show off -

but making sure that you succeed in every element

within the time limit, I think it's really, really hard work.

Always a pleasure to be back... Yay!

..at MasterChef. Nice to see you guys.

Lovely to see you guys.

Molly, you've got ten minutes on your first course.

Thank you. Are you all right? Yeah.

Molly is cooking us celeriac carbonara,

hedgehog mushrooms, pickled celeriac and pine nuts.

And I am loving the sound of this.

JOHN: Happy?

Yeah. I think the celeriac could have been thinner.

DEAN: Very brave.

The fact that she's replaced the pasta with celeriac.

Celeriac is a very, very strong flavour.

MOLLY: There's a few more mushrooms to just finish off the top.

I've got some pine nuts that have just been tasted.

And a little bit of the pickled celeriac.

What do you interpret as a perfect carbonara sauce?

Because it seems to me that the whole dish is vegetarian.

I think it needs a bit of guanciale...

Mm, yeah. ..to give it that saltiness.

Let's go, go, go!

Hello! Hi.

I've made for you celeriac carbonara,

hedgehog mushrooms, pickled celeriac and some pine nuts as well.

Thank you. Amazing, thank you so much. Smells good.

Thank you.

That celeriac needed to be thinner.

But I love the topping.

Brave to not have used the pancetta.

I'm really impressed by it.

We've got that kind of nice cheesy sauce.

And there's a beautiful amount of black pepper in there.

Flavour combination of the mushrooms and the Parmesan

and the pine nuts, lovely.

The sauce is peppery and it's cheesy.

And those mushrooms - slightly woody.

There's great flavours.

Molly, you look as chilled as you did when you first came in.

Well done, you. 15 minutes till this chocolate mousse.

Yeah? Yep, let's do it.

I love a chocolate mousse.

It needs to be really smooth, creamy at the same time.

And you have to balance the bitterness

of the olive oils. It's not easy.

Do I need thyme in my creme fraiche?

I've already got balsamic and olive oil and chocolate.

There's a lot going on here.

But there's already olive oil in the mousse, right?

Yeah, there's a little bit in the mousse.

I like this.

Chocolate?

Come on! I don't know. Yeah, let's... Why not?

Well done, the Molly.

I have cooked for you a dark chocolate

and olive oil mousse, with a thyme creme fraiche, balsamic,

salt and pepper strawberries.

DEAN: Thank you very much.

Turning classic dishes into something

that's a little bit different,

the pressure's really on to make sure I nail it.

And I'm... Yeah, I'm not sure whether

that's happened or not.

I really love the texture of this chocolate mousse.

It's so airy and so silky.

With the olive oil, it's not heavy at all.

This is absolutely banging.

The strawberry's cutting through that richness

and bitterness of the chocolate.

And the thyme creme fraiche adds a lovely herbiness,

and I think she's really nailed it.

There's not a lot of sugar in that mousse.

That could almost be a savoury dish.

I do like the unusual nature of it.

You've got three minutes, Gabriel. Thank you.

Chicken, chorizo and okra stew. When you're using chorizo,

I really want to actually taste the paprika,

the smokiness.

Polenta with a good stew can be delicious.

Happy? Very happy.

Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks.

What's left to go on here?

Just the okra and the crispy chicken skin.

Crispy chicken skin, everyone loves that.

So you're on to a winner with that one.

I've cooked for you a Brazilian dish.

Polenta chicken chorizo stew with okra,

some fried okra on top, and crispy chicken skin.

Thank you, Gabriel. Thank you so much.

Brazilian sunshine on a plate.

I just want to dive in.

This polenta is really, really banging.

It's soft, it's creamy.

I love the chicken thigh.

There's so much flavour.

It's beautiful and tender.

Even though he's using chorizo,

I don't get any smoky paprika.

But I loved crispy chicken skin.

That was perfectly executed.

Polenta is creamy.

The sauce has absorbed all the flavours

of the paprika coming out the chorizo.

I mean, that is a really great dish.

I love tiramisu. It needs to be balanced properly.

If there's too much coffee and alcohol in there,

it might be a bit too overpowering.

My double cream was warm, so it curdled.

Panicking? Yes.

You can get there. You can do this.

It'll be interesting to see whether he will attempt

to make his own sponge fingers.

You know, that is a big ask, isn't it?

But if he does, hats off to him.

We've got sponge fingers.

You need to think about assembling, otherwise you're going to

run out of time.

What's to happen here now? What's going on?

I just need to grate the cheese. The cheese?!

Sorry, grate the chocolate.

GABRIEL LAUGHS

You've got a couple of minutes.

Why not go for another layer?

GREGG LAUGHS I've never seen anything like it!

Come on, Gabriel!

Oh-ho! That's one way to do it.

Brilliant.

Well done, Gabriel. Thank you.

Good on you. Well done.

I have cooked the classic and never boring tiramisu.

It's obviously not the usual,

classic tiramisu presentation.

It's all going to be in the taste.

There's more coffee flavour in there than I was expecting.

I needed that bitter cocoa on the top,

but I think this is quite a good effort.

The fact that he made his own sponge fingers -

I have utmost respect for that, given the time constraint.

It's really yummy.

And those sponge fingers have got that soak of booze and coffee.

He's done a really good job.

He basically assembled it in front of our eyes!

But that is a tiramisu!

It tastes absolutely fantastic!

I'm feeling exhausted,

but so proud of how it turned out.

Honestly, there were times there that I thought,

"OK, I'm going to give up."

I just had to pump myself up

and make sure that I got across the finish line.

So, Olivia is cooking us deep-fried Parmesan cheese balls

topped with steak tartare.

I love anything deep-fried.

You've got three minutes. OK, fantastic.

Thank you. Great.

Parmesan cheese - very strong, very salty.

And then the steak tartare has to be really well seasoned

separately.

It almost reads as two separate dishes.

I'm really hoping that Olivia can bring these two together.

They look fantastic. Grazie. Really good.

Hello, ciao. Hello. Hello. Hi, guys.

So this is a deep-fried Parmesan cheese ball.

And on the top, you have a steak tartare.

I hope you enjoy. Thank you. Thank you so much.

The cheese ball is really good.

Richly flavoured with Parmesan.

For a tartare, you want the bite, the Tabasco,

that lovely hit of chilli.

And it's got all that.

So I think she knows how to season food.

This would be a perfect little canape.

Like a flavour bomb. Like one hit,

and you're like, "Oh, that's amazing."

It's a crazy dish to me because it shouldn't work,

but I've really enjoyed it.

I think that cheese ball is really inspired.

Then a really nicely chopped steak tartare.

I think that's really clever.

15 minutes on your next course. Si, si. Is that OK?

I hope so, yes. So we're going to find out.

Are you all right? Yes, I think so. We're going to find out. Good.

I love my risotto still a little bit al dente.

I don't like it too stodgy.

Cooked enough? Yes.

100%.

Cheesy sauce? Si.

I love her use of a fennel sausage crumble

to kind of offset the sweetness of the pumpkin.

But it lives or dies by the cooking of that rice.

Well done, you. Grazie. Well done, you.

I like it. Yeah, so do I.

I made a pumpkin risotto.

There is a taleggio sauce on top.

And you have, let's say, a crumble

of Italian sausage that is seasoned with sea salt,

pepper and fennel. And I hope you enjoy. Buon appetito.

Bellissima!

I'm feeling super great.

Everything went smooth.

I hope that they taste my passion, because I am an authentic Italian.

Olivia can absolutely cook a risotto,

and she knows how to season food.

I love butter. I love cheese.

Lovely bits of sausage meat.

But I would prefer chunks of pumpkin in that risotto.

I imagine myself in fluffy socks.

Fire burning, glass of wine, bowl of this, on the sofa.

We've had lots of risottos.

That's one of the best we've ever had on MasterChef.

Every now and again, you get a little bit

of an aniseed hit off of that fennel sausage,

and it's delightful.

I'm really excited to try Zee's katsu chicken.

I'm thinking crispy chicken,

a beautifully seasoned, spice-laden sauce.

It could be sensational.

You've got two minutes, please. OK, it's fine.

It's fine. Rice?

The rice needs to be fluffy, with the herbal coriander.

Ooh, nice.

OK.

Biscuits OK? Biscuits OK.

Can we go with the curry, then, please?

Let's go. Let's go, let's go, let's go.

Well done. Great, Zee. Thank you.

Back for your dessert, please.

Hello. Hello.

So I've cooked for you today a family favourite of ours.

It's katsu chicken curry with jasmine rice and coriander,

with cucumber salad and some sesame-dressed broccoli.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

I like the chicken. I think it's been cooked well

and it's got a lovely crispy skin.

But just Tenderstem - it's not seasoned.

That katsu sauce is lush.

Sweetness and spiciness coming through.

But we were promised a coriander and jasmine rice.

I mean, there's not a lot of coriander going on in there.

I am a self-proclaimed rice queen.

Unfortunately, it is undercooked.

I feel so frustrated for her.

Chicken with the sauce works really, really nicely

with the cucumber and the chilli.

The rice is not cooked enough, which is a real shame.

Right, 15 minutes till dessert. Yeah. Yeah?

Classic creme brulee.

Beautifully rich and sweet and creamy.

Matcha - too heavy a hand, it's very bitter and overpowering.

JOHN: Very green. Yeah, very green.

Hopefully it's sugary enough.

Lovely.

Brulee, shortbread - winning combo.

Matcha brulee. Do not drop.

I've made a matcha green tea creme brulee

with a snowy mountain shortbread on the side.

Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy.

If you say matcha, it really needs to deliver on that bitterness.

There isn't much of it there, apart from it being green.

And unfortunately, it's a little bit runny.

Even though the creme brulee hasn't set,

I love the playfulness of that shortbread -

which is beautifully cooked.

It's a really good shortbread biscuit.

The execution just wasn't there.

And that is all down to time restraints.

Slightly bitter from matcha,

but it's not quite set enough. That is far too wet.

ZEE SIGHS

Tired and emotional and stressed.

That was a big deal. That was a lot of food

in a very short space of time.

But, hey, it's MasterChef -

you've got to give it a go, right?

The last three quarterfinal places of this year's competition -

that's all we have left.

There were ups and downs in this round,

as there always is.

Because it's a tough round.

The dining room have a Cook of the Day,

and their Cook of the Day is Molly.

She's actually a very, very daring cook.

To have a bowl of pasta made out of celeriac,

and then a dessert that was almost savoury.

We also like Molly's point of difference.

She's going through to a quarterfinal.

I have to say, I've got somebody I felt cooked

really, really well today - and that's Olivia. Mm.

A Parmesan cheese ball,

and on top of that, a steak tartare.

Something I've never seen before.

I really, really enjoyed it.

That risotto was absolutely delicious.

Great consistency, great flavours.

Olivia's got herself a place in the quarterfinal.

Gabriel's got some lovely ideas. I do like his style.

That chicken and chorizo stew that he made

was absolutely delicious.

Tiramisu from scratch in an hour and 15 minutes.

It may have not been the way he wanted it presented,

but it tasted really, really good.

Zee's first course - chicken was good,

I liked the curry sauce. The rice wasn't cooked.

We know it, the dining room knows it, she knows it.

Matcha tea creme brulee.

The creme brulee was still runny,

but the shortbread biscuits tasted good.

It would be sad if the competition ended today,

but I have to be proud.

I've given it my best shot and I've come out smiling.

I definitely want a place in the quarterfinals.

I can feel it in my heart that it belongs to me.

From us, a big, big well done.

Good cooking in here today.

We have just three quarterfinal places.

Sadly, one of you is leaving the competition.

The dining room has named their Cook of the Day,

and their Cook of the Day is going through to a quarterfinal.

Molly.

Congratulations.

They loved your innovation.

Gregg and I also have somebody we feel has really excelled

in this round.

Olivia.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Our third quarterfinalist...

..is Gabriel.

APPLAUSE

Well done.

Zee, it's been great having you here.

Thank you so very much indeed. Thank you very much.

Good luck, guys. It's been amazing. Good luck. See you. Well done.

I'm feeling a little bit deflated,

but it's been a cracking experience.

I've really enjoyed myself.

I'm sure William, my son, will be really proud.

And it will stay with me forever.

Can I jump? Yeah.

Congratulations, you three.

You are MasterChef quarterfinalists.

It makes me very, very happy.

Some celebration, some Italian celebration is needed.

Oh, so much emotion today!

Just happiness to be able to go to the next round.

For sure, I want to cook my way to the top.

MasterChef quarterfinalist sounds like a pretty good title.

I just want to keep going in this competition.

I'm having such a great time.

Next time, it's the last of this year's quarterfinals,

and Molly, Gabriel and Olivia

will be joining Kayleigh... Sorry.

..Fareeda and Paddy

cooking for one of the UK's top restaurant critics.

Careful, careful, careful, careful. Oh, no!

That's it! Stop, your time is up!

Your flavours are unbelievable.

Can I have the recipe?