Masterchef Invention Test

 We've been watching a lot of Masterchef on Netflix lately. Our favourite thing about it (apart from Gregg Wallace's weird faces) is the Invention Test. It's brutal to watch the contestants have to choose between two ingredients then go on to make a dish from it. No recipes, no planning, it looks difficult.

So, of course, I wondered how we'd do at the Invention Test! I asked my sisters, Caroline and Sally to suggest an ingredient each. They chose Celeriac and Cherries. A quick trip to the fruit & veg shop and we were ready to go.

Neither JD or I had cooked with celeriac before so all we knew was that it was a root vegetable. JD chose it anyway and I opted for the cherries. We each had an hour (at separate times, we only have one kitchen!) to make a dish out of our chosen ingredient using our food cupboards for additional ingredients.

It's just as difficult as it looks!! I decided on some cherry muffins (as muffins bake quicker than a cake) but completely blanked on ingredient proportions even though I've baked muffins dozens of times. I made the batter as best I could and stirred through a handful of halved cherries. I put them in the oven and started on the frosting for the top. I made a reasonable butter cream frosting but then made a bad decision to stir more cherries into that. The juice from the cherries split it and later when I tried to pipe it onto my cooled muffins the cherry pieces got stuck in the nozzle. It was a 'comedy of errors' that was quite stressful and I was in my own kitchen! It must be much more stressful having Gregg and John staring at you while you cook.

My finished muffin was baked quite well and the cherries inside the muffin were lovely. The frosting was disappointing though which detracted from the overall presentation of my dish. I wish I'd picked the savoury option as baking is much less forgiving if you don't get measurements correct.

JD made us a lovely celeriac casserole. He chopped it up and cooked it in some tinned tomatoes and a beef stock cube amongst other things. This is the kind of cooking JD is good at. He hardly ever follows recipes and just adds things until it tastes good. He will try some traditionally unusual ingredient combinations though which make me question his sanity until I taste the finished dish. We ate his celeriac casserole for lunch and although the celeriac was an unusual taste for us, we enjoyed it.

The best part was the cheese topping JD had added before putting it in the oven for a bit. JD's presentation left a bit to be desired too which cheered me up a bit!

JD was declared the winner of our Invention Test and we'll carry on watching with added respect to all that do well in the Masterchef Invention Test.