(upbeat tense music)
- Now I'm looking at Mike,
I'm a little bit jealous of the chaos.
- [Mike] No, don't be jealous of this!
This is a nightmare!
- It's safe to say last time we did this,
it was absolute disaster.
So this time, three normal home cooks
cooking with ingredients from my personal fridge,
but this time they're cooking against each other.
Okay boys, should we play a game of show and tell?
- Not again.
- No, Ben.
- Ebbers has been celebrating. (all laughing)
- What is that?
- Yeah, a bottle of bubbles.
Always worth having some
- Ebbers, you bougie little man.
- This is such an Ebbers fridge, isn't it?
- So we have some dairy,
and yoghourt, cheese, milk.
Cavolo nero. - Cavanero?
- Yeah, cavolo nero.
Some funny potatoes,
Jerusalem artichokes, meaty mince.
- And some fishy fish.
- Herbs, spinach, booze.
- There's not, there's not a lot.
- I'm actually genuinely surprised
that there isn't anything weirder.
- Yeah, we were looking at his fridge, not under his bed.
- We'll give you the same ingredients each.
We'll give you a station each.
I only want one plate of food.
30 minutes. Think midweek.
Off you go.
Okay boys, you've had some thinking time.
Think skill, think technique.
Doesn't have to reinvent the wheel,
but it must be delicious.
Starting in 3, 2, 1, go!
- Okay.
- You know what if I go...
I realised if I enter this with confidence,
it seems to pay off. So...
- Anyone figured out what the meat is, yet?
- I've decided that I am not using the meat.
So, it doesn't matter to me.
- What are you using instead, Barry?
- The fish. On close inspection, it's a smoked fish.
I really struggle to tell until I taste it.
I know it's gonna be a delicious smoked white fish.
I think that'll work with what I've got in mind.
- This is haddock.
- Wasn't expecting that!
I was hoping to use this to cook with.
It's a blood orange.
- It's a blood orange.
That is not an orange I'm familiar with.
- Okay, in that case, change of plan.
Use the ends for juice,
use a middle for decoration.
- January, February, and early March
citrus is really beautiful and lovely.
Obviously not grown in the UK,
but it's kind of the citrus season.
- So far I've taken my smoked haddock,
wrapped up with some of your blood orange and olive oil.
So, it's gonna steam in there for like 20 minutes.
I've also got the cavolo nero in there,
oil, there's salts.
They're gonna get really crispy
and then I've got some garlic cloves in there to roast off.
So, I'm gonna squish those later on.
In potato and artichoke smash.
- I've decided it doesn't really matter what meat it is.
It's going to work perfectly
as meatballs because what is the name of meatball?
It's a meatball.
- Valid.
- I know I can create a delicious dish.
Can I do it in exactly
30 minutes is a very different story.
- So, so far you have seasoned your venison mince.
- Venison, excellent! - [Mike] Venison!
- And now you're chopping up an onion.
What is your plan here?
- It's gonna be a little bit like strog...
It's like a dear stroganoff now.
- Interesting.
- Yes. - [Ben] Nice.
- Sorry, Ebbers.
You have venison lying about in your fridge?
- [Ben] No, can I explain why I actually do?
- Come on.
- They sell it in very small bags,
veil mince and venison mince in 300 gramme bags.
And for me it's always handy to have one of those
in the freezer to easy defrost.
Mike, are you using the fish, the meat or neither?
- I think I'm going to use the meat.
Ebbers, I'm thinking of doing
spinach and cheese filled venison
deep-fried balls.
- What?
What are you doing? Michael!
- With an artichoke puree and a cavolo nero salad.
- Sorry, Mike... - [Ben] Wow.
So you're thinking like scotch egg,
but instead of egg you're putting
cheese and spinach in the middle.
- Yeah. I'm thinking Juicy Lucy but venison
- Yes!
- I mean that is going to be remarkable in the time.
I like it.
- You're such a lad.
I'm so glad you're doing this.
- Well done, well done.
- I feel like I'm taking one for the team here
because this is not going to happen.
- It's a risk.
- I've only just realised it.
- You have had eight minutes of your 30.
- That's worrying. That's really worrying.
- A bold move from Mike.
But to be fair to them,
we've not allowed them to use the sidekick app
for this kind of midweek cooking.
So, they're on their own.
How much can they remember?
What tips and tricks are they using to get them to
have dinner on the table quicker?
- I'm trying really hard to cook one portion
and it's a really different mindset of going
I don't need the whole onion,
I don't need all of the the meat.
- [Ben] The other option of course is to cook two
and to portion up one and stick
the other one in a Tupperware for a couple
of days time or in the freezer for a month to come.
- So, I've got artichokes on the boil to get them as
tender as possible as quick as possible.
I need to wilt some spinach.
So, I've got my venison patty which I've seasoned,
a block of some of Ebber's cheese
and some grated garlic in the middle.
Fold the edges round.
And then I'm going to panné them in seasoned flour.
(Laughter)
I dunno what I've done!
- I'm so proud of you.
- No! I've made such a mess.
Oh, Ebbers, don't come around here.
- Just having a little peek.
I like this.
This is gonna be one big scotch egg
and then you're gonna serve it on artichoke puree.
- Yup.
And then I've AHH I forgot to...
I'm a mid blanche of my cavolo nero
that needs to go into cold water.
- Lovely.
It's a bold choice for a midweek meal
to make a venison Scotch egg, but I like it.
- I've done so badly... - [Ben] I love it.
- in the past year, the now it's just about saving face.
- I'm so happy for you.
- The venison mince is a bit of a cheat.
It's just venison burgers which are much more
readily available at supermarket.
And you combine individual portions
and they're already seasoned for you.
It's a cheaper way to buy a really lovely red meat.
- So, you are saying
that we've now seasoned, the seasoned meet.
- Oh no.
- The good thing
about when you're seasoning meat is you just cook
up a little bit to test it, don't you?
So you know how far to do it for the whole batch.
- Right. He's been...
- He's been the top D.
- What's annoying me about these artichokes,
I can't remember what they taste like.
- I'm the same.
I just know that they're on every
chef menu I've ever seen.
- So, they behave a bit like potato
in the sense that they puree, they mash,
they smash, they roast, they saute.
But they've got a kind of nuttier, earthier flavour to them.
- I've chopped up my potato, artichokes, cling filmed it
into the oven for time until it goes soft and turns to mush.
I'm gonna gonna chuck in some butter
and some rosemary to cook the butter
and mill the butter a little bit
and then I'll mash it all together.
Maybe with a little bit of yoghourt.
- How long we got left, Ebbers?
- I don't want to know.
- 12 minutes remaining.
- Oh, ignorance is not bliss.
- Now time to get my pasta on with the meatballs.
And then in was some cavolo nero, some frozen spinach.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Most of my dish I think is under control.
So, now I'm just segmenting my blood orange
for a garish on top.
Blood orange is segmented
but I don't want to waste the rest of that juice.
So, squeeze out the rest.
- Wonderful colour on it.
Lovely in a gin and tonic.
- I'm now looking at Mike.
I'm a little bit jealous of the chaos.
- No! Don't be jealous of this.
This is a nightmare!
Artichokes have boiled.
They're soft.
I'm now gonna blend them up
with some of the milk that Ebbers had.
Here goes nothing.
- Ebbers top tip: if you want bubbles,
French cremeaux, south African method.
Cap Classique. As in this case, Spanish carver.
- Flipping heck.
- Now the thing to remember is it comes with a cage and
if you undo the cage, keep it hold of it at all times
from the moment you untwist it
so that you've got control of when it goes,
pop.
- Blood orange, Carver vinegarette going with the fish.
Don't know where else to to put it.
- Eight minutes!
- A few blanched onions to go through this,
just to give it something different.
- Midweek plating,
I would like it on a plate.
- I'll get a plate.
(Music playing)
- Three minutes!
- No!
- Oh, it's time to BeReal.
- Not now, Ebbers! (laughing)
- Shall I try something?
It actually worked.
- Last two minutes!
- Come on pasta!
- [Ben] Crispy cavolo nero from
Barry going around the plate.
Jamie has slopped the pasta on a plate.
15 seconds!
- Might as well use some fresh herbs,
that always make stuff taste good.
- Last five seconds!
4, 3, 2, 1!
And step back.
- What the hell has happened?
- Whoa guys!
- We haven't eaten that yet. (Laughter)
- Do you want to cook up food that makes people go...
(Cheering)
...and win a load of cool stuff whilst doing so?
Well, the sidekick challenge starts now.
Cook just three meals from our sidekick app
and send us a photo whilst everyone
around you wonders how you became a chef overnight.
And cook along with us
live in our home kitchens every week.
You can ask Ben all your chefy questions
and let's level up our cooking together.
(Music)
- Nicely done, boys. Three epic plates.
- This proves that we cannot work together as a team.
- We're good individually.
- I mean we haven't cut into that yet
and I'm worried about that.
Let's start with Baz's.
- Yeah, dive in.
- What is this Baz?
- Smoked haddock, artichoke and potato
and roasted Garlic smash.
- Oh that's very nice.
- Oh, it's gone Like crispy kale.
- Hmm. That's delicious.
- That kind of smashed potato
and artichoke thing is really lovely.
What I think is really clever about what you did,
was it was one tray, three different uses.
Crispy cavolo nero, roasting the garlic
which went into the smash.
And then your space for a tinfoil tent to finish.
And it's all cooked really well.
- Looks great, mate.
- I love the textures.
- In any other battle I'd be arrogant right now,
but those other two plates look amazing.
- Well, it's a strong start, but let's move to J's.
- That is midweek and I want to eat it.
- I was worried when you put the yoghourt in
cause sometimes yoghourt when it hits heat can split.
Traditionally it would be sour cream.
- Yeah
- There is nothing stroganoff about that.
But there is everything seasonal and delicious.
It's smokey, it's sweet, it's tomatoey.
It's garlicy.
It's got that richness from venison.
- That's brilliant.
- Really tasty.
And I like the fact the greens cooked down into it.
It's cooked al dente.
It's cooked through, but it's still gotta bite.
There's nothing worse than overcooked pasta.
Strong contender
- Oooo.
- However this is so not you.
Where did this come from?
This is excellent.
- You haven't eaten it yet, Ben.
I'm really worried about it.
- I'm really excited.
- Oh my Jamie.
- With cheese and spinach in the middle.
- And I would say nicely cook...
Yeah, look round of applause from behind camera.
- It's Slater as well,
Like the real chef.
- Dig in.
It is beautifully seasoned.
You've got that tangy, nutty cheese that is moult
in the middle and you've got a Jerusalem artichoke puree
which is absolutely delicious.
- What? What's happening?
This is a fluke.
- Where? Where's Kush hiding?
He's gotta be here somewhere.
- It is a very seasonal plate and it's well executed.
If I had to pick holes, and I mean one tiny hole,
I want more of that cause it is so good.
- I thought he was gonna slag it off.
- Which puts me in a really difficult position
for last place.
Cause I have a first place.
- Oh, I'll be gutted.
It's there.
- Oh! - That in half an hour
with the ingredients you were given
and very little planning time,
I think you've absolutely nailed that.
It's a really - So annoyed
- A really tasty and well seasoned puree.
- There's something going on cause there's...
That is such a leap. (Laughs)
I don't understand.
- It's absolutely delicious.
- But by any of our standards,
I feel like both Jamie and I bought our A game today.
- This was my one moment of ability.
- This is what happens when you get two weeks...
- Tune in for the rest of the year.
- I think you both did bring an A game
which makes picking a loser tough.
I think second place today goes to Barry.
- Yeah, I'd agree.
- And I, and I, - I'm fine with that.
I'm fine.
- And I only think because out of that bag
of seasonal ingredients, there were a couple in
there that were a bit more seasonal than others.
And I think pasta probably wasn't it, but it was there.
- It's fine.
- It tastes great.
- I thought it was absolutely delicious.
- It is.
That's why... - It's great.
- Done a mash, yeah.
- I think I prefer your one though to be honest.
- I would say take the win,
be proud of the win cause that is absolutely brilliant.
And we should use Jerusalem artichokes more often.
But it's over to you guys.
What do you think?
Comment down below with your favourite of the three.