Six contestants have been chosen to compete in the 2015 Devon Life Home Cook of the Year competition
Meet the six finalists in the Bradburys Kitchens with Devon Life Home Cook of the Year competition.
We asked readers to come up with a menu for a three-course dinner filled with originality and creativity as well as good cooking techniques and incorporating as many Devon ingredients as possible.
The six chosen as finalists will be asked to cook their meals at a Masterchef-style finals weekend in September at Bradburys Kitchens showroom in Exeter. As part of the competition, Bradburys Kitchens with Miele will give each finalist specialist training on the Miele equipment featured in the kitchen showrooms.
One of the six finalists will win a £500 KitchenAid and the chance to cook with Michelin-starred chef, Anton Piotrowski. The chosen six are:
Alex Murdin, from Ashburton
Tartare of Brixham Scallops and Dartmouth Smokehouse Salmon
Roasted loin of Devon venison with creamed Dartmoor wild mushrooms, beetroot fondant, red cabbage & apple and parsnip string
Caramelised conference pear and almond cake with Devon clotted cream and pear brandy
Emma Chesbrough, Yelverton
Devon rose veal tartare, cider-soaked pink peppercorns, herb oil, toffee cherry tomato.
Ray wing, fennel, seafood nage with Brixham mussels.
Damask junket, raspberry clotted cream, ginger crumb.
Marcus Bawdon, Cullompton
Devon Hay Smoked Exmouth Mussels, with garlic lemon herb butter
Devon Ruby Red Chateaubriand with a herb and anchovy crust, chipotle salt thick cut chips, chargrilled vegetables and a Maddocks Farm organic flower salad
Ancho chilli Chocolate Cake, Ancho chillies from South Devon Chilli Farm, served with Devon Clotted Cream
Rachel Webb, Totnes
Menu:Asian bao buns filled with braised Devon shin of beef, five spice, garlic, ginger, soy, pickled, cucumber and radish. coriander. spring onion. Peanuts. Sesame.
Miso glazed local cod, pickled ginger, tempura soft shell crab with Asian greens
Coconut rice pudding, caramelised banana, toasted coconut.
Karl Straw, Broadclyst
Pea and Pea shoot soup with Chilli Flat Bread & Coriander Soured Cream (made with home grown peas, and pea shoots, Devon-milled Otterton spelt flour, and Ashclyst soured dairy cream)
Devon Game Pie (a slice of crusted pie with Pigeon, Rabbit and Venison sourced from the Killerton Estate) Potato Fondant, served with a broad bean filling and roasted shallots with Smoked Aubergine Puree, Pea puree, braised red cabbage and Mille-feuille of seasonal vegetables
A seasonal trio of Devon apple and hedgerow blackberry semifreddo, Blackberry mousse, Caramelised apple rings served with Ashclyst Dairy Cream
Ally Mac, Kingsbridge
Cleanse Shooter to get the body ready for a scrummy 3 course meal. (Ingredients are parsley, Carrot, rocket, celery, beetroot)
Pan fried trout with a beetroot and pear salad
Orange, Fennel & pomegranate chicken
Rhubarb and rosemary tart infused with orange, Apple and a dollop of the finest Devonshire cream
The Finals
Our six Home Cook finalists will cook for the title in a Masterchef-style finals weekend that will be held at sponsor Bradburys Kitchens Exeter showroom over the weekend of 19 & 20 September. Each cook will have two hours to make their three course menu to present to the judges but the results are kept a secret until the night of the Devon Life Food & Drink awards – a glittering black tie event that takes place on the first Thursday of November at Sandy Park.Each finalist is invited to submit a list of ingredients to the organisers in advance of the final and all those ingredients are then supplied by our additional sponsor, Waitrose.
Here’s what the top three contestants will win:
1st Prize: A brand new KitchenAid worth £500. This is the must-have food processor that no TV chef worth his or her salt would be seen without. Our winner will also get the change to cook with Devon-born chef, Anton Piotrowski who heads up our judging panel and who earned his first Michelin star for his gastropub The Treby Arms in Sparkwell outside Plymouth last year. Our winner will also be invited to join the judging panel for the 2016 competition.
2nd Prize: We are delighted to team up with River Cottage HQ to offer our second prize winner a cookery course worth £240. Our prizewinner will be able to choose from a number of the current courses including: One Day skills course which covers a range of techniques including bread making and fish filleting; Pig in a Day, Curing & Smoking, Seashore Foraging, Fish Cookery, Bread Making, Gluten Free Cookery, Get Growing, Cakes & Sweet Pastries, Hedgerow Foraging. To whet you appetite further visit rivercottage.co.uk
3rd Prize: Exeter-based Sylvain Peltier spent 10 years working as the head pastry chef with Michael Caines at the two Michelin-starred Gidleigh Park before branching out last year to launch his upmarket online patisserie company, Little French Cakes. You have not tasted ‘entrements’ until you have tasted one of Sylvain’s cakes. This talented chef is offering a day of patisserie tuition to our lucky third prize winner.
The Bradburys Kitchens with Devon Life Home Cook of the Year Competition is sponsored by Bradburys, Alno, Waitrose and Miele.
