‘MasterChef Australia’ Recap: Maybe Stop Disappointing Your Grandmother

It’s time for MasterChef Australia’s Italian Team Challenge, and the judges have ordered in two professional Italian chefs and nonnas just for the occasion. On MasterChef, if you don’t have a disappointed grandmother, one will be assigned to you.

The contestants are tasked with serving a four-course Italian menu to 80 guests, most of whom are Italian.

Split into two teams of eight, each team has to prepare a starter, pasta entree, main and a dessert for 40 people, with service to begin after three hours.

Christina volunteers herself as captain of Green Team while Abbey takes charge of Red, and for some reason her teammates just let her. Abbey does not have the best track record with captaining, so she seems like a bad choice. Fortunately, she won’t be entrusted with coming up with a dish on her own this time, and won’t be the only person directing her teammates either.

Rosa Mitchell from Rosa’s Canteen is visiting the MasterChef kitchen to help Red Team, while Olimpia Bortolotto from Cecconi’s is joining Green. They have a wealth of experience and expertise between them, so I expect the cook to go well as long as the contestants listen to them.

This is also the judges’ recommendation. “So our advice, just for a change guys, is to listen to their advice,” says Gary.

Then time starts, both teams rush to their kitchens, and Red Team may as well have gone straight to the bin to dump Gary’s words.

Next season #MasterChefAU should get some Chinese grandmas in there, but I appreciate their insurance may not cover contestants being straight up murdered.

— Adam Liaw (@adamliaw) May 29, 2019

Red Team decides to cook beef cheeks for their main, however their nonna-for-hire Rosa has misgivings. She’s unfamiliar with the cut, and tries to sell them on a porchetta and fresh salad instead. Abbey even admits that Rosa’s porchetta is famous, however the team decides to “play to [their] strengths” and sticks with beef cheeks.

For her part, Rosa quietly washes her hands of it — she doesn’t have to worry about elimination, after all. The look on her face alone should have been enough to make Red Team immediately recant and beg forgiveness, but they are running on the hubris of youth.

Tati has some misgivings, being in possession of both a healthy sense of respect and a head, but Abbey does not share them. “I’m so happy with the menu,” she smiles to the camera.

On Green Team, Joe is making sure the audience knows he totally has a girlfriend, and that he has met her family. He’s making the team’s entree, leaning on his experience cooking pasta with his girlfriend’s Italian nonna.

He also seems to be leaning on time being a concept, because Green Team has decided to make filled pasta. They’re putting four pieces of agnolotti on each plate, which means they have to fill 160 tiny pasta pillows. It’s way more work than they had to give themselves.

Undaunted, Joe works on his dough with nonna Olimpia’s help, adding more eggs when it is too dry. However, upon assembling the agnolotti, he soon realises he doesn’t have enough pumpkin filling.

A good chunk of the team are diverted from their tasks to quickly chop more pumpkins, but it’s worth it. In a MasterChef miracle, Joe actually manages to finish 160 agnolotti in a team service challenge.

It doesn’t even matter that much that it’s slightly late due to the burnt butter sauce needing more burning. Filled pasta in a service challenge is a ridiculous idea, and simply pulling it off is impressive.

Meanwhile, Red Team’s Derek has seared their beef cheeks before putting them in the pressure cookers, having been entrusted this task despite his pressure cooking failure the day before.

Fortunately, he redeems himself. Though Rosa was unsure of their dish selection, the team is delighted to see the beef cheeks come out gorgeous, tender and practically falling apart.

Everything’s coming up Red Team — until nonna Rosa starts yelling like a mum who has just discovered her child’s 27th depression laundry mountain. “Who was meant to do the cavalo nero? The Tuskan cabbage?”

The camera cuts to Derek’s nervous smile. He has forgotten to finish prepping the cavalo nero for the main, presumably being so focused on not screwing up the meat that he screwed up the veggies. Nonna Rosa is the only one who has noticed, and she is not pleased.

“Disappointing. That should have been done before, yeah?

“Sorry, nonna.” Appropriately chastised, Derek quickly gets back on track with a bit of help from his teammates. Team captain Abbey talks to the camera about how she barely has to do any captaining because her team pretty much runs itself.

Red Team’s Anushka also hits a bump when she starts second guessing her panna cotta ratios. Anushka is concerned that she’s used too much gelatin, and in her fluster has forgotten exactly how much mixture she’s made.

“Did you not measure it?” asks Rosa, flitting from cook to cook.

“I measured it, but now I’m confused,” says Anushka as she stirs. Worried, she starts bailing the mixture into another pot with a measuring jug.

Rosa advises her to be confident. “If you think it’s 5L, then go with the 5L. Don’t doubt yourself.” Taking this to heart, Anushka decides to back herself and trust her panna cotta mix. I’m glad she has a nonna there to boost her confidence, but this dessert had better work out now because Anushka does not deserve that emotional blow.

Looks like Nonna Rosa is doing most of the work for Abbey's team.#MasterChefAU

— Jack Hammer (@JackHam38216180) May 29, 2019

In the end, Red Team pulls together a four-course Italian meal of ricotta stuffed zucchini flowers with stemperata sauce; spaghetti alle vongole with scampi; beef cheek with cavolo nero, polenta and fried oregano; and limoncello panna cotta with nectarines.

Not to be outdone, Green Team’s meal consists of fried calamari with basil mayonnaise; pumpkin and ricotta agnolotti with amaretti biscuit; osso bucco with polenta; and vanilla panna cotta with grilled figs, honeycomb and vino cotto.

Everyone has fun throughout the cook, and it’s positive vibes all around. Nearly every single plate is delicious, with Anushka’s panna cotta delivering a delightful wobble that enchants the judges and allays my fears.

Larissa’s “elegant, sophisticated” panna cotta is even better, winning Green Team dish of the day. However, they also served the one dish of this challenge that was a disappointment.

Kyle’s rice flour-coated calamari entree was too floury, and the team didn’t have time to fix Steph’s oily and runny mayonnaise. One bad dish out of four isn’t terrible, but it isn’t enough when your opponents deliver four flawless courses.

Green Team are thus headed into the elimination, where one of eight will be exiled from the MasterChef kitchen.

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Amanda Yeo is a Sydney-based writer, lawyer and MasterChef enthusiast who still thinks Reynold should have gotten an immunity pin for his 30/30 dessert in season seven. Follow her on Twitter: @amandamyeo.