Masterchef: the cooking show that conquered Italian TV

Whether it’s just a weekend or a long stay, holidays are the best time to discover new world-food trends at Forte Village, the resort surrounded by the beautiful Sardinian sea turns into a sensory experience thanks to the dishes of the most beloved starred chefs of Masterchef.

Masterchef, the most successful culinary talent show in Italy that brought haute cuisine to the screen, was an idea of the British director Franc Roddam and was broadcast for the first time on the BBC in 1990.

The first season of the program’s Italian version, in which aspiring cooks compete for the victory, aired from September 21st to December 7th, 2011, on the “Cielo” channel, while from the second edition, the talent show was broadcast on the channel “Sky Uno”.

The transmission is a succession of tests ranging from knowledge of raw materials to creativity in the kitchen through the mastery of different cooking methods and recipes. The evidence is divided into:

• Mistery Box: competitors must make a dish using all or some of the ingredients contained within a box. To make the game more difficult there are unexpected rules designed to test the challengers, such as the use of a particular cooking technique or the mandatory or prohibition of the use of a particular ingredient or tool. At the end of the test, the judges taste only the three dishes they consider most interesting, and nominate the winner who gains an advantage in the next challenge. The duration of the test is variable and does not include eliminations;
• Invention Test: all competitors are assigned a theme, and at the end of the test, after having tasted all the dishes, the judges nominate the winner and the three cooks who cooked the worst dishes. Of the three, one is eliminated from the game. In the Invention Test, the winner of the Mistery Box has an advantage over opponents that consists of, for example, the choice of an ingredient or in the possibility of receiving advice on the preparation which is added to the amount of time available to choose ingredients in the pantry, equivalent to double as much compared to other competitors;
• Try outside: the competitors are divided into two teams, the blue and the red, and must prepare dishes to be served in a location outside of the studio and often quite particular. The winner of the Invention Test is the captain of the team and chooses the team members and the recipes to be prepared in the next test, while the other team is made of the remaining competitors and the captain is either self-elected or is the competitor who ranked second in the Invention Test. In the External Trial, the judges and guests of the episode or a large group of diners will decide the best team;
• Pressure Test: the competitors of the team that lost the Outdoor Test are subjected to one or more tests such as cooking under pressure, having little time and unusual ingredients, demonstrating specific culinary skills such as filleting fish, or guess the name of the largest number of ingredients among those proposed (taste or view);
• Duel: the worst competitor of the Invention Test challenges the worst of the Pressure Test in a very demanding trial with very little time available. At the end of the test a competitor is eliminated;
• Skill Test: Competitors must take a surprise exam to demonstrate their technical skills. The test is divided into three steps, and a competitor is eliminated at the end. The Skill Test is carried out alternately with the External Test and, therefore, also with the Pressure Test and is present since the ninth edition.

The winner of the Sky cooking show won €100,000 in gold coins and the opportunity to publish a book, published by Baldini+Castoldi, with their original recipes.

Besides the classic broadcast in Italy, there were three spin-offs: Junior Masterchef, featuring children between 8 and 13 years old, Celebrity Masterchef, starring 12 competitors from the sport, entertainment and journalism world, and Masterchef All Stars, which saw the participation of 16 of the most talented former competitors from previous editions.

Masterchef: the Michelin starred chef recipes prepared for the Forte Village guests

Besides having participated in Masterchef Italia as judges of the cooking show or as exceptional guests, Bruno Barbieri, Carlo Cracco, Terry Giacomello, Andrea Berton and Heinz Beck, are among the Michelin starred chefs who at Forte Village Resort transform the knowledge and flavours of national and international cuisine into balanced culinary works of art

matured with experimentation, innovation and tradition.

Let’s discover together the recipes that the five chefs have put forward for the guests at the resort:

 

• Bruno Barbieri

Cocotte eggs with Taleggio fondue, dried fruit and salmon eggs

Ingredients for 4 people

• 8 eggs
• 100 grams of taleggio
• 100 grams of nuts, pistachios and almonds
• 0,75 millilitres of cream for the scrambled
• 0,90 millilitres of cream for blue cheese fondue
• extra virgin olive oil
• butter

 

Procedure

Cut the tip of the egg with a small knife, separate the red from the egg white, then beat the egg white with a whisk and cook in a small pan with a small amount of butter. As soon as the egg white begins to coagulate, add the cream, salt and pepper, then add the egg yolks and let them go for a minute. They must be scrambled but very soft.

To one side, make a small Taleggio fondue by combining the cream with the Taleggio and the paprika. Cook it in a bain-marie. It should reduce slightly. Fill small bowls with coarse salt and lay the eggs and serve them hot. After sterilizing the shells, fill them in layers with the scrambled, then with the fondue, and with the dried fruit. Add a knob of butter. Finally, put the egg in the oven for a few minutes.

• Carlo Cracco

Lemon and cocoa anchovy rice

Ingredients for 4 people

• 240 gr. Carnaroli rice
• 50 gr. Pure cocoa mass
• 1 pinch of chilli
• 1 small shallot
• the rind of 1 lemon
• half a glass of dry white wine
• 50 gr. Of mascarpone
• 45 gr. of butter
• 50 gr. Of anchovies in oil
• horseradish juice
• salt

 

Procedure

• In a saucepan, melt the cocoa mass in a bain-marie, roll it out on a sheet of baking paper using a spatula, sprinkle a pinch of chilli pepper and a pinch of salt. Dry and cut out discs of about 2,5 cm in diameter. Melt the anchovies over low heat and pass them through a strainer to obtain a paste.

Sauté the chopped shallot in a pan with butter, add the rice and toast it on the heat. Pour in the white wine and continue cooking for about 15 minutes, gradually add the slightly salted boiling water. At the end salt to taste. Remove the rice from the heat and stir with mascarpone and a little fresh horseradish juice.

Spread the anchovy paste on the bottom of the plate, grate the lemon peel on top with a microplane and lay the risotto on top. Complete the dish by placing the chocolate disc in the centre.

 

• Terry Giacomello

Cod / Baccala with fish sauce

Ingredients for 4 people

• 480 g desalinated cod
• 40 gr potatoes
• 120 gr red radicchio
• 500 gr water
• 180 red wine vinegar
• 200 g pine honey
• 180 g natural bottled water
• 2,5 g soy lecithin
• 100 g pine sprouts
• 4 g salt Maldon
• 100 g fresh chinotto juice
• 16 gr Triphala (Indian spice)

 

Procedure

For the red radicchio sauce: peel and cut the potatoes into strips, brown in QB seed oil and sprinkle with water until the potatoes are overcooked. Meanwhile, peel the red radicchio and keep only the red part of the leaf. Whiten it by immersing it in water and boiling vinegar. Cool in water and ice. Squeeze the radicchio and blend it with the previously cooked potatoes. Pass through a strainer to obtain a homogeneous and smooth sauce. Salt to taste.

Pine honey air: reduce the pine honey to half by cooking. Add 80 grams of water and stir until the honey has dissolved completely. Add soy lecithin and blend to obtain an air.

Chinotto juice: reduce the quinotto juice to half on the heat. You will get a thick syrup similar to molasses.

Vacuum the sliced codfish with 20 grams of seed oil. Cook it in a bain-marie at 68# for 8 minutes

Wash the pine sprouts with purell, put them in a glass container with the solution of 100 grams of water and 40 grams of salt. Let them ferment for 5 days.

Application: remove the cod skin and season the fish with the Triphala powder only on the surface adhering to the skin. At the bottom of the dish, put a spoonful of red radicchio sauce

Add the quinotto reduction, on the sides, put the air of pine honey lay the fish slice and garnish with pine buds.

• Andrea Berton

Pasta with seafood

Ingredients for 4 people

 

For the parsley cream

• 200 grams of fish mayonnaise
• 60 grams of blanched parsley
• 50 grams of fish broth

Blend the ingredients in the hot mix, season with salt, switch to the Chinese steamer and place in a bain-marie.

 

For the leek powder

• 2 kg leeks

Clean the leeks and cut them into diamond shapes. Cook in boiling water for 5 minutes, and cool immediately in water and ice. Drain the water and dry it on absorbent paper. Heat two non-stick frying pans well and burn the leeks. Place them on two gastronorms and dehydrate them 10 hours to 70 years. Then blend them in the hot mix and store the powder in a container.

For the seafood

• 100 grams of clams
• 200 grams of Callista chione
• 100 grams of mussels

Place the previously washed seafood in a gastronom and bake at 100 º C. for 2 minutes. Cool the gastronom on a tray with ice. Take the seafood and lay it on a tray in contact with absorbent paper, re-heating it only at the time of service.

For the pasta

• 360 grams of rigatoni
• extra virgin olive oil
• clove of garlic
• fish broth

 

Cook the pasta in salted water for 9 minutes, salt it in a pan with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, broth and a garlic clove. Place the parsley cream on the plate, then the rigatoni, the seafood and finally the leek powder.

• Heinz Beck

Spaghetti with tomato water and sea truffles

Ingredients

Tomato water

• 2 kg Cherry tomatoes

Parsley sauce

Tomato water: blend the tomatoes. Pour them into cloth, close the top and hang them over a basin to collect the tomato water.

Parsley sauce

• 1 bunch of parsley
• 1 bunch of basil
• 1 sprig of thyme
• ½ Carrot
• ½ celery stick
• 1 potato, small and boiled
• 600 gr sea truffles
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 150 ml white wine

Open the sea truffles in a pot with wine, herbs and vegetables for about 3 minutes. Take leaves off the bouquet of parsley and basil. Blanch in boiling water for 4 minutes and immediately cool the leaves in ice and water. Blend them with 50 ml of their cooking water, with the sauce obtained from sea truffles, boiled potato and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Oil flavoured with garlic

• 250 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic

Put the oil and garlic cloves in a vacuum bag. Steam cook in the oven at 63 º C for 20 minutes.

For pasta

• 240 gr Spaghetti De Cecco, num. 512 Plate gasket Cerfoglio

Cook the spaghetti in abundant salted water for 5 minutes, drain and immerse in boiling tomato water. Finish cooking by adding, if necessary, cooking water to the pasta. Add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil flavoured with garlic and the previously shelled sea truffles.

Do you want to experience a holiday of taste and relaxation in a true paradise? Discover the Forte Village Resort in Sardinia.