This little piggy - the challenge. Six ingredients, simple tools and 30 minutes – COOK!

I wrote this the week after my brush with reality tv, the program airing this week may put all the pieces together...

I’m not very good, at not being very good at something.

So much so, that as I lay in the recovery position (okay catching up on sleep) in my bed after the craziests of weeks, I could not help but think (okay dream) about how poorly I did at my one chance… it wasn’t that hard. Use these ingredients with this equipment and make something delicious.
My self imposed restrictions were to also make something different to the rest of the crowd and make sure I represent myself well by making my food look ‘hot’… well that’s were I stuffed up, you no doubt would say it was fine, if it makes it to tv but it definitely was not inspired.

So with a couple of hours of self prescribed therapy, I reproduced the challenge (nearly) and put myself back to the test.
Could I do it again but better, in a better time, with a better result and a better looking finished dish?

Following the same thought processes of the day I recreated the same dish but here dear readers you get to see how it should have looked, should I not have plated it in 10 seconds (oh god I know; a food stylist plating their food in 10 seconds, what was I thinking??... “Must cut all the pith from my lemon zest”… oh, so we learn!)

So here are the ingredients and equipment (please note, I used a normal stove not a camp stove and am not sponsored by scanpan or global so my Circulon and Mundials will have to do!)

The six ingredients (unnecessary ones not used...), the basic equipment and my 30 minute count down timer

Whipping a mayonnaise (egg yolk, salt, lemon juice, olive oil) with a fork. In the challenge I also boiled an egg as a backup dressing in case the mayo split

Marinating the pork chop

Prepared salad components; cabbage, apple, lemon zest, parsley to be mixed with the mayo, just before serving

Cooking the chop

Resting the cooked chop

The finished dish.
Lemon zest pork loin (well rested and cooked properly this time), apple and cabbage 'remoulade' (well that was a mistake... I'll explain if its aired...), pretty dressed apple bits and a lemon cheek (lets not bring that up either...)

The finished dish with 5 minutes still on the clock. And yes I took all my own photos at the same time!

I think I then ate it in the remaining count down...

Three minutes to go...

One minute to go...

Finished and the chewed bone, that I had cut the loin off.
Wonder what would have happened if I served this? Perhaps I would have actually made it onto the tv.
On reflection I should have eaten it, as we were not served lunch until nearly dinner time.

Gourmet Traveller here I come!

I am the proud winner of the day with Gourmet Traveller Magazine from the Menu for Hope offerings last year.
This amazing prize was offered by Anna at Morsels and Musings, so this is a "thank you" post to everyone involved; Chez Pim for organising such a successful and inspiring fundraiser, Anna for convincing the GT team to donate a once-in-a-lifetime foodie prize, Helen at Grab your Fork for coordinating in Australia and PDC for buying the winning ticket -as my Chrissie present.
Thanks again to all, and I can't wait to post on my experiences and share it will my friendly readers.
Jack

Reflection

I'm trying to recover today from a huge few months at work, yesterday was my 'Everest' and now the following week holds the safe trek back down the metaphorical mountain. After a brush with fame in the local papers yesterday and today, I've taken a moment to reflect on what I have achieved outside of work in September and October.

So a couple of blog worthy highlights...

A serious food styling gig.
It's funny how when you slip out of something by accident, that you don't realise how much you love it until you do it again. I remembered a few weeks ago how much I love to be in a professional studio making food look pretty. The shoot (on a Sunday) was for a sandwich chain, and it was all about 'fluffing' the sandwiches to look as opulent and healthy as possible. It's such a strange world in a food shoot, you can actually forget your working with an edible product and start more looking at contrasting colours, highlights and smart angles to flatter the 'hero'. Here's a few of my happy snaps of the shoot.

The preening queue.

The 'hero' of the moment and the collection of tools that help bring it to life for the lens.
At the end of the day. The tagged list of shots, so we can track the difference from one wrap/sandwich/foccacia to another.

Other highlight as been the rediscovery of a favourite breakfast spot. A few months ago my favourite 'eggs place', Las Chicas, changed hands and hence my favourite coffee makers/eggs servers moved as well. So to track down the perfect caffe latte and smiley face, PDC and I have been travelling further along Carlisle St to The Galleon, St Kilda for weekend breakfasts.

This is a picture of my new usual, Bagel No3. A toasted bagel with crushed avocado and slices of smoked salmon. It comes with the cute wedge of lemon on top, all for the, how-do-they-make-any-money-off-this price of $8.50. I have mine with a single poached egg on the side (for an extra $2) of which I open the bagel up and eat on the salmon side, and then squeeze the lemon on the avo spread other side and munch after. A perfect breakfast in my book.

Another highlight was dinner with visiting family at Rockpool, Bar and Grill. I will not be doing a full write up because of PDC's conflicting interests there but I do list the little beef degustation that we created as a highlight.
The four of us shared three steaks for main course, all the house aged, grass fed Black Angus, but in different cuts and aging maturation. There was a large 700g ribeye, grilled on the bone and sliced, a 400g rump steak, and a 300g sirloin. The exciting thing was to be able to taste a different cut of meat after another and fully appreciate the differences in texture and flavour richness. Surprisingly the rump was the winner for flavour, it was aged the longest so perhaps this helped but offered a texturally firmer and meaty lusciousness. A very interesting little taste test.

I'll be back to normal posts shortly, looking forward to a few fancy meals out in the next few months and catching up with other food bloggers at the Bloggers Banquet that Ed has been organising on the 12th.
Jack