Our Own Master Chef Night 2

So this is week 2 of our special cooking weekend.

It was Owains turn to cook this week, and he decided to cook Pork Belly. What he actually turned out was:

Roast Pork Belly with a Caramel Glaze and served with Roasted Sweet Potato and Granny Smith Apple

And I tell you what it gets 4 stars. It was lush!

The crackling on the pork belly was lovely and crunchy, while the meat was soo tender, it just fell apart. The sweet potato and the granny smiths were roasted in olive oil and thyme and were just done to perfection. The pork with the roasted apples was a lovely yet traditioinal flavour. We were a bit scared when he took it out the oven as it was looking very dark, but we needn't of worried - it was perfect.

Next up was my dessert.

Rhurbarb and Blackberry Crumble Souffle (as seen on Master Chef Australia on Friday night) heres the recipe if you want to have a go at making it yourself.

Heres my attempt (sorry about the photo quality... by the time I'd put the photos in the computer the souffle was loong gone so I couldn't get a better photo)

I tell you what - I have never been so proud of any of my cooking endeavors as when my souffles started to rise! All you hear is how hard it is to get them to rise correctly and that so many things can go wrong - but hey here was my first go and *presto* one very light a fluffy souffle.

They gave some really good tips on Master Chef on how to make sure they rise,

1. make sure you beat the eggs whites to the right consistency - they should be soft and shiny peaks.

2. was it make sure you grease the ramekin enough. What i did was put a light film of butter on it, then put it in the fridge for 5 mins, take it out, put another - more generous coating of butter on - then coat it all in caster sugar. This makes sure it doesn't stick.

3. Make sure when putting the mixture into the ramekin that you don't drip any on the sides.

The souffles were divine. So light a fluffy, and the rhubarb and blackberry mix was just lovely.

Overall - a very successful weekend of food cooking and eating... now I am very very full, and I must admit slightly tipsy from the wine that had to be drunk for the stress of the souffles so I am going to go and chill out and drink the rest of my wine before I go to bed.

Good effort I say :)