My Kitchen Rules SA: episode 4 summary
Mother and daughter duo narrowly miss bottom of the leader board
Tonight on My Kitchen Rules SA, Cradock-based mother and daughter duo Lani and Louzel narrowly missed taking the bottom spot on the leader board as their farm-style feast fell short of everyone’s expectations. They received a score of 64 out of 100, which means that the food dudes from Krugersdorp, Rein and Rowan, are currently still in last place with their score of 63.
“We’re going to pull out all of the stops and show them true Karoo hospitality, and bring a generation of knowledge to this competition,” Lani said confidently ahead of hosting their Instant Restaurant, aptly named “Farm 2 Feast” because of the fact that they were hosting their competitors and the judges at their own Angora goat farm. But, despite having a three-generation-old family recipe book to rely on, the bubbly mother and daughter team got off to a rocky start. Their starter of a chicken liver mousse, sesame tuile and thyme-infused olive oil did not go as planned, as the original dome settings that they’d intended to serve the mousse in collapsed. Lani and Louzel had to get creative and quickly came up with an alternative way to plate the dish. Despite this, the consensus around the table was that the chicken livers not only lacked flavour, but that it wasn’t a suitable starter portion. “I must say, I’m disappointed,” judge David Higgs admitted.
Undeterred, Lani and Louzel got cracking on their main course: lamb shanks on parmesan polenta with glazed vegetables and pickled courgette spaghetti. Upon seeing what the ladies were serving for their main dish, judge J’Something noted that “it’s very difficult to get this wrong. It’s a real crowd-pleaser and this is home, farm cooking at it’s very best.” Lani and Louzel clearly meant business as they even butchered their own lamb earlier in the week for this particular meal. It was evident that they’d made this recipe many times before and were confident when serving it to their guests, who were all still hungry after their small starters. Again, however, the hearty flavours that their fellow competitors were expecting were simply not there. “The meat and the vegetables were perfectly cooked, but that’s where is begins and ends for me,” Claudia stated. “I could taste the meat, but there were no other flavours,” a critical Leanne added. Things were not looking good for Lani and Louzel, while Rein and Rowan started growing more confident that they would not find themselves at the bottom of the leader board for much longer.
Trying to maintain a positive attitude, Lani and Louzel soldiered on with their dessert: malva pudding domes with salted caramel centres, candied ginger and a salted caramel crumb. Luckily for them, the dish was packed full of flavours and textures which everyone found delicious. “I would like to put this on the menu of my restaurant!” J’Something raved. “I absolutely loved it!” The relief was written all over Lani and Louzel’s faces, as it seemed that they had finally managed to redeem themselves. With their stellar dessert dish, the mother and daughter team just managed to scrape onto the leader board one point ahead of Rein and Rowan, much to their delight.
With only one more week to go for the first group of MKRSA Instant Restaurant contestants, and the bar having been set high by current leaders Bruce and Claudia, the final team – Kelly and Claire – will have to put on an excellent spread to ensure that they aren’t the ones who could be sent packing in the first elimination of the show at their home in Kyalami, Johannesburg next week.
My Kitchen Rules SA is broadcast on M-Net channel 101 every Sunday night at 18:00. Viewers can also visit www.mnet.tv/mkr to watch exclusive interviews with the judges and contestants, and follow all the breaking news and conversations around the show on Twitter @MNet / #MKRSA or on the official M-Net Facebook page.
