After realising that I wasn't perhaps wacky enough to be on Come Dine with Me (have you seen the show lately; it's full of nutters!), or brave enough to enter Masterchef I decided to go for it and apply to Britain's Best Dish. For those of you who haven't seen it (but I am sure most of you foodies have as it's a good show) it's on ITV at teatime and the point of the show is basically to find Britain's Best Dish. Regional auditions are held and you can enter a starter, main course or desert and it must be true to your region. If you get to the TV stage you go head to head with other contestants and eventually the entries are whittled down to a final. Another massive bonus is the prize is £10,000.
Well obviously my entry had to have two key component elements; Gluten free and chocolate! I immediately opted for a desert as I am fed up going to restaurants and finding ice-cream the only option on the menu. As I have said before I also find some GF cookbooks frustrating as the recipes are lengthy with lots of blended specialist flours. My aim was for my dish to be tasty, locally sourced and relatively straightforward for others to recreate. The recipe had to be mine, not a slight adaptation of a recipe but all mine.
A few ideas immediately sprung to mind. I really fancied using shortbread; it's true to us Scots and if you can make a good GF shortbread you can make a good GF anything! Shortbread should be crisp, buttery and have that wonderful melt in the mouth texture.
Jam was also on my mind. As you may have read in earlier blogs we frequent Cairnie Food Farm a lot (the kids love it) and we had a great time there in the Autumn berry picking. It was a real family effort and we still have loads of jam to use up.
My other idea was whisky; can't get more Scottish than that! I also found that a Malt blend is produced at Spencerfield Farm, a mere stones throw from here.
So with all these ideas on the go my initial thought was a dark chocolate mousse with strawberry shortbread.
The tricky part was getting the blend of flour right in the shortbread. I read that cornflour is sometimes used to give shortbread the smooth texture (not sure if traditional shortbread makers would agree?) but since it's GF I decided to blend it with the GF Dove's Flour you get in most supermarkets. The other tricky part was how to incorporate gooey sticky jam into the shortbread. I found by rolling the dough between clingfilm worked a treat, it let the jam ooze about without sticking to the rolling pin.
That was the shortbread sorted now onto the mousse. I kept the recipe simple. My first attempt just used dark chocolate but I found it too rich. Again it was a case of trying different quantities of dark to milk. I used Green & Blacks because not only is it divine, the milk chocolate is certified GF. Once the balance of chocolate was sorted it was time to add the whisky. How much to add? This had to be down to taste and taste alone.
Once the recipe was done and dusted the big debate was how to serve it? Two options; the mousse in a cup with the shortbread on the side? Or a shortbread base with the mousse on top? This is still under debate!
So onto the auditions, how did it go? I was really excited but when I got there the nerves kicked in. Seeing other people with their masterpieces makes you realise there are lots of people out there just as passionate about food.
Once I went in and spoke to the producers my nerves disappeared. I just told them about my dish and why I feel it is a winner (and it is!). I was proud that it was GF and more so it was Scottish...very Scottish!
The worst part of the audition was being filmed whilst you say a little something about the dish. I came out thinking "Just how cheesy did I sound?" I also realised when I got on the train home I was so wrapped up in saying it was Scottish I forgot to mention on camera it was gluten free!
So how did I do? All I can say is I did my best and it's up to the producers to make their decision now. I should hear in the next seven to ten days so fingers crossed.
...in the meantime, chocolate mousse anyone?
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