Invention Test

Pepper as in salt and pepper for seasoning (spices). So not red peppers or green peppers or yellow peppers (as in the vegetable), but peppercorns of any type (white, black, red, pink, sichan, etc).

Hope that clarifies it.
 
...I'm having fun! I keep coming up with new ideas - but we hit lucky on these ingredients as they are quite versatile.

This is much stricter that the Masterchef invention test - the contestants have access to a basic larder: flour, sugar, vinegar, oil, salt. pepper and other items.
 
Well, it's going to be an orangey menu!

I would make foil parcels of the salmon - a little oil, seasoned with s & p and a few slices of the first orange.
When cooked, I'd let it cool then flake it up and make a salad with it, the chick peas, basil, the rest of the slices of the first orange and it's juice mixed with oil and seasoning for the dressing.
Meanwhile the steak will have been cubed and marinating in oil, cumin and seasoning, then skewered and barbecued and served with a sauce made from the cream and peppercorns.
Finally, eat the second orange, pealed and segmented as a fresh fruit salad with a little of the cream drizzled over.
 
The fish course - served cold.

Poached salmon glazed with orange syrup (reduction of orange juice) with mayonnaise and pink peppercorn oil. The oil is split with a little orange juice. Micro basil leaves and deep fried crispy salmon skin tuilles to garnish.


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Just an idea so far, but 3 courses.

Starter
  • Deep fried medium firm tofu pieces (1 inch by 1 inch) coated in gram flour with a touch of ground cumin, salt and pepper (DIY dried chickpeas ground in a slice grinder). Deep fried tofu is very much an oriental thing and features on a lot of menus here in Australia).
  • Served with gram flour pancakes (called la socca in French) again gram flour with water to make a thin batter, dealt and pepper plus a little ground cumin, then cooked on a griddle like a thicker crepe. Rolled and sliced into 1 inch pieces.
  • Served with a few lightly roasted cumin seeds for decoration.
Main
  • Marinate firm tofu or Tempeh slabs/sticks in an oil, blood orange and basil glaze (touch of sesame seed oil with olive oil and blood orange juice with orange zest in it). Season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven until starting to brown, then cover with remaining glaze, extra bluff orange juice and bake until sticky. Serve hot.
  • Mash up some de-skinned chickpeas with a little sesame seed oil to serve as a mashed potato substitute.
  • Make a blood orange reduction to drizzle over everything with sweet basil leaves, plus extra reduction to serve in small jug.
Dessert
  • Using cashew nut cream make an orange and basil ice cream. (I could use soya cream but it doesn't work well for ice cream, so I've freelanced a touch given my dairy allergy).
  • Serve alongside a half a blood orange segmented and grilled until starting to caramelize. Serve with any remaining blood orange reduction.
  • Garnish with a few sweet basil leaves.
 
morning glory said:
Good things! It strikes me that allowing substitutes for salmon and steak is really quite interesting and allows new possibilities.
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I had been wondering if I should be really cruel though. If you substitute then you can't use both short of thing, so can't have tempeh/tofu, steak and salmon.

Or worse still should I only allow substitutes if there is already a known reason? So we'd have to know that you can't eat dairy to allow for a cream substitute because otherwise substitutions are endless and it defeats the idea of the challenge.

For me, I'm heading towards that latter option where we'd have to know that you can't have something. So in your case you've done a meat eaters menu. If you wanted tofu, then you'd have to do a separate vegan challenge.

Another alternative would be that you have to state of you are doing a meat/fish eaters menu, a dairy free menu or a totally vegan menu and every course must adhere to that which might be a better option. But substitutions must be accurate so you can't substitute cashew nuts for cream and then use cashew nut butter in the recipe, you've got to use cashew nuts for cashew nut cream as a replacement for cream.
 
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