Veggies proved to be extremely unhealthy for chef and food consultant Linda Mazibuko on Top Chef last night (30 August) when they plunged her into elimination.
Here's a recap of events by the show:
Episode 8
This week’s episode started with a Quickfire Challenge
that asked cheftestants to make a top notch dish using potatoes as the hero. Creativity flowed as dishes ranging from gnocchi to roasted garlic potato puree and even potato spaghetti were whipped up. It was Phillip Nel who perfected the paltry potato with potato risotto, giving him his fourth Quickfire Challenge win.
Linda, who said she was feeling down and inadequate in the kitchen on the day, was the bottom performing chef in the challenge. Host Lorna Maseko offered Linda some kind words to boost her morale ahead of the Elimination Challenge
.
The judges, including guest judge Vicky Crease, who is an award-winning events and catering specialist, challenged the cheftestants to cook a three course vegetarian and vegan meal. They had just two hours to whip up a vegetarian starter and main, followed by a vegan dessert.
Vicky, who is exceptionally experienced in putting together menus, said she was looking for something stylish, creative and filling.
With many of the chefs out of their depth having just vegetables and grains to cook with, tension in the kitchen ran high. The top two chefs that emerged following the mad dash Elimination Challenge
were Annemarie Robertson and Ayabonga Gope.
It was Aya’s menu of broccoli soup with feta, pizza galette with a cauliflower base and poached pears with red wine that came out tops, much to his delight.
The two chefs that missed the mark in this week’s challenge were Phillip and Linda. Linda’s menu of sticky fried vegetables, vegetarian jallof rice and a white wine poached pear was criticised for being disjointed, she also came under fire for serving jallof as a main on its own.
Despite a shaky start to the day Linda was still shocked by the judges’ decision, saying, “I didn’t feel like I was going to leave today.” As sad as she was to leave, Linda credited the show for making her realise why she became a chef in the first place.