To celebrate the exciting finale of this year’s MasterChef competition, why not try your hand at one of these delicious recipe ideas from former winners of the show?

Image: Wahaca

Have you been glued to the TV watching this year’s MasterChef competition? We’ve been offered up some serious cooking inspiration by this series’ talented finalists.

To celebrate the finale, we’ve collected a handful of recipes from previous Masterchef champions, which go to show the heights that alumni of the cookery competition can reach.

Thomasina Miers’ tortilla soup with feta and tortilla strips

Thomasina Miers is one of the show’s most successful winners. She opened Mexican street food chain Wahaca in 2006, and has just launced online platform Wahaca at Home to help inspire you to cook your own Mexican-inspired feasts at home.

• Prep: 15 mins
• Cooking: 40 minutes
• Serves 6

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, peeled and cut into wedges
• 3 cloves garlic, left in skins
• 1 heaped tbsp chipotle paste (and/or 1-2 fresh chillies (optional))
• 7-8 ripe tomatoes (or 2 tins plum tomatoes)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tsp dried oregano (or 1 tbsp fresh, or fresh thyme)
• 1.5 litres chicken (or vegetable stock)
• 1-2 corn tortillas, blanched in oil (or 1-2 tbsp fine polenta)

Optional toppings

• 1 ripe Hass avocado
• 2 corn tortillas (or 2 flatbreads), cut into skinny strips and fried
• 2 ancho chillies, seeds and stems removed and torn into walnut-sized pieces and fried
• 100g feta cheese, crumbled (or grated Pecorino)
• A small handful of chopped coriander
• 100ml Sour cream

Method

1. Heat a frying pan and add the onions, fresh tomatoes, garlic and whole chillies, if using.
2. Dry roast the vegetables for 10-15 minutes until blackened and soft. The garlic will be ready sooner – it is done when the cloves are soft. Once the vegetables are charred and softened blitz them in an upright blender.
3. Now heat the oil in a large casserole and when hot add your pureed tomato and veg and turn down the heat to medium low. Season well before adding the chipotle paste, sugar and herbs. Cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add the stock and simmer for a further 10 minutes.
5. Add the blanched tortillas (or polenta) and blitz again with a stick blender until the soup is smooth. Leave on a low heat for at least five minutes before you eat. Top if off…
6. Meanwhile assemble as many garnishes as you can get hold of.
7. Dice the flesh of the avocado, squeezing with a little lemon or lime juice to stop them discolouring.
8. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Test the oil and when it makes a tortilla strip sizzle add the strips and cook until crisp and golden. Remove the pieces with a slotted spoon onto a plate lined with kitchen paper.
9. Repeat with the ancho chilli pieces for approx. 15 seconds until puffed up – if you cook them longer they will burn and turn bitter.
10. Serve the soup in bowls with your choice of garnishes laid out in small bowls or plates so that people can help themselves at the table.

Simon Wood’s baked egg pan

Image: Wood Restaurant Group

2015 winner Simon Wood is now chef patron of the Wood Restaurant Group, which includes restaurants in Manchester, Chester and Cheltenham.

Image: Wood Restaurant Group

• Prep: 15 minutes
• Cook: 35 minutes
• Serves 2

Ingredients

• 50g spinach
• 2 whole pieces of chorizo – cut in half lengthways and then again
• 250g potato
• 75g cooked onions
• 4 eggs
• 2 slices sourdough
• 5g chives
• 10g lambs lettuce
• 2 shallots finely diced
• 2 gloves Garlic crushed into a paste
• 2 red chillis finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon dried red chilli
• 70g fresh basil chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1L passata
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 10 ripe cherry tomatoes quartered
• 2 tsp fresh oregano
• 2.5 tsp smoked paprika

Method

1. To make the Arrabbiata sauce, in a large saucepan, gently heat your olive oil and then add in your garlic paste, stir gently for around 20 seconds, next add in your shallots and soften gently for a couple of minutes.
2. Once your shallots are softened add in your oregano, and chilli, cook this out for another minute, then add in your tomato puree and smoked paprika and cook for another minute stirring frequently, next go in with your quartered cherry tomatoes, and then add your passata and your tin of chopped tomatoes and cook the sauce gently for 30 minutes, stir in your chopped basil and cook for another 20 seconds season, taste and then serve.
3. Continue to make the Egg Pan, start by adding all ingredients to a cast iron pan or oven proof dish along with the Arrabbiata sauce.
4. Add in 100ml water, Stir and season, place lid on pan
5. Once liquid starts to bubble crack 4 eggs into it
6. Cook for 3-4 minutes, remove and garnish with chives and lambs lettuce. Serve with toasted bread

Kenny Tutt’s Chocolate Orange Tart

Image: PITCH Restaurant and Cookery School

Kenny Tutt may have only won MasterChef back in 2018, but he is already set up his own restaurant, PITCH Restaurant & Cookery School, in Worthing.

Image: PITCH Restaurant and Cookery School

• Prep: 1-2 hours (including resting time)
• Cooking: 30-60 mins
• Serves 6-8

Ingredients

For the chocolate pastry

• 180g plain flour
• 150g butter, chilled and diced
• 70g icing sugar
• 45g cocoa powder
• 2 medium free-range egg yolks
• 1 orange, zest only

For the filling

• 150g of dark chocolate, cut or broken into pieces
• 80g milk chocolate, cut or broken into pieces
• 300ml double cream
• 2 oranges, grated zest only
• 1 tbsp of Cointreau or triple sec
• 2 free-range eggs, beaten

Method

1. Make the pastry first by sifting the flour, cocoa powder and icing sugar into a bowl.
2. Add cubes of butter and rub together using your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix through the orange zest and then add the egg yolks and mix together until it forms a dough. If it feels a little dry add a dash of cold water. Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge to rest for at least an hour.
3. Preheat your oven to 200°C/180°C Fan.
4. Once the pastry is rested dust your work surface with a little flour. Roll out the pastry to about 3mm thick or around the thickness of a one-pound coin. Use the pastry to line a 24cm round fluted loose-bottomed tart tin. Using a fork prick the base of the pastry all over, line with baking paper, fill with rice or baking beans and blind bake for 20 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5 minutes until the pastry is cooked through.
5. Add the cream and orange zest to a saucepan and cook over a medium heat until just simmering. Add the dark and milk chocolate and triple sec/Cointreau and stir until the chocolate has melted. Remove from the heat. Add the beaten eggs and immediately begin whisking quickly until the mixture is smooth and thick.
6. Pour the mixture into your tart shell and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until just set.
7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely, then refrigerate for at least 1
hour or until well chilled. Alternatively, you can serve just warm.

Lisa Faulkner’s honey and lemon chicken traybake

Image: Bacofoil

Actress Lisa Faulkner won Celebrity MasterChef back in 2010, and now hosts John and Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen with now-husband, MasterChef judge John Torode. Her chicken traybake recipe comes courtesy of Bacofoil.

Image: Bacofoil

Prep: 15 mins
Cooking: 50 mins
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 banana shallots
• 400g cooked Charlotte potatoes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 8 chicken thighs skin on
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp grain mustard
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• A few sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2 tbsp roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

Method

1. Heat your oven to 200°C/Gas 6/fan180°C. Line a roasting tin with Bacofoil® The Non-Stick Kitchen Foil (this will ensure the chicken won’t stick to the foil)
2. Slice the shallots and cut the potatoes in half. Scatter in the base of the foil-lined ovenproof dish and drizzle the ingredients with the oil
3. To make the marinade, mix the lemon juice with the garlic, honey and mustard in a large bowl
4. Add the chicken to the bowl and coat with the marinade. Sit the chicken thighs on top of the shallots and potatoes
5. Season with salt and pepper and scatter over the sprigs of thyme
6. Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is crispy and sticky
7. Just before serving, sprinkle with the chopped parsley

Have you been watching this series of MasterChef? Let us know on social! Tweet us @goodhomesmag or post a comment on our Facebook page. Plus, post your own recreations of these recipes on Instagram wth the hashtag #thisgoodhome for your chance to win a prize. 

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