meemalee

Pudding. Afters. Sweet. Dessert. Call it what you will, but today is the last round of the Great British Menu 2009 , and the last chance for the chefs to get into the final, and their challenge is to give us some sugar. Shaun Rankin has had such a bad week, he's come in early to bake several test tarts. However, no-one has changed their desserts completely, though Danny admits to a good tweak. Danny Millar is in fact up first with his Rhubarb and Custard which he says "eats really well". I absolutely hate this trend of using "eat" as a passive verb - when someone says "my spaghetti eats really well", I want to reply "Nice that it has such an appetite". The rhubarb is sponge cake and the custard is ice cream; the latter is a touch too soft so Kenny Atkinson helpfully sprinkles some crumbled praline as a base to stop it sliding around. When it's brought in to the judges, Prue Leith exclaims "That's one hell of a tweak!". O...

MEAT! A friend of mine became a vegetarian as a child simply because he wanted his sister's " Meat is Murder " badge. Such folly would never sway me from the pleasures of the flesh, and thus today's episode of the Great British Menu 2009 was a real treat for me. Four of our eight brave contenders have picked lamb to impress the judging panel of Prue Leith, Oliver Peyton and Matthew Fort, and all except Kenny Atkinson have tweaked or completely overhauled their dishes. Yummy Brummie Glynn Purnell has ditched the faggots and gone for Pork with Vanilla Dipped Potatoes, Jerusalem Artichokes, Black Pudding Crumble and Glazed Pears - no surprise that Tristan Welch asks if he's making a pudding (incidentally, Dos Hermano s says them vanilla potatoes "work better than anything that sounds so ghastly has any right to"). Oliver Peyton says of the dish "The individual parts are all endearing, but they're not all in one building" (how I love daft ...

It's the second round of the Great British Menu 2009 Finals and this time the eight contestants have to tackle the Fish Course. Five out of the eight chefs have chosen to use crab - a risky move, especially considering that one of them (Shaun Rankin) is allergic to the stuff. No matter - the first chef to cook is Kenny Atkinson again and he's gone for the bold statement of Craster Fish Pie . Yep, that's right, Fish Pie - loathed by children everywhere but loved as simple, comfort food by grown-ups. And three of those grown-ups ie Oliver Peyton, Matthew Fort and Prue Leith adore Kenny's fish pie, with its creamy sauce on spinach and crunchy piped potato. It's a strong start to the round. Tristan Welch is next with his take on being beside the seaside - Devilled Potted Brown Shrimp and Devilled Crab Claws , served prettily in a crab shell on a shingle beach. Oliver's reaction? "Call the Environmental Agency - there's a slurry on this beach ... this gla...

So after thirty weeks of tedium, the Great British Menu 2009 has finally got to the good bit. By this, I mean all eight finalists have been chosen and every dish they prepare will actually be tasted by the judges. Their prize? To provide a "Taste of Home" in a welcome-back meal for British soldiers returning from the war in Afghanistan. The judges are of course the lovely Prue Leith (who's now an author!), Uncle Matthew Fort with his increasingly wacky specs, and mardy , Irish, Willem Dafoe-a-like Oliver Peyton . In the first of four finals, the eight competitors are charged with creating the perfect starter. Rising (or not) to the challenge are Glynn Purnell, Tom Kitchin, Kenny Atkinson, Danny Millar, Shaun Rankin, James Sommerin, Nigel Haworth, and Tristan Welch. First up to the plate is Kenny Atkinson for the North East with a Salad of Aberdeen Angus Beef, Carrots, Horseradish and Shetland Black Potatoes . The beef is super-rare, the carrots pickled and the potatoe...