Christmas cook-off

Take three willing volunteers from the world of social housing, place in a professional kitchen in a south-east London homelessness hostel, mix with one of Britain’s top chefs, and voilà - you have Inside Housing’s Christmas cook-off.

More used to dealing with demanding residents than the heat of the kitchen, the three contestants have just one hour to create their own Christmas-inspired dish. Whoever produces the tastiest and most festive plate of food will win the - obviously much coveted - title ‘Christmas Cook-off champion 2009’.

The contestants arrive one by one at Christmas cook-off HQ. St Mungo’s Spring Gardens hostel in Lewisham is an ultra-modern £4 million, 40-bed homeless shelter which opened in June - and comes complete with a state-of-the-art professional kitchen.

Obviously eager to scope out the hostel’s gleaming cooking equipment before his rivals, Alexander Netherton, service charge officer at Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association, turns up an hour before the contest is due to begin.

Next to arrive is Amina Rahman, assistant director for care and support at Family Mosaic, and two colleagues. Decked out in Family Mosaic-branded accessories, they huddle together to discuss their game plan.

Last but not least, Noel Khine, complaints services manager at Southern Housing Group, arrives to find the others already settled into the kitchen. A keen amateur cook, he’s travelled from Colchester to take part.

These housing professionals are brave enough to rise to this cooking challenge, but Miguel, a Spring Gardens resident, and El Thomson, deputy manager of the hostel, have courageously agreed to eat their dishes.

Hosting the event and helping pick the winner is Gerry Rae, master cook at famous London restaurant, Simpson’s in the Strand. The Glaswegian chef will be monitoring progress in the kitchen and leading the judging of the finished dishes - while doing his best to remain placid and avoid comparisons with ex-boss Gordon Ramsay.

So, what can we expect from our three contestants? Noel is serving a Christmas classic: herb-stuffed turkey with a brandy sauce. ‘You would cook this dish with leftovers from your Christmas meal,’ he explains.

Amina is thinking along similar lines. She is making a ‘left-over turkey biriani’. ‘I’m drawing on my Indian background,’ adds Amina, determined to spice up the competition with a dish to warm even the coldest winter’s day.

After eyeing up the competition, Alexander has low expectations. ‘I’m guaranteed third place,’ he laughs. Alexander has opted to make a dessert - poached blackberries and raspberries in mulled wine poured over warm brioche, topped with his pièce de résistance: a choc-ice snowman (see below for all the recipes).

Moments before the countdown to the cook-off begins, chef hats and aprons go on, and master cook Gerry gives his briefing. ‘I’m looking for seasonal food that will catch the eye - something different. I’m not looking for prawn cocktails,’ he announces with disdain.

It’s 11am and they’re off. Amina immediately starts chopping onions. ‘I’m getting ready to cry,’ she says. But she has an advantage over the others, having brought in left-over cooked turkey and ready-made stock. ‘I’m hoping to get my prep out of the way and put my feet up,’ she states hopefully. But moments later, there is confusion: which of the rainbow of chopping boards should she use? It’s a good job Gerry’s there. ‘It’s red for raw. Yellow for cooked meat,’ he shouts. Quandary over, Amina begins cutting up her turkey.

Festive spirit

It’s early on in the competition, but the contestants are getting into the Christmas spirit. Noel asks if he can use the zest from Alexander’s one-and-only orange in his sauce, and Alexander generously hands it over. Noel grates the zest into some chopped onion. It will soon become the ‘herb paste’ that he will use to stuff the turkey breasts, he explains.

Five minutes in, Alexander is at the hob, waiting for butter to melt. His mulled wine is warming gently, filling the kitchen with a lovely festive aroma.
‘They’re already facing some challenges,’ observes Gerry, as the cooks contend with a shortage of knives. And Noel’s herb paste plan goes out the window when he can’t find the bowl for the blender. He plumps for a herb stuffing instead. Gerry nods approval at Noel’s quick thinking.

Ten minutes gone and Alexander is building his ice-cream snowman, balancing one scoop of vanilla on top of another. Wisely he did a practice run at home.

Suddenly an altercation breaks out in the far corner of the kitchen between Gerry and one of Amina’s supporters, Amanda Bairstow. Family Mosaic customer relationship manager Amanda has been caught taking the lid off a spice jar. ‘I thought you were here to give moral support,’ exclaims Gerry. ‘I’m the sous-chef - you have a sous-chef don’t you?’ retorts Amanda.

Alexander is oblivious. He’s too engrossed in tasting his mulled wine to care what others are doing.

A quarter of the way through now and Amina is frying onion with ginger, cardamom and cinnamon. ‘Does Gerry like spicy food?’ she wonders. He says he does. ‘Here’s some I made earlier,’ says Amina with a wink, spooning curry paste from a shop-bought jar.

Recovered from his change of plan, Noel is back on course. Sort of. ‘This is a lot more stressful than I thought,’ he says as he stuffs the turkey. But the complaints manager can deal with the pressure. He is a regular cook who likes to improvise with whatever ingredients he happens to have in his kitchen, he explains. The stuffing that Noel has made by default is ‘very seasonal’, says Gerry approvingly.

At the half-way mark, Alexander works on the fine details of his snowman. He is shaping Bassett’s Liquorice Allsorts into facial features. Amina has left her biriani simmering on the hob, and is back at her station chopping more onions. These will be fried and used for decoration, she explains.

Getting heated

All eyes in the kitchen turn to Alexander as he spoons melted white chocolate over his ice cream mound before studding it with eyes, ears, nose, mouth and a hat. All agree the snowman looks evil.

His turkey stuffed and ready to cook, Noel - the only contestant to use the industrial-sized oven - struggles to get the massive piece of cooking kit to work.

Alex, meanwhile, is as chilled as his snowman. He chats to intrigued residents as his brioche toasts. There’s even time to get his phone out and start texting.

Not for long. ‘Something’s burning,’ comes the cry. All three contestants stop still. Smoke rises from the toaster. Alexander tries to rescue his brioche, but it’s black. Fortunately, he has more at hand. He quickly plonks two more slices in the toaster and relaxes again.

With just 25 minutes left Noel decides his dish needs a little something extra. He searches Spring Gardens’ kitchen for a potato to either mash or fry. He finds some lettuce and decides on a salad instead.

‘Twenty minutes to go - time to get a sweat on,’ announces Gerry. But over in Amina’s corner, there’s calm. ‘I’m nearly done,’ she says happily. ‘It’s all steaming at the moment.’

At 15 minutes to go Amina moves on to making a raitha, a mixture of yoghurt, cucumber and mint. ‘It is traditional to eat it with curry,’ she explains. Meanwhile, Alexanderpours warm poached berries over the second batch of brioche.

‘They don’t seem too stressed,’ observes Gerry, with just a hint of disappointment. ‘It all smells good - I’m glad I didn’t have any breakfast this morning.’

Ten minutes left, and Noel is already plating up. He places slices of his cooked turkey on a bed of lettuce, dressed with coriander, rosemary, salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. As his brandy-based sauce warms on the hob, he dresses his plate with Christmas decorations.

Alexander is also at the final hurdle: his snowman is on the plate, and he’s heating up the mulled wine he plans to serve as an accompaniment.

For Amina, however, there is a last-minute rush. She’s desperately searching for a spoon and hoping that her rice has steamed through. ‘Lots can go wrong at the last minute,’ says Gerry matter-of-factly. ‘You can burn something or you can drop it. You can also forget things.’

Five minutes to go

With five minutes to go, Noel’s dish is waiting under the hot plate, and Alexander is also finished. Amina is frantically cutting a star out of a chapatti.
As she shapes her biriani into the shape of a Christmas tree, all becomes clear. She decorates the tree with chopped green and red chillies, makes the fried onions into a tree trunk, and adds some snow - the raitha.

Bang on time, as the 60 minutes run out, Amina tops the biriani Christmas tree with the chapatti star.

As the chefs cool off, Gerry and his fellow judges, Spring Gardens resident Miguel and deputy manager El, take a seat on a table in the dining area. Miguel says he is looking for ‘texture and taste’, while El, a vegetarian, has her mind on the choc-ice snowman. ‘It sounds fab,’ she says.

One by one the contestants present their food. Amina takes a seat at the table and explains her dish.

‘I know some of the judges like hot food,’ she motions towards Gerry as the panel pick up their forks.

But it’s too spicy for Miguel. ‘The spices have grabbed me,’ he coughs, and Amina rushes to fetch him a mug of water. An inauspicious start, but as El eats some of the rice, she nods in approval. Finally Gerry tucks in. ‘I’ll go back for seconds and thirds after we’ve eaten the others,’ he says.

Next up, it’s Noel. ‘It’s a turkey breast stuffed with herbs, onion, and orange zest,’ he announces. ‘The salad is delicious,’ observes El.

Gerry is equally impressed. ‘This is a good seasonal dish,’ he says. Miguel likes this one too. ‘The dressing tastes delicious. I’m not a big lover of turkey, but this is perfection,’ he enthuses.

Finally, out comes Alexander with dessert. ‘That is sickly but delicious. Very good, sir,’ applauds Miguel.

‘The creativity is up there with the best of them,’ concludes Gerry, diplomatically. El is inspired. ‘I’m going to try to make one myself,’ she says.
Now the nail biting really starts as the judges put their heads together to pick the winner. Amina is still confident. ‘I think they loved it,’ she grins.

Yet when they emerge from their discussion, each judge has a ‘winning’ plate of food in front of them. They can’t decide, they say. ‘Each contestant made a very good effort,’ announces Gerry.

The cooks want a winner but Gerry declares the decision final. ‘A three-way tie is in the spirit of Christmas.’