But despite botching the smoked chocolate parfait that sent her home, Elise is vowing to follow her dreams and open a cake shop.
“It’s been the best experience of my life,” said a teary Elise after being eliminated.
“I never thought in a million years that someone like me who comes from Cairns would come this far.
“The stuff I’ve learned I’ll have with me forever.”
Elise’s final night started off with a twist that brought the remaining four contestants to tears: the mystery box they were to cook with were full of ingredients chosen by their loved ones.
Elise’s fiancé Emanuele Timpone chose the ingredients for her mystery box, but chose the wrong type of gelatine, one that she had never used before. This resulted in her Panna Cotta being overly set and put her straight into round two.
Elena produced an incredibly faultless dish with ingredients chosen by her mother, that sent her straight through to Monday night’s semi-final. The dish was ‘crab, cauli, sprouts and apple’ with a sauce that Gary Mehigan called an ‘alchemy’.
Matt impressed the judges with crispy skin snapper, snapper dumplings and daikon noodles after his wife chose ingredients he was very happy and familiar with.
Harry produced a gorgeous dish that made the judges smile but had negative feedback on one of the elements that derailed the dish a little.
In round two Elise played it safe by making a parfait, something that she has made countless times on MasterChef.
When the judges mentioned that it may not be good enough at this stage in the competition she came undone and broke down in tears. Throughout the cook Elise tried and failed to pick her self back up, her emotions getting the better of her. This resulted in her sorbet being too icy and her glaze a little too thick and saw her eliminated from the competition.
The Top 3, Elena, Matt and Harry will now face a service challenge that will see them make two courses each for 20 people.
The two best performers will go through to Tuesday night’s Grand Final!
Sadly, Elise will now be watching on from the sidelines, but here is one of her most memorable recipes from the show to try for yourself.
Cricket Caramel Semifreddo with Lime Curd and Betel Leaf Crumb
Serves 6
INGREDIENTS
Cricket Semifreddo
grapeseed oil for deep frying
30 frozen crickets, thawed
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
400ml cream
Lime Curd
60g sugar
60ml lime juice
2 eggs
30g butter
Betel Leaf Crumb
50g plain flour
50g caster sugar
25g butter, softened
1 betel leaf
Sugar Betel Leaf
2 egg whites
40g caster sugar
6 betel leaves
METHOD
1 Preheat oven to 180C.
2 For the Cricket Semifreddo, heat enough grape seed oil in a small saucepan or deep fryer to 180C. Deep fry crickets for 2-3 minutes until crisp. Remove from oil, set aside on kitchen paper to drain. Reserve 18 crickets for garnish.
3 Place remaining 12 deep fried crickets onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Place ½ of the caster sugar in a small fry pan over medium heat and allow to melt and caramelise until amber. Remove from heat and pour half the caramel over the fried crickets and set aside to cool.
4 Add 100ml of the cream to the remaining caramel in the pan and whisk to a smooth caramel sauce. Set aside. Keeping warm until needed.
5 Once cricket praline has cooled and hardened, break into shards and place in the bowl of a food processor and blitz to a medium crumb. Set aside until needed.
6 Place eggs, egg yolk and remaining caster sugar in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk until pale and tripled in volume. Remove bowl from heat and allow to cool.
7 In a separate bowl, whisk remaining 300ml cream to stiff peaks. Fold cream into cooled egg mixture then add cricket praline and fold through. Spoon the semi-freddo mixture into six 11cm dome moulds and set aside in the freezer to harden.
8 For the Lime Curd, place sugar, lime juice and eggs into a small saucepan over low heat and stir continuously with a silicone spatula until thick. Remove from heat and stir in butter until melted and fully incorporated. Strain the curd mixture through a fine sieve and spoon into 18 x 1.5cm dome moulds. Place in the freezer to freeze until needed.
9 For the Betel Leaf Crumb, combine flour, sugar and butter in a bowl and mix with fingertips to a fine crumb. Spread the mixture evenly onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for 12-14 minutes in the pre-heated oven until golden brown.
10 Place betel leaf onto a small baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 12-15 minutes until crisp and dry.
11 Remove the crumb and the betel leaf from the oven. Crumble betel leaf into crumb and mix to combine. Set aside until needed.
12 For the Sugar Betel Leaf, place egg whites and sugar into a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy. Place betel leaves into egg white mixture, allow excess egg white to drain off the leaves and place onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
13 To serve, sprinkle crumb into centre of the serving plates. Unmould semifreddo and place one dome onto the crumb on each plate. Unmould the frozen Lime Curd and place 3 domes on to each plate. Add one sugar betel leaf to each plate. Drizzle over a little caramel sauce and garnish each plate with three reserved fried crickets.
Image credit, Instagram: @e_franciskovic and Masterchef
