ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia... ..a huge pressure test... Let's go! ..had the teams replicating two Michelin-star recipes. This is insane! Elena, Mimi and Matt excelled. I would think that my pastry chef did it. ..joining Trent for the chance to fast-track to finals week. Tonight... Welcome to Inglenook Estate. ..amidst the vineyards of the Napa Valley... It's all about the grape. ..one of these four contestants will win their ticket to finals week. It doesn't really get much bigger than that. It's so close... You want this bad. ..they can taste it. ELENA: I need to go with my instinct. Focused on the prize... MATT PRESTON: Think about it. ..they'll fight furiously. I'm willing to throw down everything I've got. All four will deliver outstanding dishes. Very, very clever. MATT PRESTON: Delicious. But one... Food heaven. ..will surpass them all. That's as good as anything else we've eaten. # Burning up # in my heart # like a flame, # like the brightest shooting star. # In our souls, # we all know # our dreams make us who we are. Burning up # in my heart # like a flame, # like the brightest shooting star. # Captions by Ericsson Access Services. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Able 2017 MATT SINCLAIR: I've never been to the Napa Valley before but it's really hitting all those expectations that I had. There's vines for days. There's produce growing everywhere. You know, mountains in the foreground. This is some stunning country. Today, we're cooking for the biggest advantage that we've had so far in the competition - to be able to get straight through to that finals week. I've been on a bit of a good run lately with my cooking. I won the invention test in San Fran and if I can keep doing that, I've got a really good chance of getting that top spot today and getting straight through to finals week. I have a 1-in-4 chance of getting fast-tracked through to finals week, which is incredible. But I've got three awesome cooks that I've had to go up against and, you know, they're tough. I'm definitely going to try my heart out to win today. ELENA: Wow. MATT SINCLAIR: Beautiful view. So pretty. It's just amazing. This is incredible. Stunning. As we're walking down the driveway, we sort of have vineyards either side of us just that seemed to go on forever and the most incredible building up ahead is this old mansion that has vines growing all over it, and it's... it's pretty extraordinary. Yeah. Who couldn't be inspired here? Oh, what a day we have planned for you. (ALL LAUGH) Welcome to Inglenook Estate in the gorgeous Napa Valley. And this estate is actually owned by the very famous movie director, Francis Ford Coppola. Wow. The Godfather trilogy, Apocalypse Now, one of the all-time greats of the movie world. These days, though, his passion is winemaking... ..and here at Inglenook, he's making some of the best wines in the Napa Valley. Wow. We are very lucky indeed to be joined today by Philippe Bascaules, the winemaker at Inglenook, and Alex Lovick, who is Inglewood's estate chef. What they've done for you is put together a very special pantry of gorgeous local ingredients. Have a look at that table. You've got fresh grapes, raisins, vine leaves, verjuice. But as well as that, you've got some incredible local produce to go with it. You've got pork, lamb, chicken, quail, all from local farms. Olive oil made on the estate right here. Napa honey, Napa bee pollen. This table is like heaven. Today, the criteria is simple. It's all about the grape. Yeah? Use grapes to celebrate this great produce. ELENA: I actually love grapes. My sister and I will make ourselves sick eating just so many grapes. So...and I'm pretty excited. Alex, you work with this produce every single day of the year. What's the secret to creating a great local dish? Being able to express the beautiful things that we have without over-manipulation. So, if you have a beautiful spring onion, like you have here, how do you cook it so that it's most authentic to its true nature? Philippe, what approach do you take to create a beautiful expression of the wine? You have to define a vision, a very clear vision, of what you want to achieve and then to respect this vision until the end. TRENT: I love the style of cooking that is usually showcased in the wine region. I feel like I've got a really clear idea, so I'm really excited to get started. Alex, Philippe, thank you so much for putting the pantry together and, of course, sharing your wisdom and giving some advice, and I think you've set the challenge up beautifully. Contestants, remember, today is a very special challenge. At the end of today, one of you is going to be the first contestant... ..to make it through to finals week. Imagine that. (LAUGHTER) One little step closer to possibly winning MasterChef 2016. Today is a pretty monumental challenge for us. Um... It doesn't really get much bigger than that. You need to bring us one dish celebrating grapes. You have 90 minutes and your time starts now. (ONLOOKERS CHEER) Hands down, this pantry is beautiful. The produce is just absolutely bouncing off the table. We are spoilt for choice today. It's the most incredible grape selection I've ever seen. I could definitely put grapes with quail. They look gorgeous, and I'm just thinking about what else I need to bring that together. TRENT: The first thing I think of is quail. It's a great ingredient. Plenty of flavour. So, I grab some fresh muscatels, the golden raisins, and some of the verjuice to make a sauce for the quail. I've got the lamb rack but there's not enough on that lamb rack to make a sauce. So, I'll use the carcass of a chicken. Today, I'm going to be doing a quail and grapes dish. I want to create a grape chutney and quail grape jus, then I want to use that quail jus as a beautiful glaze and just really quickly pan-sear my quail. I want to use all of the offcuts in the jus. I actually love the flavour of the verjuice and the red wine, so I'm going to use both of those to deglaze my plan. Elena. Hi. What's the dish? So, I'm going to do a grape chutney and then have vine leaves and have the quail on top of there. So, I'm going to have a few different flavours of the grapes. I'm rapt that you're using one, two, three, four, five grape items. Because this is all about grapes. Yeah. OK. GARY: Good stuff. Thank you. Now that my jus is under control, I immediately start the chutney. It adds another flavour and depth of the grape to the dish. Today's challenge is extremely important. The winner will be fast-tracked straight into finals week. And that's where I'd really like to find myself. It's pretty amazing to be cooking out here with the grape vines in the background. So, yeah, feels good to be outside. To be here in the Napa Valley and to be one cook away from potentially in that finals week, it's really sort of hit home now that I could go all the way with it. So, today, I'm cooking a grilled quail with cauliflower skordalia in an agrodolce sauce. A skordalia is a traditional Greek dish, but essentially it's pureed vegetable with plenty of roasted garlic and plenty of olive oil. Ah, Mr On-A-Roll Trent. You do a casual little challenge, put up a great dish. Yeah. It does feel good to be sort of on a bit of a roll. Never take it for granted, though, do you? Yeah, that's it. What's the dish? So, I'm going to do some grilled quail. I'm going to do a puree or, like, a skordalia with the yellow cauliflower. Nice. And I'm going to do sort of an agrodolce kind of verjuice grape, golden raisins for the sauce. Yeah, I like that idea, actually. Good flavours. Yeah, I think it's a really nice idea. What I like is, Trent, you're confident about the flavours that you've got. Yeah. You know? That's you and we love that, and I think now you've really hit your identity, which is great. Good stuff. Thank you. Thanks. Good luck. I feel like I've got a bit of momentum now and I really want this first spot in the finals week. So, today, I'm going to have to bring my A game. I need to nail every element on the dish. So, I'll get straight on to the sauce for the quail. MIMI: I'm using quite a few wine and grape products today. We're at a vineyard, so when else are we going to use grapes this much? I know that the other three are going to be doing savoury, so I kind of need to separate myself from them. I'm going to focus on the red wine and the cheese and make sort of, like, a dessert inspired by a cheese platter. I'm going to cook a red wine and grape sorbet with a cake drenched in red wine, and some blue-cheese cream. Work neat, work clean and tidy, yes? Yeah. To make the red wine and grape sorbet, I'm going to simmer some red wine with some sugar until it dissolves the sugar and then put it in the churner and get it set. It needs as much time as possible in the churner, so it sets in time. Who is going to be the first person into finals week? 30 minutes down, one hour to go. Come on. Come on, guys. So, Mimi, you were, like, the star yesterday. It was your dessert that got your team here. It was a team effort. Yeah, I know it was a team effort. But your dessert was dish of the day and that's probably why you're here. You're making a sorbet? Yeah. Yeah? With wine. Yeah. Wine's a hard thing to make a sorbet with. Think about it. We've only got an hour to go and I know Matt's a bit concerned about the red wine sorbet. I'm starting to feel a little bit stressed about this. Setting alcohol can be really difficult. Sorbet is the main element on my plate, so if this doesn't set, then I don't really have a dish and I can say goodbye to my chance of getting this fast track to finals week. I don't know what to do. Today, I'm going to do a roast lamb rack with a chicken and mushroom jus. Lamb and chicken... It's a weird combination of flavours but I know that it works. I've done it before and I absolutely love it. The stock is the backbone of a jus, so the first thing I need to do is break down the chicken to make this jus. I begin by just removing both breasts, the back legs, hacking up that carcass into small pieces and then into a roasting tray over a high heat. And just let it caramelise. Matt. I'm quite excited to see what you're cooking. You've got some really lovely ingredients there. So, what's the plan? So, I'm going to do a roast lamb rack with a...pickled carrots in the juice of those grapes with a mushroom and chicken jus. OK. And so the only place that the grapes are in is in the carrots? And it a grape challenge, yeah? I've forgotten the brief. There are no grapes on my dish at all. So, I'm just racking my brain as to how I'm going to fix this... ..or do I need to ditch this dish and start again? MATT SINCLAIR: Today's challenge is pretty simple. We have 90 minutes to create a dish that is celebrating grapes. The Inglenook Estate itself is picturesque. There's vines for days. The sun is shining. It is an absolute palace. It's phenomenal. I'm making a roasted lamb rack with celeriac puree, pickled carrots and a chicken and mushroom jus, which is a cracking dish. It's just missing one thing. Grapes. I don't want to have to start again but I want that ticket straight through to finals. So, I need to fix this. I can create a grape identity for the sauce so as soon as they taste it, bang, they know it's grapes. I've decided to drop the mushrooms from the jus and replace that with some red wine, and then I boost that with some of the dried fruits that we have available. Yeah, I think that's going to work. We've got to put up the best dish of the competition to get through to finals week, so I'm willing to throw down everything I've got and see if I can come up with the goods. TRENT: Today I'm cooking a grilled quail with cauliflower skordalia in an agrodolce sauce. This has got the golden raisins, verjuice, and I'm just going to finish it off with some of these muscatels and a bit of butter. Yeah, happy with how it's coming along. Just sort of need to start getting a move on, getting all the elements coming together. MIMI: There's less than an hour to go and I've realised that I've got a bit of a problem. Setting alcohol, especially in a sorbet, can be really difficult. I want the sorbet to be really deep in red wine flavour but I also need it to set. So, I need to find a way to dilute the alcohol without losing the red wine flavour. I run to the pantry and there's some sparkling grape juice there, and I think maybe this might add a bit of flavour and texture as well. So, I put some grape juice in there as well as the wine. I think it's right now. I hope anyway. ELENA: Today, I'm cooking grapes, quail and vine leaves. Now that my chutney's under control, I go back to working on my jus for the quail. I'm not doing anything to the quail other than to pan fry it and season it lightly, so I want to reduce this jus to an intensely caramelised and rich, thick syrup to really glaze and make these beautiful quails super-sticky. I kind of want to use as many grape products as I can. So, I'm thinking about how I could perhaps use the vine leaves. You want to be standing out for good reasons and having some uniqueness on the plate. So I've decided I'm going to dehydrate the vine leaves to create sort of a dusting or a powder. I put some in the oven to see how the texture changes. I'm really excited about this dish. GEORGE: This place is mind-blowingly gorgeous. The produce that they've been given is incredible. And a positive outcome at the end of this. GARY: Matt - I think he's in a strong position. He's making a smashing sauce. That's what he wanted to kick off with. I'm worried about the lamb rack idea. He might be leaving it really late in the day to start. But the question is, can he get it done in time and is it going to be delicious? Interestingly, Elena is doing quail with vine leaves. A chutney using the raisins and the grapes I think is just a delicious way to go. And I'm really loving the idea of Mimi's dessert. I think it absolutely nails the brief. A red wine sorbet is a really clever way to go. If she can push that, we've got a dessert that is going to stand out, because everyone else is doing savoury. It'll depend entirely on whether that sorbet is going to set beautifully. I hope it does, for Mimi's sake. But in saying that, Trent... I love that he's confident. If he cooks that quail perfectly, it is another delicious dish. You just want it to be bold, don't you? And I don't want to be disappointed by one of the ingredients on the plate. I think it's dawned on them. A lot of pressure. For the sauce, it's an agrodolce sauce, so it's like a sort of sweet-and-sour almost. Yeah, that's simmering away. And I'm happy with it. So, I get started on my cauliflower skordalia, which is pretty much just a puree with plenty of roasted garlic and plenty of extra-virgin olive oil. It'll just bring the whole dish together. I need to make sure the texture's smooth and creamy and the flavours are really well balanced. I get it into the blender. And I'm having a little bit of trouble. The texture of the skordalia is not where I want it. It's just not really working for me. I really need to figure out how to fix it. If I don't get this right, it could throw out the whole dish and, yeah, that's my ticket to finals out the door. You want this! You want this bad! 45 minutes down. 45 minutes to go. Come on. GARY: Come on. MIMI: I've left my sorbet in the churner for as long as possible, but it's time to get my sorbet into the freezer. I was a bit worried about the alcohol, but I put a bit of sparkling grape juice into it, so it should set. It's looking really nice. I just need to get it into the mould so it kind of looks like a little grape and then get straight into the freezer. Hopefully, once it's in the freezer, it will set. Now I can start making all my other elements. I still have to make the cake and the blue-cheese cream that go in the dish. I've got quite a bit to do still, so I need to really move quickly. MATT SINCLAIR: I've got my celeriac puree on the go. It's nice and buttery. And my sauce is bubbling away. I'm really happy with it. It's super-rich, super-intense. And it's got the grapes through it. I love it. So, now I can finally move on to frenching my lamb rack. To prepare the rack of lamb, I need to begin by removing the second half of the cap. I'm going to take two of the bones out and then french the others. I'm feeling under the pump because that's a pretty time-consuming job. ELENA: When I get my vine leaves out of the oven, they start to crumble and form a really beautiful dark-green dust, and that's exactly what I was going for. I'm thrilled. I've used a lot of grape products today. I am worried that the dish is going to be too sweet. There's a big advantage on the line and I need to pull out all the stops here. We've got this beautiful, fresh lavender from the Napa Valley to use. And there's also this really delicious goat's cheese. So, I'm thinking I'm going to try and infuse the milk with lavender and then whip that through the goat's cheese. What are you doing the lavender with? I wanted to whip it through the goat's cheese. Lavender...so powerful. Yeah. You don't want to overpower it. Oh, no. Yeah. This is a big risk I'm taking. If I get it wrong I definitely won't be going straight through to finals week. The winner of today's cook-off is fast-tracked straight into finals week. It's definitely where I'd like to find myself, but Gary and George don't really love my idea of creating this lavender-infused goat's cheese. I've used a lot of grape products today and I am worried that without it, the dish is going to be too sweet. This is a big risk I'm taking but I'm quite happy with the way that it tastes, so I need to trust myself and I need to go with my instincts. We love your focus! We love your concentration! So much on the line! 30 minutes to go! GARY: Come on! GEORGE: Come on, guys. Come on. Ramp it up now, yeah? Ramp it up. Keep clean, keep neat. If this was a horse race, I think they'd all be nose to nose to nose to nose coming up that final furlong. I can't wait to taste what we're going to see here. I'm loving the concentration, through. It feels very different to normal. There's something going on. Look at them. They're just, like, so professional. Yeah, it's wonderful. That's what it's all about. That's why they've made it here. TRENT: Right from the start of this cook, I've been thinking about how I'm going to balance all the flavours in this dish. I'm making a yellow cauliflower skordalia. There's a creamy element to make. Everything else is coming together perfectly. But I just can't get the texture right. The dish really needs this creamy element, so I need to come up with a way to fix it. I add some extra cream, some more butter, some more olive oil. I get it into a jug with a stick blender and just slowly figure out the texture and get it 100% right. Finally, it's come together. I've got the texture that I want. The flavour's really good. I've seasoned it well and I'm finally happy with it. I'm so relieved. This is probably one of the biggest advantages we've had so far, so, yeah, I love it. MIMI: My sponge is made and cooling down. I've got my sorbet in the freezer. All I need to really do is make the blue-cheese cream. The dish is very sweet. I think the blue cheese in there will make it a bit more salty and reinforce the cheese and the red wine flavour in the dish. I really want to win this. I'm feeling really good about it so I just hope that I can keep moving really quickly and plate it up as beautifully as I think it tastes. The food smells delicious. The place? It speaks for itself. The time? You don't have much left. 15 minutes to go. Come on, guys. GEORGE: Come on! Come on! MATT SINCLAIR: There's really not much longer to go in the cook now and I've only just finished frenching my lamb rack, so I need to get it in the oven. I feel like I might be able to get it to the point that I wanted, but this one is going to come down to the wire. Now that the lamb's all sorted, I can start moving on to my pickling liquid. I begin by getting the two bunches of grapes, running them through the juicer, and then I'll put that on the stove, bring it to a boil, add verjuice, champagne vinegar and sugar. I'm using the natural sweetness of those grapes to create that element in the pickle. I feel like I'm really hitting the brief now. And it tastes beautiful. But it all comes down to the lamb rack. I've got a number of my elements done now, so I'm feeling a lot happier and I'm getting ready to cook my quail. I've got the goat's cheese ready, the chutney is done and I'm super-excited about the glaze. It's so thick and syrupy and I can't wait to put it on the quail. I want to make sure that I've got enough time to rest my quail after I've cooked it, and I want to make sure I've got enough time to glaze it upon resting. GARY: All coming together? Oh, this is the base of my jus, so I took some of the meat out and I pulled the meat apart. You know what we like. We always like those bits. I like those bits as well. Gary reminds me that the pan drippings are some of his favourite parts, and I'm pleased cos I was already using some of the meat and pulling it from the bones and incorporating that into this dish. MATT SINCLAIR: I'm feeling good. I'm feeling like I'm definitely in with a shot. I'm happy with where I'm at. The carrots are pickling. My witlof is in the pan braising and it's looking good. If the sauce ticks the boxes in terms of meeting the brief, I'm really happy with it. So, I guess all that's left is to cook that lamb perfectly. I take my lamb out of the oven to see how it's travelling and it's pretty soft. It feels like it's nowhere near being cooked. I put it in the oven too late. I need to fix this. I need to get it into the oven. If I don't get a flawless piece of lamb on that plate today, there's absolutely no way that I'm going through to finals straightaway. Whatever it takes! Whatever it takes! 10 minutes to go. Come on! GARY: Come on, let's go. Not long. TRENT: There's only minutes left. I just really need to finish off my quail, my endive. I just need to give myself plenty of time to plate up as well. So, I'm just trying to tie up all of the last few elements that I have and, yeah, should be sweet. For me to nail the quail, I really need to make sure it's a little bit pink in the middle, nice and tender and juicy, cooked evenly and caramelised on the outside. Just want to make sure I watch it, I don't want to overcook it. So... It's looking pretty good. (TIMER BEEPS) There's a few minutes left and I need to get this sorbet out. I'm really feeling the nerves of this cook. Especially with this sorbet. It's the main element on my plate, so I've got my head in the freezer and I'm desperately trying to get this sorbet out of the mould. I try and pop it out and... (GROANS) ..it's not set. I'm thinking it's because of the alcohol. I'm thinking I'm not going to get anything out on the plate. This is an absolute nightmare. I have a 1-in-4 chance of getting fast-tracked through to finals week, so there's a lot on the line. And my sorbet is still not set. If my sorbet doesn't work, then I pretty much don't have a dish. But time's ticking now and I really need to start plating up. I put a layer of the red-wine-soaked sponge on the plate. Then I need to pipe in some of the blue-cheese cream. Now I need to get the walnut crumble on. I'm gonna leave my sorbet in the freezer till the last very few seconds, and just hope that it works out alright. You're almost there! Five minutes to go! GEORGE: Come on, guys! Come on! Come on! GARY: Let's go. TRENT: Final few minutes and the quail is cooked evenly and nice and caramelised on the outside. I'm gonna season it with a fennel salt. I think the fennel flavour goes really well with quail and, also, the other ingredients that I have in this dish. So, I need to start plating up. I really need to make sure I get this presentation 100% right cos this really showcases all the work that I've put into this dish today. Everyone's cooking so well. The food is just amazing at the moment. This is just next level. You want to be in finals week? Well, come on! Show it! Show it now! Not later! No regrets, yes? Yes, George. Check it, taste it, adjust it, season it, correct it. Yes? Yes, George. Come on. It's the bit that's gonna make the difference. It's the bit that's gonna give you that ticket into finals week. The eye in the detail. That's what matters. Make every single minute count. 'Yes, George'? MIMI: Yes, George. ELENA: The quail's cooked nicely and I've frenched those quail legs. They look gorgeous, so now I'm going to start plating. I want this to kind of look delicate and refined. I've got my lavender-infused goat's cheese in a disc on the bottom of the plate. I've got the, uh, warm chutney and pulled meat on top of there. And then I've sprinkled over the vine-leaf dust. The only thing left to do is to glaze the quail one more time. MATT SINCLAIR: I've got all my elements on the plate, except the lamb rack. I need to cut into this thing and see what I'm dealing with. It's under. I need to fix this. I need to get it in that pan. It's fingers crossed. Final touches - one minute to go! GARY: Come on! MIMI: I'm feeling pretty panicked right now. I need to get this sorbet out. I grab the blowtorch and heat the balls. Hopefully, it just pops out of the mould. Whoo! Finally! I'm so relieved. You need to get every element on the plate now! 10 seconds to go! Nine... JUDGES: Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... That's it! Your time is up. Well done! GEORGE: Well done, guys. (MIMI SIGHS) Good one. How'd you go? Alright? MATT SINCLAIR: Time's up and I only just got my lamb on the plate. I just hope it's cooked through beautifully because finals week is like the... ..pinnacle of the competition right now. Hey. To get a ticket straight into that and start preparing for it... ..I want it more than anything. MIMI: Bloody hell, that was hectic. I'm really excited about this tasting, because I don't think we've seen as good food in this competition so far. The penny has dropped, has it not, with all these guys? I think the combination of amazing produce, great location and... ..and I think all four of the cooks, um, vying for that first place in finals week, they get what they want to do. GARY: Yeah. You know, there's clarity there, which is so crucial. I can't wait to see what they've put on the plate. Shall we get the first one in? Yeah. Yeah. ELENA: Good luck, Trent. MATT SINCLAIR: Good luck, mate. Thanks. To get a spot in the finals week, after today's cook, uh, would be amazing. I'm really happy with the flavours in this dish. Everything's really well balanced and seasoned. I'm confident but I just hope the judges agree. GARY: So, what's the dish? Grilled quail with yellow cauliflower skordalia, roast romanesco-grilled witlof and some agrodolce sauce. It looks fabulous. You know, the promise is there that it's gonna be a good dish. How does that make you feel? I'm super-proud of myself. I think, at the start of the competition, to be able to plate up something like that, there's no way I would have been able to do it. Is it good enough to get you into the finals? I really, really hope it is. Um, I feel like I made sure everything, I tasted it all, seasoned it all. Um, I'm happy with the plating. I thought about that right from the start of the cook. And I feel like I've done everything that I possibly can. Thank you very much, indeed. Good luck. We'll taste now. Thanks, guys. Good stuff, mate. Well done. Looks pretty good, doesn't it? I love it. And the presentation is just a surprise. Great colour on the quail and I really like the way he's used the grapes and the little plooshes of dill to pop some colour. And the golden-roasted cauliflower looks really good. Let's just hope we get Trent's tell-tale, big, booming flavours. Then he may well be in finals week. Well, there's definitely lots of grapes on this dish, isn't there? He's cooked that quail most beautifully. That is absolutely on point. I'm very pleased for him. And that yellow cauliflower skordalia seems to have absolutely worked for him. I didn't even know how yellow cauliflower would react when you cooked it. But look at that! That sauce is so yum. And with the meat, it is delicious. For me, the real success of the dish is the way Trent's managed to balance that very sweet gravy, loaded with dried grapes and loaded with sultanas, against the bitterness or the garlic in the skordalia. And that balance is so perfect. It's a sophisticated plate of food. And it's absolutely a Trent plate of food, which is the most exciting thing here. It may be plated in a kind of fancy-dancy, fine-dining-restaurant manner, but the flavours are absolutely pure Trent, you know? I really do think he's found his mojo in this competition. You'd hope so. This is the time you need it. Yeah. Let's get the next dish in. I'm walking my plate in to the judges and, uh, I'm really happy with everything that I got on there today. I'm a little bit suspect on the lamb. The last thing I want to do is serve undercooked lamb. I just hope I got it right. Tell us what the dish is. It's: Oh, look at you. You are absolutely beaming. You're happy. I'm happy. Yeah, I am happy. I know there was some pretty outstanding cooking out there today. All I can say is that I'm proud of that dish. I think it looks fantastic, Matt, I really do. And we're loving the growth. Look how far you've come. GARY: Mm. Before I came into this competition, my wife actually said to me, 'You know you're gonna get slammed for your plating.' What would she say about that? What would you love her to say about that? Um... (SIGHS) That it was all worth it. (WARM, GENTLE MUSIC) Good. I love... You know what? We love the fact that you get moved by food. And you do, don't you? Yeah, absolutely. We do all the time. Mm. It's OK. It's good stuff. Can you imagine winning it? Do you dream about it? Now I do. Yep, absolutely. It's a very real possibility. Keep dreaming, cos dreams come true. Off you go. Thank you. Well done, Matt. How good does that look? That looks fantastic. Eh? Yeah. You know, detail in the vegetables, that little charriness of the witlof. Yeah. You know, you... Fresh grapes. Fresh grapes. Yeah. I mean, we know that, right at the end, he was having some issues with the lamb, yeah? I mean, with a minute to go... He took it down to the wire, didn't he? Let's see if it's cooked, shall we? Do it. GEORGE: How good does that look? GARY: That looks fantastic. We know that right at the end, he was having some issues with the lamb. I mean, with a minute to go... He took it down to the wire, didn't he? Let's see if it's cooked, shall we? Let's do it. GEORGE: That's cooked perfectly. Yeah. That is... ..spot-on, isn't it? Mmm! What I love about the dish, the lamb, the char on the witlof, the way that balance is... its bitterness balances that really delicious, thick, rich, sweet gravy. And that butter puree, which has been cannily held together with a little bit of, um, celeriac. (LAUGHS) Um... That combination is so delicious. You know, the lamb is cooked perfectly, the witlof is outstanding. The sauce is just...there's a lot of work in that sauce that says, 'This guy knows how to cook.' This challenge was all about grapes. And that sauce - he has gone to town with grapes. Yeah. Big thumbs-up. Yeah. Great food. Let's get the next dish in. MIMI: Walking the dish up to the judges, I'm feeling pretty excited. It's definitely heroing grapes and red wine, so I'm just hoping that it hits the brief and that it's really tasty. What did you cook? I made a red wine and grape sorbet with red-wine-soaked cake and some blue-cheese cream. How...did you go? I just loved cooking with such incredible scenery to look at. And it feels really good. I'm surprised at how happy you feel, once you've actually finished a dish and you get to serve it. It's all the things I like to eat. It's a beautiful thing, Mimi. It really is. Well, you should be proud of what you do. Yeah? Cos it's an incredible thing... Yeah. ..this power that you have to be able to put something in front of someone and instantly be gratified. Yep. There's not many jobs in the world that allow you to do that. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks, Mimi. What do you reckon, Matt? I reckon it looks great. Absolutely all about the grapes. I also think it's really creative. I mean, you know, you give most chefs the idea of red wine, walnuts and grapes and they won't give you that, you know? You'd kind of fall into the same old trap and the same old dishes. And that's thinking laterally about what to pop into that little bowl. I think if Alex, here at Inglenook, is looking for a signature dessert that celebrates the wine from this winery, this is a...a beautiful contender. I love it cos there's just a little bit of blue cheese to bring some saltiness to... Yeah. ..to balance the fact that this is wholeheartedly and unashamedly a grape dessert. Totally all about the grape. That's exactly that. Every mouthful that I have, it's there, and the little pops of blue cheese... Yeah. ..are needed. Cos without them, it just becomes very over the top. And a totally different dish to everyone else. Yeah, absolutely. I think she's smashed it, to be honest, and she's kept it very firmly, you know, grounded in that sorbet, in that sponge, in those...the pops of those different flavours on the grapes. I think it's very, very clever. Let's get the last dish in. I think I've surprised myself a little bit. I'm really happy with what I've cooked. I took a big risk with the lavender-infused goat's cheese. I'm hoping that pays off. And I just hope that the lavender flavour doesn't overpower the dish. GEORGE: What's the dish? It's: Is this another Elena flavour bomb? I was pretty excited when I, um, was tasting all the little bits and pieces all together, and I even couldn't go past putting some of the gnarly bits from the jus, and I sort of tore all the flesh off the bones in there, so... Like, has it dawned on you yet that potentially, you know, you're one plate away of getting into finals week, then potentially winning...? Then what's gonna happen after that? My heart just started racing just as you said it. I think visualising finale and beyond finale and all of those things, um, that helps motivate me. I'm feeling more comfortable and more confident and...a little bit safer to take risks, somehow. Can I tell you, the food that you've been putting up has been absolutely brilliant and we've been loving this kind of new confidence. It looks amazing. Uh, we cross our fingers for you and hope that it tastes as good as it looks. Thank you very much. GEORGE: I...I'm mesmerised by this plate of food. It's got freshness, it's got brightness, it's got the glisten of that glaze, which looks wonderful. It's got the interest of the dehydrated vine leaves as a salt. Yeah, and this detail - like, you know, the frenching of the bones... And the little glaze on the... And the glaze. ..on the quail. I'm...I'm salivating now. That's really well cooked, again, isn't it? Ooh, yeah. Mmm! How bloody good is that?! (CHUCKLES) Food...heaven! You've got this smart way where she's introduced the cheese, and these little fresh grapes are just...add... Yeah. ..refreshingness to the dish. Yeah. And the glaze - that is integrity in its cooking. It is smart. (BLOWS RASPBERRY) You know, that acidity on that goat's cheese is just absolutely delicious. It's double thumbs-up, big smile on my face. Yeah, it's a dish with all the boring bits taken out, isn't it? Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Everything about it is joy. And that really subtle flavour of lavender that adds a bit of fragrance to the dish, that culminates with the creaminess of the goat's cheese, with that chutney, is spectacular. Grapes all over the dish. For me, that's as good as anything else we've eaten in California - professional, um, or amateur. Amazing cooking. Yeah. GEORGE: You spoke about it, Matt, at the start - 'Guys, take inspiration of the place.' And she's totally done that. Mm. But, no, I think they all have. I think that's what's so exciting about... Yeah. ..about these four young, amateur cooks, who are vying for that first place in the finals, is that every single one of them has put up a dish that is, one, delicious, two, champions the grape, and number three, shows balance and shows a real sense of place. GEORGE: Yeah. All four of those guys, I'd be quite happy to put them all through right now, and just go, 'Right, you're all... 'Those are great dishes...' Yeah, brilliant. 'Off you go.' But we can't do that. No, we can't. We've got to pick one. TRENT: I'm a little bit nervous, waiting for the verdict. Uh, even though there's no negative consequences today, there's a spot in the finals week on the line and, yeah, stakes couldn't be higher. That food today was absolutely beautiful and I think you've done yourselves proud. And I think, more importantly, you've done this beautiful location here in the Napa Valley, and, of course, that gorgeous produce that you cooked with, proud as well. Now, with a place in finals week at stake, you've made this a particularly difficult decision. Let's get down to business. Mimi - bold, going out, doing a dessert. You gave us... grapes, grapes, grapes. The addition of the blue cheese, delicious. Trent, it was sophisticated, and the intensity in that sauce was delicious. Elena... ..it looked spectacular. The lavender in the cheese gave us some shivers down our spine. Matt, you cooked that lamb rack. It was cooked perfectly! Delicious. Well done. But as always, guys, there can only be one winner. And the three of us agreed there was one dish that just stood above the rest. The contestant... ..going straight through... ..to finals week of MasterChef 2016... ..Elena. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Thank you, guys. I'm just over the moon to be through to finals week. It was such a beautiful day and, so, this is just like the... ..the super icing on the really awesome cake. (LAUGHS) MATT PRESTON: Elena, congratulations. I don't know what's happening here, in California, but, you know, it isn't just you - all four of those dishes were... were really restaurant-worthy. But I'm just looking across all seven of you and every one of you is lifting your game. And that's why I'm not gonna say, 'Go home, get some rest.' I'm gonna say, 'Go home, get your bags.' Cos we're in Los Angeles next. We'll see you there tomorrow. Get out of there! You got a plane to catch. ELENA: Thank you! Go on, guys! (CHEERING) Vamos! LA! ELISE: Well done, Elena. ANNOUNCER: Next time, at Santa Monica Pier... You're gonna be running your very own food truck. ..a dream come true. This is what I want to do. ELISE: Come on, guys! They're cooking street food for 200 people... Break it up, break it up. ..and for a guaranteed place in finals week. GARY: This is make or break. Come on! But... We're in trouble here. ..when a dream becomes a nightmare... Aagh! No-one wants to go near this chicken. ..it could land the entire team... You're not gonna be able to get it done. We really are sinking here. ..in elimination. That's not something I want hanging over my head. Able 2017 Well, come along, please. Settle. That's it. Well, good evening to you. Here we are again in the excitement that is each other's company. The pleasure is all yours. (CHUCKLES) Oh, good one, me. Now, previously in my life, Stevie made me go on an Outward Bound course. HELP!