Altona’s Walleed Rasheed and Seddon’s Simon Toohey will be vying for a coveted white apron when they plate up their signature dish on the MasterChef Australia season premiere on Monday.
Mr Rasheed told Star Weekly about the first dish he plates up for judges Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris.
“I’ve done a baclava ice cream cone,” he said.
“It’s homemade filo pastry as the cone and that’s topped with roasted pistachio ice cream and pistachio paste,” he said. “Just to be there and know that you’re going to be cooking for these three amazing judges … I really wanted to make sure that I cooked my best.”
Hailing from an Egyptian background, Mr Rasheed said he had cooked all his life.
“My mother and grandmother, they used to cook every day and I used to always learn and watch them cook,” he said.
Mr Rasheed, who works in the corporate sector, said his philosophy towards food is that it brings people together.
“The way I see food is, I truly believe that food … is like the centrepiece anywhere you go,” he said. “It’s the life of wherever you go.”
Mr Toohey has taken a more savoury path for his signature dish and will be plating up a crispy skin cod with broccoli stem, jerusalem artichoke and pine nut cream.
The pair will be among 24 amateur cooks when the show returns to Ten on April 29 at 7.30pm.
