When I discovered that the challenge was ground beef and the sides of beef came reeling in, the stench was strong. My mind racing, I decided to prepare a French dish inspired from my former beloved mother-in-law. Every time we would visit France together, we would make “Des Roulades” which was ground pork actually with bacon.
Since I was a small child meat has made me feel sick. I came home from school when I was 9 and declared to my mother that I was going to be a vegetarian. From that day forth, I would not eat meat until I was 24 years old. And, when I did I went directly into the hospital with a severe kidney infection.
Although my family loved these roulades, I did not partake in the consumption of them. For some reason my body does not ingest meat without stomach pain. It was a great family tradition and I love to cook for others.
Healthy ground beef? One of the best solutions would have been to find the best grade possible and create a tartar. Uncertain of the grade and raw consumption safety, I needed a back up plan.
An important note about consuming concentrated proteins, animal proteins is to combine them with vegetables not starches. Therefore a steak with broccoli is a good combination but steak and potatoes will slow digestion and increase acidity in the body which is the precursor to a multitude of ailments.
I chose to season the beef beautifully and roll it in grilled zucchini slices and poached leeks topped with a stunning sauce accompanied with roasted vegetables.
The judges tasted my sauce and roulades and declared emphatically that my dish was so great that I deserved a place in the MasterChef kitchen! That moment when the two groups of twelve were called, I was waiting to see. I could not tell where I stood in or out? And the joy that showered in as Gordon announced that we had made it into the MasterChef kitchen was indescribable.