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London native survives first episode of MasterChef Canada

One of his radish cheesecakes collapsed and he burned the bottom of his lamb ragout, but Rozin Abbas survived.

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One of his radish cheesecakes collapsed and he burned the bottom of his lamb ragout, but Rozin Abbas survived.

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The 30-year-old London native is one of the final 10 contestants on CTV’s MasterChef Canada. He watched Monday as eight other challengers asked to leave the kitchen. The remaining competitors will continue to demonstrate their culinary talents in pursuit of the $100,000 cash prize.

The series resumes Monday at 9 p.m. when the contestants are divided into teams and tasked with preparing a dinner for 120 wedding guests.

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“I feel really good,” said Abbas in a telephone interview. “I made a promise to myself not to do a single thing that I’ve ever cooked before. I want to make it as hard as possible on myself.”

On Monday, Abbas survived a Mystery Box Challenge where the contestants received a box of root vegetables to work with, followed by a protein cookoff.

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The winner of Mystery Box Challenge, Jenny Miller, was given a pass to survive the episode and was allowed to pick two other cooks to protect. She also determined the order for the remaining nine cooks to select the protein they would prepare, including king crab, salmon, turkey, octopus, beef, hamburger, pork and lamb.

Miller, admittedly concerned about Abbas’s skill level, didn’t allow him to pick his protein until last, so he was left with lamb, a meat he grew up eating at home cooked by his mother Nawroz, an immigrant from Iraq.

For the Mystery Box Challenge, Abbas made a radish cheesecake. He made three and the first one he removed from the oven collapsed, but the second one held firm and he continued to the next challenge with the lamb.

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“It was absolutely delicious, the best cheesecake I’ve ever made,” declared Abbas, who also used parsnips and spicing (cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon, not unlike carrot cake) for sweetness.

The lamb ragout he prepared next wasn’t flawless. The meat scorched the bottom of the pressure cooker, but a biryani spice mixture added to the meat masked the burnt flavour.

“That model of pressure cooker I’ve never used before and it was way faster than I’m used to, so it was a bit annoying,” said Abbas.

“I grew up on that dish. My mother must have cooked it four times a month.”

Abbas said he’s enjoyed the experience, noting the contestants genuinely like each other.

“We’re all people who love food so much and we really don’t want to ruin it for each other,” said Abbas, who said he and a few other contestants will continue to take risks cooking dishes they’ve never tried.

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Among those who, like Abbas, enjoy the risk-taking is the show’s oldest contestant, Tony La Ferrara, a 69-year-old soccer coach and retired teacher.

La Ferrara, who cut his left hand in the opening minutes of the first challenge, went on to win the protein challenge when he chose the king crab, which he’s never cooked before, by preparing a crab and ricotta-stuffed cannelloni. It won praise from the judges: Michael Bonacini (O&B restaurants in Toronto), Alvin Leung (Bo Innovation in Hong Kong), and Claudio Aprile (Toronto’s Copetin Restaurant & Bar).

“I’m really excited the way things are working out for me,” said Abbas. “There are a few of us who don’t want to play it safe. If you’re not having fun, taking risks, what’s the point of doing it?”

jbelanger@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/JoeBatLFPress

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