Ever dreamt of having Ben as your tour-guide??

Want to win a guided tour of Tasmania's 'Cradle to Coast Tasting Trail' hosted by Ben Milbourne?? Well, here's your chance!! All you have to do is to LIKE their facebook page between Tuesday 25^th March 2014 and 11.59pm Friday 25^th April 2014 to go into the draw to win!!

And if you win, here's what you are entitled to:

The winner will receive return tickets for 2 adults on the Spirit of Tasmania between Melbourne & Devonport, one night accommodation at Sails on Port Sorell Boutique Apartments including dinner and breakfast, one night accommodation with dinner and breakfast at Cable Station Restaurant & Accommodation, a guided tour of the Cradle to Coast Tasting Trail with BEN MILBOURNE including tastings and lunch with Cradle Coast Tours. Prize value over $4300!

Photo source: Cradle to coast tasting trail facebook page

So, what exactly you are waiting for???? 

A couple of YUMMY recipes by Ben

Eton Mess: A delicious delicious dessert, basically made of fresh strawberries..

Eton Mess  (photo credit: yTravel blog)

 

 Ingredients

• 4 Egg whites
• 80g of caster Sugar
• 1 teaspoon of cracked Black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of white vinegar
• ½ teaspoon of cream of tartar
• zest of 2 Limes
• 330mls of Cream
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla
• 1 tablespoon of caster Sugar
• 1 punnet of Strawberries, roughly chopped
• ½ cup of peanut M&M’s
• Micro Basil (optional)

Directions

1. Add the vanilla, sugar, and lime zest to the cream and whip into soft peaks.
2. Preheat the oven to 100 degrees
3. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form then rain in the caster sugar until stiff peaks form and the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is glossy,
4. Fold in the black pepper, then spoon the mixture into a piping bag.Pipe small meringues about the size of a 10 cent piece on to silicon paper, then place in the oven.

Amatriciana: It's a traditional Italian pasta dish..

Amatriciana

 Ingredients

• 400g of penne or pappardelle
• 150g of quality salami
• 100g of pecorino grated
• 250g parma ham cut into batons
• 2 red chilies chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 brown onion
• 4 thyme sprigs
• salt and pepper
• 10 medium tomatoes
• olive oil
• garnish
• 4 slices of sourdough, toasted  
• 1 bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 bunch of basil, chopped
• Zest of 2 lemons

Method

1. Put the tomatoes in a shallow roasting tray and drizzle with 1 TBS of olive oil, season with salt and pepper and through in the garlic and thyme and roast in an oven for 20 to 30 mins at 180 degrees. Then peel the roasted garlic and pick the thyme leave and place in a blender with tomatoes and roasting juices and blend for 5 to 10 seconds.
2. In a large fry pan sauté the onion, salami, parma ham and chili over a medium heat for 5 – 8 mins. Add the tomato mix and season and simmer for 5 mins.
3. To make the garnish, add the torn toasted sourdough to a food processor and blitz until rustic crumbs form. Transfer to a bowl and mix through parsley, basil and lemon zest.
4. Cook the pasta to packet instructions and then toss it through the sauce, serve topped with the crumbs and freshly grated pecorino.

Enjoy!!

"Ben's Menu" on its way..

Since his first appearance in Masterchef Australia, Ben has always been an ambassador for his state Tasmania & as we said earlier, Ben is just so much passionate aboot Tassie & all things Tasmanian. Ben is soon to begin a new cooking show, "Ben's Menu" which is set to be prodced in Tasmania with Tasmanian produce. Ben's Tasmanian focussed cooking show will hit television screens in Australia later this year.
The show is expected to air on Channel Ten, weekdays from 4-4:30 in September of this year. The Liberal party of Australia (Tasmania division) have showed their support towards Ben's new television series with a $100,000 commitment. Regarding his upcoming cooking show, Ben said, “If the new show brings one person to Tasmania it would be happy but I hope it does much more than that.’’ He expects the show to attract 1.5 million viewers a week . He also hopes the local food and the Tasmanians that produce it will be the real stars of this show.

Tourism on the menu, with Tassie key ingredient of TV cooking show 

A cooking show for national television starring Coastal celebrity chef Ben Milbourne would base its filming in Tasmania under a Liberal state government.

The show would expose mainland audiences to the North-West, where Shearwater resident Mr Milbourne would film some of the 90-episode first series.

Liberals leader Will Hodgman yesterday announced $100,000 in funding for Mr Milbourne's new TV show, Ben's Menu, due to begin production. 

The show has also received funding from other sponsors.

Mr Hodgman said the funding would help the show attract tourists to Tasmania and build the state's profile. 

He described the spending as a strategic investment providing ``bang for buck''.

The funding will cover costs of filming in Tasmania, ensuring the show can be filmed in the state rather than a Melbourne studio.

Tasmania's screen industry would also benefit from the funding, Mr Hodgman said.

If filmed in Tasmania Ben's Menu  will travel across the state and Mr Milbourne will use local produce in his cooking on the show. 

The show, based in Launceston or Hobart, would visit the North-West and show off its scenery.

Each episode would set a menu, and viewers could adopt dishes to cook for dinner each night.

If it receives the Liberals' proposed funding, filming could begin in May and the show would air first in September on Channel Ten. 

Mr Milbourne said the show will expose mainland audiences to Tasmanian produce at supermarkets and draw visitors.

Filming the show in Tasmania would also mean Mr Milbourne could live close to home as his wife Sally had their first baby.

``Everyone knows how in love I am with my state,'' Mr Milbourne said.

When asked about the Liberals' proposed funding, Labor said if re-elected it would boost events funding by $6 million over three years to help stage new events in winter. 

Labor said it would also provide $400,000 over four years to support Tasmania's hospitality sector.

(Source: The Advocate March 13, 2014)

& here's a dessert Ben created using Fortunato No. 4

Whisky Poached Apricots with Vanilla Cream and Fortunato No. 4

• 6 Large apricots, halved and pitted
• 60mls of Whisky
• ½ cup of water
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 vanilla pods
• 330mls of cream
• ¼ cup of icing sugar
• 50g of Fortunato No 4, shaved
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise
• 5 shortbread biscuits, crushed

Whisky poached apricots with vanilla cream and Fortunato No. 4

Step 1 Place the sugar, water, whisky, cinnamon stick, star anise and beans from 1 vanilla pod in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Once the mixture has come to the boil place a naked flame over the top of the saucepan to burn off the alcohol (if you do not feel comfortable doing this allow the mixture to simmer for a couple of minute)

Step 2 Add the apricots to the whisky mixture then bring it back to the boil and then take it off the heat and allow to cool.

Step 3 In a small mixing bowl whip the cream, icing sugar and beans form the other vanilla pod to soft peaks and set aside in the fridge.

Step 4 Place the cool apricots and some poaching liquid into a serving bowl, spoon over some cream and top with shortbread crumb and lots of shaved Fortunato No 4.

Ben also suggests that you can enjoy Fortunato No. 4 on its own with a great coffee, or may be a whisky.

 

 

(Source: The Advocate, February 8, 2014)

Ben collaborates with House of Anvers:

Tassie Masterchef sensation Ben Milbourne recently collaborated with House Of Anvers to celebrate the Tasmanian release of the world's rarest chocolate Fortunato No. 4. The Anvers Chocolate Factory at Latrobe in Tasmania's north is a chocolate lovers' heaven. Igor Van Gerwen, a Belgian-trained chocolatier, creates some of the world's finest chocolate with locally sourced ingredients. & he also has the exclusive rights to introduce the rarest (and most delicious) chocolate on the planet, Fortunato No.4, to the Australian market. Recently House of Anvers released the 2013 vintage of the rare Fortunato No. 4 chocolate & Ben was invited at the event. Ben also revealed that this chocolate is going to be one of the main ingredients on the menu of his upcoming restaurant.

 

Ben Milbourne with House of Anvers' Igor Van Gerwen

Latrobe chocolate king Igor Van Gerwen prepares for Peruvian crusade to find rare cocoa beans--

Tasmanian chocolate maker Igor Van Gerwen will ride into the Peruvian mountains on a donkey next month to source more of the rare cocoa beans he crafts into the "holy grail'' of chocolate.

That same chocolate will be one of the star ingredients on the menu at celebrity chef Ben Milbourne's new restaurant venture in Port Sorell, which will open this spring.
Mr Van Gerwen has been making Fortunato No.4 dark chocolate from the rare Pure Cirollo: Pure Nacional bean since 2012.
Together with a couple of chefs from New York, he will venture into the high-altitude cocoa-growing area of Peru in March to help harvest, extract, sort, ferment and roast more beans to create another batch of what is fast becoming Anver's signature chocolate.
Mr Van Gerwen could not say where he was heading because he has signed a confidentiality agreement to protect the secret location of the trees.
"I do not know where I am going exactly, but I do know I will be riding a donkey into the hills to help trial roast the 2014 harvest to make next year's chocolate,'' he said.
"This cocoa variety grew in the wild 100 years ago but a virus then wiped it out.
"However, 23 plants were found to still be growing in a small valley at high altitude in 2007." Farmers are now being encouraged to grow the variety and the harvests are getting bigger.
"It is well worth the effort it takes to bring it to Tasmania,'' Mr Van Gerwen said.
Mr Milbourne, who lives at Shearwater on the state's North-West Coast, hopes to open his One Degree restaurant at Ghost Rock Vineyard near Port Sorell later this year.
And Anver's Fortunato No.4 dark chocolate - believed to be the rarest chocolate in the world - will be on the menu.
He today displayed the dessert he has created using whisky-poached apricots, vanilla cream and Fortunato No.4.
The Masterchef contestant is now working on other ways of incorporating the dark chocolate into his dishes.
"The chocolate has a great snap and crunch,'' Mr Milbourne said at Anver's Latrobe factory.
"It has a good acid line, which cuts through the cream and stops it being sickly.''

 (Source: The Mercury, February 6, 2014)

Here's an article Ben wrote about Fortunato No. 4, world's rarest chocolate:

Our Own Willy Wonka

Earlier this week Igor Van Gerwan (Tasmania’s own Willy Wonka) released the 2013 vintage of the rare Fortunato No 4 Chocolate. The chocolate is amongst the rarest and most expensive in the world

The 2013 vintage continues to display the 2012 Fortunato No 4 Characteristics, it has a good clean snap and gloss with fruit aromas and a very, very long lingering dark roasted nut accents. The most noticeable characteristic is the low bitterness and the long acid line (not quite as intense as last years), which makes it a very powerful complex chocolate like no other. Because this is a single origin chocolate it will change from vintage to vintage (year to year like wine). When you work with something that rellies on mother nature the flavour has the ability to change from year to year as the trees mature, the weather changes and the environment develops.

In March Igor will be heading to Peru for the 2014 Fortunato No 4 harvest season. After signing a confidentiality agreement to protect the secret location of the Fortunato No 4 trees, Igor will be one of the lucky few to visit the original 24 trees that are the mother trees of the current crops. Igor will be visiting the nurseries and will be involved in the Harvesting, Fermenting and Roasting of the 2014 Harvest. He will be living and working with the farmers, including Don Fortunato, the farmer responsible for the preservation on the world’s oldest cacao variety. I will be in contact with Igor while he is away on this once in a lifetime trip and keep you all up to date with how he is going.

Recipe 1 is a little more complicated than the other 2 I have come up with for this vintage of Fortunato No 4. The second 2 recipes are how I would normally enjoy this chocolate, it is so good on its own that it just need to be enjoyed with a coffee or a whisky.

(Source: The Advocate) 

Gold Coast Food & Wine Expo 2014 --

Gold Coast Food & Wine expo takes place on Gold Coast every year & this year (2014) Ben was one of the celebrity chefs who took part there. The other celebrity chefs were Masterchef 2013 winner Emma Dean, Masterchef season 2 finalist Courtney Roulston, chef Dennis Duncanson from Fingers and Bones, Daisuke Miyagi - Head Chef of TENS RESTAURANT etc. The 2014 Gold Coast Food and Wine expo continued for three days - 31st January till 2nd February. Ben did a Friday night dinner as well as luncheons on Saturday & Sunday.

Out of the kitchen.... this time, onto the cricket field

"Adye's Angel Foundation" run by Angella & Matthew Nicole is a non-profit, charity organisation in Tasmania who works towards raising money for the homeless children in India. They started their journey from January 11, 2012. For this purpose of raising money, every year they organize a celebrity twenty-twenty cricket match where renowned & famous personalities from different fields take part. This is their 2nd year running & Guess what, Ben has taken part in both the years' cricket games!!

So, here's Ben playing cricket:

Blast from the past: Masterchefs in Italy

Here are few pics of Ben from the famous Italy week of Masterchef Australia 2012:

Ben Milbourne at Devonport Show

Ben, along with Masterchef Australia 2013 sensation Daniel Churchill took part in the Devonport Show 2013 that held on November 29-30 at Devonport, Tasmania. They hosted kids in the kitchen demonstrations, locked horns in a Mystery Box challenge between themselves & also cooked  a four course gourmet dinner.
Ben was ecstatic to be part of this event so close to his heart. 
"I think the show has lost identity & relevance where a lot of younger people come in," Ben said prior to the show. "When I was in high school it was like going to Dreamworld, so now it is good to see they are trying engage with a different cohort of people. The input of food is going to be huge & the North-West Coast is the food bowl of the state. With food being a driving part of the show now & the massive wave Tasmania is riding with food, it's just smart. We are smack bang in the middle of the biggest growing region in the state for produce, why would not you show off as much of the natural & beautiful produce as we have got?"

MasterChef duo feel the heat-

Organisers of the Devonport Show have made it clear to former MasterChef contestants Ben Milbourne and Dan Churchill that they won't take it easy on them when it comes to the mystery box challenge. 

The pair were thrown a curve ball when they opened their mystery box yesterday morning. 

The pair found some pasta, pumpkin, leeks, beef mince and asparagus.

"It was really tough - there wasn't a main protein to base the dish on," Milbourne said.

He cooked a vegetarian carbonara while Churchill made a red wine, pumpkin and pasta beef stew.

The pair were then put through their paces cooking dinner for about 40 people last night.

(News source: The Advocate)

Photos from Devonport Show:

He cooks....& he hosts!!

Well, Ben is quite an all rounder..rather multi-talented. He cooks ( & he cooks brilliantly), he plays footy, he's got a book & he also hosts..Ben is an excellent Master Of Ceremonies, in short emcee. 

He played an excellent emcee during the Quantas Australian Tourism Award held in early 2013. This is probably the first time ever that he took over the duty of a host. & oh boy, he was AMAZING!!!!!

 

It was the MS Melbourne Cup event at MONA later in 2013 when Ben again was asked to host & this time too he was just too good.