Gourmet TV’s Sean Gravina appears on BBC’s MasterChef

Sean Gravina has made it through the first round of MasterChef: The Professionals, appearing on the fifth episode of Series 7 last night.

For his first challenge Gravina prepared a signature dish of wood pigeon, cooked sous vide with a port and white balsamic vinegar glaze, a pea puree and Iberico crisp for resident judges Marcus Wareing, Monica Galetti and Greg Wallace. Though judges said that Gravina played it a bit safe with his choice of dish, he qualified to the next, round which was the skills challenge.

In this round, judged by chef Monica Galetti and seasoned diner Greg Wallace, the five contestants had to prepare a pork belly for roasting and though Gravina’s belly was well-butchered nerves seemed to get the better of him while tying the pork belly and though he knew what was meant to be done things didn’t turn out quite the way he wanted.

In the final round the contestants had to recreate a dish by two star Marcus Wareing which was also a wood pigeon. Gravina paired the wood-pigeon with a berry coulis and sous vide vegetables. Despite the undercooked vegetables, Gravina’s dish was enough to get him through to the next round of the quarter-finals which will be shown tonight on BBC2 at 9pm (CET).