Dennice cooks up a MasterChef treat

Gregg Wallace and John Torode deliver their blunt warning during every episode of the popular food programme.

And if anyone knows just how tough and scarey it is, it's Wolverhampton mother-of-four Dennice Russell.

Grilling, baking, frying – there's nothing Dennice likes better than cooking. And her culinary skills have made her a soaraway success on TV – after making it through to the semi-finals of the popular food show.

The 31-year-old, from Blakenhall, was among thousands who applied for the BBC's prestigious competition and after gruelling heats and quarter-finals she is just one of six who remain.

Dennice, who works as strategic manager for the Drug Interventions Programme in Dudley, says getting on the programme was a dream come true.

"I absolutely adore cooking. I used to love spending my time in the kitchen with my parents when I was a child," says Dennice, who is mother to Burell, 13, Jaeyden, seven, Skye, five, and Alfie, two.

She credits her late mother Elaine as her inspiration.

"She was a fantastic cook and she did everything from West Indian dishes to traditional British food," she says.

"I remember watching MasterChef with her in the days when it was presented by Loyd Grossman. She loved it as much as I did and she would be absolutely delighted by the fact that I made it onto the programme."

Viewers have so far seen Dennice cook up a storm in the kitchen, with such dishes as pan-fried haddock, pigeon with horseradish cream and her quarter-final saw her dish up king prawn with salsa, crispy belly pork with mustard mash and lime and coconut cheesecake. She returns to BBC2 on Monday night to begin the semi-final stage.

Dennice says she found filming intensive – and admits she was scared of the watchful eyes and critical tongues of the judges.

"They absolutely petrified me," she laughs.

And while many contestants dream of opening their own restaurant, Dennice has other culinary ambitions.

"I've always loved writing and I have lots of ideas for cook books. I want to tell people about cooking food from scratch," she adds.

Now try Dennice's three-course Valentine's Day meal.

She's serving up a treat on MasterChef and now Express & Star readers have the chance to try out Dennice Russell's culinary creations as the 31-year-old has created a special credit crunching romantic menu - just in time for Valentine's Day

"I hope readers enjoy this menu - and I hope it helps them munch their way through the credit crunch on Valentine's Day," says the Wolverhampton mother.

"On the basis that you already have plain flour, butter, sugar, eggs and mixed spice in your store cupboard this 3 course menu for two comes in at a frugal and friendly £4.66 per person for three yummy courses," she says.

Dennice's three-course menu features tasty cheese beignets with plum chilli chutney for starters, mussel linguine for main course and sticky banana stack to finish off.

STARTER

Cheese beignets with plum chilli chutney

Ingredients

100ml Water

50g butter

80g plain flour

2 beaten eggs

20g grated parmesan

30g grated strong/mature cheddar

Salt and pepper to taste

400ml sunflower oil for frying

Method

Place butter and water in the pan and boil until the butter is melted. Sift the flour into the water and butter and stir until it looks like play dough and comes away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat and leave for a minute to cool a little. Stir in the beaten egg (you will need to add a little at a time and stir quickly until it all comes together again). Add the cheeses, salt and pepper and stir into the dough. Heat the oil (test the heat with a small cube of bread by dropping it into the oil. It should take around 30 seconds to become golden, if it takes much longer the oil is not hot enough and if it is much quicker it is too hot). Using two tablespoons scoop some of the mixture with one spoon and push it off with the other into the hot oil (you need to be quick). Cook until they are golden brown when ready remove them from the oil and drain on kitchen paper leave in a warm place. While the beignets are still warm place onto a plate with chutney on the side as a dip.

Plum chilli chutney

Ingredients

500g red plums chopped

2 tbsps vegetable oil

1 finely chopped shallot

1 large red chilli finely chopped

1 teaspoon mixed spice

100ml red wine vinegar

110g Demerara sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Remove stones from plums by cutting in half and then chop the plums into chunks. Place oil in a saucepan, adding a chopped shallot and cook on a medium heat for around three minutes or until they are soft but not brown. Add chilli and mixed spice and cook for another minute. Add all of the other ingredients and simmer on a medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Leave to cool (you won't need all of this chutney for the beignets, however the chutney will keep in the fridge for a few days and it is great with cheeses, ham or roast duck)

MAIN

Mussell linguine

Ingredients

150g Linguine

30g butter

4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 clove garlic finely chopped

1 kilo cleaned fresh mussels

Freshly ground pepper and salt to taste

Juice of 1 lemon

150ml double cream

Method

Cook linguine in a pan of salted boiling water while you prepare the mussels. Place butter in a large saucepan over a low heat. Add parsley and garlic cook for one minute. Add mussels to the pan followed by the salt, pepper, lemon juice and cream. Simmer gently until the mussels open (any that stay closed must be discarded). Take the mussels off the heat and leave for a moment until they are cool enough to handle. Remove most of the mussels from the shells and place them back in the pan with the sauce (leave a few in the shell for presentation). Drain the cooked linguine and mix into the mussels. Serve in large shallow bowls.

DESSERT

Sticky banana stack

Ingredients

1 pack of ready rolled puff pastry

30g butter

100g Demerara sugar

150ml double cream

2 bananas

1tbsp icing sugar (optional)

Small tub of cream fraiche (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 175c. Roll out the puff pastry. Take a large circle pastry cutter and cut out six discs from the rolled pastry. Place the pastry discs onto a greased baking tray and cook in an oven for 10 -12 minutes or until golden brown. Place, butter, cream and sugar in a solid pan and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring to make sure the sugar and butter dissolves into the cream. Chop the bananas into chunks and add them to the caramel, cook for around two minutes. Remove the pastry discs from the oven and cool slightly. Gentle flatten four of the discs. Place one disc on a plate and spoon on some of the banana and caramel mixture, repeat with the second flattened disc and more bananas, finally top with a non flattened disc. Repeat again for the second stack. Dust the top of the stack with icing sugar (optional). Drizzle some of the caramel sauce around the banana stack and serve with cream fraiche (optional)