MasterChef’s Larissa inspiration for quirky desserts, cooking for Nigella

Growing up in The Hills surrounded by her grandparents’ fresh produce and her mum’s cafe, it’s no wonder MasterChef contestant Larissa turned into a huge foodie.

MasterChef contestant Larissa made it through last night’s roast chicken challenge.

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Larissa Takchi grew up surrounded by food; her earliest food memory is eating sweet, sticky peaches straight from the tree on her grandparents’ farm.

With an abundance of fresh produce at her fingertips and a Lebanese family who loved to cook and eat, it is no wonder the 22-year-old has grown into a passionate foodie.

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Takchi started cooking as a teenager looking for an after-school snack and worked her way through a range of cuisines before she began experimenting with flavours, ingredients and hit upon her love of desserts.

“I like to do things that are quite out there, introducing savoury notes into sweet stuff,” she said.

The Macquarie University business student has been catapulted from the foodie hub of Dural to the national stage as a contestant on the latest season of popular Network Ten cooking series MasterChef Australia.

The Hills has produced a number of MasterChef contestants in the past, including 2016 winner Elena Duggan and last year’s participant Tim Talam.

Many locals will recognise Takchi as the restaurant manager of the popular Wild Pear Cafe in Dural, which her mum owns.

Larissa hopes to one day open a night time spot in The Hills.

Working in front of house, Takchi said she “can’t really say for sure” whether her restaurant experience had given her an advantage in the competition.

“It’s more so my mum being an amazing cook that has brought me up to know good flavours and know what good food is,” she said.

Takchi said she usually travels “great lengths to get good food” and would love to bring a dinner venue to Dural.

“People don’t want to always travel to the city for good food, they want somewhere local,” she said.

Takchi hopes to one day use the vast network of farms in the Dural area to create a dinner menu showcasing local produce.

“It’s a beautiful area, we’ve got amazing produce around us,” she said.

It is a dream that would be greatly helped along by MasterChef, which Takchi entered after a push from her aunty and was “blown away” when she succeeded in securing a spot in the top 24.

Takchi survived elimination in last night’s episode cooking a roast chicken for English food superstar Nigella Lawson.

“Cooking for the judges is one thing, but having to cook for a culinary legend like Nigella is just ridiculous,” Takchi said.

The pressure of the ticking clock, mastering dishes she is unfamiliar with, all while judges she has grown up watching on television look on would be enough to make anyone crumble, but Takchi hopes to use it all as a learning experience.

“I’m going to take so much from this experience it’s not funny,” she said.

“Not only how to cook and the skills you learn along the way, but also how to deal with pressure.

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“I think if I can deal with that kind of pressure, I can deal with anything,” she said.

The MasterChef journey has not come without challenges; as well as being mentally, physically and emotionally taxing, Takchi is living away from home for the first time and has left her family and friends behind — not to mention her almost complete university degree — but Takchi said “it’s all so worth it”.

“I think it’s the greatest thing I’ve done in my life,” she said.