AS MASTERCHEF returns for a new series next week, judge John Torode tells Taste about the twists and turns in store: John Torode and Gregg Wallace may have spent the past decade hosting MasterChef together, but don’t expect them to hang out, Ant and Dec-style, when the cameras stop rolling.

“We’re like an old married couple who travel away from each other all the time,” says Torode, when asked why their partnership works so well.

“We don’t really spend time together. I have no idea where he is when we’re not filming, we have very different lives, different tastes, we listen to different music, I’m cool and he’s a bit old and doddery...”

The pair “never try and impose our views on each other”, adds the 49-year-old, who returns for a new instalment of the BBC One cookery show this month.

“The only things he imposes upon me are his bloody stupid jokes.”

As always, viewers can look forward to “a couple of twists and turns” in series 11, which features 40 amateur cooks competing over 24 episodes.

The most notable “twist” is a reinvention test, which sees heat-stage hopefuls taking the main ingredient from their signature dish (known as the ‘calling card’ dish) and turning it into a brand new plate of food.

If they impress the judges, and get through another two-course challenge, they’ll make it into the quarter finals, and finally, at the end of the gruelling seven weeks, 2015’s champion will be crowned.

Torode, who grew up in Maitland, in Australia’s New South Wales, says he still gets inspired by the home cooks who enter.

“This year, more than anything, we’ve seen such a diverse group of cooks with really different ideas, with food from all around the place – from people cooking street food to really elegant fine dining, to brilliant stuff from Austria and Germany, through to Japan, Italy, France, China, Malaysia, Russia.”

He also has MasterChef to thank for his romance with actress and cookery writer Lisa Faulkner, who he met when she competed in – and won – Celebrity MasterChef in 2010.

“She’s such an amazing cook. She’s so great and so generous, and she’s pretty good-looking as well. The old man did all right!” says Torode.

The TV judge would never critique his former contestants’ food, however – including Faulkner’s.

“Can you imagine me going to somebody’s house, or to Lisa, and saying, ‘Well I think this would work, maybe if you did this...’ That would be the rudest thing in the whole world.”

Torode is also working on a new book, My Kind Of Food, due out later this year, “about the food I cook at home – clams and spaghetti, really good salad, curry, pies”.

And later this year, he’ll celebrate his 50th. The chef, who has four children from two previous relationships, insists he’s not bothered about the landmark birthday.

“Turning 40, I hated. Turning 50, I’m fine about. I am what I am. I don’t feel old, I feel great,” he says.

“I’m very, very happy, I’m very privileged to do things like MasterChef. I’m travelling the world, writing books. I’m doing all right.”

Want to cook like a champ? Here are three recipes from previous MasterChef and Celebrity MasterChef winners to try your hand at...

NADIA SAWALHA’S SEA BASS WITH A TAHINI SAUCE, CARROT AND ONION SEED SALAD, AND SAFFRON RICE (Serves 4)

4 sea bass fillets, skin on 1tsp ground cumin 1/4tsp cinnamon 1tbsp olive oil Sea salt and black pepper For the salad: 4tbsp vegetable oil 250g onions, finely sliced 250g carrots, finely grated Salt Juice of 1/2 lemon 1/2tbsp mustard seeds (optional) 1/2tbsp nigella seeds (black onion seeds) For the tahini sauce: 1tsp salt 1 garlic clove 100ml tahini Juice of 1 lemon 2tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley For the saffron rice: Pinch of saffron threads 400ml hot chicken stock 25g butter 50g whole blanched almonds 200g basmati rice 1tsp baharat spice 50g raisins

To make the salad, fry the onions in half the oil until golden and caramelised. Meanwhile, put the carrots in a bowl and add salt and lemon juice. Fry the mustard and nigella seeds in the remaining oil for a few seconds until they begin to pop. Tip over the salad and mix well, then stir in the onions.

To make the sauce, put the salt into a mortar and pound with the garlic until really smooth. Pour in the tahini and mix with a whisk. Add the lemon juice and whisk until sticky, then whisk in 75ml of warm water. When it looks like thick double cream, stir in the parsley.

Put the saffron in the stock. Melt half the butter in a heavy pan and fry the almonds gently. When they are golden, remove and set aside.

Put the remaining butter in, add the rice and spice, stir, and add the raisins. Pour in the hot stock, season, bring to the boil, give it one more stir and then put the lid on and reduce the heat to as low as possible. Cook for about 15-20 minutes. Mix the fried almonds through.

Dry the sea bass fillets with kitchen paper. Rub the spices over them and season well. Gently heat the olive oil in a heavy frying pan and slide the fish in, skin-side up. After about three minutes turn the fillets over and cook on the other side for another three minutes or so, depending on their thickness. To serve, form the rice into a mound on the plates and place the fish on it. Top with the salad and drizzle the sauce around.

LIZ MCCLARNON’S BEEF WELLINGTON WITH MASH, CREAMED SAVOY CABBAGE, AND AN OXTAIL JUS

(Serves 4) 4 fillets of beef, about 175g each 3 Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and chopped 4 large stoneless prunes 4tsp mango chutney 2 streaky bacon rashers, cut in half 250g ready-made puff pastry 200g chestnut mushrooms, chopped 75g salted butter Salt and black pepper 2tsp truffle oil 1/2 Savoy cabbage, shredded 400ml double cream 1tbsp olive oil 3 sprigs of thyme 2 sprigs of rosemary Milk, for glazing For the oxtail jus: 2 garlic cloves, chopped 1 shallot, chopped 1tbsp olive oil 3 sprigs of flat-leaf parsley 300ml port 200ml oxtail stock, plus 4tbsp extra

Preheat the oven to 200C (400F/Gas 6). Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, add the potatoes and simmer for 20 minutes, or until cooked. Drain and keep warm.

For the oxtail jus, put the garlic cloves and shallot in a frying pan with the oil and parsley. Add the port, bring to the boil and reduce by three-quarters. Then add the stock and reduce by half. Keep warm.

Fill the hole in each prune with the chutney and roll in a piece of streaky bacon. Pierce with a cocktail stick and cook on a baking tray in the oven for seven minutes. Remove from the oven and keep warm.

Roll out the pastry and cut out four 8cm diameter circles. Put them on a floured baking sheet, glaze with a little milk, then cook in the oven for 12 minutes, until golden. Remove and keep warm.

Meanwhile, cook the mushrooms in 25g of the butter in a saucepan, add seasoning and the truffle oil. Keep warm.

Put the cabbage in 300ml of the double cream in a saucepan, and add seasoning. Cook for 10-12 minutes until tender.

Mash the potatoes with the rest of the double cream and butter.

Cover the beef in the olive oil and salt and pepper. Heat a frying pan and then hot seal the beef for a few seconds on each side. Transfer to a roasting tin, add the thyme and rosemary and spoon the extra stock over the top. Put in the oven for six minutes.

To assemble, place a puff pastry circle on each plate. Score a circle in the top, push it down, and fill with mushrooms. Add some creamed cabbage, a prune in bacon, and quenelles of mash. Place a fillet of beef on top, add the jus and serve.

JAMES NATHAN’S STRAWBERRIES WITH SABLE BISCUITS AND ORANGE AND LEMON SYLLABUB

(Serves 4) For the sable biscuits: 100g plain flour 75g unsalted butter 100g golden caster sugar Grated zest of 1 lemon 2 egg yolks For the syllabub: 50g caster sugar Grated zest and juice of 1 orange Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon 300ml double cream For the strawberry coulis: 350g strawberries 50g icing sugar 3tbsp Grand Marnier To decorate: Icing sugar, for sprinkling Mint leaves

Preheat the oven to 200C (400F/Gas 6). To make the biscuits, mix the flour, butter, sugar, lemon zest, and egg yolks together in a food processor until a soft ball of dough is formed. Rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Roll out thinly. Cut out eight biscuits with a 7-8cm pastry cutter and bake in the oven on a greased baking tray until golden, for six to eight minutes.

To make the coulis, hull 200g of the strawberries. Puree with the icing sugar and Grand Marnier in a food processor. Check for sweetness and adjust if necessary. Pass through a fine sieve and chill.

For the syllabub, combine the sugar and zest and juice from the orange and lemon. Whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks. Add the citrus mixture and whisk to firm peaks. Chill.

To serve, put a swirl of the coulis on each plate. Set a biscuit alongside it. Put a few spoonfuls of syllabub in the centre of the biscuit and surround with strawberries. Top with another biscuit. Sprinkle with icing sugar and add some mint leaves.

  • Recipes from The MasterChef Cookbook priced £14.99