Guest post: work experience with Lyndey Milan

For the past few days we've been lucky to welcome Alice Henderson to our office.  As well as recipe development, testing and writing, I took Alice to Mornings on Channel this morning.  Alice has written a delightful account of the day.  Over to you Alice.

Bouncing out of bed this morning pre-sunrise, I couldn’t wait for another day in the food industry with Lyndey Milan. Brainstorming, recipe developing and testing (and tasting) aside for the day I headed straight to Channel 9 to observe a cooking segment on Mornings by Lyndey.

Armed with the recipe (not only read but memorised), an eye wide open for a celebrity-sighting, and a growing excitement to stand behind the scenes for the 4-6 minute segment, I knew it was going to be a great morning. Through the main gate and past the reception desk to meet Lyndey in hair and makeup, it was then time to prepare the bench that would be wheeled onto stage in the final advertisement break before the segment.

The produce for today’s recipe was just outstanding; award-winning produce from the Sydney Royal Wine, Dairy and Fine Food shows (sydneyroyal.com.au). Fresh egg tagliatelle, Coolangatta Estate Semillon, Pacific Reef Fisheries tiger prawns, Tathra Sydney rock oysters and Brasserie bread to name a few. Yes, this was truly a medal-winning seafood pasta dish. Eager to help however I could, I got stuck into peeling the 2012 Champion winning cooked prawns to be tossed through the pasta before serving. Once all was set up and checked, it was time to head into the studio. Standing behind the cameramen looking at the set before me, Sonia Kruger and David Campbell well at home on stage, it was quite amazing to see how a live television show is produced. With a final check of equipment and implements, the cooking began.

 Medal winning seafood pasta

A master of the kitchen, Lyndey chopped, stirred and in minutes produced an absolutely-can’t-wait-to-try-that seafood pasta that smelt so delicious I was mentally working out which night next week I could cook it at home for dinner. All done and dusted, the bench was whisked back out of the studio for clearing and cleaning. After a sip of double-winning Semillon, a spoonful of pasta, and a photograph of the final dish we were ready to head back to the office. Having watched Lyndey on my television at home for several years it was such a thrill to stand in the studio this morning, soaking up every second of the experience.

Alice Henderson, food writer and trained chef, on work experience

Click here for the recipe on my main site.