MP Taverna Chef Michael Psilakis on TV Cooking Show Tuesday

A BBC America cooking program airing this Tuesday evening, August 28, 2012, will feature MP Taverna executive chef Michael Pailakis preparing Fijian dishes.

Psilakis travelled several months ago to Fiji, one of the many world-wide destinations he would visit with two other internationally acclaimed chefs for the TV cooking competition series No Kitchen Required created by BBC America.

At Fiji and at other destinations in the TV series (some so remote the chefs had to be lowered by helicopter), the three chefs were asked to independently prepare meals from local ingredients obtained by hunting, foraging and spear fishing. They also dived for crabs. To begin their Fiji adventure, the chefs swam and waded ashore from a sandbar.

The two chefs accompanying Psilakis in the venture are British-born Madison Cowan and New Zealander Kayne Raymond. Cowan achieved prominence in culinary circles when he was named the Food Network’s first ever Chopped Grand Champion. Raymond is an elite private chef and also a Chopped champion.

Their unscripted experiences in finding and gathering ingredients (including Psilakis being bitten by a crab) and preparing meals were captured by a camera crew and used to produce the multi-episode No Kitchen Required television series. Each chef was free to use any ingredients he wished as long as they were indigenous to the area visited.

For his Fiji menu, Psilakis choose:

1. Tropical fruit salad, crab roe vinaigrette
2. Tomato and coconut milk fondue with stewed clams
3. Coconut and crab soup with bele (leaf), garlic and tomato
4. Clam ceviche with chili vinaigrette
5. Papaya and seaweed salad with mud-crab claws
6. Lovo (cooking pit)‐roasted root vegetables with lime and pepper

Besides Fiji, overseas locations for filming No Kitchen Required included Belize, Chiang Dao, Dominica, Koh Lanta, New Zealand and Thailand. Episodes were also shot in Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico and Hawaii.

The series debuted on April 3, 2012. An episode scheduled for Tuesday, September 4, will show Psilakis and the other chefs competing in Hawaii. Psilakis's menu for this occasion follows:

1. Pink grapefruit, fern and sweet potato
2. Grilled tenderloin of pork with green banana and a tropical fruit salad
3. Purple sweet potato mash with coconut
4. Stewed pork butt in a taro root in lemongrass broth
5. Braised pork in taro leaf
6. Spiced pork sausage with mint, taro leaf and chili
7. Grilled heart poke
8. Hot‐rock‐roasted kidney
9. Pig head soup
10. Imu‐roasted pork belly
11. Pulled pork shoulder with fried banana

Dr Shini Somara, a broadcasting personality of many talents, was brought in to join the trio of chefs in their journeys, act as the host for each episode and sample the work of the chefs.

Frequently called on by BBC America to act as a show moderator or commentator, Dr. Somara has appeared on The Health Show, BBC One’s Watchdog and Inside Out London. By the age of 25, she had completed her doctoral thesis while employed as a mechanical engineer; she has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, worked as a fashion model and received a degree in classical ballet from the Royal Academy of Dance.

No Kitchen Required co-executive producer Kevin Greene also helped bring the CBS Emmy award winning series Survivor and Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race to the TV screen. Co-executive producer Chachi Senior credits include Bravo’s Rocco’s Dinner Party and Food Network’s Chopped.

Greene said “No Kitchen Required completely redefines what reality television can and should do.”

Psilakis opened MP Taverna in Irvington on May 14, 2012. He was named "Chef of the Year" by both Bon Appet and Esquire, and "Best New Chef" by Food & Wine.

His other notable achievements include:

• Michelin recognition. Anthos, a restaurant he opened in midtown Manhattan, received a Michelin star
• Praise from The New York Times. Anthos was ranked third of ten best new restaurants by esteemed restaurant reviewer Frank Bruni
• Gourmand World. "Best Foreign Cuisine Cookbook." Awarded for his cookbook "How to Roast a Lamb," released in October, 2009 by Little, Brown

For more information about No Kitchen Required, see www.bbcamerica.com