"Me on a plate"?

I find competitive cookery terribly compelling. As such, I'm a devoted fan of Masterchef Australia, which commenced its third season yesterday. Vegetarian contestants have participated in previous seasons but none have lasted long. This is unsurprising given the animal-protein-centric nature of most of the challenges, including one of my favourites, the Mystery Box, where the contestants must each conjure up a gourmet dish from set ingredients.

This year I have set myself the challenge of coming up with appealing vegetarian dishes for each weekly Mystery Box - something I have always done in my head while watching previous seasons. These represent what I would try to cook if I were a contestant facing the Mystery Box challenge (leaving aside the pressure and challenge of executing my menu). So here goes:

Week 1: Most popular Australian supermarket items.

From the look of the dishes, these included:

mince, onions, potatoes, truss tomatoes, lettuce, eggs, bacon, peas, garlic, mushrooms, vegetable stock, lemons, fresh mint, flour (pantry item?), butter (pantry item?), olive oil (pantry item?).

I would have attempted one of the following:

• potato pancakes with caramelised onions/onion jam (not sure if sugar is allowed)
• lemon, mint, pea soup with mushroom ravioli
• spanish omelette with fire roasted tomato salsa
• potato-stuffed pierogi in lemon brown butter sauce

and it would have blown the judges' collective palates (in a delicious, vegetarian way)!