The Big French Feed

The Big Feed is a campaign running from April to June encouraging foodies to use their talents to raise a bit of money to help food education projects of disadvantaged children in Australia. To put my cooking talents to good use sounded like a great idea to me, and my friends were happy, as always, for an invitation. If I was commanding donations, I thought I'd better go all out and what better cuisine than French to try for my gourmet meal!

MasterChef Justine's Duck with Sauce Aigre Douce

We kicked off the meal with Deep Fried Brie, a bread-crumbed brie dunked quickly into the deep frier until golden brown. The brie melts inside and oozes out all over the plate! It's delicious served with redcurrant jelly. The entree was a crowd pleaser and we kept the wine topped up while I prepared the next course, MasterChef Season 1 Justine's Duck with Sauce Aigre Douce with an Eschalot Tarte Tartin.

There are lots of components to this dish - a creamy celariac puree, crispy pastry of the eschalot tarte tartin, carrots with a hint of spice, and a delicious jus for a medium rare duck breast - but it's well worth it. Good mis en place made my life a lot easier so I could cook the duck perfectly and plate up quickly. Another successful course and all that was left on the plate was the top stalks of the baby carrots!

Eve's Chocolate Cake and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

The third course was a recommendation by my Uni classmate, Donn. It's his favourite chocolate cake and, when he found out I was a foodie, sent me the recipe to try out! Damien Pignolet, a chef of the reknown French Bistro in Sydney Bistro Moncur, is on to a winner with this one! Eve's Chocolate cake was probably the course of the evening! The flourless chocolate cake was simple to make, but so tasty and looked fabulous. I served it with a home-made vanilla bean ice cream which was a great combination.

What a fantastic evening - great food, great company and all for a great cause! Thanks to The Big Feed for the inspiration, and my lovely friends for making very generous donations to the great cause!