Yums for Mums

We had three generations of mothers at my in laws this Mother's Day and as usual, we were up in Brisbane to prepare a special lunch to treat them! At first we thought we'd be ambitious and prepare a roast, but since we had to shop in the morning and then prepare, we opted for one of Jamie Oliver's 30 min meals without expecting that the dinner for 15 would take the same time as one for 4, particularly without our favourite kitchen equipment. Our plan to make the fantastic looking Catherine Wheel Sausage and Horseradish mash was scuppered as something similar was served at the restaurant we visited last night with some of the same guests! Instead we opted for scallop on guacamole baguette decorated  with one of my favourite Aussie bush fruits, finger lime,  Mustard chicken with Dauphinoise potatoes and Greens - a dish that would hopefully please all the guests spanning from being in their 2s to 70s all with different tastes and preferences and Damien Pignolet's Eve's Chocolate pudding - a winner I prepared a few weeks ago for our Big Feed Charity dinner.

Cam's Potato Dauphinoise

Cooking in someone else's kitchen for so many was quite a challenge. We had the chicken frying in 2 different pans - an electric fry pan with variable heat control where the chicken was either sticking to the pan at one temperature, or practically turned off when one notch lower and a fabulous portable induction cook top which browned the chicken beautifully - an excellent invention! The oven was more predictable and I was able to knock out the flourless chocolate cake quite effortlessly and Cam's Potato Dauphinoise was a great success!

All in all, scallops were a nice appetizer and the finger lime was certainly a talking point. The Chicken with Mustard Sauce, albeit some not as moist as I would have hoped after a rocky ride in the electric frypan, quietened the table and all you could hear was knives and forks clinking - a good sign! And the best part was that all the Mums had a day off to enjoy lunch prepared for them! It was indeed a Happy Mothers Day!

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!