hen's party, cooking work shop

Hen's party
 cooking workshop

I had a wonderful time the other day. 15 gorgeous girls rocked up at my doorstep ready to cook up a storm.  They arrived to celebrate Kristy’s hens party and wanted an experience of a different kind. Instead of the usual ‘cringe and binge’ hens party, they opted for a canapé cooking workshop with champagne. It was a unique and fun day with raucous laughter, bubbly and naughty, spirited and light with tasty bites shared. Wow! I thought, these girls will not suffer from hangovers or memory loss or bankrupted wallets but they might suffer a bellyache from all the joy and fun.  I was prepared for a wild cooking time, this was a hens party after all. The girls needn’t have worried as my motto remains ‘what happens in my kitchen stays in my kitchen’.

 HEN’S PARTY MENU 

FUN COOKING WORKSHOP

 ROVING CANAPE

SPICY CHICKEN SALAD IN WONTON

HALUMI PARCELS SERVED W/ BABA GANUSH

MUSHROOM + FETTA CHEESE PUFF PASTRY TARTLET

SPRING ROSTI WITH HERBED BARRAMUNDI+ SPOON SALAD

Opentable catering @ Sample food Festival in Bangalow NSW

Sample Food Festival is coming again to the little quaint town of Bangalow, which lies in the northern river of NSW.

The excitement is picking up at Opentable and I am buzzing with ideas…

Last year we catered for the RAW foodies (raw desserts and raw savoury plates). Our theme was Raw Buzz. It was a sell-out. Yet this year I felt the desire to pay my respect and adoration to my Moroccan heritage. I have fond memories of my Mum standing in the kitchen for hours at a time making couscous from scratch, lamb shoulder tagine cooked in the bottom pot of the couscousier (couscous pot) laden with dried prunes and apricots, the aromas of the meat mixed with fresh broad bean soup, bundles of coriander laying on the table, fresh mint adorning every empty jar on the window sill, preserved lemon with cinnamon and pickled turnips. Mum’s kitchen was an explosion of colours everywhere you turned your head.

As kids my sisters and I were always running in between her legs, frolicking on the kitchen floor, making use of the apricot kernels to play our games. We waited in anticipation, for the morning after the evening banquet, to eat sweetened couscous with sultanas and fresh yoghurt. I can still savour the taste in my mouth.

Honouring the memory of my Mum Alice, I decided to offer 2 tasting plates at the Sample Food festival:

$5 plate

Organic Minced Lamb Filo Cigars served with carrot, ginger, mint mousse, beetroot yoghurt mousse

and harissa salsa.

$10 plate

Organic chicken + olive tagine served on a bed local pumpkin couscous, preserved bush lemon, coriander and baby spinach salad.