Tag: GFWS

Ratatouille & A Good Food and Wine Tickets Giveaway!

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Ratatouille

I’ve always wanted to give this a try. Ever since I watched the little rat who could cook this dish perfectly in Ratatouille! The vibrant colours just catches my eye instantly, and I think it’s such a celebratory dish – A celebration of colours!

Also, it was my brother’s birthday and I just wanted to cook him something special! Of course, I didn’t only cook him one dish, I made 4! haha This dish pairs perfectly with seafood, so I made some white wine and cream mussels, homemade garlic bread and mushroom risotto! Mmmm!

kors birthday

mushroom risotto

Don’t you love just cooking for people you love? It’s seriously something I love to do. And seeing their reaction when they take the first bite, it’s worth all the time and effort!

Ratatouille

Making the ratatouille was so much fun! One reason was that I got to play with the mandolin. Slicing those vegetables into the same thickness couldn’t be any easier! Fastest prep ever! haha So if you would like to impress your guest the next time u cook for them, I highly recommend making them ratatouille! My family loved how it looked, and enjoyed every single bite!

Ratatouille

Ratatouille (Adapted from The Walsh Cookbook)

Ingredients : 

1 medium green zucchini

1 medium yellow zucchini

1 eggplant (preferably the thin ones)

1 red capsicum

1 yellow/green capsicum

3 tomatoes

1 red onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 can of tomato puree

1 tsp red chilli flakes

1 tsp italian herbs/ mixed herbs

1 tsp salt

2 tbs olive oil

Parmesan cheese

Steps :

1) Preheat oven to 170 degrees celcius. Try to get the vegetables around the same size, so that they would look neater in your dish! Slice all the vegetables using a mandolin and set aside.

2) Heat a cast iron pot (or any pot that can be used in an oven) over a medium-high flame. Add the olive oil, garlic and onion and sauté till fragrant, careful not to burn them, as they will have a bitter after taste. Add in the tomato puree, salt, herbs & chilli flakes, and allow it to simmer for 5 mins.

3) Carefully arrange the vegetables, alternating the slices of zucchini, eggplant, capsicum and tomato. Continue laying them till you fill your dish and cover with a baking paper to allow it to steam and cook, keeping all the juices in. Bake for 45 mins.

Covered with baking paper

4) Remove the baking paper and sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the top and serve!

How easy is that? And I can promise you that everyone will definitely enjoy this! So definitely give it a try when you can!

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Okie. So now… time for the GIVEAWAY!

GFWS Citi_Logo 2015-02

So everyone knows the one event I look forward to every year is no doubt the Melbourne Good Food and Wine Show. Endless food & wine, beautiful produce and you get to meet your favourite chefs!

Good Food Theatre

This year, I am lucky enough to be given 2 double passes to giveaway to my readers! Whoopeedoo! What’s more exciting is that this year, Ainsley Harriott will be there for all 4 days of the show (5-8 June), along with Miguel Maestre & Alastair McLeod! So you definitely don’t want to miss the show this year! I can still remember when the Mr bought me tickets to a Private Dining session with Manu Feildel 3 years ago! Definitely a dream come true and an experience I will never forget!

How do you win those tickets? Easy!

  • Leave a comment and share with me the favourite dish you love to cook for your loved ones for a special occasion!
  • This giveaway is only open to Australian residents! (Sorry international readers!)
  • Please join me on my journey! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter! Let me know once you have followed me!
  • You may re-enter daily! One entry a day! (Oh yeah!)
  • Winners will be announced on the 29th of April, 10pm.
  • Winners will be picked via random.org and notified on this blog post and via email.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s go!

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WINNERS!

Congratulations to Good Food Good Karma and Ross! Here’s what they said :


 Comment Number 8 Winner 1 - Number 8

Comment number 6 Winner 2 - Number 6

Salmon and roast! Two delicious things I too would cook for loved ones at a special occasion! Congrats again and I will be in contact with you soon, through email! Thanks everyone for participating!

Disclaimer : The tickets were given in compliments of Red Agency and I wasn’t paid to run this giveaway. 

Private Dining Room With Manu Feildel

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I’ve always been pampered by the Mr. He is the person who know what would make me happy and he got me the perfect birthday present. My birthday was spent in New Zealand with the family and that itself was awesome. That night, he passed me his phone and ask me to take a look. I didn’t know what he was trying to do, but seeing his smile, I knew it was definitely something good. (: And boy was I right!

The Private Dining Room with Manu Feildel at the MElbourne Good Food & Wine Show! (: I was smiling non-stop as I am a big fan of Manu especially after watching MKR. There something about his French accent that makes you smile. haha And him saying “Bon Appetit!”

It was just a small group of us and we were waiting outside these big black curtains. The wait staff come out with glasses of champagne and I have to say, that was a perfect start to an awesome meal. (:

To my Mr : Thank you so much for this absolutely amazing generous and thoughtful gift! I couldn’t ask for more. I’m truly blessed to have you in my life (: I love you!

Isn’t this the prettiest table setting you’ve seen? Incredible.

Before every meal, a representative from Dan Murphy’s would explain the wine that would go perfectly with each of our courses. I have to say, his role wasn’t small as well. We were all there for the food, but it’s really important to have good wine to go with the yummy food. So kuddos to him for his recommendations!

The yummy menu for the afternoon! Was my first time having chilled soup! Have to admit, I was a bit hesitant when I saw the menu, but I had no doubt it would be delicious.

Chilled pea soup with crab salad & black olive oil. Really delicate flavours and surprisingly being not a fan of peas, I really liked the taste! Was really refreshing as well. Made me want to just pick the bowl of soup up and slurp it rudely. haha But of course, I resisted. Best thing about it? You could have them with prawn instead of crab or in Manu’s words “Lobster if you’re feeling rich!” hehe He was humorous the whole time, was great to know how friendly he is with everyone (:

 Roast duck with spiced honey glaze. There just something about the combination of sweet and savoury in a dish. The caramelised skin of the duck and the caramelised carrots were just delicious! Though I preferred the fats on my skin a bit more rendered. But it was still delicious! Like MKR and the emphasis with the sauce, there were some guests that asked for more and Manu came around personally with the pot of yumminess and poured more on every plate. NOMS!

Chocolate and hazelnut mousse. Decadence in a glass. Pure indulgence. It was a really rice dessert, and the mr had to finish 1/3 of mine for me. But it was so good, really good. Every mouthful just felt like I had a mouthful of nutella. Smooth and creamy! But what topped the afternoon off was….

I was star struck and VERY happy! haha Was actually more in a shock but in a good kind of way (:

Thank you for the wonderful meal, Manu, and thank you again my dear husband for this awesome awesome birthday gift ! I think it’s gonna be difficult to beat for next year. hehe 😛