Chewy, no-bake biscuits crusted with coconut and topped with a smooth, rich, chocolate ganache finished with a dusting of desiccated coconut. Sounds mouth-watering doesn’t it? It sounds like something you could only have one of because they must be seriously naughty. It would appear that if you have a lack of self control when it comes to chocolate you, you shouldn’t have these in your fridge. Right?

I certainly was feeling pretty guilty savouring the chocolate flavour still in on my tongue after eating 3 in quick succession. They’re so rich and moreish you’ll be forgiven for grabbing for a second before the first has even been swallowed.

What’s this photo got to do with these naughty little morsels? That’s all that’s in the base! My no-bake coconut macadamia biscuits with chocolate icing are actually really good for you. Surprise! They started out as an attempt to make a ‘chocolate cheesecake’ recipe from Super Food Ideas.

Can you say failure? I don’t know what I did wrong but my cheesecake bases looked absolutely nothing like they did in the magazine. They tasted amazing but there was no way they were going to hold their shape as a base and support the filling. ‘Come on Claire, think!’ Yes I actually said that to myself. I grabbed a little bit and smeared it with icing. Oh yes there was no way any of this was going to waste, just had to think of a pretty way to present it.

What’s with the banana and avo? That’s what makes the icing so wonderfully creamy. Seriously, this stuff is so good I ate the leftovers by the spoonful. It would make a very luscious pudding. I rolled little portions into balls then flattened them a little and coated each one with desiccated coconut. They’re pretty soft so make sure you keep them in the fridge until just before serving.

I piped on a pretty little rose of icing then a sprinkle of coconut topped them off nicely.

I’m not on any particular diet but these happen to be gluten-free, dairy-free, refined-sugar-free and vegan. I think that ticks a box for nearly every allergy (except nuts). Enjoy!

What about you? What would you have done with the failed bases? Would you try something ‘chocolate’ made with avo and banana?

Coconut macadamia biscuits with chocolate icing

 

Author:

Adapted from Super Food Ideas May 2013

Serves: 40

Prep time: 25 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Print

 

Ingredients

Biscuit

• 2 cups raw unsalted macadamias
• 100g fresh dates, seeds removed
• ½ cup shredded coconut
• ½ cup desiccated coconut

Icing

• 2 avocados
• 1 large banana
• 2-3 tbsp cocoa powder
• ½ cup pure maple syrup

Instructions

Biscuit

1. Place the nuts, dates and shredded coconut in the bowl of a food processor and process until the mixture comes together (stop it and scrape down the sides a couple of times).
2. Refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes.
3. Take it out of the fridge. Place the desiccated coconut in a bowl.
4. Using a teaspoon of mixture at a time, roll it into balls then press into a disc and press in the coconut to coat.
5. Place on a plate.

Icing

1. Place the avocado, banana, cocoa powder and maple syrup in the food processor and process until smooth like ganache.
2. Spoon it into a piping bag fitted with a start tip.
3. Pipe the ‘icing’ on top of the ‘biscuits’.
4. Sprinkle with a little extra desiccated coconut.
5. Refrigerate until just before serving.

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Hola amigos y amigas. Why the Spanish? Today is Mexican fiesta day. It may not be an internationally-recognised day but Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day is.

‘Food Revolution Day is a global day of action for people everywhere to celebrate real food, where it comes from and how to cook it. It’s a day to come together to keep these cooking skills alive, improve our food knowledge and share it with others.’

That could almost be the mission statement for Claire K Creations don’t you think?

I love Jamie Oliver and everything he stands for. He says:

Learning how to cook is one of the most valuable skills you can ever learn. These skills used to be passed down from generation to generation, but now millions of people lack even the most basic skills – as a result, it’s costing millions of lives and billions of (dollars) to cope with the increase of diet-related diseases. We need to get back to basics and share our cooking skills and knowledge so everyone has access to good, nutritious food, made from scratch.

In the last six months I’ve been teaching myself all about how what we eat can effect our health (Food Matters is a great starting point if you’re interested). To me, it’s not really about diet or weight or anything like that, it’s just about eating real, fresh, local (organic if possible) and delicious food, made from scratch as much as possible. You know me, I even make my own tortillas!

Tonight we’re having some friends around for a Mexican feast made from scratch. Sure, I’ll be taking a couple of short cuts (like store-bought corn chips, because you know I’m addicted to CCs) but for the most part, everything will be home made using the best ingredients I can get. It’s not about being fancy or spending hours in the kitchen. You know I’m all about quick and easy which describes pretty much all my recipes.

I’m going to challenge you to join in tonight. Pick a recipe from my blog and whip it up for some friends or family then share it over on the Facebook page. Enjoy!

I’ll be sharing the night and a few new Mexican recipes next week.

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This time in three weeks, Will and I will be on a plane heading over to New York City! We’re more than a little excited. The planning is well and truly underway and we’ve gone so overboard as to plot every place we want to go on a map. Restaurants have their own colour so as you can imagine it is dominating (really must make some bookings!).

The only thing I’m not too excited about is American bread. Love you guys as I do, your bread is just too sweet for me. I think the first thing I’m going to want to do when we get home is bake up my own. When I first started baking bread it seemed pretty daunting. I had no idea what I was doing and let’s be honest, my first few  (ok maybe more than a few) loaves were pretty rubbish.

Now I’ve got the hang of it, apart from the odd failure (we had some under-cooked bread the other day thanks to my lack of patience), I think the bread we eat at home is quite often better than some of the stuff you can buy. To a lot of people, the idea of baking bread seems way too hard or too time consuming but I promise you, it really is easy. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook the actual hands-on time is about 5 minutes. 5 minutes!

The rest of the time you can do your thing while the yeast works its magic.

I have learned a few things in my bread adventures. If you know these tips first up you can probably skip the door-stop-bread-phase and go straight to nice edible loaves:

• Make sure the water is at the right temperature. You need it to be at about 100-110F. Too hot and it will kill the yeast. Too cold and it won’t come to life. Once you’ve made a bit of bread you’ll be able to tell just by sticking your finger in it.
• Use baker’s flour. It has a higher gluten content and turns out much tastier bread than regular flour.
• Dough needs to be kneaded (don’t we all!). You’ll know when it’s ready for resting when it’s nice and smooth and not sticky.
• As Celia’s friend says ‘slash with panache.’ Don’t be wimpy about cutting your slashes. The quicker and more brutal the better. Ok maybe don’t attack it
• It’s ready when you tap it on the bottom and it sounds hollow inside. The best way to do this is to pick it up with an oven mitt or tea towel and tap it with a knife.

I’m still relatively amateur at bread baking but I find if I stick to those rules I pretty consistently turn out decent bread. Last week, I thought I’d try my hand at little easy dinner rolls. This is what I should have/was going to bake for my shredded beef sliders and they would have been perfect with their fluffy insides and thin crust.

I dressed them up with poppy seeds and sesame seeds to add a bit of interest but you could leave them plain or perhaps dust them with a little bit of flour before baking. They always look more authentic with flour. Make sure you add the seeds/flour and then slash so you have that nice break in the middle. Some of them actually look like little bottoms don’t you think? No? Just me again?

Even if you’re terrified of bread baking or have a fear of yeast, you can make bread. Go on. Try it! Let me know how you go. Enjoy!

ps These guys freeze really well so you can make up a big batch and have them on hand.

Easy peasy dinner rolls

 

Author:

adapted slightly from Women’s Weekly – Bake

Serves: 16

Prep time: 2 hours 10 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 2 hours 25 mins

Print

 

Ingredients

• 2 tsp (7g) dried yeast
• 1 tsp honey
• 2 cups (500ml) warm water (100-110F)
• 4 cups (640g) baker’s flour (you may need a few extra tbsp)
• 2 tsp sea salt flakes
• spray oil
• 2 tbsp milk
• seeds if desired

Instructions

1. In a small bow or jug, whisk the yeast, honey and water together until combined then set aside for a few minutes until it starts to froth.
2. Place the flour and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer and pour in the yeast mixture.
3. Using the dough hook, mix on low speed until combined then increase the speed a few notches and let the mixer knead the dough until it is nice and smooth (about 5 minutes). You may need to add a little extra flour if it is too sticky.
4. Test if the dough is kneaded enough by pressing quickly with your finger. If your finger comes away clean then it’s ready.
5. Spray a large bowl lightly with oil.
6. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl then cover it with plastic wrap.
7. Set the bowl aside in a warm place until it doubles in size (about an hour).
8. When the dough has risen, punch it down to expel the air and give it a quick knead. Technique doesn’t matter just smoosh it around a bit.
9. Divide the dough into 16 portions then roll each one into a ball and place on a lined baking tray leaving about 3cm between each one.
10. Spray a piece of plastic wrap with oil and lay it lightly over the balls then leave them to double in size again. This takes about 30 minutes but be careful not to let them rise more than specified.
11. After 10 minutes, preheat the oven to 180C fan-forced.
12. When the balls have risen, lightly brush the top of each one with milk then sprinkle with seeds.
13. Take a sharp, serrated knife and slash the top of each bun.
14. Bake the rolls for 12-15 minutes or until golden.
15. Transfer the rolls to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Let’s be honest, when I started Claire K Creations way back in 2010 I really didn’t know what I was doing (my first post was about macaroons – they were macarons! Oh the horror!). I knew that I loved food and I wasn’t bad at whipping up tasty meals and treats but when it came to blogging, I was totally feeling my way through the dark. The writing part was ok but the photos, well, lets just say I don’t think they were making anyone rush to their kitchen to recreate my recipe.

There are a lot of recipes on regular rotation in our house and they seem to be the ones that I shared back in the early days so I thought I’d do a bit of revisiting so I can make them look a bit more appealing.  I still make a lot of those recipes but over the last year or two I’ve tinkered and tweaked our weeknight staples and have simplified the recipes so much I could make most of them in my sleep.

Tomato chicken risotto was one of the recipes mum made a lot of when I was still at home. I’m not sure where she got the original recipe but with mum’s experimental cooking style, I’m pretty sure she made it up. In the original recipe there were a few annoying things like one and half tins of crushed tomatoes (which I think was my addition – mum wouldn’t do something so wasteful) so consider this the new and improved version.

It’s easy, super tasty and pretty family-friendly. Even when I was a fussy eater I loved this.

When I make risotto, it’s nice and firm and not sloppy like you see in most restaurants. My version is really quite lean and if you bulked it up with spinach you could call it diet friendly. I will advise you not to skimp on the parmesan though. I used to buy the grated stuff in the packet. It’s pretty flavourless and I used nearly a whole packet to get the boost I needed.

Now I buy the best chunk I can find and grate it myself as needed. It may be more expensive but you need so much less to get the same flavour, I’d say it works out equal in cost.

Until it came time to edit the photos I didn’t realise I’d made a little chicken and basil strawberry on top. Isn’t it cute? I like to make up a big batch of tomato chicken risotto and freeze it for nights when I don’t feel like cooking. Just a quick zap in the microwave and a sprinkle of parmesan and dinner is served. Enjoy!

What about you? How do you like risotto? Do you have weeknight staple recipes you’ve changed over the years?

5.0 from 1 reviews

Tomato chicken risotto

 

Author:

Claire K’s mum

Serves: 6-7

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Print

 

Ingredients

• 300g chopped chicken breast, cooked
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 cups arborio rice
• 2 cups chicken stock mixed with two cups of water (1L liquid total)
• 1 tin of chopped tomato
• ½ cup frozen peas
• ¼ cup grated parmesan
• a few basil leaves and extra parmesan to serve

Instructions

1. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large pan over medium heat and cook the chicken until sealed and just turning brown.
2. Remove it to a plate and keep warm.
3. Heat the rest of the oil then add the onion and garlic and cook until transparent. Add the rice to the pot and stir until glistening.
4. A little at a time, add the hot stock/water, waiting until each addition has been absorbed before the next is added. Make sure to stir regularly (pretty much the whole time and scrape the bottom so it doesn’t stick).
5. Add the tinned tomato and stir it through.
6. Stir through the cooked chicken then add the frozen peas.
7. When the peas are heated through, add the parmesan and season to taste.
8. Serve piping hot with a sprinkle of parmesan and a couple of basil leaves.

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I’m a bit of a hermit when it comes to my home town. Not hermit as in a person who never leaves their house but I don’t actually venture too much away from the area we live or where our friends live.

It had been years since I’d ventured over to the south side of Brisbane but a little birdie told be about a new cafe and you know me, I always follow my stomach. My friend Kristin was in town visiting from Sydney so we made the drive (it’s about 20 minutes from my house) over together.

Driving through the leafy suburb we thought we might have been steered in the wrong direction by Siri but sure enough, like an oasis, a little row of shops appeared, with Leaf espresso bar on the corner.

Now I’ve told you about Kristin before and we are friends for many many reasons but just one of them is her belief in breakfast dessert. You can imagine we were both in sensory overload walking past the display of baked goodies as we made our way to our booth table in the back of the cafe.

Fresh flowers adorn each table, no two being the same and should you feel like a little fresh air, there are spots out the front and on a deck overlooking the tree-tops out back.

I’ll be honest with you. I can be a bit lazy which generally means I’m not too keen on ordering at the counter but in this case it’s a good move on their part. You line up down the cabinet displaying all their wares and I’m sure most people find themselves ordering a pastry or two that they hadn’t planned on ordering.

I struck up a conversation with a local while commenting on how busy it was. Apparently it had been like that since they opened. Clearly it was just what the area needed.

As we were having breakfast dessert I went for a lighter option for my ‘main.’ While the avo was blemish free and nice and soft I think this could have been a little more exciting. When I read avocado and fresh ricotta on toasted Turkish I was expecting it to be more of an avo salsa type thing stacked up and ready to eat. Ok so maybe it’s my laziness coming in but out to breakfast I’d prefer not to make it myself. Add condiments yes, make it, no.

Kristin’s meal was quite the opposite with two perfectly poached eggs perched atop a generous serving of smoked salmon, crispy baby spinach leaves and a lightly toasted English muffin.

Look at that ooze. Isn’t it beautiful? I wish I could get fabric in such a vibrant egg-yolk colour.

Now onto the most important item – dessert! Unfortunately our blueberry and banana bread came out quite a while before our meals so it was more like entree (although I made Kristin save a bit for dessert) but it was wonderfully soft and fluffy inside with a nice crunchy crust. A few days later I bought a punnet of blueberries on sale and just remembered I have them hidden away in the freezer ready to recreate this luscious loaf.

Overall Leaf has a great atmosphere and tasty fresh food. They could get a bit speedier on the service although I’m not entirely sure how long we waited for our meals because we were chatting so much but I think we got through a few big topics before we were fed. They are open for breakfast and lunch 7 days a week and located at 8 Denham Terrace, Tarragindi.

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Claire K and Kristin dined as guests of Leaf espresso bar. 

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I hope all the mothers out there had a wonderful day yesterday. We started the day celebrating with 10,000 other people at the Mother’s Day Classic walk for breast cancer. It was so wonderful to see so many people turn out to support a cause. Of course there was eating to be done after that (I shared a peek on Facebook) and I will share the recipes soon.

You might have noticed that I’ve been experimenting a little with gluten-free, sugar-free and dairy-free and really just seeing what you can do to easily make treats a bit healthier.

Macadamia nuts have featured a lot because, well, I love them. Almonds come in a close second but macadamias will always have my heart. It’s probably because my uncles both love them and so at every family gathering for as long as I can remember there has been a bowl of the little golden nuggets. When I was little I wasn’t allowed to eat them (one uncle’s a doctor and he said they weren’t good for kids), which of course made me want them more but since the day I was finally ‘of age’ I have been gobbling them up with gusto.

Hesitant described me as I rolled the balls of dough for gluten free cinnamon macadamia biscuits. It seemed like it was just to runny and would have not a chance of turning into a crunchy, golden biscuit that melts in your mouth. Don’t curse me when you’re making the dough. I promise, after some time in the oven they will transform.

Why the two stacks? The original recipe (which uses peanut butter) says to bake them for 8-10 minutes which I did for the first lot (left). That version stayed quite puffy but after cooling, they were a bit like a macaron when I bit into them and had quite a chewy centre. The ones on the right, I left in for about 13 minutes which gave them time to flatten out and crisp up nicely.

So the point of all my blabbering is that this is a recipe that will suit crunchy biscuit lovers and the soft and chewy fans. It will be hard to leave them in for the full 13 minutes once you start to smell the heart-warming cinnamon baking away. I left my macadamia butter a little bit chunky so there would be a surprise or two in the biscuits but feel free to make it nice and smooth.

You can also vary it with different nut butters if you’re not into macadamias (I might judge you just a little bit though, how can you not like macadamias?!). They don’t quite have the texture of a regular biscuit because there’s no flour in there but I think if a biscuit and a meringue got together, this biscuit would be their love child. Enjoy!

What about you? What’s your favourite nut?

ps. I have a little bit of a thing for stacking biscuits in photos. I think this is my record though – 8!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Gluten free cinnamon macadamia biscuits

 

Author:

Adapted from Super Food Ideas May 2013

Serves: 20

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Print

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup macadamia butter
• 1 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 free-range egg

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C fan-forced and line two baking trays with baking paper.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix all the ingredients together until they form a dough.
3. Use a teaspoon of dough at a time and roll it into balls then place on the lined baking trays leaving at least 3cm between each one.
4. Press down lightly to flatten a little.
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes depending whether you would like a chewy or crunchy biscuit.
6. Leave to sit on the trays for 5 minuted and then use a cookie slice to transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Store in an air-tight container.

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and to all the other wonderful mothers! xx

The post Happy Mother’s Day appeared first on Claire K Creations.

I’m not here today. I’m over visiting Maureen at the Orgasmic Chef and sharing my coffee and macadamia loaf cake. Hop on over and check it out. You don’t even have to like coffee to enjoy it. I’m not a coffee drinker at all and I loved it. Somehow coffee plus cinnamon plus macadamia equals something amazing. It would make the perfect Mother’s Day morning tea. Enjoy!

The post Coffee and macadamia loaf cake appeared first on Claire K Creations.

It’s that time again…

In my kitchen this month is a hamper full of saffron goodies from Capertee Valley Saffron. Call me naive but I never knew we grew saffron here in Australia. Capertee Valley Saffron is owned and operated by husband and wife team Greg and Katrin Dixon and you can see some beautiful photos of their property in this gallery. I might have to do a story on these guys because I find the whole process of growing saffron very interesting.

In my kitchen is some fresh macadamia butter made by blending up the raw nuts in my blender. It is so delicious – almost better than peanut butter. Next time I’m going to roast the nuts a little first. This cupful went into gluten free macadamia biscuits that you’ll see here soon.

In my kitchen is a cute little cup and saucer and matching tea tray from my aunt. She is out visiting from Spain at the moment and brought this gift all the way across the world. 

In my kitchen is a new cookbook – A Bite of the Big Apple, a gift from my lovely mother. I don’t know that I’ve announced it here yet but Will and I are off to New York City very soon! I’ll have to get up on the food lingo before then.

In my kitchen are some local bananas and fresh garlic from my friend’s grandparents-in-law’s farm. It may be little but it sure packs a punch and worked wonders in scaring off my pending cold last week.

In my kitchen is a giant pineapple from the Noosa Farmer’s Market. This guy weighed in at 3kg and cost me just $3. I chose him because he was spray-free but didn’t realise what a bargain I was getting.

In my kitchen is a harvest of chili, shallots and mint from the garden. I have chili and mint galore at the moment so took some over to mum when we went to dinner the other night. 

In my kitchen is a kilo of macadamia nuts from Australian Macadamias. I’ve been slowly eating baking my way through them. The first treat will appear tomorrow. Seriously though, every time I walk past them I grab a few. I’ve probably eaten half a kilo in a week.

Finally, in my kitchen is a little pot of salsa from the whole-food stall at the Noosa Farmer’s Markets. These guys make the best goodies with no preservatives or nasties with all organic and local produce. I’m saving it for a Mexican feast we’re having here next Friday for Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day.

What about you? What’s in your kitchen this month?

Don’t forget to take a peek in a few more bloggers’ kitchens over at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.

The post In my kitchen – May 2013 appeared first on Claire K Creations.

Have I told you that I have the best parents in the world? I may have mentioned it but probably not often enough. Just one of the reasons or maybe  more an example of how generous and kind they are is their charity work. For quite a few years now, mum and dad have been wish granters for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

If you haven’t heard of them, the Starlight Children’s Foundation ‘brightens the lives of seriously ill children’ by granting their wishes as well as providing hospital programs to to lift the spirits of the kids in hospital, giving them the opportunity to laugh, play and be children again.

You just can’t imagine what some kids and their families go through. No one should have to experience a serious illness, least of all an innocent child so if their lives can be made just a little bit brighter it’s worth it.

I’ve lost count of how many wishes mum and dad have granted over the years but just recently, mum arranged for a little Brisbane boy to have a gallery showing of his artwork in Sydney. How special is that?!

This is just one of his amazing works of art. Can you believe he’s only 14 years old? You can have a look at the rest of his collection here. Of course, none of this would be possible without wonderful volunteers like my mum and dad and funds and Starlight relies on donations to be able to continue their work.

The highlight of their fundraising year is most definitely the Starlight Five Chefs Dinner and this year is extra special as Starlight celebrates 25 years of supporting seriously ill children and their families.

The Starlight Five Chefs Dinner is a unique experience which, over the years, has showcased some of Australia’s best chefs, premium food, amazing entertainment and the best wines this country has to offer.

On Monday night, I was lucky enough to go behind the scenes and sample all the dishes that will be served at the Brisbane dinner on the 3rd of June. My goodness was it a treat (also because it was my first time inside a really big commercial kitchen). If you have ever considered going to something like this and want to do your good deed for the year then this is it.

Here’s what you’ll be enjoying…

Course number one comes from Tartufo’s Tony Percuoco – a delicate little starter named Crudo di Pesce.

‘Mooloolaba raw tuna (QLD) and chives enveloped by Cone Bay barramundi (WA), sliced and dressed with lemon, Joseph extra virgin olive oil (SA) and topped with lilliput capers, tomato, freshly milled cayenne black pepper and micro herbs.’ 

Wine – Petaluma ‘White Label’ 2012 Sauvignon Blanc.

I found it quite hilarious when Tony showed of his mico-herbs. He said ‘you’re not a chef if you don’t use these micro-herbs now. I never used to use them. I thought they were like grass!’

When I was last at at Tartufo, I commented on the use or perhaps over-use of micro-herbs in restaurants so it was quite amusing that he thinks they’re a bit over-used too.

The second course was by Sake head chef Shinichi Maeda. Until we went to China 2 years ago, I’d never eaten raw fish and to be honest, I don’t really eat it but on this occasion I loved it. Shinichi’s dish is cured so not totally raw. I was in awe of how they can produce something so beautiful and with such a dept of flavour. Not in a rich way but in a how-can-they-fit-so-many-flavours-in-one-mouthful way.

‘Diced fresh salmon (or ocean trout) and Spanish onion, in a potato and super sweet corn pillow, served with a beautiful cured egg yolk puree and topped with a Japanese carrot.’

Unfortunately Matt Moran was unavailable on Monday but his right-hand-man Ben Russell from Aria stepped up to the challenge. You all know that I am a sucker for beef cheeks.

Backstory – there were 11 of us in the kitchen and each chef plated up 5 or 6 of their dish for us all to try. You don’t have to be a math’s genius to work out that we were allocated about half a plate each.

Would it surprise you that I made a start on one fresh plate of meltingly-soft beef cheek then stood back and watched everyone else? I had my eye on one un-touched plate and no one seemed to be going anywhere near it. I made my move. ‘Just a few mouthfuls, don’t embarrass yourself,’ a little voice in my head said, to which I responded ‘get stuffed, this is too good to worry about being judged.’ I may have cleaned off the plate.

‘Slow cooked beef daube with beetroot purée, horseradish, pistachio and an orange crumble.’
Wine: Seppelt ‘ Chalambar’ Shiraz 2009

Last but most definitely not least was Prive 249 executive chef Patrice Falantin’s magnificent dessert. Wishing to create a dish that represented shooting stars, Patrice achieved something worthy of being framed. I’m purposefully not saying too much about each dish so you can make up your own mind if you attend the event but take my word for it, the night will end with a bang.

I think everyone thought I was joking when I said I’d take a doggy bag. They all laughed at me as I wrapped a few little wedges of tart in paper napkins and squirrelled them into my handbag for Will. He was most grateful.

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