When Andy called me to ask if I would do a pop up with him and Ben,
I said "Andy, i think you already know the answer...."
When he told me it was for Starlight Children's Foundation
I was on that bandwagon faster than
a crazy mob of girls chasing 'Bandy' ;)
Starlight Children's Foundation is a great charity and one that is close to Andy's family.
So to be able to cook at an event to raise money for such an organisation was an honour.
...And I enjoy catching up and having a chat to the boys as well
Now the food....
We where very fortunate to be offered some great venues for the pop ups,
And a great spot to do the prep...
Casa Barilla in Annandale.
Barilla do cooking classes here and it was a great spot for knocking out some serious
prep.
....Working hard....
Your mum better not see this one Andy....
Ha ha ha
Pop Up numero uno was held at The Grounds of Alexandria
One of my favourite places in Sydney to grab a coffee...
(And pretty awesome one mind you! They have The world latte art champion Jack as Barista!)
...a good bite to eat and roam the garden which are ladened
with herbs, vegis, edible flowers and even chooks!
The grounds out door gazebo was transformed from a
relaxed hangout area...
Into a stunning dining area.....
(Thanks Courtney!)
With the tables set, the wine chilling and people starting to arrive it was time for us to
get the food out!
Appetiser
A tooth fish tequila slammer
Served with chipotle salt and limes....
This gets the taste buds tingling and ready for entree
Which was Andy's domain...
Handmade tostadas with cerviche salmon,
pickled jelpeno, chipotle mayo,
creamed corn puree and pepitas...
That had everyone licking their plates...
Then came the main....
Ben's baby
Adobo braised beef cheeks, pomme puree,
deep fried tortillas and blistered vine tomatoes!
Amazing...
I love the braising liquid in this dish...
It has you typical onion, garlic etc. but to give it that extra kick
dark chocolate and orange are added to send your taste buds buzzing!
And dessert....
Well you'll have to wait till night two to check it out!
But a huge thanks to the crew at The Grounds of Alexandria-
An awesome bunch!
And just for a bit of fun, I jumped on the coffee machine
to test out my latte art skills against Jack
(World Champion!)
Guess who's is who's...
(Jack poured with his left hand and still smashed me!)
But seriously check The Grounds-
Check it out!
I love it- the food, coffee and setting are fantastic!
Number two!
Based in Roseby,
This is a spot I have been hanging to checkout
So I was thrilled when I found out we where actually cooking here.
has a cool Scandinavian feel mixed with
creative flare and the smell of delicious,
homely food cooking.
...Mike...
the man himself!
The dishes where the same again but we amped up the numbers to
120 people....
Masses of little tostadas to pump out!
Main was incredible as always...
Then dessert
A sweet corn ice cream, with cajeta, masa cinnamon crumb, candied pop corn, lime sugar
and my version of churros with cinnamon marshmallow
I think my favourite part would have had to have been the popcorn microwave sponge...
Pulling it out of the microwave reminded me of the movies!
And you lucky ducks are going to get the recipe for this little squashing cake...
Pop Corn Microwave Sponge
200g Eggwhites
40g Caster Sugar
60g Plain Flour
20g Pop Corn Dust
(Pop corn that has been blitzed into a very fine powder then passed through a sieve)
Pop all of the ingredients into a blender and blitz until smooth,
strain into a siphon, and charge with 3 nitrogen bulbs.
Make sure you shake it heaps between each charge!
Squirt the mixture into paper cups that have been pricked in the base and lightly sprayed with oil
(only half fill)
Then cook for 50 seconds. Once cooked turn the cup upside down and wait for the sponge to
fall out ...
It may need a little bit of encouragement :)
Enjoy!
A huge thanks to Darren Purchese for allowing me to prep some of my dessert-ie bits and pieces
at Burch and Purchese..
Martin Dulke who helped in the kitchen...
Chefs toolbox and Nepean Motor Group who
where major sponsors of the event.
The gang from Barilla for allowing us to take over their cooking school and
for supplying goodie bags for the guests.
And a heap of other sponsors...
We managed to raise over $40, 000 over the two nights for Starlight
Thankyou so much to everyone to contributed!!
We had a ball in the kitchen!
Photos were taken on my Nikon V1