Featuring Sam Immerschmitt’s “Italian Meatballs in Napolitana Sauce”

Born in Sydney and grew up in Summer Hill before my family and I moved to Putney. From a very young age I started making pancakes with my Dad which are always good, we have them for dinner rather than a desert but when we do have them as a treat I really like to put sugar on mine. Dad has taught me how to create great tasting pancakes using real ingredients and not a pancake mix from the supermarket. I love being in the kitchen with my Mum and Dad as we have a lot of fun, laughing about the silly things we do such as Dad flipping pancakes that almost hit the floor and my Mum forgetting she has something on the stove until I remind her it’s boiling over or burning.

I really like when my parents have friends over for dinner as we laugh so much, I’m only a kid but these “oldies” are always so funny. I recently visited my Auntie Bernie and Uncle Alex over the Christmas holidays. We made and had so much food that we were almost bursting, I needed the energy for the surf lessons I took while on holidays. The best part of being in the kitchen is learning some great tricks like Uncle Alex showing me how to crack an egg using only one hand and I’m really good at it now. The food I enjoy eating most is “Spaghetti Neapolitan with prawns”. When I was younger my Mum used to say everything was prawns, like Chicken Prawns, Pork Prawns, anything prawns would encourage me to eat.

My comfort food would be ham noodles and I like Jamie Oliver’s way of cooking. I think every home should have milk, eggs, butter, fresh fruit, vegetables and meat in the fridge or pantry. Soccer is in my blood and I was recently chosen for Reps, therefore healthy food is important for me to provide lots of energy, so I eat plenty of vegetables, green and red capsicum and yogurt. Once when my Auntie Bernie and I made pasta dough, we used a machine to roll and make the shapes out of the pasta dough, needing a space to hang the pasta my Auntie Bernie found her sweeping broom, cleaned it and wrapped cling wrap around it. The broom was placed between the kitchen wall benches and the island bench, we laughed as we made the pasta, it tasted great, this year we improved our technique and hung the pasta on the clothes airier to dry.

Italian Meatballs in Napolitana Sauce

Oat Porridge

“This is nor’ how you make porridge”, or is it the perfect porridge for a healthy way to start the day???

Oat porridge is a traditional porridge in northern Europe and has been found in the stomachs of 5,000 year old Neolithic bog bodies in Scandinavia. At present rolled oats is a very important part of athletes' diets given oatmeal's high content of complex carbohydrates in addition to water soluble fiber with the purpose of encouraging slow digestion and stabilizes blood glucose levels. Oatmeal porridge also contains more B vitamins and calories than other kinds of porridges.

Dry Beef Rendang Curry

Rendang is normally made from beef slowly cooked in coconut milk and spices for several hours until almost all the liquid evaporates which allows the meat to absorb the full flavour of the condiments. The cooking process changes from boiling to frying as the liquid evaporates and the slow cooking process allows the meat to absorb all the spices. The dishmay include ginger, galangal, turmeric leaf, lemon grass and chillies.

Basmati Coconut rice

Coconut rice is an excellent accompaniment to numerous Asian dishes and is well suited to curry dishes, stir frys and fish. Basmati rice is a long grain variety distinguished for its fragrance and delicate flavour. Cooked Basmati rice is free flowing grains rather than sticky and is available in white and brown.

Persian Meatballs in Spicy Spinach Sauce

Persian cooking is made with a delicate balance of sweet, sour and hot spices creating a delicate flavour. The use of fruits, herbs, flowers and ground roots create a subtle aroma filled with flavour. Cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, star of anise and coriander are the essential spices to use in Persian cuisine and each spice has a helpful purpose in maintain a healthy body function.

Featuring Rosemarie Immerschmitt’s “Pork Medallion with Creamy Mushroom Sauce”

Born in Berlin and now living in Simbach an inn, which is in the district of Bavaria, Germany. I started learning to cook as a young child and at the age of 16 I attended a school to study cooking and sewing. I thoroughly enjoy the process of cooking and love to prepare meals for my loved ones. I like travelling and plan to take a trip to Italy in the near future. Currently I am in Australia on a three month holiday enjoying time with my family and meeting lots of new friends including the beautiful wildlife.

The most essential items in my kitchen and favourite kitchen tools are good pans and potato peelers. My regular comfort food is Beef or Chicken goulash and I also enjoy good sauerkraut. My mother’s old cook book “The Austrian Kitchen” is my treasure. I admire “Lafer” an Austrian chef working in Germany and a desired newly discovered ingredient is fresh ginger. Seasonal fruits are what I enjoy most especially fresh strawberries in cream and bananas. The main ingredients I keep stocked in my kitchen are salt, pepper, paprika, curry powder and ginger.

The best cooking tip I can give is not to overcook food, just turn it and definitely no picking. A kitchen incident I would like to share is when I made marmalade. Unfortunately I did not close the lid tightly and when I picked up the jar it fell, hit the kitchen bench and bounced against the wall before hitting the floor. The marmalade was everywhere, I had to clean the walls and floor and later re paint as the walls were an orange colour.

Pork Medallion with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Beef Madras Curry

Madras sauce is a moderately hot curry, red in color with the use of chili powder. Madras curry was invented by restaurants in Britain and can be vegetarian or made with meat. There are many variations on Madras curry and the result often being filled with a red colour, toasty spices, the smoothness of coconut, the sweet and sour flavour of Tamarind and a liquorice flavour of anise. The redness is achieved with chilli or a mixture of chilli and paprika and the orange of turmeric. Frequently used ingredients may also include fresh curry leaves and a drizzle of fresh coriander leaves.

Spicy Pecan Pilaf

Pecan is a nut from a very large sized deciduous tree and is native to central and southern parts of the United States of America. Appetizing pecans are admired edible dry nuts enriched with many advantages such as nutrients, minerals, vitamins essential for optimum health.

Featuring Brenda Immerschmitt’s "Pork Belly Roast with Potato and Spinach Croquettes"

Born in Dublin, Ireland, I immigrated to Australia in 1992 and currently live in Putney, Sydney with my husband Peter and my son Sam. My fondest memories of cooking are as a young child watching my mother and Italian grandmother in the kitchen preparing beautiful food for our family. I always enjoy experimenting with new dishes. I believe everybody can cook and it gives me great pleasure to see people thoroughly enjoy the food I have prepared for them.

I am inspired by Jamie Oliver as I appreciate how he makes everything so quick and easy to prepare and an enjoyable cook book is “The Slow Cooker”. The classic recipe “Lamb Shanks” cooked in a slow cooker is one I often cook. My regular comfort meal is roast lamb. An essential item in my kitchen is silver foil as I use it all the time especially for lining my roasting tins. My most popular dish would have to be Chili Mussels in Napolitana sauce. My favourite kitchen tool is definitely my meat thermometer and newly discovered ingredients are honey soy and oyster sauce. In my opinion every home kitchen should have garlic and mustard.

I prefer the simplicity of the basic Thai Restaurant where you can relax and totally enjoy the freshly made foods using the best of quality ingredients. There is a trend towards making Thai Restaurants stylish. My cooking tip: don’t be too serious in the kitchen, enjoy the whole ambiance of cooking and preparing meals for those you love and definitely clean as you go.

I am renowned for being distracted from my tasks in the kitchen as I constantly leave food on the stove with the need to be reminded by my husband and son that I am actually “the chef” and things are happening.

Pork Belly Roast with Potato and Spinach Croquettes

Chocolate Lava Cake

Molten Chocolate Cakes, Chocolate Fondants or Chocolate Lava Cakes all have a rich chocolate flavour with a dense and liquid texture. Chocolate Lava Cake batter is poured into individual ramekins, molds, cups or muffin tins and is best served in the mold hot from the oven to enjoy the self saucing texture in the middle with a sauce, ice cream, gently whipped cream or crème fraîche.

Beef Bourguignon

This dish originates from the Burgundy region and is a stew prepared with beef braised in red wine and beef broth. It is flavoured with garlic, onions, herbs, pearl onions and mushrooms added towards the end of cooking. Beef bourguignon is one of many examples of peasant dishes refined into haute cuisine. The method of slowly simmering the beef in wine derived as a means of tenderizing cuts of meat that would have been too tough to cook any other way.

Pear and Custard Cobbler

A Fruit Cobbler is a baked dessert with a fruit filling and a crunchy and textured topping. The majority of Fruit Cobblers normally come in single fruit varieties and is named after the filling, such as blackberry, blueberry and peach cobbler.