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Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Gallery Photo- Putting together starters
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Putting together the starter for 10 girls on a hens night.
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Anna Holly- Hens Night
“My lovely bridesmaid’s used Stephen from "Free Range Chef" for my Hen’s night and he cooked the most amazing 3-course dinner for us, tailor-made with my taste buds in mind! Complete with our own waiter for the evening we had the best time – I would totally recommend this experience!”
– Anna Holley
– Anna Holley
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Martin - dietitian for the Japanese International Rugby team
“I spend most of my time fighting with chefs around the world in different hotels to get the right balance of foods for the team. Stephen took on board what was said at the meetings and came up with great menus with lots of variety with healthy options, keeping in mind the Japanese heritage. The team appreciated your hard work and we’ll see you next year for the world cup”
Martin - dietitian for the Japanese International Rugby team
Faye Westrop - Suit Yourself Magazine
"Steve and the team have done many an event for us now. Most catering companies roll out the same tired and bland menus, not Steve, exciting, tasty and most importantly affordable elegance. Brilliant team, great service"
Faye Westrop - Suit Yourself Magazine
Common Sense Media UK
"We found The Free Range Chef to be an exacting, professional and highly competent service. We work with some of the most challenging clients there are and Steve took that on the chin and created a range of menus to suit a number of tastes, food allergies and fuebles. We 100% recommend him"
Common Sense Media UK
The Penfolds - Somerset
“We absolutely loved Stephen and The Free Range Chef. Weddings are a really stressful thing to go through but the food is something we didn't worry about once. He gave us so many options to choose from based on a few initial ideas David and I had put together. He 100% 'got it', he understood exactly what we wanted and the food was prepared calmly, with precision and to exemplary standards. Without any shadow of a doubt I will ask The Range Chef, to do every dinner party and function I am responsible for from now on, even if I do have to fly him from the other side of the world to do it"
The Penfolds - Somerset
Gallery Photo - Getting ready for service.
Canape of mini jacket potato with a cold lemon and chive hollandaise.
Monday, 21 June 2010
Fine Food Fair
The Fine Food Fair ran from 13th to 15th June and was strictly only for people working in the food industry.It's New Zealands first International food and hospitality event, with new products, equipment and ideas.
The ASB show grounds hosted around 240 exhibitors and support organisations such as HANZ and HSI.
It is a great opportunity to find new ideas, products and to network with existing and new businesses, so the Free Range Chef went for a visit.
It is a great opportunity to find new ideas, products and to network with existing and new businesses, so the Free Range Chef went for a visit.
As part of the fair there was the Nomis restaurant,which gave exhibitors and visitors the chance to dine in the main hall, with demonstrations and tasting plates from the mobile kitchens.
Leading chef demonstrations throughout the 3 days,the culinary challenge where New Zealand and Australian chefs went head to head, and the bakery of the year competition were just a few of the events going on through out the show.
I caught up with Lyn at Puhoi (some of my favorite cheeses are made by Puhoi) who was showcasing there new Gruyere cheese which was very good, the perfect balance between sweet and salt , with a creamy nutty finish, this cheese will get better with age. 
Found new suppliers of Mediterranean products. Lena was very helpful on the Mediterraneo range with olives, oils, vinegars and Antipasto products.
A great array of suppliers of crockery, knives, catering equipment and very new disposable canape and buffet ware were on show, giving lots of innovative ideas and giving the Free Range Chef a ever increasing wish list.
The Bakery competition was hotting with the 9 young finalists competing for the baker of the year crown and $14,000 in prizes. The competition was held in 3 heats over the 3 days, the cake decorating was amazing and the attention to detail where excellent.
Other foods of interest were from Mercato, with there huge range of specialist dry goods,meats and cheeses and there range of molecular gastronomy products.
Choco Vic Origen Unico chocolate is worth a mention. The range offers 3 different products with distinctive characters of there own. All are gluten and nut free.They even put the year of the harvests on the packaging as there are variations between the different harvests.
Another highlight of the food fair was seeing how to make Haloumi in 20 minutes courtesy of Over the Moon dairy. There cheeses are very good another favorite of mine. They run cheese making courses, teaching how to make all your favorite cheeses at home.
Warm milk. Add the Rennet. wait 30 seconds to a minute for the curd to set. Cut the curd into small pieces, press and drain the whey of the curd.
Then tip out haloumi when solid and drained well. Heat whey. Add the haloumi, cook through for a minute or to in the hot liquid.remove and put in to put into a water and salt solution for few minutes dry and cook...Very tasty and so easy !!!!
The show was very good and talking to the exhibitors they all thought it was very well organised and that it was one of the better food shows around. I agree I enjoyed it so much I went on the second day too. I tried so many products that I couldn't mention them all in this blog but I'm looking forward to the next time.
For any information on any of the products or on the fine food fair just hit the contact button and drop me a mail.
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Catering for the Japanese National Rugby Team
Between the 31st May and the 5th of June the Japanese National Rugby team came to Auckland to train and have a friendly match against North Harbour as a prelude to the Rugby world cup happening in New Zealand in 2011.
I was lucky enough to get the contract through Bstaff agency to cook for them with my sous chef Ryan, while they stayed at the Gulf Harbour Lodge in Whangaparaoa ran by Marie and Adrian Hunnego.
We had to cook them breakfast, lunch and dinner and they were specific about times and types of foods.Before they arrived we received sample menu plans, and liaised through Marie with the team HQ in Japan.
When they arrived we spent time talking to the teams nutritionist Martin their manager J.K and their coach the kiwi legend John Kirwin to get the foods right.
They were basically looking for menus with variety, that were healthy, with high carb options, and plenty of it.
The team was a lot more westernised in their food habits than first expected but we still put on Japanese influenced menu with Miso soup and rice being on at every meal, stir fried rices, Teriayki roast chicken, Miso marinated salmon, braised soy beef, Daikon salads, Japanese curry, fresh fish every day and lots of pasta and noodles just to name a few of the things we did and the lads could eat!
The Team were very friendly with a number of Kiwi and Australian players in the squad. J.K, the Manager, had his birthday on the last night so we made a very large cake to help him celebrate.
We had many good comments all week from the team and management and it was great to be able to sit down with John Kirwin and the rest of the teams management and have a wine after service.
Unfortunately the team lost the match against North harbour, but they were still in good spirits.
Marie, Adrian, Paul and the front of house team did a fantastic job looking after the lads while they stayed at the Lodge, and we were very grateful for your help in the kitchen to.
I would just like to thank Ryan for doing such a great job too.
We got the contract for next year !!!
Gluten free food and Allergy show
Just a few facts to get you started.
New Zealand has over 90,000 sufferers of food allergies and it is growing by the day.
In America it is the 5th leading chronic disease amongst all ages and in the UK 30% of the population has an food allergy that will effect them at some point in their lives.
The most common allergies,the ones that make up to 90% of the allergic reactions come from the proteins in cows milk, eggs, peanuts, wheat, soy, fish, shell fish and tree nuts.
As a caterer it is vital to be aware of these allergies and be able to still provide a meals that people can enjoy, regardless and the food industry is got so much better at providing alternatives.
I went along to find out more.
The Gluten free and Allergy show 2010 was held in Auckland 29-30th May at the ASB showgrounds and is going around the country with 2 more shows.
The Gluten free and Allergy show 2010 was held in Auckland 29-30th May at the ASB showgrounds and is going around the country with 2 more shows.
It's a great way to showcase products old and new and to learn a little bit more about the alternatives available to me as a caterer.
The show had a fantastic array of information and foods with over 70 stands ranging from dairy free cheeses, organic foods, gluten free beer and wine and Ultra pet food......pets suffer too you know! It was very busy with most stalls giving away samples to try and seminars on allergies, diets and contribution's from leading people in the industry.
I liked the fact it was mostly Kiwi companies, pushing the envelope, and having the great ideas. The Gluten free plain and raising flour were of interest ,something that is always useful. The dairy free and egg free marshmallow mix and meringues being the most surprising. They were very good a lot softer than ordinary meringues but will use them in the future if necessary.
The beer I must admit I didn't like but did enjoy the wines from Moana Park.
Other products of note were the sea vegetable company Pacific Harvest with a range of edible seaweeds and natural sea salt products great for using on fish, seafood, game meats and for sauces and dips.
The fantastic 95% fat free gourmet probiotic yogurts from the Collective dairy company is worth a mention, their range of yogurts and flavours are so good and there Haloumi is squeaky just like it should be with great flavours, just like I used to get in the Mediterranean. The Chili and Lemon Haloumi had a great kick. We bought the Strawberry yogurt and the Olive Haloumi and made a Mediterranean style pan fried Haloumi, baby spinach and balsamic salad, with the yogurt for dessert......we ate the lot!!
I picked up lots of information on a huge range of products from different companies, and have a number of recipes, including some of the products I found, so if you need to find out more or cant find some products for you or your family, get in contact and I will be glad to help. 
There is plenty of information out there with lots of websites offering advice but for information on Allergies go to http://www.allergy.org.nz/
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