After a whirlwind tour through Europe, I’m back home in the hills of Perth! We all know how much I love dinner parties and the one held on Friday night at the home of Jarrod and Teresa McKenna was one I looked forward to all week – and there is always an open invitation to anyone! everyone is invited!

A few years ago they started The First Home Project which helps those who are new to Australia, and who are seeking a place of safety, find their first home and connect into community.

The Friday night dinner’s here are all about sharing, getting to know each other, playing some music…. and all this happens all over a home cooked meal.

These values are at the core of Ceire’s Kitchen and so I couldn’t wait to get involved in a project like this. Tonight I cooked dinner for about 50 people! Inspired by my Mediterranean roots, I cooked a Jamie Oliver pasta recipe – all in one giant pot!

(see recipe: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/gennaro-s-spaghetti-alla-puttanesca/#qkB3jqkGpsJDZfAs.97 )

It’s always a good idea to cook with whatever’s in season. There are is heaps of pumpkin and potatoes at the moment and so as a winter warmer, to accompany the pasta, we grilled these veggies in the oven until they were golden and crispy and then drizzled over a homemade kale pesto made out of fresh chilli and basil.

SUPER COOL SAVER HINT: Use sunflower seeds instead of pine-nuts. It makes this recipe a lot more affordable, and it’s just as tasty.

Kale and Basil Pesto:

• Large handful of kale
• Bunch of basil
• 200g pecorino cheese
• 1 cup of sunflower seeds
• juice of one lemon
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• seasoning to taste

Whizz it all up in a food processor and there we go!

For more information about The First Home Project, and if you live in Perth and would like to get involved, visit: www.facebook.com/thefirsthomeproject

More stories and cultural recipe exchanges to come!

It’s the last leg of my trip in Europe and ending it here on this beautiful island was the cherry on the top!

There’s nothing as refreshing as going back to basics: back to your roots. Meeting my cousins and drinking their homemade clementine liquor in the house that my great-grandmother was born in, while trying to speak broken Portuguese and being fed endless amounts of Madeira cake, will be a memory I’ll never forget.

Fruit salad for Four

Ingredients:

• punnet of strawberries
• 2 plums
• 2 nectarines
• 2 pears
• 4 passion fruit
• handful of nuts and seeds
• Greek yoghurt
• fennel tips (as desired)

Method:

• Wash fruit
• Cut strawberries in half and the rest of fruit into bite size pieces.
• Add a few dollops of yoghurt.
• Cut open passion fruit and squeeze the juice over the yogurt.
• Scatter over the nuts and seeds and finish it off with a few sprigs of fennel tips!

It’s time to celebrate and be part of an incredible ‘Jamie Oliver initiative.’ Let’s sign the petition and bring about a positive change to schools and education all over the world! It’s all about healthy eating, healthy living, healthy loving… and it all starts with the kids!

“Man cannot live by bread alone”

I dedicate this post to one of my favourite shops: The Kakulas Brothers, in Northbridge Perth. And to bread. Bread – you make the world go round. You are a food which comes in all different shapes and sizes, and that has been eaten by cultures and communities for hundreds of years. Respect.

I recently discovered an ancient grain called ‘Spelt.’ When milled into a flour and baked into bread – its unstoppable. It’s nutritional value and overall health benefits will blow your mind. Kakulas Brothers is my favourite place to buy this flour and also has an extraordinary selection of different spices, nuts, vinegars and cheeses, to name a few. I couldn’t think of a better place to blow my pay cheque.

Mom’s Yoghurt Bread

Ingredients:

(Preheat oven to 180’C)

• 4 cups spelt flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 10 ml bicarb
• 5ml salt
• 125ml milk
• 15ml honey
• 500ml plain yoghurt
• 1 cup sunflower seeds

Method:

• Mix the flour, oats, bicarb and salt together in a bowl.
• Heat the milk and honey together and mix into the yoghurt.
• Add the yoghurt mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well.
• Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake for an hour or until cooked and golden brown.

For more information about Kakulas Brothers, check out their website: http://www.kakulasbros.com.au

Visit http://thespeltbakers.ca/what-is-spelt/ for the full story on spelt flour