Planning a party is now one click away with Dinner Explorer Australia
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From a casual backyard BBQ for the footy finals to a swanky picnic for Melbourne Cup, Australians have a unique flair and passion for entertaining all year round – and now with the launch of Electrolux Dinner Explorer in Australia, it’s easy to entertain and bring to life flavours and celebrations from around the world, all with the click of your mouse.
Electrolux Dinner Explorer is the perfect global online resource for those planning a party. The site offers more than 50 different themes, based on international and now local Australian celebrations and festivities, each supported with recipes, music, décor ideas, costume suggestions — and more!
The site offers suggestions from how to throw the perfect Irish party to celebrate St Patrick’s Day with a sumptuous Irish stew and a limerick competition, through to how to mark Ramadan including its traditional shadow theatre. Or if you want to live the magic of the Indian festival of lights, Diwali, log on to find out how to make samosas and chappati, recommended Bollywood tunes and how to recreate the stunning atmosphere with fabrics and lights!
And the site is ideal to give a helping hand to those celebrations a little closer to home. Be sure to make Australia Day a ripper next year, with some crowd pleasing king prawn skewers with a mango salad, while playing Men at Work and quintessential ‘Aussie’ dress suggestions. Other local themes include Melbourne Cup Day, Christmas in July and Footy Finals.
One person that knows all about entertaining and creating memorable moments is Electrolux cooking ambassador and leading Australian chef from Quay restaurant, Peter Gilmore.
“Aussies are well known for finding any excuse to celebrate and throw a party with friends and family. Now with the help of Dinner Explorer Australia, Electrolux shows you how to easily transform even the most ordinary occasions into memorable moments every time with family and friends,” stated Peter.
“The Internet is often the first point of call when planning a party and the Electrolux Dinner Explorer is the perfect platform to help Australians entertain at home no matter what the occasion by providing fun, inspirational ideas which will really wow their guests.”
Whether it’s a birthday, Christmas in July or simply to celebrate a beautiful summer day, Electrolux Dinner Explorer will help transform these occasions into memorable moments that matter.
Visit www.dinnerexplorer.com.au – we think you’ll be inspired.
Please see below Christmas recipes by Electrolux cooking ambassador, Peter Gilmore
Caramelised brioche with warm cherry compote
Ingredients
Serves 8
1 loaf of brioche
2 vanilla beans
500 mls milk
5 egg yolks
120 gms sugar
200 gms castor sugar for caramel
100 gms unsalted butter
Wild cherry confit
100g preserved wild Italian cherries
100g good quality cherry jam
Method
Pit the wild cherries and place them in a small pan over low heat. Add the cherry jam and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Add a little water if necessary. Allow the confit to cool, then put aside.
Method
Buy or make a loaf of good quality brioche. Cut 8 x 3cm thick slices of brioche. Preheat your steamer oven to maximum. Have 8 – 20 cm x 20 cm squares of silicon paper or glad bake paper pre cut. Split and scrape the two vanilla beans. Place the seeds in a bowl, add the milk, egg yolks and sugar and mix well with a whisk. Soak each piece of brioche in the custard mixture fully submerged for 20 seconds. Lift out the soaked brioche and place in the center of each piece of paper. Wrap the brioche as you would a simple parcel. Place the join side down on a steamer tray and place all the brioche in the steamer for 3 minutes on high steam. This will heat the brioche and cook the custard mixture through to give you a warm soft centre. Put the brioche aside and leave wrapped.
Add 100 gms of castor sugar each into two large non stick frypans. Place them on the induction top and turn to high. Allow the sugar to caramelize. This is called making a dry caramel. With the induction power it will only take a minute or so to happen. Once the sugar has taken on a deep golden colour add 50 gms of unsalted butter to each pan. Shake the pans around a little and turn the heat down to low. Unwrap the hot brioche and place directly on top of the hot caramel. Allow to cook on the first side for about 1 minute and then using a spatula of palette knife carefully turn over the brioche and cook on the other side for a further minute. Turn once more and turn the pans off. (You could choose to just deal with one pan at a time and keep the brioche warm while cooking the next batch). Place each piece of caramelized brioche in the center of each serving plate. Add the cherry confit over the top of each piece of brioche.
This dish will make an excellent dessert and equally an amazing indulgent breakfast dish.
Quay’s white peach bellini
Ingredients
Serves 8
500 mls water
350 gms castor sugar
1 vanilla bean
6 ripe white peaches
500 mls prosecco
500 mls moscato d’asti
500 mls white peach puree (produced from the above recipe)
1 litre ice cubes
Method
Make the white peach puree by combining 500 mls of water, 350 gms of sugar and 1 split and scraped vanilla bean in a pot and bring to the boil, turn down to a very low simmer. Peel the 6 white peaches with a sharp knife. Cut the peaches in half and remove the seeds. Add the peach flesh to the simmering syrup and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely. Once cool place the contents into an upright blender and blend on high for 2 minutes. Pass the puree through a fine drum sieve. Store the puree in the fridge.
In a blender combine 250 mls of white peach puree, 250 mls prosceto, 250 mls moscato d’asti and ½ litre of ice cubes. Blend on high until well combined and the ice breaks down. Pour immediately into champagne flutes. Repeat the process with the other half of the ingredients.
Photos at Flickr
