Catering By Design - Without Love, It's Just Food

We engaged with Karin’s business for our daughter’s 10th birthday party. And she completely elevated the experience to the next level not just for our young / grown up guests but also for us as hosts.

She arrived on time at our house (venue) and set up everything immaculately. Her food is absolutely sumptuous.

Given the party had a set time frame, Karin managed everything so beautifully with grace and speed. My husband and I were treated like guests at our own house hence we could enjoy ourselves with our guests

And guess what, the kitchen / house was left perfectly clean before she left.

We love entertaining at home and will not think twice before engaging with her business again.

- Moushmi Singh

It's hard to believe but September 16th marks 100 days until Christmas!

Have you organised your office Christmas /end of year celebrations yet? Don’t leave it to the last minute!

At Catering By Design, we specialise in making your corporate events unforgettable with customised menus, exceptional service, and a sprinkle of festive cheer.

Whether it's a casual office lunch or an extravagant evening affair, we’ve got you covered. Let us take the stress out of your planning so you can sit back and enjoy the festivities!

Contact us today to book your Christmas party!

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/event-catering/corporate-catering/

Imagine feeling like a guest at your own party!

When you use Catering By Design to cater for your party you can enjoy it as if you are a guest because there’s no hassles, no stress…just delicious food and service!

Our party catering services also encompass much more than food.

We take care of absolutely everything for you, from the décor to the decorations to the desserts.

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/event-catering/party-catering/

Pasta Primavera
Serves 4

Make the most of seasonal spring greens with this vibrant and fresh pasta primavera recipe, originally created in New York in the 1970s.

Perfect for spring, this delicious recipe is packed with seasonal vegetables.

Ingredients
200g packet pasta
75 g butter
1 cup cream
½ cup grana padano, grated
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large leek, trimmed, thinly sliced
1 cup frozen peas
2 cups snow peas, top and tailed with strings removed
1 bunch asparagus, woody end trimmed, cut into 2cm pieces
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
1 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup fresh basil leaves
4 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
¼ cup finely grated grana padano

Method

• Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water following packet directions or until al dente. Drain, reserving ⅓ cup of the cooking liquid.
• While pasta is cooking, melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add cream and parmesan, stirring until the cheese melts. Take it off the stove and set aside.
• Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat and add the leek. saute the peas, snow peas, asparagus and zucchini.
• Cook vegetables, stirring, for 5 minutes or until softened.
• Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds or until aromatic.
• Add the drained pasta and cream sauce mixture to the pan and mix to combine. • Add reserved cooking liquid to thin the sauce, if necessary.
• Serve topped with basil leaves, pine nuts and grated grana padano.

Did you know that September 4 is “Eat an Extra Dessert Day”?

The creator of this fantastic yet unofficial holiday remains a mystery, but whoever they are, they certainly deserve a big slice of cake and a heaping bowl of ice cream!

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/

What's your favourite spring dish?

Spring has officially sprung bringing with it the vibrant colours and fresh flavours.
At Catering by Design, we love celebrating the flavours of the new season with some of our favourite springtime dishes!

Think crisp, garden-fresh salads; succulent, herb-marinated meats; perfectly grilled asparagus spears and tender, spring lamb roast, bursting with the flavours of rosemary and thyme.

And who can resist a slice of tangy lemon tart or a bowl of fresh berries topped with whipped cream?

We want to know—what's your go-to spring dish? Whether it's a classic favourite or a new seasonal discovery, share it with us in the comments! Let’s savour the best of spring together.

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/

Got a dad who loves stout and chocolate?

Why not spoil him this Father’s Day with our melt and mix decadent Chocolate Stout Cake, adapted from a classic Nigella Lawson recipe.

Easy to make and even easier to eat, your dad will enjoy eating this with a coffee or, even better still, with a glass of his favourite stout!

Ingredients
1 cup stout or Guinness
150 gm butter
¾ cup cocoa powder
2 cups superfine sugar
¾ cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
2½ tsp baking soda

Frosting ingredients
1¼ cups icing sugar
250 gm tub spreadable cream cheese at room temperature
½ cup cream

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan forced).
• Grease a 23cm cake tin and line with baking paper.
• Combine stout (or Guinness) and butter in a large saucepan and place over medium-low heat until butter melts, then remove from heat.
• Add cocoa and superfine sugar, cream, eggs, vanilla, flour and baking soda to the Guinness mixture and whisk together until smooth.
• Pour into the prepared pan and bake until risen and firm, approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Place the pan on a wire rack and cool the cake completely in the pan.
• While the cake is cooling, mix icing sugar with cream cheese and blend until smooth.
• Add the cream and mix until smooth and spreadable.
• Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or cake stand.
• Ice top of cake only, so that it resembles a frothy pint of stout or Guinness!

What a treat! Professional, friendly and a big part of our night, Karin provided the most delicious morsels and ensured the conversation was flowing and food and drink were constant.

Such a personal touch, it was as if a girlfriend was joining and bonus entertaining us with her wonderful delights over super tasty dishes.

Food was more than plenty and the sincerity of Karin’s work and atmosphere she creates can go without saying.

Genuine, earthy, homely, warm and lovely. Thank you.

Mariana Allen

Mocha self-saucing pudding recipe

If there is any better dessert in winter than a self-saucing chocolate pudding, it has to be a mocha self-saucing chocolate pudding!

Don’t like coffee? No worries! Simply omit the coffee from the recipe.

Pudding ingredients
1 cup SR flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
½ cup sugar
½ cup milk
1 egg
70g butter, melted

Sauce ingredients
½ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
1½ cups boiling water
1 tbsp instant coffee powder or a shot of espresso

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan forced).
2. Grease a 1.5L (6 cup) ovenproof baking dish with melted butter.
3. Sift flour and 2 tbsp cocoa into a bowl and stir in caster sugar.
4. Whisk milk, egg and butter in a jug until combined.
5. Add to the flour mixture and stir until smooth.
6. Pour into the prepared dish and smooth the surface.
7. Combine the brown sugar with the remaining 2 tbsp cocoa and sprinkle evenly over the top of the pudding.
8. Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water and gently pour the coffee mixture over the back of a spoon onto the pudding.
9. Bake for 40 minutes or until a cake-like surface forms and a skewer inserted halfway into the centre comes out clean.
10. Serve with ice cream or cream and enjoy!

This or That: Cheese Edition!
Are you on team comfort food or team gourmet snack?
This: Creamy, Dreamy Mac and Cheese
That: Elegant Artisan Cheese Board
Comment below and let us know your favourite!

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/

Are you a cafe, restaurant or home cook who is looking to preserve winter fruits and vegetables with a dehydrator?

Catering By Design has a commercial dehydrator available for hire to save you the expense of investing in one yourself and save you the space you’d need to store one of your own!

Our 16 Tray Professional Food Dehydrator is perfect for butchers, cafés, restaurants, health food stores and enthusiastic home cooks to create healthy, raw and preservative-free snacks, treats, jerky, bread alternatives and so much more.

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/equipment-hire/food-dehydrator/

“So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being.”

Franz Kafka

No matter what the event, we promise you’ll never go hungry with our flavourful & fabulous menus that use locally sourced & organic ingredients whenever possible.

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/fabulous-catering/food-and-menu-ideas/

Looking for a healthy winter warmer pie recipe that all the family will love? Our chicken pot pie is rich and creamy but oh so good for you too.

The easy to make flaky pastry and creamy filling don’t use any cream or butter. And if you serve this pie with steamed veggies and mash you’ll get more than 6 servings of veggies in the one meal!

Other things to love about this versatile recipe?
✔️The pastry top does not require any fancy kitchen equipment
✔️The pastry top reheats well in a microwave without going soggy
✔️Leftover roast or barbeque chicken can be used instead of raw chicken in the filling
✔️The filling can be used to make individual chicken and veggie pasties using sheets of puff pastry.
✔️The filling is also delicious in vol au vent cases or as a savoury filling for crepes–top with cheese and bake!

Filling Ingredients
1 cup of chicken stock (1 chicken stock stock cube dissolved in 1 cup boiling water)
1 cup milk
½ cup plain flour
4 tsp olive oil
500 gm chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces (or 2 cups leftover cooked chicken, shredded and diced)
1 onion, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 cup frozen peas
½ tsp salt
pepper to taste

Pie crust ingredients
1 ⅔ cups plain flour
¼ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup light olive oil (or vegetable/canola/sunflower oil)
⅓ cup milk
Egg wash (one egg yolk mixed with 1 tsp water)

Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan forced)
- Grease a 22cm pie dish or a small baking dish.
- In a small bowl, whisk together chicken stock, milk, and flour until smooth.
- Heat the 2 tsp oil in a large frying pan with deep sides over medium high heat and saute onion, carrot and celery until soft and translucent.
- Remove vegetables from the pan.
- Add chicken to pan and 2 tsp oil. If using cooked chicken, skip this step and step 7, adding the chicken with veggies and sock mixture in step 8.
- Increase heat to high and stir until chicken is browned all over.
- Return veggies to pan and add peas followed by chicken stock mixture, salt & pepper.
- Simmer, uncovered, for about 2 minutes until thick.
- Pour filling into a pie dish and set aside white you make the pie crust.
- Combine flour, salt, oil and milk and stir to combine into a dough.
- Shape into a disc and place between 2 sheets of baking paper.
- Roll into a circle large enough to cover the top of the pie dish
- Brush rim of pie dish with egg wash.
- Gently remove pie crust from paper and place onto pie.
- Trim overhanging crust, pressing down edges.
- Brush the entire crust and edges with egg wash.
- With a sharp knife, poke about a dozen holes in the top to release steam.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown
- Serve with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies or enjoy as is!

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/

Looking for an excuse to indulge in one of our greatest culinary icons?

This Sunday, July 21, is National Lamington Day!

Lamintons were first invented in Queensland, with a recipe appearing in the Queensland Country Life newspaper as early as 1900. According to Queensland Government House, the lamington was created by the chef of the state's eighth governor, Lord Lamington, to feed unexpected visitors.

Here are some tips and recipes for making lamingtons if you’d like to enjoy one this weekend on our national lamington day!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-24/everything-you-need-to-know-about-lamingtons-australian-cake/10720880

Our satay chicken skewers are a crowd pleaser and just one one of dozens of menu items you can choose from!

No matter what the event, we promise you’ll never go hungry with our flavourful and fabulous menus that use locally sourced and organic ingredients whenever possible.

We have a full commercial kitchen as well as a catering van and trailer that allow us to cater for events in any absolutely any location, so we can tailor our menus to suit a wide range of events and locations.

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/fabulous-catering/food-and-menu-ideas/

Q: What types of food do you specialise in?

A: Whether you want “Aussie”, Mexican, Vietnamese, Cajun, Thai, French, Vegetarian, vegan, gluten free or a fusion of cuisines, our talented team of chefs are here to create your perfect menu.

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/faqs/

Dry July just got a whole lot easier with our range of mocktails, exotic juice bars, soft drinks, zero alcohol beer and non-alcoholic champagne look-alikes!

Whatever your budget and your beverage preference, we have it covered!

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/fabulous-catering/beverages/

🍫✨ Celebrate World Chocolate Day by hiring a Chocolate Fountain for your next event! ✨🍫

Take your celebration to the next level by hiring a luxurious chocolate fountain! Imagine cascading rivers of rich, velvety chocolate ready to dip your favourite treats into. 🍓🍪🍡

Why Hire a Chocolate Fountain?
Wow Factor: A chocolate fountain is a show-stopping centrepiece that will impress your guests.
Delicious Fun: Dip strawberries, marshmallows, pretzels, and more into the flowing chocolate for a truly interactive experience.
Perfect for Any Occasion: Whether it's a party, wedding, or corporate event, a chocolate fountain adds a touch of elegance and excitement.
Your choice of chocolate: Milk, dark, white or even strawberry chocolate lets you indulge in the ultimate chocolate experience!

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/equipment-hire/

Would you rather eat fruit or vegetables?

Imagine if you could entertain your friends with a restaurant quality meal in the comfort and the privacy of your own home, without having to shop, cook or clean up?

Sounds too good to be true? Well, we’d like to invite you to a dinner party in your own home with our sit down meal service.

You choose from a one, two or three course meal to be served in your home or at a venue of your choice.

We do all the shopping and cooking for you and we can even bring our coffee machine to you for gourmet espresso coffee after your meal.

Ready To Talk About How We Can Help?

Just give Karin a call on 0412 269 049 or send her a message.

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/event-catering/catering-in-your-home/

Self-saucing tangelo pudding

If you’ve never tasted a tangelo, now’s the perfect time to try one as they are starting to come into season now.

Tangelos get their name from the two fruits that are crossed to make them – a Dancy tangerine (tang-) and an ancestral variety of grapefruit called pomelo (-elo).

This recipe for a self-saucing tangelo pudding is an easy and delicious way to enjoy the sweet citrus flavours of tangelos in wintertime.

Ingredients
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 4 tangelos, zested (reserve juice for sauce)
• ½ cup milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 50g butter, melted

Sauce ingredients
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• Juice of 4 tangelos (you will get approximately ½ cup juice from each tangelo)
• ½ cup boiling water
• ½ cup caster sugar

Method
• Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease a 2 litre baking dish.
• Mix the flour and sugar together in a large mixing bowl.
• Whisk together the milk, vanilla, eggs, butter and tangelo zest in a large jug until combined.
• Stir the liquid mixture into the flour and sugar and mix to combine before pouring the batter into the greased baking dish.
• To make the sauce, sprinkle the cornflour evenly over the top of the pudding batter through a sieve.
• Strain the tangelo juice through a sieve (to remove the pulp) into a large jug.
• Add sugar and boiling water.
• Carefully pour the mixture onto the pudding over the back of a large spoon.
• Put the dish on a baking sheet and into the centre of the oven for approximately 20 minutes until golden and well risen.
• Dust with icing sugar and serve hot with cream or ice cream.

Got dietary requirements? No worries!

We are happy to cater to any taste or dietary requirement – Gluten-free, Vegan, Vegetarian, Nut-free and other special diets – just let us know in advance.

We’re happy to work with you to tailor a menu to suit your taste preferences, your event theme, your dietary requirements and, of course, your budget!

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/fabulous-catering/food-and-menu-ideas/

“Karin and the team are simply astonishing at what they do.

Super-professional, flexible and lovely to work with - they produce amazing, stress-free events”

Karen Allen

With a full in-house commercial kitchen and all the furniture and equipment you need, Chinwaggery, Ponderosa House is our private catering venue ideal for both indoor and outdoor functions, fully decked out with everything you need for your next event.

Winter and Christmas in July events are particularly popular at Chinwaggery with our roaring fire inside as well as an outside fire pit in our intimate garden setting.

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/venues/the-chinwaggery-ponderosa/

The best memories are made around the table.

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/

Happy King’s birthday!

We are closed today for the King’s Birthday Public Holiday but we’ll be back tomorrow.

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/

As tomorrow is World Oceans Day, we thought we’d share a super easy fish recipe for you to enjoy!

Pantry fish cakes

Ingredients
400 g potatoes
185 g tinned tuna in oil, drained
!/2 tsp chilli flakes
Rind of one lemon (save lemon to serve in wedges with fish cakes)
1 egg
Handful of finely chopped herbs (parsley, dill, shallots, chives and/or coriander)
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup flour for dusting
Light olive oil for frying

Method
-Boil potatoes in water until soft, drain and mash
-Place potatoes in bowl and mix together with tuna, chilli flakes, lemon rind, egg, herbs and breadcrumbs
-Shape into fishcakes with your hands and toss in flour
-Shallow fry in oil over medium heat until browned and crispy all over
-Serve with lemon wedges, mayonnaise and either steamed vegetables or salad.

https://cateringbydesign.com.au/