Chyka Keebaugh along with her husband Bruce are the co-founder of The Big Group, Australia 's
largest, privately-owned catering company. She also runs The Design Depot and
Capital Kitchen businesses. The Real Housewives of Melbourne star recently sat down with Good Food Australia to dish about her kitchen favorites, inspirations, food and much more, check it out below!
My inspiration
I love buying books and magazines to do with food and design
but my real inspiration is going to Prahran Market, Toscano's, Stocked Food
Store and Peter G Bouchier Butchers and seeing what's fresh and available.
Most unforgettable meal
We went last year as a family to the Fat Duck in London . Honestly, I just
loved every single second of the experience. It was beyond amazing. It was a
culinary delight. My daughter loves food and the Instagrams were just going
berserk.
Recipe stalwart
Karen Martini's slow-roasted lamb shoulder. Her recipe is
absolutely foolproof. Then I just literally pull it all apart, top it with pea
sprouts, a container of hummus and a drained can of chickpeas. Add a whole lot
of roasted baby chat potatoes and a green salad and it's absolutely the best.
My favourite
It changes a lot but I got this grey platter from one of my
favourite shops, Montreux, in High Street Prahran. It's an elevated,
footed-platter and people assume you have to put a cake on it. But to me you
put greens or a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad on it and the food looks
great - the green really pops against the grey.
Discovery
Joost Bakker's latest ceramic range. I'm totally obsessed
and I've got them in all different shapes and sizes. Food looks incredible on
it, it's just stunning.
I'm drinking
I have a creamy latte every day but I always go out and buy
it, either from Servery & Spoon in Waverley Road (Malvern East) or Capital
Kitchen in Malvern Central. The rest of the day I drink mineral water - I love
my San Pell - rosé, champagne and Hendrick's gin. I drink my gin with basil and
cucumber, lots of ice and tonic. The basil adds a really nice flavour.
Secret vice
I wrap Allen's snakes around Cadbury fruit and nut chocolate
bars. I've been doing that since I was 12. And I love caramel Magnums -
delicious.
My toolkit
My favourite new toy is this Zyliss herb chopper. The other
thing I love is this juicer I bought at a market in Morocco . You put it straight into a
lemon, squeeze it and out comes the juice. I don't have tricky toys. I've got
good fry pans, good pots, like this Chasseur. But I love how food can be
presented more than actually making it. I like this deer antler cutlery from Buenos Aires . I collect
cutlery - I've got gold, rose gold, silver - eight sets in total. How many does
Bruce think I have? Maybe two.
Last night's dinner
I had dinner ready - a marinated chicken, cous cous and a
big salad - but the kids said, ''Can we have sushi?'' So we went to our
favourite Japanese, Asakusa in Waverley
Road , Malvern East, and had sushi and sashimi.
They do the yummiest food.
The staples
My pantry
I've got an 18-year-old boy in the house so I can't keep up
with his food intake. You'll always find pasta, Weet-Bix, tuna (Francesca loves
it), almonds and Bruce is obsessed with this sea salt rub. He uses it on
everything. I'm also obsessed by rock salt and pepper and these Barossa Kitchen
crackers for cheese and dips. And I buy these sugar buttons from Paris . They're great on
cupcakes or when you've got the girls over for a cup of tea.
My fridge
Our staples, without a doubt, are tomatoes, Meredith goat's
cheese, basil, avocado and grain bread (from Dench Bakers). You can turn these
into a tuna pasta, you can have them on toast, you can make a dip, you can do
all kinds of things. And I've always got San Danielle prosciutto, ham and
bacon, cut-up fruit, salmon, berries, rocket and ingredients to make bolognese
for BJ - he's a rugby player.
Source/Photo Credit: Good Food