‘MasterChef’ winners Kasey and Karena Bird will be at home cooking their mother her favourite dishes on this special day.
Today is a special day. We get to celebrate how amazing our Mum is plus remember that it is exactly a year ago that we were announced the winners of MasterChef. Our lives have changed so much since then. We write for the Herald on Sunday, get to travel all over the country to different foodie events and we even have a best-selling cookbook now.
The only thing that hasn't changed is how lucky we are that our whanau is always there to keep our feet on the ground. We are also very fortunate that our Mum has been travelling around on some parts of our book tour and been able to see how amazing the people are who have come out to meet us. She has been blown away at how kind and generous everyone has been.
From day one our Mum, Atarangi, has supported us with whatever we wanted to do. When we did swimming in school she would be there driving us to practice, making sure we had our goggles and swimming caps. When we were doing tae kwon do she was at the side of the ring cheering for us (the loudest of all of the parents) and when we decided to go on MasterChef she was there with us in the kitchen, showing us how to recreate our grandmother's steamed pudding perfectly.
Our mother is a beautiful person and we are excited we will be home in Maketu today so we can cook some of her favourite dishes. We hope these recipes sound like something your Mum might like, too, so you can treat her on this special day.
Our Mum loves breakfast. She doesn't have much of a sweet tooth so definitely prefers eggs over pancakes. This dish is easy to make but seems like you have spent quite a while putting it together.
It is a very decadent start to the day, with yummy creamed spinach and smoked salmon surrounding a perfectly baked egg. Serve this with a couple of slices of toast and we think your Mum will be feeling pretty special.
Our Mum's most requested meal that she likes us to make for her is pork belly. She always brings some home when it is on special so we can cook it for her. We haven't been home to cook for a month so we know she will be excited to have this meal tonight. Pork and apples are a classic combination and they really help in this dish to cut through the meat's richness. We make the gravy using the juices in the bottom of the pan, just like she taught us.
Mum can't go past some Coconut Rough. When she buys it for herself as a treat, she often has to hide it at the back of the cupboard where we keep our plates so Dad won't find it. We came up with this Coconut Rough Rocky Road. We can't wait to make this tonight and sit around with the rest of our family and appreciate everything that has happened in the past year.
Try out Kasey and Karena's delicious recipes at bite.co.nz below
• Baked Eggs for Mum
• Pork Belly with Roasted Apples
• Coconut Rough Rocky Road