Unley Shopping Centre’s Woolworths has recently been revamped. We were invited to help celebrate its official unveiling in store. Special guests included:

• Chef Karen Martini
• Cheese Connoisseur Kris Lloyd
• Ray Dahdah from Out in the Paddock
• Themis Chryssidis from Sprout Cooking School

These guests presented their own live cooking demonstrations, held in the Woolworths SMEG Kitchen. Each demonstration utilized fresh gourmet ingredients from the new look Woolworths. We decided to attend the “Amazing Grazing” demonstration, held by Ray Dahdah, from Out in the Paddock.
In this demonstration, Ray aimed to give the audience a step-by-step guide on how to make the perfect grazing platter.

Ray set the table with wooden boards, black tier stands with copper tops and a beautiful bouquet of flowers, including natural cotton. First up Ray created a stuffed brie, which consisted of a rocket and pecan filling drizzled with an Italian balsamic glaze, between two brie wheels. He then positioned fig paste, honey comb, sliced pears and a ciabatta loaf (from the new stone-baked artisan bread range) evenly around the table; along with regular and charcoal wafer crackers.

For some colour, Ray added sliced oranges, strawberries, cut passionfruit, mini cucumbers, half peeled mandarins, celery sticks and fresh cherry tomatoes. Bocconcini, cherry tomato and olive skewers were evenly dispersed around the table too.

Ray also recommended some prosciutto, black gypsy ham and salami for the meats. He then added a variety of other cheeses, including camembert from Maggie Beer, Gouda, cheddar, and double cream brie, from Udder Delights located in the Adelaide Hills.

As a finishing touch, Ray scattered a mixture of dried apricots, roasted almonds and rose petals to finish off. And there you have it, the perfect grazing table!

However, the fun didn’t stop there. After the demonstration, we were treated to gin tastings by BWS. We got to try a selection of Australian gins, including Twenty Third Street Distillery, Never Never Distilling Co and The Antipodes Gin Co. These were well paired with orange, lime and lemon rinds. Pepper corns, rosemary and cinnamon were also used to garnish and add flavour too.

Every ingredient used in the demonstration is available at the new Woolworths, so make sure to pop in next time you need to make your perfect grazing platter.

Words and Photos by Silvana Weyerhauser-Maher