Simple and Elegant Mothers Day Dinner Ideas

Brought to you by our in-house Chef Kai Salimaki

Mother’s Day does not have to be a stressful event! But it does need to be special for all of the Mother’s out there. After all, where would we be without our Moms? Let’s take the time to treat them right and let us help you take the guesswork out of what to make Mom on her special day. Here are a couple of easy Dinner Recipes that we guarantee will impress Mom on her special day.

Mushroom Ravioli with Sauteed Wild Mixed Mushrooms, White Sauce and Microgreens (even sounds fancy!)

Alright Dad, we've got you covered and I promise that this dish is extremely easy, full of flavour and guaranteed to impress everyone at the dinner table. We’ve taken the time to source amazing artisan products that take the guesswork out of cooking and help cut your kitchen time in half!

Serves: 4ppl

Skill Level: Can you boil water and dice/slice stuff? Then you are good to go!

Ingredients:

1 jar De Minico’s Alfredo Sauce

Splash of white wine (optional)

1 pack Guanciale (Salt Craft Co)

1-2 pack Soffrito Mushroom Ravioli 

1-2 pack Red Fox Fungi Mixed Mushrooms

3-4 cloves Garlic (sliced thinly)

1 pack Micro Acres Petite Spicy Greens

3oz Vincenzo grated Parmesan Cheese

Method:

Where we’ve saved time by having pre-made products in this recipe, we are going to make up for it in plating. Start to finish for this dish should be 20-25min, tops. Do you have nice plates or really gorgeous dinner bowls? Now’s the time to break these out and wow the wife, mother, mother-in-law or whoever!

First things first. Fill a large pot with water and season it with salt. It should taste like ocean water, trust me. Put that on high and bring to a boil. 

Now, take your guanciale (cured pig jowl, similar to pancetta) and dice it up in ½” chunks. The wild mushrooms are a very special and delicate product. We are not going to use a knife for them but instead peel or tear the mushrooms into strips. Start at the top and peel a section off, do this for all the mushrooms. Slice the garlic thinly or mince it up, either or works. 

Take a large pan and preheat on medium to high heat. Add a tbsp of canola oil and saute the guanciale until golden brown. Remove the guanciale from the pan (reserving excess fat in the pan) and set aside. Crank the heat up to high and saute the mushrooms for approximately 2min, if the oil/fat has been absorbed by the mushrooms, add a little more. Add the garlic and saute for another minute making sure the garlic doesn’t stick and burn!

At this point, water should be boiling, add your raviolis and give it a stir to make sure they aren’t sticking together. Follow the directions on the package for cook time but when in doubt, take one out and give it a try! 

If you have the white wine, add a healthy splash to the mushrooms and cook out for a minute. Add the jar of Alfredo sauce and add the guanciale back in the pan. Bring to a simmer and stir. Adjust the seasoning to your preference but a healthy crack of fresh black pepper would go great here. 

When the raviolis are done (going for al dente here) use a slotted spoon and remove them from the water and add to the sauce, give them a good coating and kill the heat.

Time to plate up:

Put your plate/bowl down, take some of the sauce and make a nice dollop in the centre of the plate. Take the back of the spoon and in the centre of the sauce, start smoothing it out in concentric circles until it covers ¾’s of the plate, not too saucy though! Now gently spoon 5-6 raviolis in the centre of the sauce, make a nice pile. Using tongs or a fork/spoon, place the sauteed mushrooms from the pan on top of the raviolis. Spoon the white sauce with guanciale on top of the mushrooms (nicely, use some finesse), dot the guanciale around the plate. Sprinkle the parmesan on the top of the pile. Add those fancy microgreens and scatter them all over the plate and on top of the ravioli (Be an artist). Drizzle with some nice Extra Virgin Olive oil if you’d like and voila! 

Whole Breast Roast Chicken Dinner with Lemon Garlic Pan Jus and Sides of Wild Mushroom and Brown Rice Basmati Pilaf, Baby Arugula and Parmesan Salad

Serves: 4ppl

Skill Level: Can you make a pan sauce and dice/slice stuff? Then you are good to go!

We are using the whole double breast of chicken here instead of a whole chicken but by all means, you can substitute. The whole chicken breast will cut your cooking time down and be a little easier to manage. But if you like the dark meat (we do!) then go the whole bird route.

Ingredients:

- 1pc whole chicken breast (this is a double breast, attached, skin on) (Lone Pine Colony)

- 1/2 Cup softened butter

- 8-10 cloves Garlic (4 minced, 4-5 whole)

- 1 pc Yellow Onion sliced

- 1pc Lemon 

- 1 tsp Thyme Leaves 

- ½ bunch Flat Leaf Parsley chopped

- 2 cups Chicken Stock or Bone Broth (High Vibe Health)

- 1 Tbsp Cornstarch (mixed with 1 Tbsp of cold water to make a paste)

- Salt and Pepper

The first step to roasting the chicken breast is to make sure it is pulled from the fridge and allow it to come up to room temperature. Putting cold proteins going into a piping hot oven causes the meat to tense up and become tough. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large roasting pan, scatter the onions and whole garlic in the bottom. Chop the lemon in half and throw one half in the roasting pan, reserving the other half. Cover with chicken stock. Take the softened butter and mix it with the minced garlic, thyme, chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper. Rub the chicken breasts with the garlic butter and place the chicken in the roasting pan. Roast at 400 degrees until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees Fareneheit, allow to rest for 6-8min, loosely covered with foil.

Once you have removed the chicken from the pan to rest, what we have left is a wealth of flavor that has accumulated at the bottom of the roasting pan. Strain the stock to remove the large pieces and pour back into the pan. Scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any crispy bits, throw in a tbsp of butter and bring to a boil. Slowly stir in the cornstarch mix and allow the pan jus to thicken. Season with salt and pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and some of the chopped parsley. 

To plate, spoon the rice pilaf in the middle of the plate, slice the chicken breast and lay slices fanned out partly on top of the rice pilaf, place the salad to the side of the rice. Spoon over the lemon garlic pan jus and enjoy!

Brown Basmati Rice and Mushroom “Pilaf”

Ingredients:

- 1 Yellow Onion diced

- 2 cloves garlic thinly sliced or minced

- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter

- ½lb Mixed Mushrooms (Red Fox Fungi) gently torn into strips

- 1 tsp Dried Thyme Leaves (Township 27)

- 1/2 cup Chicken Bone Broth (High Vibe Health)

- 2 cups cooked white or brown rice (Grain Works Brown Basmati Rice)

- Salt and Pepper to taste

- Squeeze of lemon juice

- Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley chopped up (Garnishing)

Method:

Firstly, follow the cooking instructions on the bag for the rice, start this now.

Dice yellow onion and thinly slice the garlic. In a large saute pan melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the torn mushrooms and dried thyme and continue to cook. Add bone broth and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Cook until the broth is reduced by half, about 1 minute. Stir in 2 cups cooked and cooled rice and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Finish with the chopped parsley and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Simple Side Salad / Garnish Salad

For every meal I make at home, I try to include a fresh aspect to the dish. Raw veggies are great for the diet and this salad is perfect as a little palate cleanser to help cut the richness of the mushroom pilaf and the slow roasted chicken breast. 

Ingredients:

- 0.5lb Deepwater farms Baby Arugula

- ½ a fresh lemon, juiced

- 2oz Vincenzo Parmesan shredded

- Salt and Pepper to taste