At Diamond Blue Catering we cater for all barbecues throughout Melbourne from your traditional Aussie BBQ with sausages, home made hamburgers, chicken satay skewers and much more to Gourmet BBQ’s with menu items such as seafood kebabs, porterhouse steak and much more. You can also choose your own salads from our menus which are all freshly made on the day of your function. Our chef will attend at your venue to set up your buffet table and to cook your BBQ for you, we also supply all the crockery, cutlery and napkins required for your guests so all that is left up to you is to enjoy the day. Let us take the hassle out of catering for you.
Food Trends
September 17, 2008 by Catering Company
Trend 1: Health is the future of food In short, the momentum of the trend towards health cannot be doubted and health – or wellness – is becoming the new standard for the food industry.
Foods and beverages with health benefits can no longer be viewed as some special separate category – every product must have some positive nutritional values.
Wellness is the key trend and every company must have a clear view of how “wellness” is going to impact its products and how it will do business in a world in which wellness is the norm.
Trend 2: Intrinsic health
All foods are fast becoming functional.
Which is the world’s most popular functional food strategy?
Which strategy has the least risk associated with it and little to no New Product Development (NPD) cost?
The answer: marketing the intrinsic healthfulness of the foods your company already produces.
Trend 3: Farewell “good diets and bad diets,” welcome to “good foods, bad foods”
The role of the food industry in improving the health of society – and specifically its role in contributing to, and helping to remedy, the epidemic of obesity and other diet-related diseases – is the subject of stormy debate.
Trend 4: GI Good carbs, bad carbs: the rise of whole-grains and low GI
Nestlé, General Mills (UK) and Sara Lee are all doing it and soon, some say, the pressure will build on all food companies to head in the same direction.
Trend 5: Personalised nutrition is here to stay
One of the least-noticed developments of 2003 was also one of the most significant pointers to the future.
The event was the announcement by BASF, one of the world’s leading ingredient companies, and Fonterra, one of the world’s biggest dairy groups, that they were to jointly fund a multi-million dollar research programme, called POSIFoods (Point Of Sale Individualised Foods) to create a system that, Fonterra says, “will allow customers to choose a snack that meets particular health needs such as low-fat for calorie management, low cholesterol for heart-health, high calcium for osteoporosis, or low in sugars for diabetics.
Consumers will be able to receive a healthy, nutritious snack with a specified nutritional benefit and the convenience of instant vending.”
Trend 6: Bars and
beverages
In recent years, the trend to individual consumption has helped drive the rapid growth of nutritional bars and beverages.
If you look at where the big growth in nutritional products has been over the last few years it’s in bars and single-serve beverages – products consumed by individuals who are on-the-go, in a hurry, and most often eating alone.
Trend 7: Daily-dose and the power of packaging innovation
When companies like Danone and Unilever take up an idea and make it central to a number of significant and innovative product launches then it’s time to sit up and pay attention.
In fact the concept these giants have seized on is one that underpins many of the world’s most interesting functional beverage innovations.
Trend 8: Out of the supplement aisle
Two years ago we highlighted that an increasing number of ingredients found hitherto only in the dietary supplement aisle were beginning to find their way into beverages – take note, only in beverages, not foods yet (see Key Trend 6) – and that this signalled a bigger trend.
As an example of ingredients migration from supplements to beverages we used the San Francisco-based company – Joint Juice Inc. – whose highly innovative “Joint Juice” beverage offers per bottle some 1,500mg of glucosamine – an ingredient scientifically established to reduce joint pain – which had prior to the debut of this brand only been available in supplements.
Trend 9: Asia for inspiration and health leadership
It’s worth reminding ourselves that the origins of many of the most successful functional brands and functional product concepts lay in Asia, and in particular Japan.
Probiotic dairy drinks, energy drinks, enhanced waters – these have all been long established in Asia.
Red Bull, for example, was on the market in Thailand for many years before an Austrian company licensed the concept.
And soy may seem like a high-growth wonder-food in the west but it has for centuries been part of the Asian diet.
Trend 10: The kids nutrition crisis will be on all company agendas
The issue of what products the food and beverage industries market to children – and how they are marketed – has risen up the agenda of industry, parents and governments alike over the past two years and there’s every sign that the debate around the subject will intensify and the pressure to produce healthier options will only increase.
Tips for cooking pasta
September 17, 2008 by Catering CompanyTop Seven Tips for the advanced Pasta Lover
Most people think cooking pasta is really easy. Just throw some noodles into boiling water and drain it, right?
Wrong! I am going to reveal some secrets here that will make pasta one of your favourite dishes ever.
But allow me a short digression. To a serious pasta lover, the word “noodles” is just dreadful — at least when you talk about Italian pasta. Calling Italian pasta “noodles” would be like calling baseball “Stickball” — just plain sad, enough to make me cry.
But let’s cut to the chase. You probably think that to cook nice pasta the ingredients are the most important things. Well, guess again.
PASTA SECRET #1: ATTITUDE
The most important thing when cooking pasta is your attitude. You don’t have to be a Zen archer or a samurai warrior just to prepare pasta, but one of the best pasta cooks in Northern Italy, Grandma, always told me that cooking pasta without the right attitude will never work.
Cooking pasta is an act of love, even self-sacrifice. You do not want to come right off the street with a bag of grocery and start cooking. Clean up, change your clothes, and maybe even take a shower. This puts you in the right frame of mind.
Beyond that, cooking pasta requires inner purity, personal energy, one-pointed concentration, even your prana. Otherwise cooking becomes just mechanical, heartless food preparation — MacDonald’s style cooking. Not good even for a dog.
Before you even start, stand in your kitchen, face the stove and get inwardly ready to cook. If you know how, try a short meditation. Silence around and inside you is a must. You want to be very deep inside yourself when you cook.
Visualise the pasta dish you are going to prepare. Imagine the aroma of the pasta, the mouth-watering appearance, the sound the moist pasta strands make when stirred together, even before the sauce cradles them. Imagine your joy while lifting a forkful to your mouth.
Then, act with determination, precision but never in a hurry.
PASTA SECRET #2: POT, WATER AND SALT
Once you have attitude, you need the right pot, good water and good salt.
Always use a large and deep pot. No shallow or small pan for boiling pasta! The best ones are those wonderful stainless steel beauties, with a very thick bottom. I know, they are expensive. But think how much money you’ll be saving by having your pasta at home instead of going to some expensive Italian restaurant.
Use lots of water. You need 1 quart for each portion (100g. or 3.5oz) of dry pasta. Even if you are going to cook a quick “spaghettata” just for yourself, always use at least a quart of water. If your tap water is chlorinated and tastes like it just came out of a swimming pool, buy a good filtration system for your kitchen. It’s worth it.
Now, the salt — to a real Italian, there is nothing more depressing than pasta cooked without salt. You need 10 grams of salt per each quarter of water in the pot. If salt must be eliminated from your diet for health reasons, maybe you could stick to rice for a while.
There are different kinds of salt, just as there are different kinds of water and pots. Some people say that iodised salt makes tomato sauce more acidic; that’s absurd. Just ordinary salt is not enough. I recommend unprocessed rock sea salt, preferably harvested from the Mediterranean sea.
PASTA SECRET #3: PASTA
Even if you are not Italian, you must know the difference between Italian pasta and *noodles*.
Pasta of course must be made only with 100% durum wheat. Durum is the hardest of all wheats. Its high protein content and gluten strength make durum wheat ideal for pasta and bread.
High-quality pasta has a golden colour with a vaguely translucent appearance. At the touch, it should feel porous. Just looking at it will give you joy.
Without any doubt, the best pasta in the world is made in Italy. Don’t be fooled by packages that say “Imported from Italy”. That means the pasta could be made elsewhere, and brought over to Italy just so that it can have the Italian name on it.
Also, don’t trust big companies like Barilla. Their pasta is not Italian anymore, but made locally, often from low quality local non-durum wheat flour — in Italy that’s even forbidden by law. Barilla, if you are reading this, please don’t forget your Italian roots: never save money on making pasta.
Use the best pasta available. I recommend you look for Italian favourites like De Cecco or Voiello. De Cecco is probably one of the best pastas you can buy outside of Italy.
PASTA SECRET #4: COOKING
Once the water is ebullient, and by that I mean boiling with zest, add the salt. Wait for the salt to dissolve — when the water starts boiling again add the pasta.
Don’t just throw the pasta in the pot. Submerge it completely all at once, at the centre of the pot where the boiling is most intense. That will allow a more even cooking.
Once it is all submerged, stir it immediately and keep stirring every minute or so. Use a wooden fork. Wood is better than metal. The metallic vibration would lessen the mysterious alchemy between salted water and pasta taking place right in front of your eyes.
Never add oil. Oil coats the pasta and causing it to repel rather than absorb the sauce. Oil is needed only if you use low-quality pasta, which tends to get glued together.
Bu sure not to overcook the pasta — on Italian packages the cooking time is usually printed correctly.
If the package doesn’t indicate the cooking time, just sample a strand of the pasta. Break it, and see if the inside — “heart of the pasta”, as we call it in Italy — is still whitish. That means the pasta is still not cooked.
This is the most critical part of all. It is almost a matter of intuition. The only way of describing it is that you need to stop cooking at precisely the right moment when the whiteness at the “heart” is disappeared, but its shadow is still lingering. Once the whiteness is just gone, it’s time for draining.
Pasta should be served “al dente”, which literally means “firm to the tooth.”
Better to stop cooking a few seconds sooner than later, since the pasta will in any case continue cooking for a little while after you drain it.
Overcooked pasta is not only mushy, but not edible anymore. I hope your dog likes it, because mine doesn’t.
PASTA SECRET #5: DRAINING
Once the pasta is cooked, stop the cooking immediately by adding a glass of cold water. Be sure not to drain the pasta too much because that makes it too dry and takes away flavour. The strands need to be glossy with moisture.
If you use a good pasta brand you do not need to eliminate any excess starch. Too much rinsing takes away the superb flavour of your pasta.
Pasta water is not “dirty water”. In fact, you want to preserve a glassful of the cooking water to add to your sauce. It is going to add that final touch of flavour that makes the marriage between pasta and sauce a perfect bond.
PASTA SECRET #6: SAUCE
American cooks usually over-sauce pasta, usually because it is so tasteless. Do not “over-sauce” your pasta. Use just enough sauce to cover the strands.
Cooked right, pasta needs no special sauce to savour it. Just try adding a trickle of Italian extra virgin olive oil, a few fresh basil leaves and a drizzle of Parmigiano Reggiano — a veritable delight by itself.
No matter what, serve the pasta steaming hot. Never, ever serve lukewarm or cold pasta.
Serve it hot, serve it on a nice plate, serve it with a smile, Be proud of it. You worked hard, and your pasta beats with the heart of Italy.
PASTA SECRET #7: PRACTICE
I’ve given you the secrets handed down in the Bontempi family from generation to generation, since the times Rome was a just rustic village on the Mediterranean sea and pasta was still made of spelt flour. Now it’s up to you. Practice, practice, and practice.
Let me part by saying: cooking pasta may be a solitary ritual, but eating pasta is not. Do not eat that beauty just by yourself. Make it a social event. Invite friends over.
Corporate Catering Lunches & Dinners
September 16, 2008 by Catering CompanyOne of our favourite types of catering at Diamond Blue is the dinner party, whether it is a corporate or private setting we can provide everything needed to make your event a memorable one. We will set tables, provide waiting and bar staff and of course our chefs to cook you a delicious meal. Even if there are no kitchen facilities at your office or work place we can bring in equipment to overcome this at a minimal charge to yourself, our waiting staff will wait on yourself and your guests flawlessly and pay attention to every detail. So for your next dinner party function call us at Diamond Blue Catering for a free quote today.
August Testimonials
September 16, 2008 by Catering CompanyHi Todd,
Thanks again for a fantastic evening.
I was very dissapointed that I could not be at your event last week… But you outdid yourself again and Shane was very impressed.
Thanks and I look forward to working with you again soon,
Sheree
27th August, 2008
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Todd,
Just wanted to send you a quick note to again thank you so much for the catering and assistance you gave us on Thursday.
Both the director and CEO were very impressed with the service and the delicious food served. We look forward to our next function with you,
Kind Regards,
Helen
21st August, 2008
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Dear Todd,
THANK YOU to you and your staff for the excellent service you provided at our wedding. All the guests loved the food and commented on the freshness of it. The desserts were divine. We couldn’t complain about a thing!!
We have recommended your service to the venue and they said that they were also impressed.
Thankyou also for your professionalism in the lead up to the day. I really appreciated how you responded to our (numerous) emails quickly and with such courtesy.
Many thanks again
Kind Regards,
Lisa (and Jez)
4th August, 2008
Spit roast catering for the perfect summer function
September 3, 2008 by Catering CompanyAs a spit roast catering company, the summer months are very busy for us. With the passing of winter, any time is the perfect time to get family and friends together, be it for an outdoor or indoor function. There’s no denying that Australians love their spit roasts!
From wedding anniversaries, to birthdays, graduation celebrations, Buck’s and Hen’s nights and beyond, a spit roast is the ideal and informal catering option for such occasions. A spit roast provided by Diamond Blue Catering comes with everything taken care of, including the supply of required crockery and cutlery. Most importantly though, we do the washing up at the end, so all you need to worry about is ensuring all the delicious, mouth watering food gets eaten!
Diamond Blue Catering is more than just a business to us, it is a passion. We love food and that is why the meat and accompaniments we supply are of the finest quality. Founder Todd Graham is a fully qualified chef and has been working in the hotel and restaurant industry for more than 18 years. He set-up the catering company with the primary goal of bringing a more professional style of caterer to the south-eastern and surround suburbs of Melbourne.
For full details of our spit roast catering service, please call Todd on (03)9778 8783/0404067554 or visit our website at diamondbluecatering.com.au.
