Relish Mama

Relish Mama Voted as one of the best cooking schools in Melbourne. Offering in person & online cooking classes, workshops & team building. Nellie & the Relish Mama team
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Plus +++ the incredible Relish Mama Cooking Club to cease cooking boredom & solve your 'what's for dinner' dilemma. In 2009, we opened the doors to a very special business called Relish Mama. It is a cooking school at its core and yet it is so much more than that. Relish Mama is a very special place with the values of a family and a fundamental understanding of what magic can be created when we ga

ther through food. We are proud that Relish Mama boasts a reputation as one of the best cooking schools in Melbourne. The physical school itself is beautiful and it is a uniquely inspiring and creative space. We love to help people to create beautiful food, to enjoy with the people they love, without having to spend hours in the kitchen. We delight in sharing our knowledge, skills and of course, our recipes. All cooking classes include the enjoyment of all the dishes cooked during class (whether a face-to-face class or an online cooking experience). It is all about ‘real food’ and ‘real people. Relish Mama also offer bespoke private events and classes for special groups including Corporate workshops and team building. There are two highly praised Relish Mama cookbooks available for purchase through the Relish Mama website as well as all great bookstores. We are delighted to also offer annual culinary tours overseas and predominantly to Europe and we can't wait to get back to that when it is safe to travel once more. Relish Mama is about celebrating every day. It is about learning new skills, beautiful food and sharing ourselves, our kitchen and our table with those with who we have the pleasure of cooking with. Wishing you much love and laughter always around your table.

Santa left his note 🎅🏼 Don’t know how he does it truthfully. Here’s to the magic of Christmas 🎄Wishing you the most prec...
24/12/2024

Santa left his note 🎅🏼 Don’t know how he does it truthfully.

Here’s to the magic of Christmas 🎄

Wishing you the most precious Christmas day with your precious people. Hugs and love to all, including those we don’t get to hug in person today.

And a little thank you to you all here. What a lovely little corner filled with cheers, love and support. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a jolly good kick of those tootsies up after the big day.

Now, let the wild rumpus start 🪅🪅🪅

22/12/2024

Is anyone glazing a Christmas ham?
Here’s a quick video to help & keep you company.

For the glaze ~ These are the flavour Must-Haves to balance a good glaze:
🍯 Sweet (sugar, honey, maple, marmalade, jam and more)
🫚 Spice (cloves, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cardamom, peppercorn and more)
🍋 Acid (vinegar like apple, sherry, rice, wine and citruses such as lemon, lime and
orange.
🍻 Additions & options Soy, beer, cider, mirin, mustard and more

The Glaze I made for this video:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2-3 tablespoons of sherry vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup of marmalade
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
4 cloves garlic, smashed & crushed with a garlic crusher
Add ¼ cup of bourbon or Spanish Pedro Ximenez (if desired) and if it suits the
dietary requirements of your guests
7-8 kg cooked leg ham on the bone (I love .choice)
Cloves for studding

Let the ham sit out for one hour 1 to reach room temperature. This will ensure
even warming of the ham.
Preheat oven to 190oC. Remove all the shelves, if possible, leaving only 1 shelf on
the lowest rack.
To make the glaze, place the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until melted
and golden brown. Add in the brown sugar, honey, mustard, cinnamon, and
allspice, stirring to mix well until the brown sugar has completely dissolved,
(about 2 minutes).
Reduce heat to low and add in the garlic. Allow it to become fragrant, cooking for
a further minute or two until the glaze just begins to simmer, then set it aside and
let it cool to lukewarm (the glaze should be the consistency of room-temperature
honey).
Remove skin from ham & discard but do leave the fat on. Score the fat in a diamond pattern by running the point of a knife over the surface of the meat in a cross formation. Ensure you only score to 1/2 way through. Stud a clove middle of each diamond (optional). Place the ham in a baking dish lined with a
few layers of non-stick baking paper.
Continue to baste the ham with the glaze the ham during cooking approx each 10 minutes. Allow the ham to stand before carving

20/12/2024

For years, a wonderful family business sold firewood in Winter & Christmas trees at this time of year. It was very convenient to wheel our wheelbarrow across, choose a beautiful tree and then come home with the kids to decorate it.

Our (then), little girls took great delight in being wheeled across the road to collect the tree. It became our annual Christmas tradition, and after 20-something years of it, I have finally gathered all these photos and have printed them to pop on this wreath.

Long story short, the Christmas tree shop relocated after the pandemic. We still get our tree from them, but now we gather these adult daughters and pop them in the wheelbarrow for a quick jaunt on a bustling road. They get tooted at, waved at, and cheered. I end up close to wetting myself laughing and can barely hold still to take the photo.

So I wanted to take a break from food today because, as we all know, it is the people around us, whom we couldn’t love anymore if we tried, and these whacky traditions we all have, that are what REALLY make this Christmas time so special.

A few days ago, I asked you to help decide which vegetarian main would take centre stage for Christmas day. This savoury...
18/12/2024

A few days ago, I asked you to help decide which vegetarian main would take centre stage for Christmas day. This savoury cauliflower cake (a stunner from ) won your hearts and your votes. ✨ The Persian frittata was a close second—so don’t worry, that one is coming your way soon too.

As promised, the recipe for this beautiful cauliflower cake landed in your inbox (via my newsletter) this morning and is also up on the blog. It’s savoury, golden, and perfect for Christmas day feasts—or any day you want a little something special.

If you’re not on my newsletter list yet, I’d love to have you. Think of it as a little extra joy in your inbox—delicious recipes, inspiration, and ideas to make cooking feel easy and connected. You can sign up via my website or copy this URL here into your browser to do so also:
https://relishmama.activehosted.com/f/29

Here’s the link to the cauliflower cake that might just make your Christmas

I hope this recipe brings you as much joy as it’s brought me over the years.

Love Nellie 💛

relishmama.com.au/the-best-savoury-cauliflower-cake-from-ottolenghi/

17/12/2024

🎄 Make Ahead Gravy for Christmas Day🎄

This recipe is an absolute doozy & it's so nice to have this ready in the fridge so you don’t have to worry on Christmas day.
It takes a little time, but blast Paul Kelly & enjoy 🎄

Make Ahead Gravy
Makes approx 1 litre

40 ml olive oil
10 chicken wings – approx. 600 g
1 large onion, diced
1 large carrot, peeled, sliced in 1 cm rounds
3 celery stalks, sliced in 1 cm pieces
A small handful of rosemary, chopped
A small handful of sage leaves, chopped
150 ml dry white wine
60 ml port
1 lt of chicken stock
60 g unsalted butter
1/4 cup plain flour
Salt
Pepper
40 ml Worcestershire sauce

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over med heat.
Add the onion, carrot & celery and cook for approx five minutes and then add the chicken wings. Turn the heat up a little & cook for approx 10 minutes or until golden. Turn a few times, during this time.
Add the herbs & stir.
Increase the heat to high & add the wine & port. Scrape up all the good bits laying on the bottom of the pan. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes. The liquid will have reduced quite a lot & will be dark. Add approximately one cup of boiling water and let it cook for 5 minutes.

Strain this stocky -chicken mix through a sieve into a bowl.
Wash out the pan & place the pan back on the heat & melt the butter. Once melted, add the flour & whisk quickly to make a roux. Be sure to whisk constantly for a few minutes. The roux should be golden and smooth.
Add the chicken liquid one ladle at a time & whisk it into the roux. Whisk constantly, and make sure to incorporate each addition before adding more. Add some boiling water if you feel you may not have enough gravy. I added an additional cup of water to make 1 full litre of gravy. Simmer, whisking often, until gravy is thickened. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, taste, and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

This gravy can be made 5 days ahead & kept covered, in the fridge.

To reheat, place in a saucepan or microwave and heat on low until it reaches desired temperature.

https://relishmama.com.au/make-ahead-gravy-for-christmas-day/

You might be blessed with immediate & extended family with different dietary needs & desires this Christmas. One of thes...
16/12/2024

You might be blessed with immediate & extended family with different dietary needs & desires this Christmas.

One of these might be a vegetarian diet. I wanted to share a few delicious main dishes that can be prepared in advance for Christmas day, which are main dishes and not side dishes for the vegetarian-loving crew.

🍆Eggplant parmigiana / lasagne

🌱Cauliflower Cake (can you believe there is no emoji for cauliflower!!!).

🥦 Broccoli cake

🍕 Pissaladiere

🧆Falafels with green goddess dressing

🥚Persian frittata (image courtesy of Anna Jones )
or your favourite frittata (there are a few different photos here)

🥜Nutloaf

I am putting together the finishing touches to my newsletter that heads out this Wednesday and I'm happy to share the recipe for one of these lovely vegetarian mains. Pop your vote in the comments for the one you'd most love to cook and I will share the winner this Wednesday.

These will win the hearts of your vegetarian family & friends this Christmas & beyond, for sure.

15/12/2024

Positive feedback always means so much, but perhaps even more if you are a solopreneur.

I absolutely love working for myself but admittedly it can sometimes feel a little lonely and like you are talking out to a void.

In recent weeks though, I have received the most beautiful messages from people who have recently bought my cookbooks for themselves for Christmas and also from those who have been cooking from them for a long time. It is lovely to receive these emails and messages. They leave me in a high.

My cookbooks are for sale at great bookstores and gift stores as well as my own website. There’s also two digital Christmas cookbooks that will be your bestie this Christmas.

I love knowing we are cooking alongside one another.

Thank you with all my heart 💛

https://relishmama.com.au/the-relish-mama-cookbooks/

In our barbecue cooking classes, I share that as you ‘break out’ of your bbq comfort zones, you will become more confide...
14/12/2024

In our barbecue cooking classes, I share that as you ‘break out’ of your bbq comfort zones, you will become more confident and can start trying new dishes which can take your barbecue cooking and enjoyment to a whole new level!

At Christmas time, there is generally a lot of dishes that require oven space. It is great to point out that most everything that can be cooked indoors, can also be cooked outdoors on the barbecue.

If you want to replicate your indoor fan forced oven, turn the inside bbq burners down low and keep the outside ones high, to create a fan forced effect. As long as you are monitoring your temperature, you can now use this wonderful outdoor barbecue as another oven. You can cook ham in there & turkey, roasted veg, whole fish, fillets of fish, whole baked cauliflower. Soooooo many things.

So, next time you’re firing up the barbecue, remember—it’s versatility! It’s your secret weapon to free up that oven space for more important things... like dessert! 🤣 🔥🎄

13/12/2024

Ahhhhhh……what a beautiful & nourishing day!

Nourishing salads cooking class at lunch time today & it was so, so lovely.

All guests are now set with a wonderful line up of salads for Christmas & way beyond. Some of these, we enjoy as a family all year long. Others, like the heirloom tomato salad are to enjoy these warmer months only. Scroll through the photos to see all that we cooked and enjoyed.

And a big thank you to the lovely people who joined us today. What a way to spend a Friday afternoon.

If you missed out, there is one more running on Friday February 7th at lunchtime.

https://relishmama.com.au/product/nourishing-salads-with-nellie/

More often than not, there is not enough room in the oven Christmas day to have everything in at once. ✨Tip ✨You can coo...
12/12/2024

More often than not, there is not enough room in the oven Christmas day to have everything in at once.

✨Tip ✨
You can cook vegetables in advance and then cool, cover & set aside. Return to the oven on 180oC for 20 minutes to reheat & crisp before sitting down to eat.

You can, of course, change the vegetables I’ve listed here to suit what you have on hand and the ones you love.🎄

Assorted roasted vegetables-

1 butternut pumpkin, peeled and chopped
1 kg potatoes, peeled and halved
2 bunches baby beetroot, trimmed
2 bunches of baby carrots, peeled and trimmed
1 head of garlic, unpeeled, cloves separated
3 x 20cm pieces of lemon rind
1 bunch fresh thyme
Olive oil for roasting
Sea salt & cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 200oC. Divide the pumpkin, potato, onions, carrots, garlic, lemon, thyme, oil, salt and pepper 2 baking trays lined with baking paper
and toss to combine. Leave the beetroots unpeeled and wrap in foil coated also with the oil, a little garlic, salt & pepper. Roast for 1 hour or so or until cooked through and golden.
Remove the beetroot from the foil & check if tender. Using gloves, lightly rub away at the skins to remove them. Half the baby beetroot & add to the platter of
other roasted vegetables to serve.

I hope this helps you with the oven shuffle on Christmas Day 🎅🏼

🎄 A Festive Salad to Steal the Show! 🎄If you've been asked to bring a salad for Christmas Day, or you’re planning your m...
11/12/2024

🎄 A Festive Salad to Steal the Show! 🎄

If you've been asked to bring a salad for Christmas Day, or you’re planning your menu and want something that's both stunning and substantial, I have just the thing for you: a very good-looking potato and broccoli salad with loaded greens and kimchi.

This is one of those recipes that ticks all the boxes:
�✨ It's vibrant, fresh, and full of festive flavours.�✨ Looks as impressive as it tastes.�✨ Travels well if you’re heading to someone else’s home.�✨ Bonus: leftovers make for the perfect lunch the next day.

I’m sharing the recipe with you because it’s simply too good not to. It’s a fabulous choice when entertaining or when you want to contribute something special to a gathering. 🌟

But here’s the best part: this recipe is also featured in one of my two Christmas digital cookbooks. These e-books are packed with entire menus, planning tips, and recipes designed to make your Christmas as stress-free and delicious as possible.
🎁 For just $19.95 each (buy one or both), these books are full of stunning recipes and practical tips, all delivered straight to your inbox. Whether you need inspiration for the ultimate Christmas feast or a standout dish to bring along, I’ve done all the planning for you.
Ready to make this Christmas your most delicious yet?

USE CODE CHRISTMASDUO in the coupon code field for the next 24 hours to get $10 off both books together.

https://relishmama.com.au/the-relish-mama-cookbooks/

Let me know if you give this salad a try—I’d love to hear how it shines on your holiday table. 🎄✨

P.S - To get the Christmas cookbooks see link in bio
- To get the recipe for this wonderful salad, please head to my Relish Mama website and it is one of the most recent recipe posts.

🎄 A Festive Salad to Steal the Show! 🎄If you’ve been asked to bring a salad for Christmas Day, or you’re planning your m...
11/12/2024

🎄 A Festive Salad to Steal the Show! 🎄

If you’ve been asked to bring a salad for Christmas Day, or you’re planning your menu and want something that’s both stunning and substantial, I have just the thing for you: a very good-looking potato and broccoli salad with loaded greens and kimchi.

This is one of those recipes that ticks all the boxes:

✨ It’s vibrant, fresh, and full of festive flavours.
✨ Looks as impressive as it tastes.
✨ Travels well if you’re heading to someone else’s home.
✨ Bonus: leftovers make for the perfect lunch the next day.

I’m sharing the recipe with you because it’s simply too good not to. It’s a fabulous choice when entertaining or when you want to contribute something special to a gathering. 🌟

But here’s the best part: this recipe is also featured in one of my two Christmas digital cookbooks. These e-books are packed with entire menus, planning tips, and recipes designed to make your Christmas as stress-free and delicious as possible.
🎁 For just $19.95 each (buy one or both), these books are full of stunning recipes and practical tips, all delivered straight to your inbox. Whether you need inspiration for the ultimate Christmas feast or a standout dish to bring along, I’ve done all the planning for you.
Ready to make this Christmas your most delicious yet?

USE CODE CHRISTMASDUO in the coupon code field for the next 24 hours to get $10 off both books together.

https://relishmama.com.au/the-relish-mama-cookbooks/

Let me know if you give this salad a try—I’d love to hear how it shines on your holiday table. 🎄✨

P.S - To get the Christmas cookbooks see link in bio
- To get the recipe for this wonderful salad, please head to my Relish Mama website and it is one of the most recent recipe posts. Link also in the bio.

10/12/2024

🎄 Your Christmas Feast Awaits! 🎄

The ultimate menu for a magical Christmas Day is here. From show-stopping mains to irresistible desserts, we’ve got you covered.
🎁 Start planning your perfect festive feast now!

https://relishmama.com.au/the-relish-mama-cookbooks/

What an incredible work week. It was 'full on', to say the least. But as we slide into Sunday night, I could not be prou...
08/12/2024

What an incredible work week. It was 'full on', to say the least. But as we slide into Sunday night, I could not be prouder of what we delivered and how many people we had the opportunity to cook and connect with this week.
I finished the week off with a beautiful class inside our RM Cooking Club. This was an online class and a lovely relaxing time cooking together and chatting. We made many lovely things for Christmas day and thoughtful and sustainable gifts.

~ Cranberry Christmas relish
~ Dehydrated oranges
~ Amazing Florentines
~ Fennel & orange salt
~ Caramelised onion jam

This one was our last live class for the year. We enjoy this kind of loveliness together every month. I love these people & what our cooking club provides sooooo much. I am feeling grateful, happy & also kind-a tired tbh 😉

Come join the fun / club and enjoy three years of recordings, recipes, classes, weekly dinner inspiration and a precious community.

Now, off to pop the feet up and catch up on this week's Bad Sisters. I hope you had a wonderful week & weekend & I hope you are about to pop your feet up, too 💤

06/12/2024

This is a happy snap from such a lovely night for our cooking club end-of-year gathering. Quite a few were missing in action as it is such a busy time of year, but they were remembered at the table.

Everyone bought something to share, from nibbles platters to salads, mains & desserts. These are the kind of people who roll up their sleeves and help with dishes and dishwasher stacking, too. It was a delicious team effort.

Ned, our Old English sheepdog, thought Christmas had come early, with so many pats & new friends to play with.

We’ve done so much this year inside our cooking club; this was a lovely way to celebrate all of that and one another. Tomorrow morning, we will meet online for our handmade Christmas class on Zoom, but giving people a good squeeze in the flesh is always pretty heavenly.

Thanks, lovely cubbies, for an utterly delicious year with such good people 🎄

05/12/2024

We welcomed four big groups from Trinity College this week. What a great gig to teach and share the importance of learning to cook. It is one of the most wonderful and important life skills of all.
Thanks for coming Trinity College students. Please keep going…. keep cooking and your future selves will be forever thankful 👏🏻💛

04/12/2024

This weekend I am sharing a wonderful online cooking class with our Relish Mama cooking club community. I am so excited about it - the focus for our end of year classes is always edible handmade Christmas gifts or lovely recipes that will help us Christmas day.
Recipes we will enjoy together will caramelised onion jam, dehydrated oranges, cranberry relish, infused salt & Florentines.
You are most welcome to join the festivities. We’d love that. Sign up for the month (and hopefully you will love it as much as we do & stay for longer).
Link in bio to join us or copy and paste this link here

https://relishmama.com.au/cooking-club

Hope you had a brilliant day.This is just a tiny heads up that my newsletter will be hitting around cuppa o'clock (10 am...
03/12/2024

Hope you had a brilliant day.

This is just a tiny heads up that my newsletter will be hitting around cuppa o'clock (10 am) tomorrow morning.
I hope you have a chance to pause, pop the kettle on & have a read. I love to think we are having a mid morning pause together ☕️

Amongst many delicious things to share, there is a wonderful edible Christmas gift recipe with endless gourmet possibilities - Orange, Fennel & Chilli Salt as well as many other wonderful recipes and recommendations. There are also some Christmas gift guides and much more.

Inside, you'll also find an invitation to cook up some other wonderful homemade Christmas gifts with me and our cooking club (online) this Sunday. I am so excited for this one 🎄

If you don’t subscribe to my weekly newsletter, you can check it out (and subscribe if you like 😊) via the link in my Instagram profile or head straight to the Relish Mama website.

Nellie 💛
Sign up here: https://relishmama.activehosted.com/f/29

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Is anyone glazing a Christmas ham? Here’s a quick video to help & keep you company. For the glaze ~ These are the flavour Must-Haves to balance a good glaze: 🍯 Sweet (sugar, honey, maple, marmalade, jam and more) 🫚 Spice (cloves, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cardamom, peppercorn and more) 🍋 Acid (vinegar like apple, sherry, rice, wine and citruses such as lemon, lime and orange. 🍻 Additions & options Soy, beer, cider, mirin, mustard and more The Glaze I made for this video: 1/2 cup unsalted butter 2-3 tablespoons of sherry vinegar 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup of marmalade 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon allspice 4 cloves garlic, smashed & crushed with a garlic crusher Add ¼ cup of bourbon or Spanish Pedro Ximenez (if desired) and if it suits the dietary requirements of your guests 7-8 kg cooked leg ham on the bone (I love @andrews.choice) Cloves for studding Let the ham sit out for one hour 1 to reach room temperature. This will ensure even warming of the ham. Preheat oven to 190oC. Remove all the shelves, if possible, leaving only 1 shelf on the lowest rack. To make the glaze, place the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until melted and golden brown. Add in the brown sugar, honey, mustard, cinnamon, and allspice, stirring to mix well until the brown sugar has completely dissolved, (about 2 minutes). Reduce heat to low and add in the garlic. Allow it to become fragrant, cooking for a further minute or two until the glaze just begins to simmer, then set it aside and let it cool to lukewarm (the glaze should be the consistency of room-temperature honey). Remove skin from ham & discard but do leave the fat on. Score the fat in a diamond pattern by running the point of a knife over the surface of the meat in a cross formation. Ensure you only score to 1/2 way through. Stud a clove middle of each diamond (optional). Place the ham in a baking dish lined with a few layers of non-stick baking paper. Continue to baste th

For years, a wonderful family business sold firewood in Winter & Christmas trees at this time of year. It was very convenient to wheel our wheelbarrow across, choose a beautiful tree and then come home with the kids to decorate it. Our (then), little girls took great delight in being wheeled across the road to collect the tree. It became our annual Christmas tradition, and after 20-something years of it, I have finally gathered all these photos and have printed them to pop on this wreath. Long story short, the Christmas tree shop relocated after the pandemic. We still get our tree from them, but now we gather these adult daughters and pop them in the wheelbarrow for a quick jaunt on a bustling road. They get tooted at, waved at, and cheered. I end up close to wetting myself laughing and can barely hold still to take the photo. So I wanted to take a break from food today because, as we all know, it is the people around us, whom we couldn’t love anymore if we tried, and these whacky traditions we all have, that are what REALLY make this Christmas time so special.

🎄 Make Ahead Gravy for Christmas Day🎄 This recipe is an absolute doozy & it's so nice to have this ready in the fridge so you don’t have to worry on Christmas day. It takes a little time, but blast Paul Kelly & enjoy 🎄 Make Ahead Gravy Makes approx 1 litre 40 ml olive oil 10 chicken wings – approx. 600 g 1 large onion, diced 1 large carrot, peeled, sliced in 1 cm rounds 3 celery stalks, sliced in 1 cm pieces A small handful of rosemary, chopped A small handful of sage leaves, chopped 150 ml dry white wine 60 ml port 1 lt of chicken stock 60 g unsalted butter 1/4 cup plain flour Salt Pepper 40 ml Worcestershire sauce Heat the oil in a large frying pan over med heat. Add the onion, carrot & celery and cook for approx five minutes and then add the chicken wings. Turn the heat up a little & cook for approx 10 minutes or until golden. Turn a few times, during this time. Add the herbs & stir. Increase the heat to high & add the wine & port. Scrape up all the good bits laying on the bottom of the pan. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes. The liquid will have reduced quite a lot & will be dark. Add approximately one cup of boiling water and let it cook for 5 minutes. Strain this stocky -chicken mix through a sieve into a bowl. Wash out the pan & place the pan back on the heat & melt the butter. Once melted, add the flour & whisk quickly to make a roux. Be sure to whisk constantly for a few minutes. The roux should be golden and smooth. Add the chicken liquid one ladle at a time & whisk it into the roux. Whisk constantly, and make sure to incorporate each addition before adding more. Add some boiling water if you feel you may not have enough gravy. I added an additional cup of water to make 1 full litre of gravy. Simmer, whisking often, until gravy is thickened. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, taste, and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. This gravy can be made 5 days ahead

Positive feedback always means so much, but perhaps even more if you are a solopreneur. I absolutely love working for myself but admittedly it can sometimes feel a little lonely and like you are talking out to a void. In recent weeks though, I have received the most beautiful messages from people who have recently bought my cookbooks for themselves for Christmas and also from those who have been cooking from them for a long time. It is lovely to receive these emails and messages. They leave me in a high. My cookbooks are for sale at great bookstores and gift stores as well as my own website. There’s also two digital Christmas cookbooks that will be your bestie this Christmas. I love knowing we are cooking alongside one another. Thank you with all my heart 💛 https://relishmama.com.au/the-relish-mama-cookbooks/

Ahhhhhh……what a beautiful & nourishing day! Nourishing salads cooking class at lunch time today & it was so, so lovely. All guests are now set with a wonderful line up of salads for Christmas & way beyond. Some of these, we enjoy as a family all year long. Others, like the heirloom tomato salad are to enjoy these warmer months only. Scroll through the photos to see all that we cooked and enjoyed. And a big thank you to the lovely people who joined us today. What a way to spend a Friday afternoon. If you missed out, there is one more running on Friday February 7th at lunchtime. https://relishmama.com.au/product/nourishing-salads-with-nellie/

🎄 Your Christmas Feast Awaits! 🎄 The ultimate menu for a magical Christmas Day is here. From show-stopping mains to irresistible desserts, we’ve got you covered. 🎁 Start planning your perfect festive feast now! https://relishmama.com.au/the-relish-mama-cookbooks/

This is a happy snap from such a lovely night for our cooking club end-of-year gathering. Quite a few were missing in action as it is such a busy time of year, but they were remembered at the table. Everyone bought something to share, from nibbles platters to salads, mains & desserts. These are the kind of people who roll up their sleeves and help with dishes and dishwasher stacking, too. It was a delicious team effort. Ned, our Old English sheepdog, thought Christmas had come early, with so many pats & new friends to play with. We’ve done so much this year inside our cooking club; this was a lovely way to celebrate all of that and one another. Tomorrow morning, we will meet online for our handmade Christmas class on Zoom, but giving people a good squeeze in the flesh is always pretty heavenly. Thanks, lovely cubbies, for an utterly delicious year with such good people 🎄

We welcomed four big groups from Trinity College this week. What a great gig to teach and share the importance of learning to cook. It is one of the most wonderful and important life skills of all. Thanks for coming Trinity College students. Please keep going…. keep cooking and your future selves will be forever thankful 👏🏻💛

This weekend I am sharing a wonderful online cooking class with our Relish Mama cooking club community. I am so excited about it - the focus for our end of year classes is always edible handmade Christmas gifts or lovely recipes that will help us Christmas day. Recipes we will enjoy together will caramelised onion jam, dehydrated oranges, cranberry relish, infused salt & Florentines. You are most welcome to join the festivities. We’d love that. Sign up for the month (and hopefully you will love it as much as we do & stay for longer). Link in bio to join us or copy and paste this link here https://relishmama.com.au/cooking-club #relishmama #healthymeals #easyrecipes #healthyfood #homemade #feedfeed #onthetable #homecooked #cookingclub #onlinecooking #cookingclasses #melbournecookingschool #ediblechristmasgifts #relish #cranberryrelish #cranberrysauce #homemadechristmasgifts

I hope you do happy things and eat delicious things that make you smile from the inside out. Here’s some lovely cooking inspo shared with my cooking club this week. Feels so good not having to think too hard about ‘what’s for dinner’ and instead enjoy all that comes along with this time of year. You can join the cooking club too. It’s the perfect time to. Have the best week. https://relishmama.com.au/cooking-club-offer/

It is a very big & beautiful week in our home, this week. This is not a promo (ok, so it kind of is 😆) but it is also a genuine tip of the hat to my very own cooking club. I love the people inside this club very much and it offers us all so much but what I am leaning in on this week is the dinner inspiration as this is one of those weeks whereby it is particularly lovely to relieve some mental load. Having a menu ready and waiting is such a gift. It’s made dinner planning effortless and a joy. Here are some of the delicious dishes cooking in our kitchens this week, and of course, there’s a brownie in the pics because it’s birthday week over here! If the idea of having dinner sorted, along with access to amazing recipes, classes, and a welcoming community, sounds like what you need, we’d love to have you join us. You’ll be welcomed with open arms. There’s lots of Christmas action coming up too so now’s the time. ❤️ https://relishmama.com.au/cooking-club/

I cannot even begin to express how incredibly lucky I feel to still have our precious Nana with us at 103 years old. She is kind, generous, and big-hearted—a truly beautiful person to be around. This wonderful Nana has made something like 75 Christmas plum puddings in her life, and they are the best I have ever tasted. Her recipe for Christmas plum pudding was featured in my first cookbook, though it has evolved a little over time. For many years now, our Mum has continued this tradition, making the puddings alongside Nana so our family can enjoy them together on Christmas Day. This year, I had the absolute pleasure of joining my Mum and Nana for the making of our Christmas pudding. It was such a privilege to share in this tradition, and we captured it on film especially for our Relish Mama cooking club. This week, our members received the full video and recipe—a little piece of our family’s history. I hope they enjoy it as much as we enjoyed creating it. Here’s a short preview lovingly put together by my darling Ettie. It would have taken me days to create something like this, so I’m incredibly grateful for her media skills. Wishing you a beautiful Sunday 💛 #plumpudding #christmaspudding #familytraditions #rmcookingclub #relishmama #relishmamacookingclub #onlinecooking #christmas2025 #howtomakeplumpudding

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Our Story

In 2009, we opened the doors to a very special business called Relish Mama. It is a fabulous cooking school at its core and yet it is so much more than that. Relish Mama is a very special place with the values of a family.

Relish Mama was born from an absolute love of connection and gathering. It has become greater than we could ever have imagined. It is a very special learning space and a place and I have learnt, over the years, that people come to Relish Mama for many different reasons.

We are immensely proud that Relish Mama boasts a reputation as one of the best cooking schools in Melbourne. The school itself is stunning and is a uniquely inspiring and creative space. We teach people the joys of food. We delight in sharing our knowledge, skills and of course, our recipes. We offer a very wide and impressive array of cooking classes. All classes include the enjoyment of all the dishes cooked during class and served with wonderful wines. It is all about ‘real food’ and ‘real’ people.

In January 2020, we launched a long time dream of Relish Mama ready-made meals. These are available for both delivery across Melbourne metro and also via local pick up. There is so much love and heart in each of these meals. We cannot wait for you to enjoy. The first Relish Mama cookbook was released in 2014 and the beautiful second cookbook, titled Relish Mama 'Family' was released early 2018. We are delighted to also offer annual culinary tours to Europe.............I know, right!