“A moment of insanity,” says Helen on why her and her brother Steve threw their aprons in the ring to appear on the television cooking competition My Kitchen Rules. The show, hosted by celebrity chefs, Manu Feildel and Pete Evans, sees teams from all over Australia battle to out-dine each other and see whose kitchen really rules. And brother and sister team Helen and Steve from NSW, are going to show everyone that it’s their kitchen that dominates.
To them cooking is about entertaining, the love of family and bringing everyone together. Taught by their late mother, who passed away when they were both young, their cooking is about paying homage to the food that nourished and gave them the best start in life.
“A lot of our cooking is about reliving the memories that we had with both our parents and being able to make the foods that made us feel very homely as we are a tight-knit family. So the preparation of food and the cooking, the smells and sensations of it all are a memory and a nice memory,” explains Helen.
Online travel manager Helen and electrician Steve tell Neos Kosmos they are the perfect fit to take out the title of the winners of My Kitchen Rules.
“Steve’s got a strong competitive streak so he is definitely a real motivator and won’t give up. We’re very, very, very close,” Helen points out, “and we’ve probably had a lot more stress and tension through our life than this and we just have a way of bouncing off each other.”
Helen who has finished most of the filming, says one of the biggest challenges as a cook was plating up. Used to creating platters and batches of food to feed masses, the delicate nature and artistic flair needed to plate up restaurant quality meals was a bit tricky but a challenge that they faced head on.
The whole process of cooking in a studio, with award winning chefs and guest judges is an intense experience and not for the light-hearted advises Helen.
“If you are not used to very tight time frames and very long hours then you’d be crazy to do it. But if you are really passionate about food and focused on what that is, then the world is your oyster.”
And the lessons learnt from host judges Manu and Pete was invaluable, knowledge that Helen will take on for life. She says the experience of having renowned chefs tasting your dishes was surreal, but their mentorship and advice was always taken on board for you to keep learning from.
Together, they are hoping to do the Greek community proud by taking out the big one, but also to change the way people see Greek food.
“We tried to do was mix it with modern Australian, bring in a bit of middle Eastern to jazz it up a bit and change the way people perceived Greek food so we can show second-generations can cook Greek and do it well with a modern twist.”
My Kitchen Rules will screen on channel 7, when the Australian Open season has finished. For more information visit au.tv.yahoo.com/my-kitchen-rules