When MamaBake first started in 2010 the founding members were stay at home mothers with young children. The concept was built on the idea of bringing women together, to cook, to converse, to make communities, during what can be a very isolating time. And the bonus was you got to go home from a session with a whole stack of food to feed the family.
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Seven years on, the kids have all grown up and women have gone back to work. But, funnily enough, dinner still needs to get on the table.
It's ironic, in a way, that when you are a stay-at-home mother - and there is no place here for a judgmental conversation about the mummy wars - you think you have no time at all. And you don't in some ways, only mothers will know how the hours are filled (was there any more frustrating question than "What have you done all day?").
But it was fabulous to be able to chop up some vegetables during the baby's afternoon nap or have something on the stove while you were doing other things at the same time.
Not like now, where you get home after dark, the kids are starving after sports training and there's homework to be done, there's only eggs in the fridge, and you're really not in the mood to be all Nigella because you've had a crap day at work.
A while back I wrote very briefly about the concept of whether MamaBake could work for working mothers. Is there a way, I asked, for us to turn up to someone's place with food to share, have a glass of wine, a gossip, on a Tuesday night?
Well it happened on a Wednesday night.
Karen Swan, a Canberra woman who's been involved with MamaBake from the start, emailed me a few weeks ago.
"Recently, while sipping a glass of wine as I chopped onions for the family meal, I had a flashback to your suggestion of an after hours' MamaBake, for women with older children, or those who work outside of the home," she wrote.
"I can think of nothing I'd like more than a few child-free hours in a warm kitchen with other women, cooking, sharing conversation and having a vino or two; a MamaBake Up Late if you will. Care to join me?"
And so MamaBake Up Late kicked off in my kitchen. Swan, her friend and long-time MamaBaker Liesl Codrington, and me. In the spirit of MamaBake, we had two last minute withdrawals, due to work commitments and sick kids. But we cooked on. Well, Swan cooked, Codrington and I had pre-cooked. (And pre-cooking is perfectly acceptable.) As Swan chopped and made a delicious soup, we chatted about all sorts of things, from The Bachelorette, to careers, to families and friends. And it was nice making new friends. And it was nice getting food.
And, for the record, I big-batched some Apricot Chicken in the slow-cooker, from the MamaBake cookbook. They've been kind enough to let me share the recipe here.
Apricot Chicken
(Serves 4 families of 4)
2kg chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 2 big pieces
2 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp cinnamon
Fresh ginger – peeled (I used approx a 4cm piece)
8 garlic cloves
4 tbsp coriander stems – washed well
Pinch salt
Sauce:
2 x 850ml apricot nectar
4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp lemon juice
500g dried apricots
To Serve:
Fresh coriander leaves
Slivered almonds
Combine the cumin, ground coriander, coriander stems, cinnamon, ginger and garlic in a food processor and pulse to chop finely. (Alternatively, you can chop finely by hand).
Place the prepared chicken thigh meat in a large bowl and coat with the ground spice mix.
Leave to marinate while you prepare the sauce.
In a large bowl, whisk the honey and lemon juice into the apricot nectar.
Lay the chicken pieces in the slow cooker and pour the sauce mix on top.
Stir through the dried apricots and season with salt and pepper.
Cook on LOW for 8 hours.
(In the last hour of cooking, stir through some flour or thickener of your choice, and continue to cook, but with the lid off to thicken the sauce.
