Mother's Day meal: Whip up up a delicious venison roast and feijoa cake for mum with these recipes

Just in case you've forgotten, this Sunday is Mother's Day, a time to celebrate the special person that raised you - or any wonderful mother figure in your life. 

Instead of braving the malls with all the other last-minute shoppers, why don't you invite mum over, open a bottle of wine and enjoy a simple but delicious meal together? 

After all, the thing our loved ones usually want most from us is quality time - but some kai cooked with love never goes astray either. 

Our foodie friends at Silver Fern farms and Kenwood have given us some delicious recipes that will impress mum (or any loved one, really) no end. While mum might have taught you a few key recipes when you flew the nest - spaghetti bolognese anyone? - these slightly more gourmet numbers will knock her socks off. 

For dinner: Juniper-marinated venison roast  

Serves 2-3

Ingredients: 

• 1 Silver Fern Farms venison roast
• ½ cup port
• 1 fresh or dried bay leaf
• 3 juniper berries, lightly crushed
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 slices prosciutto
• 5 small sprigs rosemary
• ½ Tbsp olive oil
• ½ cup of veal stock
• Steamed green beans, to serve
• Roasted cherry tomatoes, to serve

Parsnip and potato mash:

• 2 large desiree potatoes, peeled, quartered
• 1 large parsnip, peeled, chopped
• 25g butter, chopped
• ¼ cup cream

Method:

1. Combine venison, port, bay leaves, juniper berries, and garlic in a large bowl. 
2. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge, turning occasionally, for 1-2 hours to marinate. Drain venison, reserving the marinade and set aside. 
3. Placing venison on a clean work surface, wrap prosciutto slices around venison. Tuck rosemary sprigs under prosciutto.
4. Preheat oven to 200C. Heat oil in a large roasting pan over medium-high heat. Add venison and cook, turning, for 5 minutes or until brown all over. 
5. Roast for 15 minutes for medium-rare, or until cooked to your liking. 
6. Remove from oven and transfer venison to a plate and rest, covered, for 10 minutes.
7. Place roasting pan over medium heat. Add marinating liquid and veal stock. Bring to the boil.
8. Cook, stirring constantly, for 10 minutes or until sauce reduces by half and thickens slightly.
9. Strain into a serving jug.

For parsnip and potato mash:

1. Place potato and parsnip in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. 
2. Bring to the boil.
3. Cook, covered, for 12-15 minutes or until tender. Drain well. 
4. Return to pan with butter and
5. use a potato masher or fork to mash until smooth. 
6. Add the cream and stir to combine.
7. Season.

To serve:

Thinly slice venison and drizzle with sauce. Serve with steamed green beans, roasted cherry tomatoes and parsnip and potato mash.

For dessert: The Caker's feijoa and stem ginger upside-down cake

Serves 12 

Ingredients: 

• For the base of the cake: 
• 75g butter, softened
• 100g light muscovado or soft brown sugar
• 12 feijoas, halved and flesh scooped out

For the cake: 

• 150g butter, softened
• 100g muscovado or soft brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 organic eggs
• 150g plain flour
• 50g ground almonds
• 2 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoon ground ginger
• ½ cup Greek yogurt
• 2 balls stem ginger, finely chopped 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170ºC fan bake. Grease and line a 22cm cake tin.
2. First, make the caramel. Melt the 75g butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar, stirring occasionally until it dissolves, this will take about 3 - 4 minutes.
3. Pour the caramel straight into the lined tin and arrange the feijoa flesh, cut side down in it.
4. Next, make the cake batter. In the bowl of your stand mixer (The Caker uses the Kenwood kMix, but you can use elbow grease if you don't have a mixer), cream the butter and the sugar until pale and fluffy.
5. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition.
6. In 2 parts, add in the flour and ground almonds and mix until just combined.
7. Fold in the baking powder and ginger. Follow with the yogurt and finely chopped stem ginger and do a final mix. Be careful not to overmix.
8. Spoon the batter over the fruit in the tin, smoothing it with a spoon to make it flat on top.
9. Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until the cake is golden in colour, springy to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
10. Allow the cake to cool for around 20 minutes before turning out onto a serving plate.
11. Serve the cake warm with a generous amount of liquid cream.
12. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days.