See Dominique Rizzo at festival

Making toast and coffee for her mother, using hot water from the tap, as a young child is Dominique Rizzo’s earliest memory of ‘cooking’ but she remembers feeling proud – a feeling the celebrity chef she still has today when she whips up something special.

Dominique is particularly proud to showcase local produce in a way that inspires other chefs and everyday cooks to follow suit.

She will be aiming to do just that, when she appears at the Moreton Bay Food + Wine Festival, which is part of the Tastes of Moreton Bay program.

The festival is on July 31 and August 1 at Apex Park, Woody Point.

“I would say my style of cooking is very much a rustic kind of style and very much recipes for the people, so everyone can cook with everyday ingredients,” Dominique says.

“I’m not a fancy chef, not even for myself cooking at home. I love stuff that is practical, that people can relate to and look at and go ‘I could make that’.”

She is also keen to teach people about the bounty of produce close to home.

“I feel so honoured to live in this area and just to be able to have produce that is literally fingertips away and so close to the city,” she says.

“I think this is what people maybe don’t realise and why festivals like the Moreton Bay Food + Wine Festival are so fantastic. It gives people that may not have the knowledge of local producers the opportunity to come and see how many producers there are pretty much right on our doorstep. “Being here in this bay region, we’ve got not only incredible seafood and the iconic Moreton Bay Bug, it’s home to Queensland strawberries.

“It’s wonderful as a chef to not only have access to that, but during the festival to be a vehicle to showcase that to the people coming along.”

When to see Dominique in action

Dominique will appear on the Seafood Cooking Stage (presented by USC) at Moreton Bay Food + Wine Festival on July 31 at 12.30pm, when she will prepare poached Humpty Doo Barramundi with a spiced pumpkin and cucumber salad.

“I thought I would do a sweet dish as well. I was just talking to Matt Golinski (who is also appearing at the festival) about my microwave meringue,” she says.

“I’ve got a lovely twist on an Eaton mess with some beautiful Luvaberry berries and some Little White Goat Cheese frieze-dried goats cheese, the most ingenious product that came out of COVID. Fingers crossed it works.”

Her approach is to keep it simple and inspire some magic in home kitchens after the event, particularly for those who may not consider themselves good cooks.

“If you do lack confidence in the kitchen, come along to the festival, pick up a few tips from us chefs … we’re all more than happy to answer questions,” she says.

Plan your weekend at Moreton Bay Food + Wine Festival and secure tickets. Visit the website