Donate your plate
Host a #DonateYourPlate get-together for Women’s Aid. Invite your friends to a dinner party and ask them to donate the cost of a meal and raise vital funds for women and children escaping abuse.
Join a movement that saves lives.
Register your event
Register your event by emailing us at fundraising@womensaid.org.uk. Receive your Donate Your Plate pack and everything you need to host your own get-together.
Create your page
Create your own Donate Your Plate page so you can track your donations and promote your get-together.
Donate or pay in donations
Your money goes to where the need is greatest and we work to ensure it is spent as it should be.
Recipes
Looking for menu inspiration? We’ve got you covered. Click below to check out the amazing recipes donated by our celebrity supporters including Michelin starred chef Tom Aikens, Meera Sodha and Madeleine Shaw.
Tom’s Kitchen Spicy Crab Cakes
“Fresh, seasonal produce is always best, so before your dinner party why not research what’s in season and head to your local market, butchers, fish mongers or farm shop.”
Tom Aikens
Spicy Crab Cakes
135g fresh white crab meat
135g Baked Potato, put through a sieve
85g shallots, finely diced
17g butter
3.5g salt
6 turns of black pepper
4 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
20g coriander, roughly chopped
2 large red chilli, finely diced and no seeds
2 large green chilli, finely diced and no seeds
Zest of 3 limes 8g caster sugar
1.3g smoked paprika
0.5g cayenne pepper
1 x egg for egg wash
Flour for Panco crumbs
1 x pack Panco bread crumbs
Tomato Salsa
70g red onion, peeled and diced
3 garlic cloves, finely diced
300g tomatoes, peeled, de-seeded and diced
20g lime juice
5g red chilli, finely diced
10g coriander, finely chopped
7g basil, finely chopped
35ml olive oil
6g sea salt
7 turns black pepper
8g caster sugar
Makes 5
- To make the crab cakes, place the butter into a pan on a medium heat, once melted add the shallots, salt, pepper and cover with a lid, sweat till just soft for 2-3 minutes with no colour, then add the garlic and cook for a further minute, then leave to cool in a bowl.
- Mix into this the crab, potato, coriander, chilli, lime zest, paprika, cayenne pepper and black pepper, add the egg yolks and check the seasoning. Mould into approximately 65g size cakes that are approximately 1.5cm depth and 5cm diameter, place into the fridge to set for a hour
- Once set, using floured hands and a palette knife, tap the cakes into the right shape using plenty of flour, place one at a time into the egg wash and then lifting them out one by one place into the crumbs and tap all over with a palette knife so they are well coated, place onto a clean tray and repeat the process again with just egg wash and bread crumbs.
- To make the tomato salsa, mix all the ingredients together and season to taste.
- To assemble, place the crab cake into the fryer until lightly golden. Then place in the oven for five minutes. To serve, put the tomato salsa into a side dish next to the crab cake.
Madeleine Shaw’s Raw cherry and chocolate fudge
“If you struggle to fall asleep, cherry can be a great sleep aid – and the raw gooey texture makes this fudge a perfect treat with a cup of chamomile tea before bed. Don’t forget the active ingredient, almond butter – it provides lots of vitamin E for your skin.”
Madeleine Shaw
100g coconut oil, plus extra for greasing
50g raw cacao powder
100g honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch sea salt
50g dried cherries
Serves 6
- Put the nut butter and coconut oil in the food processor and mix for 1 minute or so. Sieve in the raw cacao, then put in the rest of the ingredients (apart from the cherries) and whizz for a few minutes until totally gooey. At this point throw in the cherries and mix with a spoon.
- Scoop out the mixture with a spatula into a coconut oil-greased 24cm baking tin, then put it in the freezer for 30 minutes until firmly set.
- Cut the fudge into bite-size bites with a sharp knife, then pop them back in the fridge.
- This keeps for 2 weeks in the fridge.
Tom’s Kitchen Shepherd’s Pie
“I’m a strong believer in working as a team, therefore when you throw your own dinner party why not join forces with your family or friends? My daughter Violette really enjoys experimenting with different foods, so I always try to get her involved in helping me prepare the dishes if we have the family over.”
Tom Aikens
Shepherd Pie Mix Mashed Potato topping
100ml vegetable oil 500g potatoes (Maris Piper, King Edward or Desiree), peeled
400g minced lamb 100g unsalted butter
½ tsp sea salt 50ml warm milk
30g unsalted butter Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
150g carrot, diced
180g onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp thyme leaves
A large pinch of dried herbes de Provence
1 ½ tbsp flour
200g plum tomatoes, seeded, skinned and roughly diced
40g tomato purée
400ml chicken stock
A large pinch of freshly ground black peppers
Mashed Potato topping
100ml vegetable oil 500g potatoes (Maris Piper, King Edward or Desiree), peeled
400g minced lamb 100g unsalted butter
½ tsp sea salt 50ml warm milk
30g unsalted butter Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Serves 4
- Place a large, shallow pan over a high heat. Add the oil and once it is hot, add the lamb mince. Spread it out evenly over the pan and leave it to cook for 3-4 minutes without stirring. When you see the meat beginning to colour around the edges, start to stir it and move it around the pan. Cook for another 5 minutes, adding half the salt and stirring every so often until the meat is golden all over. Tap the mince so it breaks down, then drain it in a colander set over a bowl to collect the oil.
- Pour the oil back into the pan with butter. Add the diced carrot and the rest of the salt and cook on a low heat for 2-3 minutes, scraping all the sediment from the pan.
- Add the onion, garlic, thyme and dried herbs and cook for 3 minutes over a medium heat. Put the mince back in the pan with the flour. Cook this for a minute, then add the diced tomatoes, tomato purée and stock and bring to a simmer. Add the pepper and continue to simmer for 10 minutes. Pile the meat into a heatproof dish.
- Cut the potatoes for the mash into rough 5cm chunks. Place the cut potato into the cold water with 10g salt in a pan, place on to the heat and bring to a simmer turn the heat down and simmer for 30 minutes then tip the potatoes into a colander to drain really well.
- Place the potato back in the pan and dry out on a low heat for 1 minute then add the butter, salt, pepper and the warm milk while you mash the potato.
- Cover the Shepherd’s Pie mix with potato. Put the dish under a hot grill for 3 minutes to colour the top and the pie is ready.
Meera Sodha’s salted miso brownies
“This one is my perfect brownie: dense and fudgy thanks to the chia seeds; rich, but not sickeningly so; with a salted caramel-like flavour that comes from using white miso and salt together. It makes this brownie incredibly special. And there is no category for that.”
Meera Sodha
4½ tbsp milled chia seeds
150g flavourless coconut oil
250g vegan dark chocolate (85%), broken into small pieces
420g light brown Muscovado sugar
120g plain flour
3½ tbsp white miso
1 tsp flaky sea salt
Makes 16 brownies
- Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/400°F/gas 6 and line a 20cm x 22cm cake tin with greaseproof paper
- In a small bowl, mix the milled chia seeds with 270ml of water and set aside
- Place the coconut oil and broken chocolate in a medium sized saucepan and set over a low heat
- Stir occasionally until melted, then mix in the sugar, flour and miso, and crumble in the salt flakes
- Stir in the soaked and bloomed chia seeds, then pour into the lined tin and gently shake to distribute the mixture
- Place on the middle shelf of the oven for 45 minutes, then remove.
- The brownies might be wobbly in the middle, but they will soon settle down and become deliciously fudgy. Leave to cool completely, then cut into 16 square
“I’m no Heston Blumenthal but I gave it my best and created a special evening with my friends to thank them and think of those women for whom a space in a refuge could mean the difference between life and death.”
Lucy Gaskell, actor & Women’s Aid Ambassador
Contact us
If you have any questions about hosting your own Donate Your Plate get-together, please email us at fundraising@womensaid.org.uk