I had all the luck in the world this week when I was invited to a Mushroom3 Indulgence Asian inspired lunch by the Australian Mushroom Growers Association (Power of Mushrooms). I had the opportunity to partake in a 3 course mushroom lunch while visiting the SjW Mushroom farm on my 3 day visit to Noosa back in May this year. I knew I didn’t want to miss out on experiencing a mushroom inspired gourmet lunch again so I jumped at the chance.
The chefs on hand were Ed (“Fast Ed”) Halmagyi, one of the resident chefs on the Australian Better Homes & Gardens TV show, Alistair McLeod, Australian celebrity chef and Katrina Ryan, former head chef of Neil Perry’s “Rockpool” restaurant and owner/operator of The Golden Pig Food & Wine School, the venue for the lunch. I was in very esteemed company, that’s for sure, with three of Australia’s best chefs.
I introduced myself to Alistair while he was searing the scallops on the barbecue and to tell him that my friend was a big fan and to say hi and he greeted me with a little kiss. He’s just as lovely in person as he is on the television.
Some of the bubbly stuff on arrival which had a scoop of watermelon sorbet added. A very refreshing drink. A bit of mingling and rubbing shoulders with Brisbane radio celebrities, bloggers, company representatives, TV cooking show contestants, restaurateurs and other lovely people while trying some of the beautiful canapes.
We started our Asian inspired lunch with canapes which were as follows:
(1) Japanese: Seared scallops with mushroom and mirin butter.
(2) Chinese: Pork, mushroom and water chestnut gyoza.
(3) Thai: Betel leaf with duck, mandarin and oyster mushroom.
Among the guest list was head chef of Freestyle Tout, Dallas Costello and contestant on the recent Australian Masterchef series, Neah Sen. Recent winner of The Great Australian Bake Off, Nancy Ho was also there with her sister.
We were all seated pretty quickly and entree was brought out. This Thai inspired tea smoked salmon salad with mushroom and tamarind dressing was light and refreshing. The ‘white dust’ you see on top was actually ground jasmine rice and it was delicious.
Ed was an excellent MC for the event and had the crowd engaged at every moment. He grabbed three ‘willing’ particpants from the crowd to stir fry the vegetables to go with the main.
The main was a gorgeous Chinese inspired beef with red dates (“jujube“), dried shitake and fresh mushrooms served with jasmine rice.
While we were waiting for plates to be cleared and dessert to be brought out, there was a ‘mushroom’ quiz. With the help of the lovely ladies from Nutrition Australia who were sitting beside me, I was lucky enough to win one of Fast Ed’s cookbooks, “An Hour’s the Limit” which he so kindly autographed.
It always amazes me what these great chefs can do with mushrooms in a dessert and they didn’t disappoint this time. A Japanese inspired mushroom and ironbark honey panna cotta with oranges in ginger and saki syrup was every bit as good as it looked. The crispy sesame tuile biscuit added just the right crunchy contrast.
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| Me and Fast Ed |
The clock soon struck 2:15pm and if I didn’t get back to pick up my kid’s from school by 3:00pm I’d turn into a pumpkin so I hot footed it out of there and was back to reality in a flash. I always like these kinds of events because it makes you feel pretty important. Everyone is keen to read your name tag, to find out ‘who’ you are (in case you’re someone they should be talking to). I’m sure they were very impressed to meet me, Anne from Domesblissity (*wink wink*). I felt absolutely wonderful to be there and had the most enjoyable day.
Join up to the Mushroom Lover’s Club and get beautiful mushroom recipes sent to your Inbox along with cooking tips, health and nutrition information and prizes and special promotions. They really are a ‘super’ food which just so happens to be delicious and can be cooked many ways.
The Golden Pig Food & Wine School
38 Ross Street
Newstead Qld 4006
Ph: (07) 3666 0884
Jayne Keogh Public Relations
Coo’ee Building
16 Trinity Lane
Woolloongabba Qld 4102
Ph: (07) 3392 0466
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