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Being a Mushroom Mania blogger, I feel like a proud ambassador for the mighty mushroom and consequently it was no surprise to me when I received an invitation to attend the Australian Mushroom Grower Association’s Celebration Dinner as part of their “Mushrooms Support Pink” campaign. This campaign is aimed at helping raise awareness for breast cancer during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

We were treated to a four course meal with mushrooms featuring in every dish to show off what a versatile and flavoursome food they are.

Over the course of the evening, we were encouraged to enter a raffle to help raise money for cancer research with a number of small pink prizes to go around. The Boy managed to win himself a pink whisk!

None of starters were gluten free and for the first ten minutes of the evening I watched enviously as everyone crooned over the delicious nibbles. After what felt like hours but was really was only minutes, the chef brought me an adapted plate of goodies to eat.

For entrée, we received a wild mushroom consommé with gluten free gnocchi, pickled shimeji mushrooms and tomatoes. It was an unusual mix of flavours and light on the palate.

One of our speakers for the evening was Glenn Cardwell, an accredited dietician who has worked for the National Heart Foundation and has made frequent TV and radio appearances. He talked to us about some interesting research that has shown a potential reduced incidence of breast cancer in women who eat mushrooms regularly.  He was advocating eating just three mushrooms a day to gain these lifesaving anti-cancer benefits.

The main course was a slow cooked fillet of West Australian butterflied beef. The beef was very tender and cut like butter. I would have preferred mine to be slightly rarer however I did noticed the Boy’s serve was cooked more to my liking.

The beef was served with a medley of vegetables including fondant potato, white asparagus, baby carrot, cherry tomato and the cutest little nameko mushrooms. A rich Madeira jus was drizzled on top.

Our second speaker for the evening was the General Manager of the AMGA. He talked about his travels in the States where he appreciated how severe the USA is afflicted with obesity and poor nutrition. The need to improve the average American’s diet has led to the of the concept  of “blendability”. This is where mushrooms are used to transform meals by chopping them finely to the texture of mince meat and adding them to popular, meat based products like burgers, tacos, meatballs and pasta sauces. When used in this way, not only are mushrooms a natural flavour enhancer but they also help significantly lower the total caloric and fat content of the meal in addition to adding a lot of excellent nutritional value.

As the evening drew to a close, our desserts arrived and we were all curious to see how they could incorporate mushrooms into this course. The non-gluten free option included a chocolate tart and mushroom meringue served on mushroom Anglaise, and raspberry sorbet with candied dried mushrooms.

My gluten free adapted plate was sorely lacking in any mushroomy goodness with a moist Eve’s pudding with warm custard sauce and a wibbly wobbly yoghurt Pannacotta.

Noelene, our MC for the night felt so bad that I didn’t get to try any of the mushroom desserts. Without me even needing to ask, she kindly chased up the chef to find out if any of the components could be assembled gluten free. Within a few minutes I was served some of the mushroom Anglaise with a few candied mushrooms on top. The candied mushrooms were chewy like a firm toffee and I would have loved to have taken a jar home with me!

 

Disclaimer: Chompchomp was an invited guest of the Australian Mushroom Growers Association.

 

Pavilion Restaurant

West Coast Institute, Joondalup Campus, E Block, 35 Kendrew Crescent, Joondalup WA 6027 | (08) 9233 1770