Mushroom Masterclass with Paulo Siqueira & Bob Hart
Did you know that July 1st-31st is the time to celebrate Mushroom Mania? Well you do now!
In order to spread the mushroom love around Melbourne, Prahran Market recently hosted a mushroom masterclass presented by Brazillian chef Paulo Siqueira and media personality Bob Hart. I was lucky enough to score a double pass to this event through Twitter, and seeing as:
1) I am trying my damn hardest to learn how to love cooking as much as I love eating
2) Mr and I JUST BOOKED A TRIP TO FIJI(!!!) and therefore are massively broke, and are looking for delicious cheap meal ideas AND cheap (free) things to do
3) I love mushrooms very much
I was delighted to attend.
I had been hoping that we would be right up close to Paulo Siqueira so that we could watch not only how he created his dishes but his cooking techniques as well. Unfortunately due to *FIRE DANGER* those of us who had VIP tickets were quite a few metres away and very very squished together.
Although there were mirrors above the stage to show what was happening, I found that because we were so far away, I wasn’t particularly enthralled by the demonstrations. Having said that, we did get to taste all of the dishes which was a pleasant surprise. Seeing as I wasn’t familiar at all with Brazillian cuisine, and would love to save $ by using less meat in my cooking, I was very keen to taste! The samples were served with what I THINK was elderflower champagne.
The main idea behind the masterclass was that mushrooms could be used as a healthy option to replace meat in a wide range of dishes. Paulo was very passionate about the health benefits of eating different kinds of mushrooms, and is trying to create a type of mushroom mince to be sold in Australia that is made out of mushroom stalks. Interesting!
My favourite dish that Paulo cooked was Carooroo, probably because it had prawns!
Snuck up to the stage to take this photo:
I wish we could have seen all of the masterclass that close. Damn safety measures.
Bob Hart demonstrated how to make his famous Chipotle Mushroom Burger – and they tasted fantastic. Basically portobello mushrooms replace the meat in the burger, and are slathered with chipotle chillies in adobo sauce, gruyere cheese, avocado and chipotle mayo. Yes I ate mine without taking a photo because I am a greedy pig and they were AWESOME. But here’s a photo of Bob instead:
He looks like he’s having fun doesn’t he?
All in all it was a good afternoon of mushroom worship.
Although the masterclass itself was a little disappointing in terms of not being able to see the action up close, it was most definitely inspiring and educational. Especially for a cooking dunce like myself. I have set myself a challenge of cooking at least one meat-free dish a week, and I hope that the marvellous mushroom will help me along with this.
To get into the mushie spirit, Mr and I picked up some delicious mushroom tortellini from The Fresh Pasta Shop.
By the way, if you find yourself at the Prahran Market, do not leave without some of this stuff:
Date and walnut baguette. Oh yeah. But I digress.. This post is meant to be about MUSHROOMS!
Is there such a thing as eating too many mushrooms? In the non magical sense of course..
Food gobbler. Wine lover. Kitteh keeper. Gen-Y. Fiancée. Twitter addict.
Fighting the war against Leggings As Pants one fashion victim at a time... 
Carooroo looks delicious. :O
Wouldn’t some professional (and at the same time good humourd and handsome) firemen be much more adequate than some stupid ‘Fire Danger’ sign … ?? :)
Gabriella
Paul´s a brillant chef.
Minute – it was!
Gabbi – I agree. Will suggest for next time.
Elizabeth – he was great. Not ideal enviro to demonstrate his skills though :(