A=Asparagus

B=Bunoshimeji Mushroom

I’m happy with the variety of mushrooms nowadays as compared to 2 years ago, where shiitake and enoki conquers all. Now, there are lotsa Japanese / Korean mushrooms (Bunoshimeji, shimeji, Eryngii) and even Portobello and fresh button mushroom. Now that makes me a happy person cause I’m a mushroom fan.

(Photo from hereandtherejapan.blogspot.com) - because I didnt take any “before” photos; too eager to cook

Fair enough, I happened to buy some tiny asparagus from the market at a cheap price because its their last packet and I’m their usual customer. It was a huge bunch. Immediately I was thinking of some asparagus tart or some quiche. But oh well I dont think my family take “tart” as starters or a meal. Being Chinese, we like to have a few dishes on the table (meat, vege, tofu etc) and savour them with rice (uh, staple stuff)

So what happened was I blanched the asparagus in salted water. Set aside.
Heat wok with oil and sesame oil. Stir in mushrooms. Add in oyster sauce and a tiny amount of soy sauce.
Add in the asparagus, a little bit of water. Stir stir stir. Done!

No, I did not make or attempted to make it. I just happened to be invited to a *free* event/workshop by Pastry Pro some couple of weeks back. Chef Christoph Riedel was in town representing Dreidoppel from Germany to show us some new products, flavourings and inventions from Dreidoppel / Pastarom.

Chef Christoph showcased some interesting desserts and sorbets.

Limoncella - Lemon custard tartlet with cherry fruit filling

Pistachip mousse tart with cherry filling

Ok, I didnt know what that red colour thingy was..

Dragonfruit sorbet (that tasted like bubblegum to me- well because dragonfruit is naturally quite tasteless anyway… )

Dolcino Cilegia - Cherry marzipan tartlet

Mousse made with vegetable-gelatin.

Pastry Pro’s Pastry Chef demonstrated their airbrush set..

Pulled sugar display

Chef christoph and Buttermilk-cherry sorbet, dragonfruit sorbet and vanilla ice cream

English Temptation - Milk chocolate mousse with bavarian tea cream and ginger sponge

Yummy.. always good to indulge in new desserts and pastries (oh free food yay)

ps: i have a new blog

Applause on those who got it right on the trivia I posted up yesterday! The answer is….. *drum roll* Pancake Mix.  I know I know it must be question marks all over by now if you haven’t come across Nigella’s new book Nigella Express. Actually I haven’t land myself the book yet, I saw the fantastic idea from the book, and just erm, well, let’s just say, borrowed it for now. (I will get myself that book when I’m not so broke, or open for donations. HAHA)

Anyway, Nigella once again, is a genius. Making the pancake mix, store it in your pantry. and everytime if there’s a pancake craving, just scoop some flour out, add egg, milk and melted butter. Tadah, you have pancakes! It certainly saves alot of time if you’re making pancakes for breakfast isn’t it ?

So the idea is to sift together;

600g flour
3 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
40g sugar
1 tsp salt

Put into a container, label it Pancake Mix or even, give it to your friends. That mix should make abundant of pancakes!

And, for every 150g of flour mix, add in

1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tbsp melted butter

*this would yield about 10 or more pancakes depending on the size…

It’s just THAT EASY! now, the book wasn’t called “express” without any reason.

Ok so I made some pancakes, mashed peas and also some cheese sausages. oh yummy

The pancakes are fluffy yo!

What does 600g flour, 3 tbsp baking powder, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 1 tsp salt and 40g sugar gives u ?

Check out tomorrow !