A Celebration of Mushrooms at Seasonal Dinner Parties’ Supper Club

I’m a big fan of seasonal eating; food just tastes better when eaten at its prime and gets your cooking off to a good start when you have great produce to work with. This was beautifully highlighted when I was invited to attend the Seasonal Dinner Parties’ Supper Club, hosted by bubbly and lovely, chef and food writer, Liz O’Keefe.The event was held at Café from Crisis in Aldgate, with profits from the night going to the homeless charity, Crisis.

The Supper Clubs are a collaboration with wholesaler Mushroom Man, and the events run through the seasons with mushrooms as its focus. I went to their Summer event which featured girolles and Summer black truffle amongst a whole host of amazing produce such as edible flowers and micro cucumbers.

Liz O’Keefe (pic from promo shots)

O’Keefe cooked up a right feast with a seven-course menu full of colourful and wholesome food. A welcome and refreshing Ladysden Strawberry, Cucumber Flower and Cider Gin Cocktail set the evening off nicely. We then took to our seats to beautifully set tables. An amuse bouche of Ceasar Mushroom and Artichoke kicked off the feast followed by a velvety smooth Gazpacho with Summer Truffle and Porcini. This course was delicious and served in a fun way, where you were given a selection of micro herbs and seasonings on the side to tailor the soup to your liking – a fun touch.

Ceaser Mushroom and Artichoke

Sea Garden Salad

Next was the Sea Garden Salad, which could have done with more crab on my portion, but it was tasty, fresh and light with a nice mix of herbs and vegetables. Then up was Roast Ham with Roasted Girolle Mushrooms, Apricots, Garlic and Venere Rice with Truffle Aioli. The rice and aioli were the real stars of this dish. The rice had an earthy, rich and nutty flavour and the aioli was brilliantly punchy.

L to R:  Strawberry and Gin Cocktail,
Roast Ham with Roasted Girolle Mushrooms and Venere Rice
and Raspberries, Meringues and Edible Flowers

We moved on to sweets with Ladysden Raspberries, Meringues and Edible Flowers, which was very much like an Eton mess – light and tasty. Then we moved back to savoury with Cornish Camembert with Mushroom Flatbread. The flatbreads were on the thick and doughy side but the cheese was wonderfully pungent yet delicate. The night ended on a sweet note with nibbles of Sea Salt Porcini Chocolate Slabs. It was an unusual pairing, which worked surprisingly well.

Guests

It was lovely evening. O’Keefe’s food is fresh, vibrant and worth checking out if you fancy just that. The next events are on 17 September & 26 November 2016 at £45 for seven-courses with drinks. See here for more info.