Mushroom Cuppa

When Justin Quek's Passion and Inspiration was launched at Kinokuniya (Takashimaya) a while back, I was fortunately working just a few floors away. During my hour-long break, I scampered up to see Justin Quek in person. When I entered Kinokuniya, I just had to follow a deep, earthy aroma of mushrooms to find the stocky chef busy whizzing and adjusting a batch of mushroom soup, and a pretty helper pouring it into tasting portions for bystanders to try.

It is humiliating, but not too long before that, my preference for mushroom soup lay in Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup. I grew up on that stuff, and abhorred thick, murky brown versions of Mushroom Soup. To me, the best mushroom soup was creamy, off-white, smooth, with tiny bits of mushrooms to chew on. I had tried many other types but swore by good ol' Campbell.

That day at Kinokuniya, however, that little tasting portion of mushroom soup was the start of something new. In fact, ever since then, I've not missed my Campbell Cream of Mushroom.

It's not surprising then, that I flagged the recipe Fresh Mushroom Cappuccino with Summer Truffles in his cookbook. Replacing the summer truffles with white truffle oil, it may not have been as good, but was still phenomenal. It helps that this was one of the easiest recipes in the book. My brother could have handled the entire recipe on his own, without any supervision on my part. But I'm still going to stick to keeping an eye on him because we almost had a major disaster with the blender.

Fresh Mushroom Cappuccino

Adapted From Justin Quek's Passion and Inspiration

Serves 4 Yuen Family Members and 6-8 average joes

Ingredients

500 gm button mushrooms

1.5 litres chicken stock

a pinch of salt

200 ml milk

100 ml fresh cream

50 gms unsalted butter

truffle oil

Method

Clean mushrooms and cut into quarters.

Place in saucepan, covered with chicken stock, adding a pinch of salt.

Cover and cook over moderate heat for 1 hour.

Add milk, cream and butter, and bring the liquid to a boil.

Remove from heat and blend the drained mushrooms in a food processor or blender, adding a little of the reserved liquid at a time until the right consistency is achieved.

Just before serving, reheat and pour into a deep metal jug, frothing with a hand blender.

Pour into individual cups (scooping some of the foam onto the surface) and drizzle with a little truffle oil each.