Jap-Italian Desserts Workshop



Sorry for the MIA. Was suffering from fatigue recently and simply didn't have the zest to do anything at all :(

 

Anyways, I was invited by Shermay's Cooking School to attend a demo workshop by Chef Aki Watanabe on "Japanese-Italian Desserts". I had seen this workshop at Shermay's website but didn't sign up for it as the timings clashed with my son's gym class. Then the invitation came along and as I'm a fan of Chef Aki, I made arrangement for hubby to send dear son to his class :p

 

The recipes demo-ed are actually specially created by Chef Aki, to incorporate the Fabbri products namely Fabbri Amarena (cherry), Fabbri Fragola (wild strawberry) and Fabbri Mirtillo (blueberry) into Jap-Italian desserts. In fact I've tried the Fabbri Fragola before, using the wild strawberries as a topping for a Oreo Cream Cheese Cupcake (recipe by Chef Daniel Tay), I must say the wild strawberries are very yummy, albeit very sweet.

 

5 recipes were demo-ed during the 2-hr workshop. All the recipes are designed to be very simple with easy-to-follow steps.

 

1) Calpico (Japanese Yogurt Syrup) Cherry Kanten Agar Jelly (Using 'Fabbri Amarena Cherries')

2) Strawberry White Nama Choco (Using 'Fabbri Fragola')

3) No Bake Tofu Cheesecake with Blueberry Sauce (Using 'Fabbri Mirtillo')

4) Strawberry Gyuuhi Mochi (Using 'Fabbri Fragola')

5) Soufflé Omelete with Blueberry sauce (Using 'Fabbri Amarena')

 

All participants were given a portion of the Calpico Cherry Kanten Agar Jelly for tasting and I love it! Calpico is a type of Japanese yogurt syrup, I've tried the diluted version before, it tasted a little like Yakult/Vitagen and Isotonic drink. So the taste of this jelly is a little tangy and sweet. The cherry embedded in the middle enhanced the taste and texture of the jelly. I love the fact that the jelly was made petite size which was pretty, and easy to eat (just pop into the mouth). In addition, the jelly can stay in room temperature due to the unique setting property of Japanese Kanten. So I can forsee making these jellies for parties or gatherings already.

The strawberry white nama choco is basically white chocolate with whipping cream, butter and chopped bits of Fabbri wild strawberries. We also got a tasting portion in class.
Unfortunately it was way too sweet for my palate. If I were to use this recipe, I might change the white chocolate to dark chocolate for a milder sweetness and taste.

The strawberry gyuuhi mochi uses Fabbri strawberries as well, basically Jap glutinous rice powder with sugar and chopped bits of wild strawberries. We didn't get to try this though as it's difficult to make enough mochi mixture for the entire class. But I can imagine that it's yummy coz I love mochi.

The tofu cheese cake with blueberry sauce is also easy to make and quite a versatile dessert. We could either make it into a 15-cm round cake or as individual serving portions. The cake was very rice and quite tangy with additions of yogurt and lemon juice. The sweetness from the blueberry complimented the cheese cake quite well. If you want the tofu taste to be more distinct, taste the cake within a day. Else, wait for up to 3 days and the tofu taste will be barely noticeable, leaving a very rich and creamy cheese cake.

The souffle omelette is very unique indeed. I think it's somewhat like a pancake with beating of eggs and sugar till fluffy then added with flour. But it's very difficult to cook as the insides need to be soft and gooey and outside slightly browned and crispy.

These are the 3 Fabbri products. The bottles are quite pretty too. Although I've used up the wild strawberries long time ago, I still kept the bottle :)

Will find an opportunity to make the Calpico Cherry Kanten Agar Jelly... after I get over my sluggish mood.