IF you want to know how to get the most out of mushrooms, Peter Evans is the one to ask. Anyone who’s sampled the award-winning breakfast dish of whole roasted whole flat mushrooms at his Hugo’s restaurant would attest to his way with them.

The chef and owner of restaurants in the Hugo’s Group including Hugo’s (although this had just been sold), Hugo’s Lounge and Hugo’s Bar Pizza has this year taken on the mantle of ambassador for the Australian mushroom industry’s biggest annual campaign to target the foodservice market Mushroom Mania.

The annual promotion aims to encourage chefs to add more mushrooms to their menus and includes a competition rewarding chefs for their mushroom expertise.

This year’s promo comes as the mushroom industry continues to experience major growth. Australians are true mushroom lovers munching their way through almost 3 kilograms a head in 2004-2005—it’s up from just 600 grams per head 30 years ago and more than double what people in the US.

Evans says it is the versatility, taste and nutritional benefits, and what they can do for a restaurant’s bottom line that combine to make mushrooms a favourite of his to use.

“They are great from a business point of view, they are cheap,’ Evans says. “And there are so many different opportunities to use mushrooms. They’re good for everything from soups, omelettes, risottos, pizzas, pastas, tom yum soup to Thai curries. They go extremely well with seafood and they are a great option to use as a vegetarian alternative for lots of recipes.”

Evans says that he uses a combination of different mushrooms from button, field and Swiss Browns to more seasonal mushrooms like pine mushrooms from the Blue Mountains and the exotic mushrooms like shitake, Shimeji and oyster. He is watching closely the development of a Morel mushroom industry in Tasmania.

“I do a fantastic Sichuan roasted duck and shitake mushroom omelette at Hugo’s Bondi,” says Evans. “At the pizza bar we serve two pizzas that highlight mushrooms—a field mushroom, truffle egg and tallegio pizza, and a field mushroom, ham and fontina pizza. At Hugo’s Lounge we have a beautiful dish of roasted eye fillet with mushroom and red wine sauce.”

Evans’ tips include avoiding washing mushrooms, “they absorb water and lose flavour”. “Just brush them off,” says Evans. And don’t waste the stems. Save them to make a stock, he says.

For more information on Mushroom Mania go to www.mushroommania.com.au