This year I cooked the Christmas Dinner. I did roast venison and it was mighty good. First I prepared a sauce in a large frying pan:
I chopped up an onion and a couple of cloves of garlic,
I fried the onions with some sunflower oil,
I added 200 ml of good port,
I added the garlic,
I added about 500 ml of water,
I added several blackberries,
A good dash of lemon juice,
I added some chicken stock,
A teaspoon of honey,
Some sea salt to taste,
I added a few juniper berries, some crushed cloves, pepper corns and a stick of cinnamon to taste.
I cooked the sauce whilst stirring it occasionally. I saved some of the juice to make a sauce later. I reduced the remaining sauce until it was thick.
I fried the joint of venison both sides until it was just becoming brown making sure that the juices of the sauce were well incorporated around the joint.
I warmed the oven to about 180 degrees C.
I greased an oven dish with some vegetable oil. I coated the venison joint with the onions, garlic and berries remaining from the sauce on both sides. I added the remaining liquid to the joint.
I cooked the joint until it was cooked on the outside but rare in the middle.
I left the joint to rest in its dish before serving but covered the baking dish with foil.
After removing the joint to carve it. I poured out the juices and made the sauce.
My joint weighed about 1 kg so I cooked it for about 45 minutes at 180 degrees. I basted the joint and checked that it was not overcooked by piercing the flesh to ensure that the juices were running rare.
The joint was cooked perfectly and was full of game flavour. The seasoning , port and berry flavour went perfectly.
I kept the remaining sauce for the next day.
You may be asking, what is the best wine to go with this? Well you need a top red wine which has a full flavour to match and which has a good structure with sufficient tannin to cleanse the palate between mouthfuls of succulent meat.
I choose a fabulous candidate: John Duval Eligo 2008 Shiraz from the Barossa Valley. This wine will cost you a few bob; mine was a present from some Australian friends. I am a lucky man. This wine was lovely. It had the perfect balance of tannin, acidity and dryness. It was of full body. It was concentrated and complex. It had a strong taste of red fruits with a hint of oak, vanilla and cloves. It had long length on the palate. It had all of the attributes of an excellent wine, so it was good value for money. At six years old ready for drinking but this wine could have been kept longer.
It holds its own well with the top red wines from France, Italy, Spain and the US and, certainly, other top wines from Australia. Of course, this is wine to be savoured with the best food and should not be sloshed down at a barbecue. It went down well with some strong French cheeses after the main course.
It made a memorable day, with me cooking the Christmas day meal, even more memorable. My French wife was duly impressed and the wine won her over too.
https://www.masterofmalt.com/wine/john-duval/john-duval-eligo-reserve-shiraz-2008-wine/
Tuesday, 24 January 2017
Friday, 13 January 2017
Osteria Da Fabrizio Christmas Eve 2016
We like to go out on Christmas eve, my wife and I, and why not saunter down to a regular and favourite restaurant? Once again we went to Osteria Da Fabrizio where regularly we both enjoy the food, the wine and the music. It is in Orpington in the London borough of Bromley and it's half an hour's brisk walk away- for us anyway.
The music is important to me when I am dining and Fabrizio always plays the best jazz and blues. Every year he resists the temptation to play "Jingle Bells" "White Christmas" and "Away in a Manger". This alone is good reason to dine there.
For some reason this year every body seemed to be happier, maybe no one had been caught up in traffic jams trying to enter and leave the huge and local shopping malls.
We met some great people. I thought I recognised the accent of the young people on the next table; they were from Bermondsey and my mum was born there too. We enjoyed a lovely conversation ranging from life in South London to the exploits of Millwall football club.
On another table some of Fabrizio's French relatives were visiting from Nice which is not far from the Italian border. My wife and I enjoyed a good conversation with them too.
We had very friendly if not familiar company.
For food we shared starters of "Grigliata di Mare" or octopus calamari with king prawns. And, "Tagliolini Alla Coda d'Aragosta Marinata" or pasta with marinated fresh lobster tail.
For main course we both ate "Orata Al Cartoccio" or steamed sea bream.
For dessert we both chose Chocolate fondant. We rarely chose the same menu but we could not resist the selection. All of this was delicious and served in an unpretentious and down to earth style.
The chocolate fondant was well cooked on the outside but runny in the middle; for me this is an indication of a chef that knows what he is doing.
So what wine did we drink? Well, we drank white wine of course. We washed the meal down with a bottle of 2010 Abruzzo Duca Thaulero Passerina Superiore DOP. This wine has the right balance of acidity, dryness, alcoholic strength, fruit flavour, concentration and complexity to complement both shell fish and sea bream etc. It is high quality wine at a reasonable price. The Abruzzo region is on the east coast of Italy in the central region. So it is no wonder that the wine goes well with fish - perfect. Apparently, the Passerina grape is named after the sparrow which loves to eat the small ripe fruits on the vine - dream on about viticultural paradise.
http://www.casalthaulero.it/en/vini/duca-thaulero/
I could not resist a glass of Cognac with my coffee but my wife did. We both sipped a glass of Limoncello afterwards. I was mixing it a bit but there were no side effects. I resisted the temptation to hear health warnings ringing in my ears on the walk home as I preferred to sing jazz to myself. It was Christmas, after all , and I did not want to spoil a perfect evening.
If ever you are nearby Orpington then try www.dafabrizio.co.uk/our-location/
The music is important to me when I am dining and Fabrizio always plays the best jazz and blues. Every year he resists the temptation to play "Jingle Bells" "White Christmas" and "Away in a Manger". This alone is good reason to dine there.
For some reason this year every body seemed to be happier, maybe no one had been caught up in traffic jams trying to enter and leave the huge and local shopping malls.
We met some great people. I thought I recognised the accent of the young people on the next table; they were from Bermondsey and my mum was born there too. We enjoyed a lovely conversation ranging from life in South London to the exploits of Millwall football club.
On another table some of Fabrizio's French relatives were visiting from Nice which is not far from the Italian border. My wife and I enjoyed a good conversation with them too.
We had very friendly if not familiar company.
For food we shared starters of "Grigliata di Mare" or octopus calamari with king prawns. And, "Tagliolini Alla Coda d'Aragosta Marinata" or pasta with marinated fresh lobster tail.
For main course we both ate "Orata Al Cartoccio" or steamed sea bream.
For dessert we both chose Chocolate fondant. We rarely chose the same menu but we could not resist the selection. All of this was delicious and served in an unpretentious and down to earth style.
The chocolate fondant was well cooked on the outside but runny in the middle; for me this is an indication of a chef that knows what he is doing.
So what wine did we drink? Well, we drank white wine of course. We washed the meal down with a bottle of 2010 Abruzzo Duca Thaulero Passerina Superiore DOP. This wine has the right balance of acidity, dryness, alcoholic strength, fruit flavour, concentration and complexity to complement both shell fish and sea bream etc. It is high quality wine at a reasonable price. The Abruzzo region is on the east coast of Italy in the central region. So it is no wonder that the wine goes well with fish - perfect. Apparently, the Passerina grape is named after the sparrow which loves to eat the small ripe fruits on the vine - dream on about viticultural paradise.
http://www.casalthaulero.it/en/vini/duca-thaulero/
I could not resist a glass of Cognac with my coffee but my wife did. We both sipped a glass of Limoncello afterwards. I was mixing it a bit but there were no side effects. I resisted the temptation to hear health warnings ringing in my ears on the walk home as I preferred to sing jazz to myself. It was Christmas, after all , and I did not want to spoil a perfect evening.
If ever you are nearby Orpington then try www.dafabrizio.co.uk/our-location/
Friday, 9 December 2016
Worth Keeping Your Wine - Domaine de L'Arjolle Paradoxe 2010 red
In a former blog on this site for September 2013 I wrote the following about Domaine de L'Arjolle Paradoxe 2010 red:
Well I didn't keep my own promise and drank the wine before 2015. I did, however, give away a bottle to a good friend who took my advice to keep the wine. We went to dinner at his place a couple of weeks ago and he opened his bottle. I couldn't see the label but recognised that this was superior wine and this was confirmed by my wife and our hosts.
The wine had indeed improved enormously in the bottle; it retained is full fruit flavour but the tannin had softened. The wine tasted superb and went down well with some beef. There is no doubt in my mind that this wine will probably improve more over the next year or so. At 16.5 Eur a bottle it represented tremendous value for money back in 2013: what more can I say. The quality of the wine reflected the love and dedication of the Domaine as applied in the vineyard and the wine making process.
So give three cheers for my wine tasting prowess.
Domaine D'Arjolle is based in Pouzolles in the Côtes-de-Thongue and not far from Péz
énas.
énas.
Thursday, 24 November 2016
Café de Paris Chez Boubier Geneva
Recently, we visited France to go to a party in Savoie not far from Mont Blanc. Our nearest airport was Geneva. We had some time to kill in Geneva and we arrived at lunchtime. Our timing could not have been better ; we arrived at the main station in Geneva and just a stone's throw from Rue Du Mont and one of my favourite restaurants - the Café de Paris Chez Boubier.
I have eaten is this restaurant tons of times when I did projects in Geneva and the atmosphere and quality of the food does not change; the place is expensive but excellent. My expense allowance did not allow me to eat there everyday, however, but just once a week or so.
Basically, there is only one main course and this is entrecôte steak served with the famous Beurre Café de Paris sauce and chips or french fries if you have pretension to being posh. If you order the steak rare then you will not be disappointed. The Café de Paris sauce was invented by Monsieur Boubier in 1930 at this very restaurant and it was an immediate success.
The recipe for the Beurre Café de Paris sauce is a closely guarded secret. It is mustard based and has a large number of ingredients. A chef friend of mine, who has worked in Geneva, has identified most of the ingredients from just tasting the sauce. It is only fair that it remains secret but from my friend's description we can certainly confirm what he told us.
So what is special about this restaurant? It is right in the heart of Geneva which in itself is special.
There is only one starter which is green salad with a rather lively and tangy vinaigrette sauce. The steak and sauce are wonderful and this main course is simply the best in the world for meat eaters. There is a range of traditional French style desserts. There is a limited range of wines but they all go well with the cuisine. The restaurant is in a traditional Parisian style.
For the two of us we selected a 50 cl bottle of Swiss wine - Merlot Réserve Germanier. This is not the best wine and we could have done better by ordering a bottle of French Bordeaux but we were in Switzerland and we were obliged to drink local wine.
Our meal cost about 150 CHF which is not cheap at about 118 quid, or 148 bucks. French workers in Geneva, of which there are many, would have to pay 140 EUR for two so not many of them will visit for lunch every day, if at all. Had we really hit the wine trail we could have spent an awful lot more.
For a visit on impulse this was rather a lot for us pay but we were on holiday and it was worth every penny and we could thank our lucky stars that we could still afford it even after a 15% drop in the pound.
Café de Paris style restaurants have spread across the world and another one of my favourites is the Relais de Venise in Port Maillot, Paris. I highly recommend them but only if you are feeling lucky or rich.
http://www.chezboubier.com/fr/
http://sauvage.savoie-mont-blanc.com/
http://www.savoie-mont-blanc.com/en
I have eaten is this restaurant tons of times when I did projects in Geneva and the atmosphere and quality of the food does not change; the place is expensive but excellent. My expense allowance did not allow me to eat there everyday, however, but just once a week or so.
Basically, there is only one main course and this is entrecôte steak served with the famous Beurre Café de Paris sauce and chips or french fries if you have pretension to being posh. If you order the steak rare then you will not be disappointed. The Café de Paris sauce was invented by Monsieur Boubier in 1930 at this very restaurant and it was an immediate success.
The recipe for the Beurre Café de Paris sauce is a closely guarded secret. It is mustard based and has a large number of ingredients. A chef friend of mine, who has worked in Geneva, has identified most of the ingredients from just tasting the sauce. It is only fair that it remains secret but from my friend's description we can certainly confirm what he told us.
So what is special about this restaurant? It is right in the heart of Geneva which in itself is special.
There is only one starter which is green salad with a rather lively and tangy vinaigrette sauce. The steak and sauce are wonderful and this main course is simply the best in the world for meat eaters. There is a range of traditional French style desserts. There is a limited range of wines but they all go well with the cuisine. The restaurant is in a traditional Parisian style.
For the two of us we selected a 50 cl bottle of Swiss wine - Merlot Réserve Germanier. This is not the best wine and we could have done better by ordering a bottle of French Bordeaux but we were in Switzerland and we were obliged to drink local wine.
Our meal cost about 150 CHF which is not cheap at about 118 quid, or 148 bucks. French workers in Geneva, of which there are many, would have to pay 140 EUR for two so not many of them will visit for lunch every day, if at all. Had we really hit the wine trail we could have spent an awful lot more.
For a visit on impulse this was rather a lot for us pay but we were on holiday and it was worth every penny and we could thank our lucky stars that we could still afford it even after a 15% drop in the pound.
Café de Paris style restaurants have spread across the world and another one of my favourites is the Relais de Venise in Port Maillot, Paris. I highly recommend them but only if you are feeling lucky or rich.
http://www.chezboubier.com/fr/
http://sauvage.savoie-mont-blanc.com/
http://www.savoie-mont-blanc.com/en
Wednesday, 26 October 2016
Fino and Manzanilla Sherry - they both go well with most types of food
On a recent trip to Andalucia, in Spain, my wife and I only drank one bottle of table wine. We fell in love again with Fino and Manzanilla sherries. Both wines are dry, white and fortified to between 14.5 and 16% alcohol. Fino is produced in Jerez and nearby Puerto on the coast. Fino is more famous than its Manzanilla cousin which is produced on the coast in Sanlúcar de Barrameda - not far from Jerez.
Both wines are produced by the same method from Palomino grapes. Manzanilla has a more salty taste. The saltiness is reputedly derived for the fact that the barrels, used to produce the wine, are more exposed to the salty air of the Atlantic than the Fino wine of Jerez which is further in land..
Both wines go very well with tapas. Whilst in Andulucia, we ate a wide range of foods ranging from shell fish to steak and sweet desserts. Fino and Manzanilla went well with all sorts of this food. I can think of only one other wine that I could drink throughout a meal and that is Champagne.
You have to drink the youngest wines available and drink them chilled; then, if possible, finish the bottle. A 750 ml bottle will easily keep 4 or 6 friends happy over a meal. These wines should only be drunk with good food. Although stronger than table wines Fino and Manzanilla are best sipped rather than slugged back. One copita of these wines can quite easily last a whole meal.
We brought a litre bottle back from our trip and drank about 125 ml each for four nights with fish, meat and dessert. I estimate that a 125 ml glass has about 2 units of alcohol so over four nights we only consumed about 8 units of alcohol- how very abstemious of us and the ministry of health would be very proud.
After the first serving we used a "vacu-vin" stopper to draw all the air out of the bottle and then kept the wine in the fridge; this way our litre bottle would have lasted a week if we could have resisted having a sip every evening.
Fino and Manzanilla have a nutty taste and they are tangy with a hint of fresh bread. They have lower levels of acidity but the higher levels of acetaldehyde as opposed to organic acids give them that typical sherry taste.
They are lovely wines and are almost always worthy of consideration when eating good food which is full of flavour. It is time to give both of these great wines a try.
http://www.sherrynotes.com/sherry-types/types-of-sherry-manzanilla/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flor
http://www.bbr.com/region-5401-fino?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=SD%20-%20Regions%20-%20Port&utm_term=fino%20sherry&utm_content=Fino
Both wines are produced by the same method from Palomino grapes. Manzanilla has a more salty taste. The saltiness is reputedly derived for the fact that the barrels, used to produce the wine, are more exposed to the salty air of the Atlantic than the Fino wine of Jerez which is further in land..
Both wines go very well with tapas. Whilst in Andulucia, we ate a wide range of foods ranging from shell fish to steak and sweet desserts. Fino and Manzanilla went well with all sorts of this food. I can think of only one other wine that I could drink throughout a meal and that is Champagne.
You have to drink the youngest wines available and drink them chilled; then, if possible, finish the bottle. A 750 ml bottle will easily keep 4 or 6 friends happy over a meal. These wines should only be drunk with good food. Although stronger than table wines Fino and Manzanilla are best sipped rather than slugged back. One copita of these wines can quite easily last a whole meal.
We brought a litre bottle back from our trip and drank about 125 ml each for four nights with fish, meat and dessert. I estimate that a 125 ml glass has about 2 units of alcohol so over four nights we only consumed about 8 units of alcohol- how very abstemious of us and the ministry of health would be very proud.
After the first serving we used a "vacu-vin" stopper to draw all the air out of the bottle and then kept the wine in the fridge; this way our litre bottle would have lasted a week if we could have resisted having a sip every evening.
Fino and Manzanilla have a nutty taste and they are tangy with a hint of fresh bread. They have lower levels of acidity but the higher levels of acetaldehyde as opposed to organic acids give them that typical sherry taste.
They are lovely wines and are almost always worthy of consideration when eating good food which is full of flavour. It is time to give both of these great wines a try.
http://www.sherrynotes.com/sherry-types/types-of-sherry-manzanilla/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flor
http://www.bbr.com/region-5401-fino?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=SD%20-%20Regions%20-%20Port&utm_term=fino%20sherry&utm_content=Fino
Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Porta 6 Vinho Branco 2015 Portuguese White Wine
We went on a family trip to the Algarve in June of this year. We stayed in a resort near the sea to go to a wedding. I was pleasantly surprised how nice the Algarve really was especially the walks around the coast. The interior of the Algarve was great and there is lots of quiet country to enjoy which is well away from the crowds.
There was also lots of wild life to see and we were particularly impressed by the storks soaring above our heads and nesting in the the interior towns and villages: this is a very rare sight in the UK. The local people are doing their best to protect the wildlife and maintain a balance between tourist development around the coast and protecting the environment. There is even a plan to re-introduce the Iberian lynx. Hopefully their plan to protect endangered species will prove to be successful.
The food was great especially the seafood and we ate some wonderful sea bass, sardines and gambas.
All this was washed down with local dry white wine from the carafe.
When we left the airport was crowded and I could nor work up the courage to leave the bar and go and buy some wine.
Luckily, my wife was more spirited and she bought a souvenir bottle of 2105 Porta 6 dry white wine from the Lisbon region.
We opened it a week after downing a bottle of Chateau Tahbilk Marsanne. Obviously it did not hold up a candle to the the Australian gem but it only cost a few Euros for a bottle. The wine is described below. I cannot agree that it had a taste of red berries but it did have a nutty and white berry flavour. Not bad for a couple of quid a bottle; but of course the price of all wines is about to go up with the fall in the value of the pound.
If and when we leave the EU then what will happen to the rather generous personal allowance to import 90 bottles of wine, with no questions asked? Will we go back to the bad old days of only being allowed to carry 6 bottles of wine through customs? Vote leave wine lovers might be crying into their Riedel glasses - and me! I have broken most of my Riedel glasses and now the extra duty and the fall in the pound might make them unaffordable again.
It might be a good moment to rush out to buy a case Porta 6 white wine: they also do reds. We drank the white wine with fish but it will also go down well with roast chicken.
My favourite Portuguese White is Alvarinho from the North West of Portugal and on the Spanish border. The Portuguese claim that their wine is better than the Albariño produced on the Spanish side of the border and vice versa. I just love both.
https://www.vinha.co.uk/wine/white-wine-porta-6-2015-75cl-lisboa-17203/
There was also lots of wild life to see and we were particularly impressed by the storks soaring above our heads and nesting in the the interior towns and villages: this is a very rare sight in the UK. The local people are doing their best to protect the wildlife and maintain a balance between tourist development around the coast and protecting the environment. There is even a plan to re-introduce the Iberian lynx. Hopefully their plan to protect endangered species will prove to be successful.
The food was great especially the seafood and we ate some wonderful sea bass, sardines and gambas.
All this was washed down with local dry white wine from the carafe.
When we left the airport was crowded and I could nor work up the courage to leave the bar and go and buy some wine.
Luckily, my wife was more spirited and she bought a souvenir bottle of 2105 Porta 6 dry white wine from the Lisbon region.
We opened it a week after downing a bottle of Chateau Tahbilk Marsanne. Obviously it did not hold up a candle to the the Australian gem but it only cost a few Euros for a bottle. The wine is described below. I cannot agree that it had a taste of red berries but it did have a nutty and white berry flavour. Not bad for a couple of quid a bottle; but of course the price of all wines is about to go up with the fall in the value of the pound.
If and when we leave the EU then what will happen to the rather generous personal allowance to import 90 bottles of wine, with no questions asked? Will we go back to the bad old days of only being allowed to carry 6 bottles of wine through customs? Vote leave wine lovers might be crying into their Riedel glasses - and me! I have broken most of my Riedel glasses and now the extra duty and the fall in the pound might make them unaffordable again.
It might be a good moment to rush out to buy a case Porta 6 white wine: they also do reds. We drank the white wine with fish but it will also go down well with roast chicken.
My favourite Portuguese White is Alvarinho from the North West of Portugal and on the Spanish border. The Portuguese claim that their wine is better than the Albariño produced on the Spanish side of the border and vice versa. I just love both.
https://www.vinha.co.uk/wine/white-wine-porta-6-2015-75cl-lisboa-17203/
Friday, 2 September 2016
Chateau Tahbilk Marsanne 2014
I was first introduced to the wines of Chateau Tahbilk by Australian friends in London, way back in the 1970's. We used to go to the "Cork and Bottle" wine bar on Leicester Square. The wine bar is still going strong and the balance of clientele, service, food and atmosphere is superb. The range and quality of the wines would be difficult beat; even the house wines are great. The wine bar is certainly worth visiting when you are in London. There are two entrances.
http://www.thecorkandbottle.co.uk/
Most of our Australian friends are from Victoria state and this is why they are so proud of Chateau Tahbilk wines. Tahbilk makes some of the finest wines that Victoria and Australia have to offer and their wines can easily compete with top wines from France, Italy, Spain and California.
Their Marsanne 2014 is no exception. I rarely agree with the description on the bottle or the website but this time I could not agree more. It genuinely has a taste of tropical fruits and minerals. It is a complex and concentrated wine with long length on the palate.
This wine is not for slugging back in a bar or at a barbecue but it should be savoured over a home cooked meal or at a restaurant with good food.
We drank ours with pasta and with some friends. Before tasting the wine make sure it is served slightly chilled. Drink the wine from a reasonably sized tulip glass and give the wine a good swirl before smelling and tasting. To obtain the full flavour wash the wine around your mouth - lips closed of course.
http://www.tahbilk.com.au/
http://www.tahbilk.com.au/buy-tahbilk-wine-online/tahbilk-2014-marsanne.html
I can forgive Tahbilk for the varietal labelling as the wine is so good. There is a hefty duty on non-EU wines, in the UK and other EU countries, but the wine still stays competitive price wise. I recommend it highly and if you can find it then give it a try. I bought my bottle in "The Planet of The Grapes" in Bow Lane.
You can also find it here for about £10 a bottle if you buy half a case.
https://www.armitwines.co.uk/australia/victoria/tahbilk/
There is no prize for guessing where the Marsanne grape originated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsanne
http://www.thecorkandbottle.co.uk/
Most of our Australian friends are from Victoria state and this is why they are so proud of Chateau Tahbilk wines. Tahbilk makes some of the finest wines that Victoria and Australia have to offer and their wines can easily compete with top wines from France, Italy, Spain and California.
Their Marsanne 2014 is no exception. I rarely agree with the description on the bottle or the website but this time I could not agree more. It genuinely has a taste of tropical fruits and minerals. It is a complex and concentrated wine with long length on the palate.
This wine is not for slugging back in a bar or at a barbecue but it should be savoured over a home cooked meal or at a restaurant with good food.
We drank ours with pasta and with some friends. Before tasting the wine make sure it is served slightly chilled. Drink the wine from a reasonably sized tulip glass and give the wine a good swirl before smelling and tasting. To obtain the full flavour wash the wine around your mouth - lips closed of course.
http://www.tahbilk.com.au/
http://www.tahbilk.com.au/buy-tahbilk-wine-online/tahbilk-2014-marsanne.html
You can also find it here for about £10 a bottle if you buy half a case.
https://www.armitwines.co.uk/australia/victoria/tahbilk/
There is no prize for guessing where the Marsanne grape originated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsanne
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