Feeling totally back to normal this morning I got up and had a bowl of cereal plus a cup of tea for breakfast before gettign the train to epsom to have a little day out with Mr P.
Whilst in Epsom we went out for lunch at a Slug and Lettuce, where I had my second platter of the week, this time a tex-mex one. It consisted of:
* Mini flour tortillas
* Chilli beef
* Shredded lettuce
* BBQ ribs
* Jalapeno and cream cheese croquettes
* Tortilla chips with grated cheese
* BBQ sauce
* Sour cream
* Salsa
* A strange kind of bruschetta with chopped cucumber on (not the best as it made the toasted bread kinda soggy)
My sister came round for dinner and Mr P mad eus a slap up treat... we snacked on a few pistachios while he cooked and he then dished up pork belly on a bed of spring onion mash, with spinach, carrots and home-made apple sauce.
The pork belly was absolutely and utterly delicious - probably the best thing he has ever made me. The meat was so succulent and tender with the beautifully crisp crackling on top. The spinach and carrots were both perfectly cooked and the mash was so so smooth and presented beautifully in a circle underneath the pork. I am not usually a huge fan of apple sauce, but this was seriously the best I have ever tasted, it was more like a purree and had been seived to make it smooth. According to Mr P alongisde the apple he had also added white wine, salt, pepper, sage and mustard. Outstanding.
This was followed by a lemon cheesecake courtesy of Waitroise - tasty but I was so full I felt sick ... again. So I couldn't quite finish this.
Saturday 27 November 2010
whin.es weekly
France.
I've spent a lot of time looking up bits and bobs on France this week. France is a pretty interesting place when it comes to wine. That's a pretty obvious statement, but it's true. They call their grapes different names, they refer to the wines solely by region or chateau and they have a specific word that encompasses everything from soil, sunshine, rain, wind, geography and geology. Terroir (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terroir). A weird, but terrifyingly interesting lot they are.
So, here is a quick whip through France: there's (loosely) 4 main regions, plus a whole host of others. There you go.
Ever heard of Bordeaux? Some of the most famous red wines in the world come from this area, plus it's split up into a serious number of appellations. Including Medoc, Saint-Emillion, St Julian, Paulliac (the list is endless). What I've been looking at with Bordeaux is the differences between the two common divides. Right and Left bank. In general a more fruity merlot based blend comes from the right bank which included Saint-Emilion and Pomerol. And a more dense, Cabernet Sauvignon predominant wines come from the left bank, which includes Medoc and Graves. I've prattled on before about Medoc and Haut-Medoc, I once described a Medoc (Chateau chantelys) at a wine tasting as a wine that I could drink with a packet of crisps or a piece of toast for breakfast, some people even agreed with me, they understood the excellent food matching capabilities of that wine. Idiots.
I don't drink the Bordeaux dry whites. There's more interesting whites about and the main grape variety is semillion. Some are ok, but you've got to do your research (if you want, get in touch and I'll look into a couple and write them up). Drink the sweet Sauternes though, excellent with a Christmas pudding and some vodka margarine.
Burgundy is on the right side of middle France, a massively divers, with some absolute classic regions and wines. I'd have at it with a mineraly, flinty, bone dry Chablis and a handful of oysters with a little rock salt. Definitely also try a light burgundy red, or a Beaujolais. I think Beau is underrated; the Cru Beaujolais (Beau top 10 essentially) cover their tracks by using their village name instead. Clever. Look out for a Brouilly or a Julienas and definitely a Fleurie. All Beaujolais, all light, but all different.
A highly underrated region (in my opinion), because of its diversity is the Rhône. The northern Rhône and southern Rhône are really different. Up the top you've got mainly red wines like Cote Rotie and Crozes-Hermitage et al, where they blend up to 20% white grapes in with the reds. It's a bit more regimented than that, the French make sure each region has specific rules for blending different varieties. Genius. Make each region different. By Law.
The southern Rhône includes cote-du-Rhône and the CdR Villages regions and of course the famous Chateauneuf-du-Pape region. With blends of load of different grapes including spicy syrah and Grenache grapes, but can be (as is the case with C-d-P) 18 differnet regional grape varieties! Eighteen, wow, that blew my mind this week. Syrah and Shiraz are the same grape. That's just the French, they called it syrah first and everyone else called it Shiraz, why not? Because they didn't want to be the same as France? I think so.
The other region I've been looking at is the lesser known, main region. The Loire. There are some absolute gems in the Loire. Obviously Sancerre, but maybe a chenin blanc! Vouvray produces incredibly fresh, crisp white wines with a hint of sweetness and plenty of fruit, made almost exclusively from chenin blanc, a grape that has been made popular by south Africa. The region called Chinon! One of the few red regions in the Loire, Cabernet Franc grapes are at the forefront here. There is a small amount of Cabernet Franc in Bordeaux, usually as small part of the blend, but in Chinon, it's usually at least 80% which produces light reds. Chinon reds go exceptionally well with food, a red for white meats and risotto dishes, with more depth than a burgundy or New Zealand pinot noir.
Writing about France brings me back to the time I went to work there. I learnt stuff, ate nice thing and generally had a relaxed time in a hotel as a waiter. I had to speak French and everything.
I spent two weeks working at the l'Hotel Les Tourelles. It is in north-west France, near the town of Amiens, but on the coast. When we were not at work me and my colleague Luke spent most of the time wandering around. The little village of Le Crotoy is pretty much empty, not much to do but eat and drink wine. Excellent. The work involved being a runner in the hotel restaurant at night and serving on the outside patio for lunch. I got thrown in to serving real customers on day 3 after proving I could hold my own in French, and Luke got stuck with pouring drinks and carrying food about. I was amazed by the customers knowledge of the food and especially of the wines and the wine list. People were asking constantly for specific vintages of specific regions of France, only France. A common knowledge and interest in eating and drinking, a passion for quality and preference you just don't see in England. Not one person said “le vin du maison” (house wine).
We did venture on the dodgiest bus service I've ever been on into Abbeyville, closer but smaller than Amiens, but still definitely a town. Luke constantly looked like a tourist, even when we're in England he dresses like a tourist. Bright yellow board shorts, flip flops and a face like a ripe tomato. I tried desperately to look normal, but we got clocked as English Aliens wherever we went. We wanted (needed) some wine to take home so stopped in at the French equivalent of Lidl for some supplies and spent ages trying to figure out which wines were which. There wasn't one country other than France and lots were local but mostly from the nearest region, the Loire. You just don't get that anywhere else in the world; ignoring every other wine producing country and being happy with the wine available on your doorstep. We were stuck scrabling for ideas when a small, walking stick wielding batty old French lady hobbled up to us and muttered in broken English, “you, err, wan... some 'elp?” to which I replied in French “oui, votre favourite vin rouge, sil vous plait”. She seemed pleased I'd replied in a Suffolk accented French and directed us to her favourite local reds, and Anjou and a Chinon. Me and Luke both bought a bottle of each for a total cost of about 10€ (4 bottles 2€50 each!!) and when we got home were completely blown away but the character and quality, and have both kept an affection for the regions. You just wouldn’t get that in England in either. If I came up to you in a supermarket, harbouring my love and knowledge of wines and suggested you take a chance on something new and interesting, I'm pretty confident I'd get a lot of “thanks, but no thanks...”, but reading it here is obviously a totally different story, huh?
Next week Italy. Not.
That's it for now, you can follow me on twitter @whinesblog, check out my website http://whin.es and you can come and see me in-store at the Adnams Cellar & Kitchen Store in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Should you wish.
I've spent a lot of time looking up bits and bobs on France this week. France is a pretty interesting place when it comes to wine. That's a pretty obvious statement, but it's true. They call their grapes different names, they refer to the wines solely by region or chateau and they have a specific word that encompasses everything from soil, sunshine, rain, wind, geography and geology. Terroir (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terroir). A weird, but terrifyingly interesting lot they are.
So, here is a quick whip through France: there's (loosely) 4 main regions, plus a whole host of others. There you go.
Ever heard of Bordeaux? Some of the most famous red wines in the world come from this area, plus it's split up into a serious number of appellations. Including Medoc, Saint-Emillion, St Julian, Paulliac (the list is endless). What I've been looking at with Bordeaux is the differences between the two common divides. Right and Left bank. In general a more fruity merlot based blend comes from the right bank which included Saint-Emilion and Pomerol. And a more dense, Cabernet Sauvignon predominant wines come from the left bank, which includes Medoc and Graves. I've prattled on before about Medoc and Haut-Medoc, I once described a Medoc (Chateau chantelys) at a wine tasting as a wine that I could drink with a packet of crisps or a piece of toast for breakfast, some people even agreed with me, they understood the excellent food matching capabilities of that wine. Idiots.
I don't drink the Bordeaux dry whites. There's more interesting whites about and the main grape variety is semillion. Some are ok, but you've got to do your research (if you want, get in touch and I'll look into a couple and write them up). Drink the sweet Sauternes though, excellent with a Christmas pudding and some vodka margarine.
Burgundy is on the right side of middle France, a massively divers, with some absolute classic regions and wines. I'd have at it with a mineraly, flinty, bone dry Chablis and a handful of oysters with a little rock salt. Definitely also try a light burgundy red, or a Beaujolais. I think Beau is underrated; the Cru Beaujolais (Beau top 10 essentially) cover their tracks by using their village name instead. Clever. Look out for a Brouilly or a Julienas and definitely a Fleurie. All Beaujolais, all light, but all different.
A highly underrated region (in my opinion), because of its diversity is the Rhône. The northern Rhône and southern Rhône are really different. Up the top you've got mainly red wines like Cote Rotie and Crozes-Hermitage et al, where they blend up to 20% white grapes in with the reds. It's a bit more regimented than that, the French make sure each region has specific rules for blending different varieties. Genius. Make each region different. By Law.
The southern Rhône includes cote-du-Rhône and the CdR Villages regions and of course the famous Chateauneuf-du-Pape region. With blends of load of different grapes including spicy syrah and Grenache grapes, but can be (as is the case with C-d-P) 18 differnet regional grape varieties! Eighteen, wow, that blew my mind this week. Syrah and Shiraz are the same grape. That's just the French, they called it syrah first and everyone else called it Shiraz, why not? Because they didn't want to be the same as France? I think so.
The other region I've been looking at is the lesser known, main region. The Loire. There are some absolute gems in the Loire. Obviously Sancerre, but maybe a chenin blanc! Vouvray produces incredibly fresh, crisp white wines with a hint of sweetness and plenty of fruit, made almost exclusively from chenin blanc, a grape that has been made popular by south Africa. The region called Chinon! One of the few red regions in the Loire, Cabernet Franc grapes are at the forefront here. There is a small amount of Cabernet Franc in Bordeaux, usually as small part of the blend, but in Chinon, it's usually at least 80% which produces light reds. Chinon reds go exceptionally well with food, a red for white meats and risotto dishes, with more depth than a burgundy or New Zealand pinot noir.
Writing about France brings me back to the time I went to work there. I learnt stuff, ate nice thing and generally had a relaxed time in a hotel as a waiter. I had to speak French and everything.
I spent two weeks working at the l'Hotel Les Tourelles. It is in north-west France, near the town of Amiens, but on the coast. When we were not at work me and my colleague Luke spent most of the time wandering around. The little village of Le Crotoy is pretty much empty, not much to do but eat and drink wine. Excellent. The work involved being a runner in the hotel restaurant at night and serving on the outside patio for lunch. I got thrown in to serving real customers on day 3 after proving I could hold my own in French, and Luke got stuck with pouring drinks and carrying food about. I was amazed by the customers knowledge of the food and especially of the wines and the wine list. People were asking constantly for specific vintages of specific regions of France, only France. A common knowledge and interest in eating and drinking, a passion for quality and preference you just don't see in England. Not one person said “le vin du maison” (house wine).
We did venture on the dodgiest bus service I've ever been on into Abbeyville, closer but smaller than Amiens, but still definitely a town. Luke constantly looked like a tourist, even when we're in England he dresses like a tourist. Bright yellow board shorts, flip flops and a face like a ripe tomato. I tried desperately to look normal, but we got clocked as English Aliens wherever we went. We wanted (needed) some wine to take home so stopped in at the French equivalent of Lidl for some supplies and spent ages trying to figure out which wines were which. There wasn't one country other than France and lots were local but mostly from the nearest region, the Loire. You just don't get that anywhere else in the world; ignoring every other wine producing country and being happy with the wine available on your doorstep. We were stuck scrabling for ideas when a small, walking stick wielding batty old French lady hobbled up to us and muttered in broken English, “you, err, wan... some 'elp?” to which I replied in French “oui, votre favourite vin rouge, sil vous plait”. She seemed pleased I'd replied in a Suffolk accented French and directed us to her favourite local reds, and Anjou and a Chinon. Me and Luke both bought a bottle of each for a total cost of about 10€ (4 bottles 2€50 each!!) and when we got home were completely blown away but the character and quality, and have both kept an affection for the regions. You just wouldn’t get that in England in either. If I came up to you in a supermarket, harbouring my love and knowledge of wines and suggested you take a chance on something new and interesting, I'm pretty confident I'd get a lot of “thanks, but no thanks...”, but reading it here is obviously a totally different story, huh?
Next week Italy. Not.
That's it for now, you can follow me on twitter @whinesblog, check out my website http://whin.es and you can come and see me in-store at the Adnams Cellar & Kitchen Store in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Should you wish.
Friday 26 November 2010
Chinese take away
Feeling more than slightly worse for wear today after a night of wine drinking and karaoke singing. Could not raise myself from the sheets of my bed until around 6pm and therefore could not bare to eat anything until then.
Mr P however had popped out in the middle of the afternoon for a sausage in batter and some chips, so I teasted my fragile stomach with a couple of soggy chips warmed up in the microwave. After leaving these for about half an hour I discovered they were safe and so moves onto Heiz spaghetti and sausages. Half a tin of this made me feel almost human again, so Mr P and I decided a chinese take away would be a grand idea to help get our energy levels back up.
We ordered:
2x chicken and sweetcorn soup
1x House special noodles for me
1x Sweet and sour chicken balls for Mr P
4x Cans of Coke
Pretty much back to normal now thanks to our local Chinese Bamboo.
Mr P however had popped out in the middle of the afternoon for a sausage in batter and some chips, so I teasted my fragile stomach with a couple of soggy chips warmed up in the microwave. After leaving these for about half an hour I discovered they were safe and so moves onto Heiz spaghetti and sausages. Half a tin of this made me feel almost human again, so Mr P and I decided a chinese take away would be a grand idea to help get our energy levels back up.
We ordered:
2x chicken and sweetcorn soup
1x House special noodles for me
1x Sweet and sour chicken balls for Mr P
4x Cans of Coke
Pretty much back to normal now thanks to our local Chinese Bamboo.
Thursday 25 November 2010
Sharing platter
Yoday was my last day at Bookseller Towers - sob. To mark the last day working together MR P and I decided to go for a slap up breakfast... at MacDonalds. I had a sausage, egg and cheese bagel and he had a double sausage and egg mcmuffin meal. Always a great way to start the day, but usually leaves my stomach a little fragile.
I bought lots of goodies in to celebrate my last day, so for much of the morning I was munching on mini rolls, party rings, pink and whites, chocolate cornflake cakes, etc etc.
We went out for a girly lunch at Zizzis, where three out of five of us had our favourite dish.. strozzapreti somethingor other - pasta with chicken, red pesto, spring onions and cream fraiche - delicious.
In an attempt to line my stomach whilst ina bar for my leaving do me and my friend Fliss ordered a sharing platter consisting of ribs (tricky to eat with one hand whilst standing in a busy bar), cheesy garlic bread, calamari, breaded chicken - it was a tasty selection - just wish it had been able to line my stomach more adequately...
I bought lots of goodies in to celebrate my last day, so for much of the morning I was munching on mini rolls, party rings, pink and whites, chocolate cornflake cakes, etc etc.
We went out for a girly lunch at Zizzis, where three out of five of us had our favourite dish.. strozzapreti somethingor other - pasta with chicken, red pesto, spring onions and cream fraiche - delicious.
In an attempt to line my stomach whilst ina bar for my leaving do me and my friend Fliss ordered a sharing platter consisting of ribs (tricky to eat with one hand whilst standing in a busy bar), cheesy garlic bread, calamari, breaded chicken - it was a tasty selection - just wish it had been able to line my stomach more adequately...
Wednesday 24 November 2010
Chicken black bean stir fry
Breakfast: Marmalade on toast
Lunch: Chilli and pumpkin soup with roll
Dinner: Chicken black bean stir fry made by Mr P.
The dinner was tasty althought very spicey because the noodles were chilli, the sauce had chilli in and Mr P also decided to put an extra chilli in to spice it up a bit, hmmm. The chicken was beautifully tender though with vegetables including, bean sproutes, courgettes, pepper and mushrooms lovely and crunchy. Perhaps a little less spice next time though.
Lunch: Chilli and pumpkin soup with roll
Dinner: Chicken black bean stir fry made by Mr P.
The dinner was tasty althought very spicey because the noodles were chilli, the sauce had chilli in and Mr P also decided to put an extra chilli in to spice it up a bit, hmmm. The chicken was beautifully tender though with vegetables including, bean sproutes, courgettes, pepper and mushrooms lovely and crunchy. Perhaps a little less spice next time though.
Tuesday 23 November 2010
Chorizo pasta
Breakfast: White toast with marmalade
Linch: Chilli and pumpkin ssoup with a brown roll
Dinner: Chorizo pasta - ingredients including:
* Chorizo
* Onion
* Garlic
* Chopped Tomatoes
* Mushrooms
* Courgette
* Pepper
* Chilli
* Seasoning
* Milk
* Pasta
T'was yum.
Linch: Chilli and pumpkin ssoup with a brown roll
Dinner: Chorizo pasta - ingredients including:
* Chorizo
* Onion
* Garlic
* Chopped Tomatoes
* Mushrooms
* Courgette
* Pepper
* Chilli
* Seasoning
* Milk
* Pasta
T'was yum.
Monday 22 November 2010
Jerk chicken with rice and peas
Breakfast comprised of one piece of toast with marmite on - most definitely not enough!!
For lunch I was ravenous so decided to treat myself to an egg mayo baguette, some crisps and a chocolate bar, but was left utterly disappointed. My baguette had no butter and was really bland and tasteless and my kit kat chunky caramel had no caramel in it. This is not the first time this has happened... The first time I had one it had no caramel in it, but I decided to give them a second chance. On discovering this one also lacked the vital ingredient I decided to write to Nestle to tell them of my disappointment and they sent me a £2 voucher, which oddly enough I am yet to spend. So months later I decided today to try again and buy another one as Nestle had assured me there had been a problem with a machine... but I discover much to my horror this one is also caramel free - so now I am sworn off kit kat caramel chunkys for life. In other news I had a packet of smokey bacon Wheat Crunchies, thank goodness they lived up to be everything the packet said it would be.
My sister came round for dinner and we decided to make jerk chicken with rice and peas.
With the chicken we put eight drumsticks in a dish and then added paprika, cajun pepper, chilli, tomato ketchup, lime juice, salt and pepper, some diced red and white onion and a diced tomato and then put it into the oven for around 35 mins checking it and turning the meat around occasionally. With the rice and peas we fried off some red onion and red chilli before adding a tin of coconut milk, some rice, a tin of beans (Caribbean style) and some chicken stock. We left it simmering for about 20 mins and then served it with the chicken. It was tasty, moist and tender. A great meal after a long day at work.
For lunch I was ravenous so decided to treat myself to an egg mayo baguette, some crisps and a chocolate bar, but was left utterly disappointed. My baguette had no butter and was really bland and tasteless and my kit kat chunky caramel had no caramel in it. This is not the first time this has happened... The first time I had one it had no caramel in it, but I decided to give them a second chance. On discovering this one also lacked the vital ingredient I decided to write to Nestle to tell them of my disappointment and they sent me a £2 voucher, which oddly enough I am yet to spend. So months later I decided today to try again and buy another one as Nestle had assured me there had been a problem with a machine... but I discover much to my horror this one is also caramel free - so now I am sworn off kit kat caramel chunkys for life. In other news I had a packet of smokey bacon Wheat Crunchies, thank goodness they lived up to be everything the packet said it would be.
My sister came round for dinner and we decided to make jerk chicken with rice and peas.
With the chicken we put eight drumsticks in a dish and then added paprika, cajun pepper, chilli, tomato ketchup, lime juice, salt and pepper, some diced red and white onion and a diced tomato and then put it into the oven for around 35 mins checking it and turning the meat around occasionally. With the rice and peas we fried off some red onion and red chilli before adding a tin of coconut milk, some rice, a tin of beans (Caribbean style) and some chicken stock. We left it simmering for about 20 mins and then served it with the chicken. It was tasty, moist and tender. A great meal after a long day at work.
Sunday 21 November 2010
Goats cheese and Mediterranean vegetable tart
I attempted the cream cheese croissant thing this morning, but having never made it before and without a recipe to follow, I added a little bit too much sugar and my cream cheese mixture ended up looking a little browner than it was supposed to. It still tasted good though.
For lunch we were out and about, so bought packet sandwiches from Sainsbury's. I am never really a fan of packet sandwiches, they always look a lot better than they taste. They are always a bit cold and bland, saying that however this sandwich was quite tasty. It was beef and horseradish with some kind of lettuce. There was several thick slices of the meat with a god helping of horseradish, which certainly added to the taste.
After Mr P made me such a tasty dinner last night it was time for me to cook him something, so I decided to make a pastry dish I have been saying each nigh I would make for over a week now after buying some rolled puff pastry a fortnight ago.
I started off frying some strips of red onion with some garlic and olive oil. I then added a finely chopped tomato, some red pepper and some chopped courgette and fried for a further minute. I rolled out my pastry rectangle and piled the vegetables on top leaving a gap around the edge for the pastry to rise. I then added halved olives and goats cheese and put it into the oven for around 20 mins. I served it with fresh spinach leaves tossed in balsamic vinegar.
It was pretty enjoyable and all the flavours went very well together. It would be nice in the future to try out different toppings.
For lunch we were out and about, so bought packet sandwiches from Sainsbury's. I am never really a fan of packet sandwiches, they always look a lot better than they taste. They are always a bit cold and bland, saying that however this sandwich was quite tasty. It was beef and horseradish with some kind of lettuce. There was several thick slices of the meat with a god helping of horseradish, which certainly added to the taste.
After Mr P made me such a tasty dinner last night it was time for me to cook him something, so I decided to make a pastry dish I have been saying each nigh I would make for over a week now after buying some rolled puff pastry a fortnight ago.
I started off frying some strips of red onion with some garlic and olive oil. I then added a finely chopped tomato, some red pepper and some chopped courgette and fried for a further minute. I rolled out my pastry rectangle and piled the vegetables on top leaving a gap around the edge for the pastry to rise. I then added halved olives and goats cheese and put it into the oven for around 20 mins. I served it with fresh spinach leaves tossed in balsamic vinegar.
It was pretty enjoyable and all the flavours went very well together. It would be nice in the future to try out different toppings.
Saturday 20 November 2010
Roasted duck leg with potato rosti, savoy cabbage and plum sauce
Mr P made a delicious cream cheese croissant thing for breakfast today. IT was basically torn croissants topped with a sauce made of cream cheese, butter and demerara sugar and then baked in the oven for 15 mins and sprinkled with cinnamon and netmeg. Absolutely gorgeous, but hugely fattening.
As we ate this at about 12ish we didn't really have lunch, but after a trip to the gym I was feeling rather famished, so I had some good old marmite on toast.
Mr P certainly proved he is a man not to be messed with in the kitchen with tonights dinner. It was simply amazing and looked beautiful - I should really have taken a picture to post on here as my description will not do justice to the food, in this case a picture really does speak a thousand words.
We had gressingham duck legs which was resting on a potato rosti and cabbage, with chantenay carrots and a plum sauce. The rosti was deliciously crisp and not too greasy, which I often find rostis are. The savoy cabbage which sat upon it was perfectly cooked, not soggy at all. The duck leg was then placed upon that. The skin was so crisp and tasty, ye tht meat underneath still tender and moist. Mr P had laid a few of the mini carrots around the plate and put a spoonful of plum sauce on top. I am not often a fan of sweet foods in savoury but the sauce perfectly complemented the meatiness of the duck and the earthiness of the cabbage. A beautiful dinner.
As we ate this at about 12ish we didn't really have lunch, but after a trip to the gym I was feeling rather famished, so I had some good old marmite on toast.
Mr P certainly proved he is a man not to be messed with in the kitchen with tonights dinner. It was simply amazing and looked beautiful - I should really have taken a picture to post on here as my description will not do justice to the food, in this case a picture really does speak a thousand words.
We had gressingham duck legs which was resting on a potato rosti and cabbage, with chantenay carrots and a plum sauce. The rosti was deliciously crisp and not too greasy, which I often find rostis are. The savoy cabbage which sat upon it was perfectly cooked, not soggy at all. The duck leg was then placed upon that. The skin was so crisp and tasty, ye tht meat underneath still tender and moist. Mr P had laid a few of the mini carrots around the plate and put a spoonful of plum sauce on top. I am not often a fan of sweet foods in savoury but the sauce perfectly complemented the meatiness of the duck and the earthiness of the cabbage. A beautiful dinner.
whin.es weekly
I'm excited to mention two chums of mine have opened a restaurant. Good time to do that apparently, booming. Anayway, I'm sure they'll do well, the menu and wine lists are excellent.
So this week I’m gonna skim through my thoughts on and processes behind putting together a restaurant wine list.
My friends have called their restaurant the townhouse (no capitals because it cool...)
The best thing I like about the townhouse's wine list is that the wines match the (my) commonly viewed best examples from regions around the world. Grapes you'll probably either know or have heard of from the region that it’s well known for. A quick bit of word association. Malbec - Argentina. Merlot - Chile. Shiraz - Australia. Sauvignon Blanc - New Zealand. Chardonnay - Australia. Chenin Blanc - South Africa. Well, that’s how the wine list reads. Not forgetting the obvious classic regions such as Sancerre, Chablis, Valpolicella, Rioja etc either. Excellent.
I've seen a lot of restaurants make the wine list too 'out there', packed with expensive wines you've never tried or even heard of (I would have obviously, but you get the point...), or odd grape/region combinations because it looks cool. I've got an Australian Shiraz/Viognier in the cupboard but I wouldn’t buy one in a restaurant. Viognier, is a floral white grape and the wine is 5% viognier blended with 95% shiraz, giving the spicy warmth of shiraz an interesting floral note, confusing but wonderful. This technique is the only lawful production method in a specific region of France, wines from the Côte-Rôtie AOC region. Legally they can blend up to 20% viognier with shiraz, but most choose not to. These wines usually retail at £40 up to £400 in wine shops and can be much more on a wine list, but this Australian version is £10 retail. But without knowing all that I’d definitely be reluctant to take the chance in a restaurant.
Good news for me (and you guys) is to look out for the special wines at the townhouse because I'm gonna be recommending them and posting a review here and telling you to go there to try it. (They call that 'Cross Promotion' kids.) Not sure when the wine recommendations are going to kick off, but until then I've tried the Pitchfork Shiraz, from the Margaret River region in Australia. Which is actually similar to the Juniper Crossing, Margaret River Cabernet/Shiraz from last week. Big and bold with a deeper, spicier intense flavour, from being only a shiraz. I've also tried the Merlot, Julio Bouchon, Maule Valley, Chile. An excellent example of Chilean Merlot. A little bit of oak aging and a little lighter and more drinkable than the Shiraz. I'd have a glass of the Merlot if I was nipping in for a drink and I'd have the Shiraz with the Oxtail or the Grilled Lamb (It’s too much for the Venison, have a bottle of the New Zealand Pinot Noir instead £25 though...).
I think its sensible and good buisness sense for a restaurant to have a standard wine list and a changing specials board, just like any restaurant does with its food menu. This ideal, was mirrored by a lady I met last week called Christine. She works for a company called Enotria and they specialise in wholesale distribution of excellent wines from all over the world. At one of the restaurants I work at (The Alex, Felixstowe) we use Enotria for our special wines (like the townhouse is going to do with Adnams and me) and we ask (and trust) her recommendations on interesting wines that we think will match some of the dishes on the menu. We generally try to change our special wines every 3-4 months and try and tie it in with menu changes.
She popped in to say hello to me on Tuesday. Pretty quiet and at 11.30 am we popped about 8 bottles of wine by Chilean producer MontGras. We tried a Chilean Viognier. Chile not being well known for this grape, it's produced in smaller batches, and really given some attention, it's wonderfully subtle viognier with a snappier finish than I expected. Christine and Ginzalo (Donoso, from MontGras) just looked at my reaction and smiled. They did the same with the 2006 Carmenere riserva. High up in the Chilean mountains there's an incredibly small vineyard with a wickedly small yield of only the best grapes. So much depth and so many layers. Both the Carmenere and the viognier would be lost and possibly neglected on a standard wine list, but with the simple addition of 2 special interesting wines, paired up with a specific dish on the menu (and bought and sold for a reasonable price) these two wines would be an absolute winner and an easy sell for the most moronic waiters (see last week).
I'm not saying this is the wine list ideal for everyone. Country pubs and smaller outlets need a sensible wine list that they tailor pretty much to the wants of their customers. Expensive, posh restaurants will have a sommelier or knowledgeable waiters and immaculate wine lists, with specific vintages and chateaux's and regions and not a screw cap in sight. That sort of wine list definitely has it's place. If you're paying £20 for your main you're going to pay £40 for bottle of wine, and thats fine. You might have a different wine for each course, And that's fine too. There is however a massive gap in the middle, and plenty of those restaurants have got it wrong and they could help themselves by having a read of this blog and a look at the townhouse's effort.
That’s it for now, you can check out my website http://whin.es and follow me on twitter @whinesblog. You can come and see me in-store at the Adnams Cellar & Kitchen Store in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Should you wish.
So this week I’m gonna skim through my thoughts on and processes behind putting together a restaurant wine list.
My friends have called their restaurant the townhouse (no capitals because it cool...)
The best thing I like about the townhouse's wine list is that the wines match the (my) commonly viewed best examples from regions around the world. Grapes you'll probably either know or have heard of from the region that it’s well known for. A quick bit of word association. Malbec - Argentina. Merlot - Chile. Shiraz - Australia. Sauvignon Blanc - New Zealand. Chardonnay - Australia. Chenin Blanc - South Africa. Well, that’s how the wine list reads. Not forgetting the obvious classic regions such as Sancerre, Chablis, Valpolicella, Rioja etc either. Excellent.
I've seen a lot of restaurants make the wine list too 'out there', packed with expensive wines you've never tried or even heard of (I would have obviously, but you get the point...), or odd grape/region combinations because it looks cool. I've got an Australian Shiraz/Viognier in the cupboard but I wouldn’t buy one in a restaurant. Viognier, is a floral white grape and the wine is 5% viognier blended with 95% shiraz, giving the spicy warmth of shiraz an interesting floral note, confusing but wonderful. This technique is the only lawful production method in a specific region of France, wines from the Côte-Rôtie AOC region. Legally they can blend up to 20% viognier with shiraz, but most choose not to. These wines usually retail at £40 up to £400 in wine shops and can be much more on a wine list, but this Australian version is £10 retail. But without knowing all that I’d definitely be reluctant to take the chance in a restaurant.
Good news for me (and you guys) is to look out for the special wines at the townhouse because I'm gonna be recommending them and posting a review here and telling you to go there to try it. (They call that 'Cross Promotion' kids.) Not sure when the wine recommendations are going to kick off, but until then I've tried the Pitchfork Shiraz, from the Margaret River region in Australia. Which is actually similar to the Juniper Crossing, Margaret River Cabernet/Shiraz from last week. Big and bold with a deeper, spicier intense flavour, from being only a shiraz. I've also tried the Merlot, Julio Bouchon, Maule Valley, Chile. An excellent example of Chilean Merlot. A little bit of oak aging and a little lighter and more drinkable than the Shiraz. I'd have a glass of the Merlot if I was nipping in for a drink and I'd have the Shiraz with the Oxtail or the Grilled Lamb (It’s too much for the Venison, have a bottle of the New Zealand Pinot Noir instead £25 though...).
I think its sensible and good buisness sense for a restaurant to have a standard wine list and a changing specials board, just like any restaurant does with its food menu. This ideal, was mirrored by a lady I met last week called Christine. She works for a company called Enotria and they specialise in wholesale distribution of excellent wines from all over the world. At one of the restaurants I work at (The Alex, Felixstowe) we use Enotria for our special wines (like the townhouse is going to do with Adnams and me) and we ask (and trust) her recommendations on interesting wines that we think will match some of the dishes on the menu. We generally try to change our special wines every 3-4 months and try and tie it in with menu changes.
She popped in to say hello to me on Tuesday. Pretty quiet and at 11.30 am we popped about 8 bottles of wine by Chilean producer MontGras. We tried a Chilean Viognier. Chile not being well known for this grape, it's produced in smaller batches, and really given some attention, it's wonderfully subtle viognier with a snappier finish than I expected. Christine and Ginzalo (Donoso, from MontGras) just looked at my reaction and smiled. They did the same with the 2006 Carmenere riserva. High up in the Chilean mountains there's an incredibly small vineyard with a wickedly small yield of only the best grapes. So much depth and so many layers. Both the Carmenere and the viognier would be lost and possibly neglected on a standard wine list, but with the simple addition of 2 special interesting wines, paired up with a specific dish on the menu (and bought and sold for a reasonable price) these two wines would be an absolute winner and an easy sell for the most moronic waiters (see last week).
I'm not saying this is the wine list ideal for everyone. Country pubs and smaller outlets need a sensible wine list that they tailor pretty much to the wants of their customers. Expensive, posh restaurants will have a sommelier or knowledgeable waiters and immaculate wine lists, with specific vintages and chateaux's and regions and not a screw cap in sight. That sort of wine list definitely has it's place. If you're paying £20 for your main you're going to pay £40 for bottle of wine, and thats fine. You might have a different wine for each course, And that's fine too. There is however a massive gap in the middle, and plenty of those restaurants have got it wrong and they could help themselves by having a read of this blog and a look at the townhouse's effort.
That’s it for now, you can check out my website http://whin.es and follow me on twitter @whinesblog. You can come and see me in-store at the Adnams Cellar & Kitchen Store in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Should you wish.
Friday 19 November 2010
Take-away curry
After a lovely long sleep in our cosy little inn we went for breakfast in the pub part of the inn. We started with orange juice, coffee and toast (I had one slice with marmite and the other with marmalade). We then had a choice of either porridge, kippers or a fried breakfast, so we shared and had half kippers and half a fry up.
For lunch we walked about half an hour from Arundel to a pub on the river called The Black Rabbit. It was such a lovely picturesque setting. Mr P had a jacket potato with cheese and bacon and I had a crayfish and avocado baguette with a bottle of cider. Delicious.
After travelling back home and feeling rather peckish we decided to get a take-away, which was rather naughty of us after having a night away. We ordered from our usual Indian and it didn't dissapoint. We had:
Lamb rogan josh
Chicken korma
Saag aloo
Pilau rice
Naan bread
We ate every last mouthful and it was really incredibly good. Just what I felt like.
For lunch we walked about half an hour from Arundel to a pub on the river called The Black Rabbit. It was such a lovely picturesque setting. Mr P had a jacket potato with cheese and bacon and I had a crayfish and avocado baguette with a bottle of cider. Delicious.
After travelling back home and feeling rather peckish we decided to get a take-away, which was rather naughty of us after having a night away. We ordered from our usual Indian and it didn't dissapoint. We had:
Lamb rogan josh
Chicken korma
Saag aloo
Pilau rice
Naan bread
We ate every last mouthful and it was really incredibly good. Just what I felt like.
Thursday 18 November 2010
Roast lamb with winter vegetables and rosemary jus
As Mr P and I have a few days off together we thought we'd induldge in some fatty brunch and so Mr P russled up a good old fry up consisting of:
Grilled smokey bacon
Sausages
Scambled egg with onions
Fried mushrooms
Potato Waffles
Tomatoes
It was gorgeous. I absolutely love potato waffles.
After lunch we wentr away to a place in Sussex called Arundel to have a mini-break. So we scoured the restaurants in the town for somewhere nice to eat and settled on a tiny little English restaurant called the Town House. It was a lovely lovely meal.
For starter I had panfired pigeon breast kept very rare, just the way I like it. It was served with a salad, which alongside the usual leaves was made up of ceps and figs, the mushrooms were so meaty and the sweet figs worked so well with the tender pigeon.
For mains I had roast lamb, once again cooked medium-rare, yum. It was sat upon a selection of chunky roasted winter vegetables including carrot, swede and parsnips with a rosemary jus. The componants were all absolutely delicious, but I felt that lamb, which is usually such a springtime meat is perhaps more suited to lighter vegetables, perhaps baby carrots or leeks would have been better suited. I am not saying it wasn't tasty though because it really was, it's just if I had a restaurant I would have opted for a slightly different dish.
Grilled smokey bacon
Sausages
Scambled egg with onions
Fried mushrooms
Potato Waffles
Tomatoes
It was gorgeous. I absolutely love potato waffles.
After lunch we wentr away to a place in Sussex called Arundel to have a mini-break. So we scoured the restaurants in the town for somewhere nice to eat and settled on a tiny little English restaurant called the Town House. It was a lovely lovely meal.
For starter I had panfired pigeon breast kept very rare, just the way I like it. It was served with a salad, which alongside the usual leaves was made up of ceps and figs, the mushrooms were so meaty and the sweet figs worked so well with the tender pigeon.
For mains I had roast lamb, once again cooked medium-rare, yum. It was sat upon a selection of chunky roasted winter vegetables including carrot, swede and parsnips with a rosemary jus. The componants were all absolutely delicious, but I felt that lamb, which is usually such a springtime meat is perhaps more suited to lighter vegetables, perhaps baby carrots or leeks would have been better suited. I am not saying it wasn't tasty though because it really was, it's just if I had a restaurant I would have opted for a slightly different dish.
Wednesday 17 November 2010
Drapers awards dinner
Speacial K for breakfast.
For lunch I decided to make myself a right old comforting lunch - I had potato waffles, mushy [eas and tomato ketchup - quite simply delcious. I really loved it.
Went to the Drapers awards at Grosvenor House tonight to meet all my new colleagues and people from the trade. was a lovely glamourous evening with very tasty food, although I can't tell you exactly what it was as I didn't see a manu, but I will give it a go at explaining.
Starter - Mozzarella with sun dired tomatoes and olives
Main - Fish (not entireoly sure what kind, but was lovely) This was served with a zesty citrus sauce, potatoes and some delcious spinach. The spinach was so so nice, not entirely sure why, I think it may have been creamed.
Dessert - Can't really describe this one, it was a round mouusey cake type thing which tasted a bit like horlicks. It had a gooey berry filling and was served with cubes of jelly on the side.
A very nice meal indeed.
For lunch I decided to make myself a right old comforting lunch - I had potato waffles, mushy [eas and tomato ketchup - quite simply delcious. I really loved it.
Went to the Drapers awards at Grosvenor House tonight to meet all my new colleagues and people from the trade. was a lovely glamourous evening with very tasty food, although I can't tell you exactly what it was as I didn't see a manu, but I will give it a go at explaining.
Starter - Mozzarella with sun dired tomatoes and olives
Main - Fish (not entireoly sure what kind, but was lovely) This was served with a zesty citrus sauce, potatoes and some delcious spinach. The spinach was so so nice, not entirely sure why, I think it may have been creamed.
Dessert - Can't really describe this one, it was a round mouusey cake type thing which tasted a bit like horlicks. It had a gooey berry filling and was served with cubes of jelly on the side.
A very nice meal indeed.
Tuesday 16 November 2010
Pittas filled with chilli
Some more marmite on toast for breakfast this morning, before another shopping trip with mumatron for even more Christmas presents followeds by a lovely coffe at The Townhouse.
For lunch mumatron and I met up with my granparents and went to a pub called The Ship at Levington. It was a very nice setting and was all cosy with an open fire. To eat I had smoked haddock with crushed new poatoes, sugar snap peas and sauce vierge. It tasted delicious, but was a little oily and the oil all congregated underneath the fish with the sugarsnap peas, making them slightly greasy. Nonetheless it was delicious and the potatoes were gorgeous. We shared a couple of desserts - one was a lemon posset (possigbly the smoothest and silkiest of all the desserts) and a brandy snap basket with a trio of ice cream; vanilla, chocolate and ginger. So nice!!
I headed back to London this evening, so Mr P and I had something quick when we got in. He had made a tomatoey mincey concotion the night before so we added a hint of spice and some beans and had it inside toasted pittas. T'was tasty.
For lunch mumatron and I met up with my granparents and went to a pub called The Ship at Levington. It was a very nice setting and was all cosy with an open fire. To eat I had smoked haddock with crushed new poatoes, sugar snap peas and sauce vierge. It tasted delicious, but was a little oily and the oil all congregated underneath the fish with the sugarsnap peas, making them slightly greasy. Nonetheless it was delicious and the potatoes were gorgeous. We shared a couple of desserts - one was a lemon posset (possigbly the smoothest and silkiest of all the desserts) and a brandy snap basket with a trio of ice cream; vanilla, chocolate and ginger. So nice!!
I headed back to London this evening, so Mr P and I had something quick when we got in. He had made a tomatoey mincey concotion the night before so we added a hint of spice and some beans and had it inside toasted pittas. T'was tasty.
Monday 15 November 2010
Pork tenderloin with boulangere potatoes
At home with mumatron for a day of Christmas shopping so started the day with some whiolesome brown toast - 'proper' butter and marmite. Proper butter and marmite are just so damn tasty. Margarine is simply not up to the job.
After spending a morning of wandering around the shops in Bury st Edmunds and cooing at the lovely clothes yet not buying a thing we decided we had earnt a little break so we went to Strada. We shared a risotta and pasta becuase we couldn't decide what to have. The risotta we shared was absolutely delicious, so delicious I think I may attempt to make it again, it was pumpkin and butternut squash risotto with wilted spinach, crispy pancetta and pine nuts. Seriously tasty - but also boiling hot! We also shared a penne pasta thing with courgettes, peppers, olives and tomatoes. It was scattered with chunks of mozzarella which were so tender and creamy that they literally melted away as soon as they touched your tongue. Heavenly. I had a lovely glass of red wine and truely felt like a lady who lunches, I could definitely get used to this life.
Despite having a big lunch after hours of shopping (I managed to buy half my Christmas presents) we were very hungry agaiun. For dinner mumatron made a lovely pork tenderloin, which I know she put in the oven, but I don't know much else about. It was served with boulangere potatoes, baby corn, cabbage and courgettes. Oh and a lovely 'jus'. Good work mumatron.
After spending a morning of wandering around the shops in Bury st Edmunds and cooing at the lovely clothes yet not buying a thing we decided we had earnt a little break so we went to Strada. We shared a risotta and pasta becuase we couldn't decide what to have. The risotta we shared was absolutely delicious, so delicious I think I may attempt to make it again, it was pumpkin and butternut squash risotto with wilted spinach, crispy pancetta and pine nuts. Seriously tasty - but also boiling hot! We also shared a penne pasta thing with courgettes, peppers, olives and tomatoes. It was scattered with chunks of mozzarella which were so tender and creamy that they literally melted away as soon as they touched your tongue. Heavenly. I had a lovely glass of red wine and truely felt like a lady who lunches, I could definitely get used to this life.
Despite having a big lunch after hours of shopping (I managed to buy half my Christmas presents) we were very hungry agaiun. For dinner mumatron made a lovely pork tenderloin, which I know she put in the oven, but I don't know much else about. It was served with boulangere potatoes, baby corn, cabbage and courgettes. Oh and a lovely 'jus'. Good work mumatron.
Sunday 14 November 2010
Thai seabass
A lovely lazy Sunday morning and Mr P made me pancakes. I had four, the first one with cheese in ketchup (much to Mr P's disgrace), I then had the other four with sugar and lime - lovely.
I went back to see the parental unit for a few days today, so papa Gallagher made a delicious dinner. We had whole baked thai seasbass. The fishes were stuffed with garlic, ginr, chilli, lime and lemongrass (maybe a few other things, but I'm not sure). The fish was absoilutely delicious, the flesh was so soft and had so much flavour. It was serve with some baby new potatoes which had been crushed and tossed in butter and some mange tout. We weashed it down with a glass of Chablis. A seriously delicious meal.
I went back to see the parental unit for a few days today, so papa Gallagher made a delicious dinner. We had whole baked thai seasbass. The fishes were stuffed with garlic, ginr, chilli, lime and lemongrass (maybe a few other things, but I'm not sure). The fish was absoilutely delicious, the flesh was so soft and had so much flavour. It was serve with some baby new potatoes which had been crushed and tossed in butter and some mange tout. We weashed it down with a glass of Chablis. A seriously delicious meal.
Saturday 13 November 2010
Home made pizza
Got up relatively late and then decided to do a major blitz of the flat, so didn't really have breakfast and instead had brunch at local cafe Rosie Lee's.
I had hash browns, scrambled egg, beans and tomatos with crusty white toast and orange juice. I like to think that it was pretty healthy with the orange juice, tomatoes and beans making up three of my five a day. The hash browns, although probably frozen were yum and I loved them with the beans and the tomatoes. The egg was alright, a little pale and insipid in colour though.
Mid-afternoon while watching a little bit of Soccer Saturday Mr P had a cup of tea and a cherry bakewell. I haven't had a cherry bakewell in years after having a slight obsession with them when I was at high school. The little afternoon treat was lovely.
For dinner we made home-made pizzas, which we have never done before and was so much fun. I was very keen on getting a pizza dough mix as I'm not a big fan of measuring, but Mr P insisted on making the dough from scratch with yiest and strong flour. We then put it in a hot room right next to the radiator for an hour so it could rise, before rolling it out a\nd making nice rectangular pizzqas soi they would fit well on our baking trays.
To my rectangle of dough I added creamed tomatoes, then sliced mushrooms, strips of onion, pieces of ham, chunks of artechokes, them a large scattering of mozzerella, then several handfuls of olives before sprinkling it with oregano, some salt and pepper.
We then left them in the oven for about 20 mins before eating them with a glass of red. I couldn't quite believe how delicous they tasted, the ingredients were so fresh and you could taste each different topping so distinctly. The base was good, but if we were to make them again we would probably add a touch more salt to the dough and roll it a little thinner.
I had hash browns, scrambled egg, beans and tomatos with crusty white toast and orange juice. I like to think that it was pretty healthy with the orange juice, tomatoes and beans making up three of my five a day. The hash browns, although probably frozen were yum and I loved them with the beans and the tomatoes. The egg was alright, a little pale and insipid in colour though.
Mid-afternoon while watching a little bit of Soccer Saturday Mr P had a cup of tea and a cherry bakewell. I haven't had a cherry bakewell in years after having a slight obsession with them when I was at high school. The little afternoon treat was lovely.
For dinner we made home-made pizzas, which we have never done before and was so much fun. I was very keen on getting a pizza dough mix as I'm not a big fan of measuring, but Mr P insisted on making the dough from scratch with yiest and strong flour. We then put it in a hot room right next to the radiator for an hour so it could rise, before rolling it out a\nd making nice rectangular pizzqas soi they would fit well on our baking trays.
To my rectangle of dough I added creamed tomatoes, then sliced mushrooms, strips of onion, pieces of ham, chunks of artechokes, them a large scattering of mozzerella, then several handfuls of olives before sprinkling it with oregano, some salt and pepper.
We then left them in the oven for about 20 mins before eating them with a glass of red. I couldn't quite believe how delicous they tasted, the ingredients were so fresh and you could taste each different topping so distinctly. The base was good, but if we were to make them again we would probably add a touch more salt to the dough and roll it a little thinner.
Friday 12 November 2010
It's wine time
This week, post food tasting, I did a wine tasting, with a colleague (yes, you Glyn).
Skip to 2 hours before. The pub has a quarterly menu change, and they cook up one of each new dish and the staff tuck in. Most members of front of house see menu tasting as an opportunity of a free dinner. (sorry guys) Starving themselves all day, ignoring the chef, not asking questions, not even trying some dishes because "they look a funny colour" and stuffing their faces as quickly as possible. Which ruins the whole point of what we're achieving. Spending time, money and effort in order to help staff answer questions, sell and promote only works if they're actually going to taste, take an interest and learn. Which is pretty similar with wine. Too many times I've been to a wine tasting and the people there aren't even interested in wine, they just fancy a free drink (This isn't going be one long rant this week, I promise, I've got a point and a direction). I've even been on the receiving end of a bunch of disinterested 18 year olds asking questions such as "If its fizzy, is it still wine?" and "What's the difference between a red wine and a white wine?"
Now any tasting, has a purpose. It just depends on the specifics of that as to how you conduct yourself, how you conduct the tasting and the people you want to come and taste. For instance if you're a small, independent wine shop and you're trying to get some extra customers by having a wine tasting you want whoever you can get through the door to drink whatever they like. On the basis they'll buy something and then come back and buy some more. If you're a pub with 10 wines by the glass and 30 by the bottle then you want your staff to be able to help customers make a decision and suggest wines. If you can, you want them to stay sober and remember the difference between red and white until a customer asks. If you're me, and Glyn asks "teach me about the wine list Dan", you're gonna sit at the bar and get drunk together. Which is what we did.
I've peppered this account of the night with some quotes in brackets to give you a feel of how it went (downhill).
We made sure we had the wine list, a pad and paper, the internet (to prove I know what I'm talking about) and some wine. We started off with the basics of wine tasting, I start generally with an eyes, nose, mouth tasting approach (when you can't feel your shoulders, knees or toes, you stop drinking.) To which I got the reply "most wines just taste like wine", at that point I could tell it was going to be a long night. Not being a fan of red wine we were sticking solely to whites. Also, Wednesday nights are "any wine off our menu £10 a bottle" night. So we were tasting wines by the bottle instead of by the glass.
First up, a crisp, refreshing Burgundy. Dry and smooth with apricot and citrus. Trying to explain words like finish and crisp ("how is a wine like a crisp? You're not eating Dan") is tricky so we cracked open a terrible German Leibfraumilch to compare it to, sweet and like a cheap fruit juice with no finish or flavour. We were actually taking notes and looking at the wine, comparing colours, body ("syrupiness Glyn, is it like water or honey?" "neither...its wine."). Giving it a smell, Glyn thought all the wines at some point smelled like pears. Taking time to taste them and write up our notes before finishing the bottle and moving on. We had an A6 sheet per wine with a heading and everything to start with. The list looked a little like this so far.
French Burgundy
eyes - straw coloured
nose - pears and citrus fruit
mouth - dry, crisp, long finish
German Leibfraumilch
eyes - golden, and syrupy
nose - really fruity, oranges and pears
mouth - short finish, sweet and doesn't taste of much at all
Pleno Viura (from the Navarra region in northern Spain)
eyes - similar to the others
nose - pears
mouth - "Dan, i don't like this one it's too dry" "at least you're learning Glyn"
Casa Rivas Sauvignon Blanc (from the Maipo Valley in Chile)
eyes - looks like wine
nose - smells like wine
mouth - wine
I think we managed those 4 wines tasted (read: bottles drank) before Glyn got bored and asked "just recommend me a wine that will 'go down well'...". A challenge. I took It. Other than 'going down well' I had Glyns reactions on the last few wines to go by and I suggested a French country style Côtes de Gascogne, Cepage/Colombard. Well rounded, off-dry, fruity and it certainly 'goes down well'. Glyn was happy with my choice and decided he wanted all of it so I got myself a red. Which by this point was a very silly idea. Still as everything was only £10 I opted for the most expensive one (obviously) normally £21.50. Juniper Crossing Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot, 2005. This well fermented, 14% abv wine has a deep colour, big flavours and did I mention it was 14%??
Anyway, I don't remember the walk home.
That's it for now, you can follow me on twitter @danprobert and you can come and see me in-store at the Adnams Cellar & Kitchen Store in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Should you wish.
Skip to 2 hours before. The pub has a quarterly menu change, and they cook up one of each new dish and the staff tuck in. Most members of front of house see menu tasting as an opportunity of a free dinner. (sorry guys) Starving themselves all day, ignoring the chef, not asking questions, not even trying some dishes because "they look a funny colour" and stuffing their faces as quickly as possible. Which ruins the whole point of what we're achieving. Spending time, money and effort in order to help staff answer questions, sell and promote only works if they're actually going to taste, take an interest and learn. Which is pretty similar with wine. Too many times I've been to a wine tasting and the people there aren't even interested in wine, they just fancy a free drink (This isn't going be one long rant this week, I promise, I've got a point and a direction). I've even been on the receiving end of a bunch of disinterested 18 year olds asking questions such as "If its fizzy, is it still wine?" and "What's the difference between a red wine and a white wine?"
Now any tasting, has a purpose. It just depends on the specifics of that as to how you conduct yourself, how you conduct the tasting and the people you want to come and taste. For instance if you're a small, independent wine shop and you're trying to get some extra customers by having a wine tasting you want whoever you can get through the door to drink whatever they like. On the basis they'll buy something and then come back and buy some more. If you're a pub with 10 wines by the glass and 30 by the bottle then you want your staff to be able to help customers make a decision and suggest wines. If you can, you want them to stay sober and remember the difference between red and white until a customer asks. If you're me, and Glyn asks "teach me about the wine list Dan", you're gonna sit at the bar and get drunk together. Which is what we did.
I've peppered this account of the night with some quotes in brackets to give you a feel of how it went (downhill).
We made sure we had the wine list, a pad and paper, the internet (to prove I know what I'm talking about) and some wine. We started off with the basics of wine tasting, I start generally with an eyes, nose, mouth tasting approach (when you can't feel your shoulders, knees or toes, you stop drinking.) To which I got the reply "most wines just taste like wine", at that point I could tell it was going to be a long night. Not being a fan of red wine we were sticking solely to whites. Also, Wednesday nights are "any wine off our menu £10 a bottle" night. So we were tasting wines by the bottle instead of by the glass.
First up, a crisp, refreshing Burgundy. Dry and smooth with apricot and citrus. Trying to explain words like finish and crisp ("how is a wine like a crisp? You're not eating Dan") is tricky so we cracked open a terrible German Leibfraumilch to compare it to, sweet and like a cheap fruit juice with no finish or flavour. We were actually taking notes and looking at the wine, comparing colours, body ("syrupiness Glyn, is it like water or honey?" "neither...its wine."). Giving it a smell, Glyn thought all the wines at some point smelled like pears. Taking time to taste them and write up our notes before finishing the bottle and moving on. We had an A6 sheet per wine with a heading and everything to start with. The list looked a little like this so far.
French Burgundy
eyes - straw coloured
nose - pears and citrus fruit
mouth - dry, crisp, long finish
German Leibfraumilch
eyes - golden, and syrupy
nose - really fruity, oranges and pears
mouth - short finish, sweet and doesn't taste of much at all
Pleno Viura (from the Navarra region in northern Spain)
eyes - similar to the others
nose - pears
mouth - "Dan, i don't like this one it's too dry" "at least you're learning Glyn"
Casa Rivas Sauvignon Blanc (from the Maipo Valley in Chile)
eyes - looks like wine
nose - smells like wine
mouth - wine
I think we managed those 4 wines tasted (read: bottles drank) before Glyn got bored and asked "just recommend me a wine that will 'go down well'...". A challenge. I took It. Other than 'going down well' I had Glyns reactions on the last few wines to go by and I suggested a French country style Côtes de Gascogne, Cepage/Colombard. Well rounded, off-dry, fruity and it certainly 'goes down well'. Glyn was happy with my choice and decided he wanted all of it so I got myself a red. Which by this point was a very silly idea. Still as everything was only £10 I opted for the most expensive one (obviously) normally £21.50. Juniper Crossing Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot, 2005. This well fermented, 14% abv wine has a deep colour, big flavours and did I mention it was 14%??
Anyway, I don't remember the walk home.
That's it for now, you can follow me on twitter @danprobert and you can come and see me in-store at the Adnams Cellar & Kitchen Store in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Should you wish.
Chicken curry
For lunch I was slightly delicate after a night out so had a scrambled egg and sausage sandwich on white bread with ketchup. Although scrambled egg is not the easiest thing to eat in a sandwich there is no yolk situation that you get with fried and it goes amazingly well with the ketchup - yum.
With only four days left at work I went out with lunch with a couple of colleagues, one of which I won't be working with again. We went to Cantina Laredo, a new Mexican in St Martin's Courtyard. We had toriklla chips with a salsa type dip and then the waiter made a bowl of guacamole in front of us, which was amazing. He scooped out the avacado, chopped tomatoes and mixed it with chopped red onion, lime and corrider. Seriously delicious. We shared some nachoes as a starter, which were strange, but amazing. They were little rectangular pieces of tortillas with cheese, beans and chicken layered on top, then with sour cream, guacamole and jalapinos on the side. I had chicken fajitas for mains. A sizzling plate on chicken, onions and peppers arrived, which smelt amazing. It was served with three flour tortilla, guacamole, sour cream, re-fried beans and rice. I loved it. The decor was also great with stylish black booths - I will definitely be going again.
Mr P made a delcious curry for dinner, but I sisn't really watch him make much of it. I do know that his petsel and mortar came out and he ground up a selection of spices including cumin, corriander seems, cardamon.. and some other things. He also put a tin of chopped tomatoes in, lots of onion, garlic, chicken, mushrooms, spinach, creamed coconut. It was served with some lovely fluffy rice. It was really really good.
With only four days left at work I went out with lunch with a couple of colleagues, one of which I won't be working with again. We went to Cantina Laredo, a new Mexican in St Martin's Courtyard. We had toriklla chips with a salsa type dip and then the waiter made a bowl of guacamole in front of us, which was amazing. He scooped out the avacado, chopped tomatoes and mixed it with chopped red onion, lime and corrider. Seriously delicious. We shared some nachoes as a starter, which were strange, but amazing. They were little rectangular pieces of tortillas with cheese, beans and chicken layered on top, then with sour cream, guacamole and jalapinos on the side. I had chicken fajitas for mains. A sizzling plate on chicken, onions and peppers arrived, which smelt amazing. It was served with three flour tortilla, guacamole, sour cream, re-fried beans and rice. I loved it. The decor was also great with stylish black booths - I will definitely be going again.
Mr P made a delcious curry for dinner, but I sisn't really watch him make much of it. I do know that his petsel and mortar came out and he ground up a selection of spices including cumin, corriander seems, cardamon.. and some other things. He also put a tin of chopped tomatoes in, lots of onion, garlic, chicken, mushrooms, spinach, creamed coconut. It was served with some lovely fluffy rice. It was really really good.
Thursday 11 November 2010
Spinach and ricotta pizza
I didn't go straight into the office this morning and instead got the train to Cambridge, so decided to get breakfast at Kings Cross station. I am a huge fan of McDonald's breakfasts, yet have never had a Burger King one, so I though I'd try one out and got a sauage, egg and cheese 'butty' with hash browns and a black tea. Oh the dissapointment, it simply paled in comparison to McDonalds. The bread was too similar to a burger bun, the egg, sausage and cheese filling tasteless. The little hash brown bites were pretty tasty and very crispy on the outside, but I think in the future I will stick with Maccy D's.
I was pleased I'd had a big liunch as on returning to the office gone 2pm I went to the fridge to find my soup had been stolen. Luckily Mr P had bought me a wholegrain roll which I ate on its own with a handful of almonds - not a good lunch, but too busy to pop out and buy something else and I was outraged at having to fork out for something else after someone else ate my lunch!
I spent dinner at a friends house with lots of wine before going out clubbing. We had garlic bread and spinach and ricotta pizza, perfect for lining the stomach before a large amount of vodka.
I was pleased I'd had a big liunch as on returning to the office gone 2pm I went to the fridge to find my soup had been stolen. Luckily Mr P had bought me a wholegrain roll which I ate on its own with a handful of almonds - not a good lunch, but too busy to pop out and buy something else and I was outraged at having to fork out for something else after someone else ate my lunch!
I spent dinner at a friends house with lots of wine before going out clubbing. We had garlic bread and spinach and ricotta pizza, perfect for lining the stomach before a large amount of vodka.
Wednesday 10 November 2010
Thai red curry
Breakfast - Alpen sans raisins and a cup of tes
Lunch - Covent Garden Tomato and basil soup
Dinner - Red thai curry
* Chicken
* Onions
* Red Thai curry paste
[Fried together with a drop of oil for about 7 mins]
* Mushrooms
* Yellow pepper
* Coconut milk
* Bamboo shoots
[Added and then simmered for about 15 mins]
* Thin egg noodles
Yum
Lunch - Covent Garden Tomato and basil soup
Dinner - Red thai curry
* Chicken
* Onions
* Red Thai curry paste
[Fried together with a drop of oil for about 7 mins]
* Mushrooms
* Yellow pepper
* Coconut milk
* Bamboo shoots
[Added and then simmered for about 15 mins]
* Thin egg noodles
Yum
Tuesday 9 November 2010
Creamy tomatoey chorizo pasta
Same old same old for breakfast and lunch today. However I did have an olive roll with my lunch, which was delicious.
Today someone on Twitter mentioned they were having turkey and stuffing soup from M&S - I most definitely need to track this down and find it - It sounds amazing!!! Imagine it with some freshly baked cranberry rolls. Delish!! Perhaps I could cook this. With a week off work next week there will be ample time to concoct some treats.
Mr P made chorizo pasta for dinner and it was really really delicious. He made a creamy tomato sauce, which has to be my favourite type of sauce in the whole world. Also, he fried lovely strips of onion in white wine as to not make it too greasy. We had it with big chunks of chorizo, garlic, courgettes, green pepper and mushrooms, all mixed together with pasta and the yummy tomatoey creamy sauce with a hint of spice due to some added cajun pepper.
Today someone on Twitter mentioned they were having turkey and stuffing soup from M&S - I most definitely need to track this down and find it - It sounds amazing!!! Imagine it with some freshly baked cranberry rolls. Delish!! Perhaps I could cook this. With a week off work next week there will be ample time to concoct some treats.
Mr P made chorizo pasta for dinner and it was really really delicious. He made a creamy tomato sauce, which has to be my favourite type of sauce in the whole world. Also, he fried lovely strips of onion in white wine as to not make it too greasy. We had it with big chunks of chorizo, garlic, courgettes, green pepper and mushrooms, all mixed together with pasta and the yummy tomatoey creamy sauce with a hint of spice due to some added cajun pepper.
Monday 8 November 2010
Mince and mash
Picking raisins out of my Alpen is getting seriously tiresome. Thank goodness I've almost finished the box and can move onto something else.
For lunch I had covent garden winter vegetable soup. I'm not an overly huge fan of winter vegetable soup as I think they always taste predominantly of parsnip, swede and turnip. It's much the same with this variety, but it's not too offensive. I had it with a rye and pumpkin seed roll, I love picking the pumpkin seeds off the top, they're really delicious and crunchy.
Throughout the afternoon I snacked on unsalted cashews (definitely no where near as good as the salted kind) and dried mango (once again, no where near as good as fresh mango), so they were both slightly disappointing.
For dinner Mr P made some lovely light fluffy mashed potato and I made a mincey gravy type thing that you have read about plenty of times before. This time it was with frozen lamb mince. The meal was much appreciated after a tiring gym session.
For lunch I had covent garden winter vegetable soup. I'm not an overly huge fan of winter vegetable soup as I think they always taste predominantly of parsnip, swede and turnip. It's much the same with this variety, but it's not too offensive. I had it with a rye and pumpkin seed roll, I love picking the pumpkin seeds off the top, they're really delicious and crunchy.
Throughout the afternoon I snacked on unsalted cashews (definitely no where near as good as the salted kind) and dried mango (once again, no where near as good as fresh mango), so they were both slightly disappointing.
For dinner Mr P made some lovely light fluffy mashed potato and I made a mincey gravy type thing that you have read about plenty of times before. This time it was with frozen lamb mince. The meal was much appreciated after a tiring gym session.
Sunday 7 November 2010
Beans on toast
I was in a bit of a moany mood today for a variety of reasons. I have another ulcer, which pains me to eat, drink, talk, basically it stops me from enjoying any of the things I love. So Mr p made me some eggs on toast for breakfast as I really fancied some. It was delicious. I had it with ketchup as well which added delightfully to the taste of the meal, but of course stung my ulcer immensely.
For lunch Mr P and I had done a bit of shopping and I was moaning about how cold and hungry I was so we decided to go to a noodle bar in Beckenham called Miso. I had a roast duck dish with noodles, duck sauce and Chinese leaves. I am usually a big fan of these kinds of places, but I wasn't too impressed by this dish. i know duck is usually pretty fatty, but this breast was really fatty, the sauce a little too sweet and thick, and the noodles were a bit overdone and glutinous. Also the portion sizes were huge, which isn't something I would normally moan about but they were a little overwhelming.
Because we had a late and large lunch we weren't particularly hungry for a big meal in the evening so Mr P made us beans on toast and I loved it.
For lunch Mr P and I had done a bit of shopping and I was moaning about how cold and hungry I was so we decided to go to a noodle bar in Beckenham called Miso. I had a roast duck dish with noodles, duck sauce and Chinese leaves. I am usually a big fan of these kinds of places, but I wasn't too impressed by this dish. i know duck is usually pretty fatty, but this breast was really fatty, the sauce a little too sweet and thick, and the noodles were a bit overdone and glutinous. Also the portion sizes were huge, which isn't something I would normally moan about but they were a little overwhelming.
Because we had a late and large lunch we weren't particularly hungry for a big meal in the evening so Mr P made us beans on toast and I loved it.
Saturday 6 November 2010
Chicken and butternut squash risotto
Mr P and his mum went to the local greasy spoon, Rosie Lee's forbreakfast this morning, but as I was a little late in getting up I bought a brekfast pannini form a coffee shop at St Pancras. It was filled with egg, bacon (again not my favourite), sausage and ketchup. It tasted perfectly fine but although it was toasted on the outside it was pretty chilled in the middle, so I would have preferred it if it were a little warmer.
Mr P and I didn't really have any lunch after our late abnd big breakfasts. Plus we went to Harrow Borough fc to watch them play Chesterfield (Mr P's team) in the FA Cup, so we just shared a couple of packet of crisps, one salt and vinegar hula hoops and one oriental ribs flavour mccoys.
Mr P made dinner tonight and it was absolutely delicious. He made butternut squash and chicken risotto. I didn't really watch him make it as I was too engrossed in either Strictly or X Factor, but I do know that he roasted the butternut squash before mashing it and adding it into the risotto. He also added cream cheese to it, which I thought was a very good choice. The chicken was still beautifully moist and tender, he's a very good chicken cooker in my opinion. He also seasoned it with lots a sage, which went perfectly. Yum yum yum.
Mr P and I didn't really have any lunch after our late abnd big breakfasts. Plus we went to Harrow Borough fc to watch them play Chesterfield (Mr P's team) in the FA Cup, so we just shared a couple of packet of crisps, one salt and vinegar hula hoops and one oriental ribs flavour mccoys.
Mr P made dinner tonight and it was absolutely delicious. He made butternut squash and chicken risotto. I didn't really watch him make it as I was too engrossed in either Strictly or X Factor, but I do know that he roasted the butternut squash before mashing it and adding it into the risotto. He also added cream cheese to it, which I thought was a very good choice. The chicken was still beautifully moist and tender, he's a very good chicken cooker in my opinion. He also seasoned it with lots a sage, which went perfectly. Yum yum yum.
Friday 5 November 2010
It's wine time
Cheap wine. My parents drink it, I drink it, you drink it, but are there any hidden gems?
The other week I did a scientific test on biodynamic wine and after re-reading it today, I've decided it was a bit too intellectual. I've also been giving advice and suggestions on more expensive wines. So, the plan: buy a bunch of cheap wines (sub £3) and see if they're any good. The caveats: They can't be on offer as that's cheating and my rules, my opinion. After last week's wine-less blog, this week is a veritable wine-fest.
I'll probably just swing by some supermarkets and see what I come across, no brain power necessary.
So after a trip to Tesco, I came back with Tesco Value Spanish wine, in a 750ml tetra-pak, red and white both £3.30 each (30p over budget, there were some at £2.99 but they sounded so hideous I couldn't even bring myself to buy them, yet alone drink them).
Right, here we go. Now a slight confession, I've had the value red before. Now before you stop reading my blog anymore, I decided a while back to get 'Any 4 x 185cl bottles for £5' on offer just to try a few and threw this one in for interest. The red is thin, watery, tastes pretty much like watered down wine, (the other 185cl bottles that time tasted like cheap wine too) Still, it's only 11% abv and if you can get past the fact that you're drinking wine from a tetra-pak, well, I'd have to say that this wine really isn't too awful. It is pretty bad, but it tastes too fruity rather than disgusting. Something to glug at, and not savoured. Luckily enough it was a similar affair with the white, fruity and drinkable, refreshing but certainly not interesting. I'd say for both of these, they get away with being OK because they're both 11% abv, so slightly under fermented and keeping a little sweetness to them gives them that over fruity character. If I went for a run and ran out of water I could drink either of these instead.
Holy Flip Batman! Sainsbury's, you've outdone yourself on the cheap wine. They have a Sainbury's House Wines section. Amazing. There is a Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Soave, Chardonnay, Generic Medium, Generic Sweet, Generic Rose all at £3.49 each, and if you're really treating yourself there's a range of French AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) House Wines including Generic Claret, Rhone and Beaujolais, a Rioja and a Chianti for £3.99. An absolute bargain. I didn't try all of them but on the whole, fairly obvious examples of some popular grapes and regions.
Well done Sainsbury's, I'm totally impressed with the gusto you've put into peddling super cheap wine on to the masses. Helping them avoid quality in exchange for the obvious. However, you do have a massive range of wine and are only employing the obvious supply and demand reaction to uneducated penniless consumers. Luckily everyone else, I'm here to help you navigate the myriad of the supermarket shelves.
Turns out then, that you get what you pay for. Time to answer the question “Are there any hidden gems?”. No, there isn't.
Buy this instead: La Gioiosa Merlot 2007, £6.50, Northern Italy, nice and plumy.
Moving on.
A few weeks ago I mentioned Hungary, and their wines. Now, I said I'd emailed a merchant called Mephisto Wines (www.meohistowines.com) asking for some samples and guess what, they sent me some. Well, these wines aren't cheap, they all retail about £7-£10 which I don't think is too bad for the quality of wine your getting and for the leap of faith your taking with opting for a Hungarian wine. Well, let's take that leap off the table because I'm gonna tell you what 3 of them are like. Great. I actually mean they're great tasting.
The Nyakas, now Mephisto sent me this wine and I can't find it on their website, great. Anyway, a wholly unpronounceable white grape variety called Irsai Olivér, similar in style to viognier and in genetics to muscat, so it tasted pretty. Quite syrupy look about it in the glass with a light gold hue in colour. Tasted and smelled floral, lavender and possibly herby with a hay field feel. Weird really, off dry and unusual, my mum liked it.
The second white was Malatinszky's Noblesse Serena, 2009. (Nobless...Brilliant. Where's my sensible hat?) Anyway, it's another pretty, but not as floral as the Nyakas, blend of 50% Chardonnay with Reisling and Muscat Ottonel. So similarly straw like in colour and it swings pretty syrupy in the glass too. Fresh and fruity, with a clean long finish, just not my type of thing. Not enough acidity and a little too weighty for me, I prefer a crisp refreshing style of white.
Now, the red Takler Kékfrankos, (Kékfrankos being another indigenous grape of Hungary, no I can't pronounce this one either) was more my type of thing. Deep red in colour with tawny notes, low in tannins. Excellent full, concentrated flavours with cinnamon, dried fruit and blackcurrants. A proportion of the wine is aged in steel vats and a small amount is aged for 6 months in oak and that brings through a small amount of spice, but there's an unusual aftertaste, sort of aniseed feel to it, definitely not unpleasant, but a little unexpected, I guess that comes from trying something new. I could quite happily sink a few glasses.
Thanks Mephisto, you rule.
That's it for now, you can follow me on twitter @danprobert and you can come and see me in-store at the Adnams Cellar & Kitchen Store in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Should you wish.
The other week I did a scientific test on biodynamic wine and after re-reading it today, I've decided it was a bit too intellectual. I've also been giving advice and suggestions on more expensive wines. So, the plan: buy a bunch of cheap wines (sub £3) and see if they're any good. The caveats: They can't be on offer as that's cheating and my rules, my opinion. After last week's wine-less blog, this week is a veritable wine-fest.
I'll probably just swing by some supermarkets and see what I come across, no brain power necessary.
So after a trip to Tesco, I came back with Tesco Value Spanish wine, in a 750ml tetra-pak, red and white both £3.30 each (30p over budget, there were some at £2.99 but they sounded so hideous I couldn't even bring myself to buy them, yet alone drink them).
Right, here we go. Now a slight confession, I've had the value red before. Now before you stop reading my blog anymore, I decided a while back to get 'Any 4 x 185cl bottles for £5' on offer just to try a few and threw this one in for interest. The red is thin, watery, tastes pretty much like watered down wine, (the other 185cl bottles that time tasted like cheap wine too) Still, it's only 11% abv and if you can get past the fact that you're drinking wine from a tetra-pak, well, I'd have to say that this wine really isn't too awful. It is pretty bad, but it tastes too fruity rather than disgusting. Something to glug at, and not savoured. Luckily enough it was a similar affair with the white, fruity and drinkable, refreshing but certainly not interesting. I'd say for both of these, they get away with being OK because they're both 11% abv, so slightly under fermented and keeping a little sweetness to them gives them that over fruity character. If I went for a run and ran out of water I could drink either of these instead.
Holy Flip Batman! Sainsbury's, you've outdone yourself on the cheap wine. They have a Sainbury's House Wines section. Amazing. There is a Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Soave, Chardonnay, Generic Medium, Generic Sweet, Generic Rose all at £3.49 each, and if you're really treating yourself there's a range of French AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) House Wines including Generic Claret, Rhone and Beaujolais, a Rioja and a Chianti for £3.99. An absolute bargain. I didn't try all of them but on the whole, fairly obvious examples of some popular grapes and regions.
Well done Sainsbury's, I'm totally impressed with the gusto you've put into peddling super cheap wine on to the masses. Helping them avoid quality in exchange for the obvious. However, you do have a massive range of wine and are only employing the obvious supply and demand reaction to uneducated penniless consumers. Luckily everyone else, I'm here to help you navigate the myriad of the supermarket shelves.
Turns out then, that you get what you pay for. Time to answer the question “Are there any hidden gems?”. No, there isn't.
Buy this instead: La Gioiosa Merlot 2007, £6.50, Northern Italy, nice and plumy.
Moving on.
A few weeks ago I mentioned Hungary, and their wines. Now, I said I'd emailed a merchant called Mephisto Wines (www.meohistowines.com) asking for some samples and guess what, they sent me some. Well, these wines aren't cheap, they all retail about £7-£10 which I don't think is too bad for the quality of wine your getting and for the leap of faith your taking with opting for a Hungarian wine. Well, let's take that leap off the table because I'm gonna tell you what 3 of them are like. Great. I actually mean they're great tasting.
The Nyakas, now Mephisto sent me this wine and I can't find it on their website, great. Anyway, a wholly unpronounceable white grape variety called Irsai Olivér, similar in style to viognier and in genetics to muscat, so it tasted pretty. Quite syrupy look about it in the glass with a light gold hue in colour. Tasted and smelled floral, lavender and possibly herby with a hay field feel. Weird really, off dry and unusual, my mum liked it.
The second white was Malatinszky's Noblesse Serena, 2009. (Nobless...Brilliant. Where's my sensible hat?) Anyway, it's another pretty, but not as floral as the Nyakas, blend of 50% Chardonnay with Reisling and Muscat Ottonel. So similarly straw like in colour and it swings pretty syrupy in the glass too. Fresh and fruity, with a clean long finish, just not my type of thing. Not enough acidity and a little too weighty for me, I prefer a crisp refreshing style of white.
Now, the red Takler Kékfrankos, (Kékfrankos being another indigenous grape of Hungary, no I can't pronounce this one either) was more my type of thing. Deep red in colour with tawny notes, low in tannins. Excellent full, concentrated flavours with cinnamon, dried fruit and blackcurrants. A proportion of the wine is aged in steel vats and a small amount is aged for 6 months in oak and that brings through a small amount of spice, but there's an unusual aftertaste, sort of aniseed feel to it, definitely not unpleasant, but a little unexpected, I guess that comes from trying something new. I could quite happily sink a few glasses.
Thanks Mephisto, you rule.
That's it for now, you can follow me on twitter @danprobert and you can come and see me in-store at the Adnams Cellar & Kitchen Store in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Should you wish.
Beef goulash
A lovely day off work at long last, so I enjoyed a bowl of crunchy nut cornflakes and a cup of tea whilst watching a bit of daytime television - perfect.
As we went shopping in Croydon we ate some lunch in a cafe in a shopping centre there. I chose a smoked salmon wrap, whicih had salad, brie and bacon as well as the obligatory smoked salmon. I asked for it without bacon as I'm not a huge fan of it, particularly when it is cold and ultra crispy. However they forgot to leave it out, so I found it very salty and not my favourite wrap in the world. I had it with a diet coke - a treat for me as I very rarely have fizzy drinks.
For dinner Mr P's mum made us dinner which was so nice. Its lovely to just relax sometimes and have someone else serve you dinner (although I often get that with the wonderous MR P's cooking talents). Anyway, we had a beef goulash with rice and some lovely sour cream on top. Delicious. We had it with a bottle of red wine, which all went down a treat.
As we went shopping in Croydon we ate some lunch in a cafe in a shopping centre there. I chose a smoked salmon wrap, whicih had salad, brie and bacon as well as the obligatory smoked salmon. I asked for it without bacon as I'm not a huge fan of it, particularly when it is cold and ultra crispy. However they forgot to leave it out, so I found it very salty and not my favourite wrap in the world. I had it with a diet coke - a treat for me as I very rarely have fizzy drinks.
For dinner Mr P's mum made us dinner which was so nice. Its lovely to just relax sometimes and have someone else serve you dinner (although I often get that with the wonderous MR P's cooking talents). Anyway, we had a beef goulash with rice and some lovely sour cream on top. Delicious. We had it with a bottle of red wine, which all went down a treat.
Thursday 4 November 2010
Chorizo and new potato salad
Was feeling a little tired after a very late night the night before, so had to indulge in a sau=sage and egg sandwich with tfomato sauce, which was an absolute taste sensation.
For lunch I went to Pizza Express on a work outing and had a al tirolo on a romana base. So thats a trio of mushrooms and ham. Yum yum and much much needed.
Mr P and I have his mum to stay for a while, so we took her out to Joannas in Crystal Palace where we shared a nice bottle of Montepulciano. I had chilli chargrilled squid, which if I'm honest wasn't sensational, it was a little bit cold and chewy. For mains I had a chorizo and new potato salad with a poached egg. The chorizo salad was really delicious. Very meaty and tyasty sausage with fried new potatoes. I also ahve to say that the green beans in the salad tasted really fresh and had been cooked perfectly with still a little crunch. The salad had a perfectly cooked poached egg on top, whihc went really nicely with the other ingredients, however it tasted a little bit too much of vinegar, I'm not sure if this was the vinegar used in the water when cooking the egg, or a dressing applied afterwards, but it was a little too vinegary for my taste buds. To finish I had a Baileys liquer coffee, which unfortunately was one of those times when my eyes were too big for my belly and I couldn't finish it all.
A nice relaxing evening in a lovely setting.
For lunch I went to Pizza Express on a work outing and had a al tirolo on a romana base. So thats a trio of mushrooms and ham. Yum yum and much much needed.
Mr P and I have his mum to stay for a while, so we took her out to Joannas in Crystal Palace where we shared a nice bottle of Montepulciano. I had chilli chargrilled squid, which if I'm honest wasn't sensational, it was a little bit cold and chewy. For mains I had a chorizo and new potato salad with a poached egg. The chorizo salad was really delicious. Very meaty and tyasty sausage with fried new potatoes. I also ahve to say that the green beans in the salad tasted really fresh and had been cooked perfectly with still a little crunch. The salad had a perfectly cooked poached egg on top, whihc went really nicely with the other ingredients, however it tasted a little bit too much of vinegar, I'm not sure if this was the vinegar used in the water when cooking the egg, or a dressing applied afterwards, but it was a little too vinegary for my taste buds. To finish I had a Baileys liquer coffee, which unfortunately was one of those times when my eyes were too big for my belly and I couldn't finish it all.
A nice relaxing evening in a lovely setting.
Tuesday 2 November 2010
Morrocan fayre
Raisinless muesli for breakfast again followed by a bowl of spicy butternut squash and sweet potato soup with a triangular Tesco finest wholegrain roll.
This blog could potentially turn very very dull over the winter months with my soupy luncheons. There will be very little to report. However I was discussing this with a colleague who came up with the great idea I could talk about what I would have preferred to have for lunch, a genius idea I think.
So what I would have liked to have had is a grilled halloumi salad with some very ripe and shiny red tomatoes, some rocket and some olive cous cous. I would also have preferred to have it sat outside a little greek resturant with a large glass of fruity red looking out onto a sparkling blue Mediterranean sea with the sun reflecting off it and the noise of the waves and cicadas in the background. However I was instead sat at my desk attempting not to get crumbs stuck between the keys on my keyboard. Great.
I met up with a couple of friends for dinner at Souk Medina on Shorts Gardens near Covent Garden. I have never been there, but absolutely loved it inside. With its low lighting, rugs, cushions, lanterns and low seating it felt as though I had been transported to North Africa.
We shared a bottle of red wine and had a set menu which consisted of:
Starters: -
Humous,
Pitta,
Vine Leaves,
Merguez sausages with potatoes
Mains: -
Cous cous
Chickpeas
Creamed spinach (absolutely amazing)
Chicken tagine
Lamb tagine (this one wasnt so nice as the meat tasted like perfume and not something I'm a big fan of, it also had lots of fruit in it, which I am also not a fan of)
Dessert:-
Baklava
Mint tea
It was so so nice and i shall definitely be returning. During our dessert the music suddenly got turned up very loudy and out came a belly dancer. An odd cmoment, but amusing nonetheless.
This blog could potentially turn very very dull over the winter months with my soupy luncheons. There will be very little to report. However I was discussing this with a colleague who came up with the great idea I could talk about what I would have preferred to have for lunch, a genius idea I think.
So what I would have liked to have had is a grilled halloumi salad with some very ripe and shiny red tomatoes, some rocket and some olive cous cous. I would also have preferred to have it sat outside a little greek resturant with a large glass of fruity red looking out onto a sparkling blue Mediterranean sea with the sun reflecting off it and the noise of the waves and cicadas in the background. However I was instead sat at my desk attempting not to get crumbs stuck between the keys on my keyboard. Great.
I met up with a couple of friends for dinner at Souk Medina on Shorts Gardens near Covent Garden. I have never been there, but absolutely loved it inside. With its low lighting, rugs, cushions, lanterns and low seating it felt as though I had been transported to North Africa.
We shared a bottle of red wine and had a set menu which consisted of:
Starters: -
Humous,
Pitta,
Vine Leaves,
Merguez sausages with potatoes
Mains: -
Cous cous
Chickpeas
Creamed spinach (absolutely amazing)
Chicken tagine
Lamb tagine (this one wasnt so nice as the meat tasted like perfume and not something I'm a big fan of, it also had lots of fruit in it, which I am also not a fan of)
Dessert:-
Baklava
Mint tea
It was so so nice and i shall definitely be returning. During our dessert the music suddenly got turned up very loudy and out came a belly dancer. An odd cmoment, but amusing nonetheless.
Monday 1 November 2010
Thai red curry
I've decided to start taking the raisins out of my muesli because I just really don't enjoy my breakfast with them in it. So i painstakingly removed all the raisins from my breakfast this morning, therefore making it far more enjoyable.
For lunch I had spiced sweet potato and butternut squash soup with a rye and pumpkin seed roll.
I made a chicken thai red curry for dinner. I fried a few spoons of red thai curry paste in some oil before adding some chopped onions and chicken. I then left it sizzling for about five minutes before adding a tin of coconut milk, some fish sauce, some mushrooms, courgettes and red pepper. I then left it simmering for about ten minutes and then served it with fine egg noodles. I loved it and even went back for seconds.
For lunch I had spiced sweet potato and butternut squash soup with a rye and pumpkin seed roll.
I made a chicken thai red curry for dinner. I fried a few spoons of red thai curry paste in some oil before adding some chopped onions and chicken. I then left it sizzling for about five minutes before adding a tin of coconut milk, some fish sauce, some mushrooms, courgettes and red pepper. I then left it simmering for about ten minutes and then served it with fine egg noodles. I loved it and even went back for seconds.
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