Another Wednesday

Hummus
Tzatziki with mint
Carrots with cilantro and goat cheese
Marocco-inspired lamb
sesame salt
9/10

Lamb (500 gr) cut in cubes, rubbed in this mix: coriander, curry, cumin, lemon zest, ginger, chili. Spices all roasted on a pan (not zest nor ginger) and pasted in the mortar.
Brown 2 carrots, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 stalk of celery, 2 shallots, thyme, oregano on pan.
Put in ovenproof dish with lid.
Brown meat, add lemon juice from 1.5 lemon. One can of tomatoes, a bit of soy, a handful or two of cooked chickpeas, a bit of honey if the tomatoes are not sweet enough. S/P. Add to the vegetables.
Put lid on and place the dish in the oven, app 180 C, for a couple of hours.

Meanwhile not far from there.....

For K's birthday in January Fine and Betty gave her a great gift: An indispensable tool – the mandolin.
And on this night it was used for both the Tzatziki and the carrots.

Tzatziki: one cucumber, seeds removed, cut in julienne on the mandolin, mixed with drained yoghurt, two cloves of garlic, mint from the terrace, a splash of wine vinegar S/P

Carrots cut in julienne, mixed with olive oil, lemon, a drop of honey, goat cheese (feta), cilantro (fresh coriander) S/P.

Hummus: Cooked a big bowl of chickpeas, to use the coming days, but most of it went in the hummus. There is no such thing as too much hummus. For K's hummus see Picnic in July.

Finally a bit of sesame salt. Roast sesame seeds until popping. Let cool. Mix with salt in the mortar until lightly crushed.

To this Two Hands Shiraz Max's Garden 2006.

Not bad for a Wednesday

Carcasonne

One of our favourite passtimes is playing Carcasonne. It is not without a certain danger that we do this as the competitive spirit is fierce and tempers flare. We managed the extended, extended, extended version without any serious incidents. We have now bought so many extensions to the original board game that we have lost track of how many there are and often we have to re-read the rules in order to remember what each extension introduces.
Despite our gaming we managed to get some very nice things to eat.
One small incident meant that game play was suspended while we considered how to resolve the matter of the placing of an illegal tile. During the suspension we made some bruschetta:

Four bruschetta for two persons:
Take approximately 150g tomatoes (we prefer San Marzano) de-seed and cut into cubes
Mix in a bowl with one clove of chopped garlic, Salt, some good olive oil and chopped fresh basil.

Let it settle a little while toasting 4 pieces of bread. Take another clove of garlic and cut it in half and rub the toasted bread with the garlic.

Distribute the tomatoes on the toasts and serve.
Today we drank the rest of the Te Muna 2008 with the bruschetta and that worked ok (7/10).









After this small antipasta we played the game to an end and then prepared for our main course: Grilled cod with lentils.

To make the lentils we fried one shallot and 75g of Pancetta. The lentils were then added together with some of the chicken stock from our Golf dinner and a little white wine and some water to cover the lentils. Cook for 30 minutes.
In the meantime we took four small pieces of cod and put in the oven together with some lemon and a bit of olive oil and grilled for 4 minutes.

On top of this a small confit of tomatoes and balsamicco to add a little sweetness.
Actually we also tried to to fry some scallops with roe and add them to the dish, but the roe was very much out of place and even though we had removed it first the taste was still there and in the end we actually just picked them off again. And anyway the conclusion must be that frozen scallops are not to be compared to the fresh ones. And never to buy the ones with roe again!

Without the roe-tasting scallops the meal was delicious (8,8/10). With it we drank a bottle of Bourgogne 2009 from Henri Boillot. The fridge was too cold and T did not take it out early enough and therefore it was too cold in the beginning. That did not prevent it from tasting excellent and the last glass that had a better temperature was 8,2/10) Together with the cod we rated it 8,8/10).

Since we already had started drinking leftovers we also had to have some french blue cheese – President Le Bleu – and also some Epoisses together with the last drops of a half-bottle of Sauternes (6/10) that we opened on our Golf-dinner, but cannot remember more about

Tough monday

Veal roast beef ... grey and tough – a bit like the weather ... with lentils.
Salad, green beans, carrots and zucchini
– at least the vegetables were tender and the company good.

To drink:
Brunello Riserva Campo ai Lecci 2005 7/10
Brunello Rendola 2005 7,2/10
Rosso di Montalcino Rendola 2007 7,5/10

K and Thomas Bjørn save the day

T is utterly depressed after Sunday's football results and has lost the will to live and almost the will to drink and eat. Luckily golf results help him recover slightly so that we are able to get dinner even if it is late. (It took T a long time to recover).

We have a primo of ravioli with white truffles (as we have had before) and to go with this a glass of Arneis from Piemonte.

The secondo is a Saltimbocca with zucchini and carrots.












When you make a saltimbocca it is important to have a strong hand nearby. It also helps if the strong hand is a bit aggressive from for instance sport results.
Pound the meat thin. Put a leave of fresh sage and a slice of prosciutto on each piece. Fold.
A mix of butter and good olive oil on the pan, fry the meat until light brown, add marsala. Let simmer down.

Steam carrots and zucchini with lemon zest. Add a bit of your best olive oil and a bit of basil.

Finally a salad of romaine and radicchio with oil and balsamico.

Eat.

To this we drink a bottle Nebbiolo d'Alba 2006 from Bruno Giacosa.

After this T is ready for bed and no longer suicidal.

The 30-year birthday

Saturday we went to a birthday dinner with our good friends and you just have to see the Porchetta  that they made.

And together with this a wonderful tomato salad with tomatoes of various sorts from the garden

Golf dinner

T and his friend PPO had been playing golf and returned home to what was supposed to be a quick meal – PPO had to get up 4.15 next morning to drive his son to Copenhagen.

First off a primo of Risotto with scallops and baked parma ham and a splash of balsamicco 8,5/10. To this we had a bottle of Meursault from 2008 8/10. Together 9/10

The secondo was chicken (even if it was not K's famous chili chicken) cooked with fennel and lemon and served with bread and a salad of lettuce and tomatoes.











The chicken:
organic chicken cut in 8 pieces.
one or two fennels (whatever space you have leftover in the  dish).
garlic
parsley and/or other herbs
organic lemon cut in pieces (one has to use the unsprayed kind since the peel is used)
s/p
in the oven for app 50 min. K is still trying to figure out T's oven, but thinks it is 10 minutes at 200 C degrees and then turn down to 160 C for the remainder. In K's experience organic chicken need to cook a little bit longer at lower temperature: They are a bit bigger than the non-organic type as they are allowed to live a little longer. But that also benefits the taste. And ones conscience! Organic chickens have better space and get to go outdoors.

Put the left over bones and cutouts in a pan with onion, carrot, herbs etc for a great stock for later use.













Discussions were long as to what to drink with the chicken. T felt for Pinot Noir even though literature suggested otherwise (Valpolicella). Nebbiolo (Barbaresco) was suggested by PPO but he was also happy with some burgundy and so it was. We selected a bottle of Nuits St George 2004 from Louis Latour. T had asked if it was to be traditional Pinot, i.e. Burgundy or some new-world but was met with demand for the French variety. Just to test PPO and K, T also opened a bottle of Te Muna from New Zealand. This of course was something quite different and despite not doing poorly (7,4/10) it could not change the mind of PPO and K (and T). The Nuits St George (8,5/10) was also the better companion to the chicken (8/10).

The match was from the beginning unfair. Just because the grapes are the same, they were two very different wines. The burgundy had matured well and was better balanced. The New Zealandic version was much younger (2008) and was rich in fruit and oak.

The discussion about old world/new world wine goes on and on on these pages. The good part about it is that we get to taste a lot of good wine from both worlds.

For dessert we had the baked plums with macaroon and whipped cream to go with our left over Sauternes.

T commented that PPO was a joy to invite to dinner. Having to leave early and drive home, he drank next to nothing leaving a lot to the hosts. Hopefully he will know better next time.

girls night out – Enomania

Pips – a very good friend of K who also shares a deep passion for food and wine – and K had one of their rare evenings. Too much time had gone and now we would make up for it. And we chose to go to K's favorite restaurant in CPH. Enomania. (Admittedly it is also T's favorite, but he had his gender against him on this occasion...).

Damiano is a chef and sommelier with a long history in Denmark. Originally he is from the far nothern Italy but during his years in DK he has worked his way through some very good places and left his mark. Damiano has now opened a great little place with his wife Charlotte who is also a chef. They serve very good Italian food; one set menu + cheese – if you like – and we did. Everything is made with great love for the tradition. The wine cellar is exquisite, not only Italian wines but burgundies, German, American, Spanish and others have found way to the cellar.

We started with a glass of champagne made from pinot noir (blanc de noir). Should have taken a note of the name – it was excellent – but now gone from memory in the haze from the vapors that has been left.

To that a plate of speck, sausage and cured ham. Olive oil and bread.

Risotto alla Mantova con astice
The first of two primi's was risotto with pumpkin and lobster.
The risotto you get at Enomania is always absolutely wonderful. The texture, the taste – just perfect!
Vernaccia di San Gimignano Riserva 2007 Panizzi. Full, buttery and gooooood

Ravioli di vitello con tartufo estivo
Second primo: Ravioli with veal and slices of summer truffle.
Little cubes of zucchini and butter on top

At this point Damiano came with the first glass to taste blind. And we were way off. The wine was very rich and fruity with nice tanins... for some reason K thought Toscana... and a cabernet/sangiovese mix....
And it was a La Gallina, Barbera d'Alba, La Spinetta 2007. K had even had it before...
No mouse hole was small enough... felt like hiding and never coming out but the expectations for the rest of the evening kept K on her chair....

Controfiletto di manzo con peperonata al balsamico
The secondo was sirloin with a ratatouille of peperonata and balsamico and roasted new potatoes.

In came two glasses. This time we were closer.
No doubt it was Barolo.
The first one seemed aged. Yellowish in the edges and with lots of finesse, strawberry, tannins, even a hint of dairy.
The other was more aggressive. A powerful, fruity and rich.
K preferred the first, P the second.

Pio Cesare, Barolo 2006. The traditional.











Fratelli Revello, Barolo 2005. The modernista



















Formaggio
Then came the cheese.
And the last blind taste. Again we were so off.
Guessed Merlot... it was:

Monastrell-Syrah. Perelada 2008.

.... mouse hole ....













Zuppa di albicocche e pesche con gelato all’amaretto
Dessert. Peaches and abricots with amaretto icecream. Delicious and not too sweet.


















and to drink a Gewurtztraminer Spätlese, Joseph from Hofstätter
.... Again a perfect match; not too sweet but straight and added nicely to the apricots.

















If you are ever in doubt about where to go eat in CPH, go to Enomania.
And ... It is not even expensive!
(Unless you can't control yourself in the wine cellar)

Damiano, Thank you!!!

Champions League

Having been apart for more than a day we obviously need to celebrate our reunion. Not only that, but also the fact that the soccer season was starting to take off and T will start becoming jittery if dinner is not finished at 20:45.

To celebrate we had:
Primo
Ravioli al Tartufo bianco (bought in the local store) served with at little melted butter and parmesan.
To drink a Friulano 2007 from Livio Felluga
Very floral, citrus but also with a hint of exotic wood. 8/10







Having Primo and Secondo is not a Danish thing (but then again we haven't presented something truly Danish here yet), and particularly not on a regular weekday. That will not deter us and we often start off with a small serving of pasta. Fresh pasta is a to be preferred, but not all fresh pasta is good. If we have the time we will make it ourselves, but on this evening we opt for one of our favorites from Irma.

Secondo
Veal cutlet with sage and marsala
Zucchini, tomatoes, and a tossed salad.
Le Difese 2007, Tenuta San Guido.

The Difese is the 3rd wine from the legendary Sassicaia-winery San Guido. It is made from
Sangiovese and Cabernet 30/70%.
We have tasted the Difese through several vintages. The 2007 has been a bit disappointing the last couple of times we opened a bottle (also surprisingly many bottles were corked), but tonight it was excellent (7,5/10). It had opened up with nice fruit from both the Sangiovese and Cabernet, one not overwhelming the other but supplementing and it went very well with the food. 8,5/10.
Next time we will decant the Difese.

The dinner was not quite finished before the game started, but never-the-less T showed enormous restraint and stayed at the table. And the game ended well.

Penne con straccetti e rucola

In the beginning of our relationship we decided to make a list of 10 dishes that could be made in 10 minutes. Of course this was not because we do not like to cook, but just a result of the golf season, the concert season and the summer. Monday night was an occasion for one of our quick dishes, if ever there was one. Arriving home late after a reception we embark on our penne con straccetti e rucola. This dish was inspired by something K had in Rome some years ago (but not as a pasta dish) and maybe also something T has tried to recall (unsuccessfully). Whatever, here goes...

Two sirloin steaks are cut into thin strips and fried briefly on a hot pan (if T remembers he has to wait until it's hot). Cook the pasta in the meantime. After the strips have fried, take them off and fry 3 cloves of garlic and one red onion. Not for long as the garlic must not be burned and the red onion must not become soft. Toss in 200g de-seeded San Marzano tomatoes, add the meat and 200g rucola and a generous splash of good balsamico. Finally put in the cooked and drained pasta and toss it all together. Serve with grated parmesan and lots of freshly ground black pepper. (We refrained from the pepper since MK had an appetite for an additional dinner serving. Her young taste buds are not yet set for pepper. She had already had dinner at her grandmothers while we were at the reception. In any event, the dish is delicious on its own.)

T loves pasta, but has to concede that it is not entirely healthy for him. K often suggests to use a whole-grain variety, but this is not possible when the kids are home. Today, we expected to be eating on our own despite the kids being home, so we went for the 50/50 variety, which we can buy at Irma and to this dish it works marvelously adding a nice nutty flavour. For two hungry adults and a not-so hungry 6-year old we use appr. 300g of Penne pasta.

It can be a challenge to cook according to the latest health bulletins and still make everybody happy. In many dishes the whole grain pasta tastes like oat meal and has the texture of sawdust. So we have been looking for pasta that didn't taste too 'healthy' and have come up with this variety from il fornaio. In many dishes we still use the classic white grain variety, but the 50/50 actually adds to some dishes.

To this we select sangiovese, as we often do when having pasta. Today we chose a bottle of Podere 414, Morellino di Scansano from 2008. We found this, when we were in Siena last year and it was a very pleasant surprise then, as it is now (but no surprise). Very well balanced with good acidity and notes of cherry(seed). Not being modest we rate the meal, the wine and the combination as 9/10 on a day where it all worked to near perfection.

Copenhagen Wine Forum

Saturday we went to Copenhagen Wine Forum. T was in a foul mood due to poor golfing and adverse football results. (This might happen quite a few times the next 8 months (K adds; and to be repeated every season....). We got there 2 hours before closing and took stock of the show. It was divided into two sections: Danish Wine producers and more or less Danish wine importers. K has on occasion tasted Danish wine, whereas T has not done so yet. (Yes, T knows it is embarrassing). So, we headed into the Danish wine producers section.
The Danish climate is not suited for wine production. It might become so in a couple of years when Global Warming has affected our climate, but for now, it is not. Even so, it is all the more fascinating to meet the Danish wine producers who, like their more southern colleagues, are just as enthusiastic about their wine albeit most are very modest. Having said that, we tasted some wines that were rather good, even if the price tag is to be compared with wines of another league. The wines we tasted cost between 100 DKK and 500 DKK.

First off we came to Ørnberg whose dessert wine won a gold medal and who K had had an opportunity to taste before. The white wines are made on Ortega, Phoenix, Siegerrebe, Zalas Perle and Solaris. The dessert wine, Mynster, was quite nice. Not too sweet and with fresh fruits 7,5/10

We also tasted the dry Jørgen and the sparkeling Perle. Both very nice and drinkable :)













On we went down the Danish aisle to the next stop; Degnemosegaard.
Especially their light red Vinbondens lette røde cuvée was very pleasant. 6,5/10


















Last of the Danish wine producers we visited was Kelleris that is situated in North Zealand. It appeared to us to be quite ambitious and we had a long talk with the producer who gave quite a few insights on the various barriques. His wine, Utopia, comes in various versions with the barrique fermentation being the main diversifying factor. The 2008 on show was promising (6-6,5/10). The Utopia Rex 2006 was also the most expensive wine we tasted at almost 500DKK (6/10). All wines were made on the Rondo grape.











It had been very interesting and fascinating to talk to Danish wine producers and taste their wines. In conclusion we decided that we have to compose some dishes in the future to which we serve Danish wine.

On we went to the importers' section. This was actually not very interesting. Maybe it was because of the late hour, but we found many of the exhibition staff to be more interested in (single) female audience. Quite a few of them were probably friends of the importer and presented the wines with rehearsed comments such as "this goes along well with Sushi". Time was running out when we came to the stand of L'Esprit du Vin. Here we tasted a nice Slovakian Riesling from Egon Müller (7,5/10) and a corked Schartdorf (T thinks it was called), but which was nevertheless the last few drops from the bottle, so we think others might have found it OK! While tasting a glass of Riesling Spätlese it came to our attention that a Burgundy tasting was underway next to the stand. T asked if we could participate despite not having requested this before. (This we could have done, if T had not been in such a foul mood)

We got the last 30 minutes ... but what 30 minutes. It was almost spiritual! We got to taste 4 wines:
Domaine des Varoilles: Gevrey-Chambertin "La Romanée 1er cru" 2005. 8,5/10
Domaine des Varoilles: Clos de Beze  2005 8/10
Gevrey-Chambertin 1982 Leroy 9,3/10.
(Tasted of tobacco, rope, light red fruit, cowshed....)
Mersault Perriere 1988 Leroy 9,5/10













Jørgen Krüff who presented the wine was extremely knowledgeable and reminded us of how far we have to go in order to say something truly expert-like about wine.

... and we licked up every drop. You may be able to still get an idea about the age of the Gevrey Chambertin on the right.









Jørgen Krüff continued on talking about the wine despite the closing of the show being announced over the loudspeaker, but in the end we had to leave.

It was a very tough task to follow after the burgundy tasting, but the evening ended up with a couple of steaks with green beans and red onions. The meat was a little tough but the taste was fine. We started out with olive oil, fresh goat cheese, pickled sweet chilies and cured ham. (7,5/10) and bottle of Monpra from Conterno Fantino (8/10) and it held up on its own very nicely despite the competition from the big boys

It Can't Always Be Caviar – part – Lecso

One of K's favorite books ever since finding it on the bookshelves at her grandparents in her early teens is the classic spy novel with the daring, handsome, clever Thomas Lieven as the protagonist. 400+ pages written by Johannes Mario Simmel that brings Thomas Lieven through Europe during and after the 2nd world war. A must-read!!!
Not only is it an excellent spy novel but Thomas Lieven also excels in cooking for his lovers, friends, and enemies.... and the recipes are quoted. Now T has gotten under the Lieven-spell as well and what better way to celebrate this wonderful novel than to recreate the meals.
The Danish edition has had Inge Lotz to edit the cooking. She is a home economics teacher of the old school. One of her remarks on beef soup is: Every housekeeper knows how to make a clear beef soup, so I will not repeat the recipe here.....
The recipes clearly reflects the post-war kitchen and may seem old fashioned and some of the ingredients are not up-to-date and so we will take some liberties in recreating the meals.

Anyway today it was Hungarian Lecso - with which Thomas Lieven gets a brilliant idea!

We used:
3 red onions
3 cloves of garlic
100 gr salsiccia
100 gr bacon (raw)
500 gr lamb (the recipe call for castrated ram, but where do you get that these days????)
1 kg red bell peppers (it should have been green bell peppers, but we couldn't get any)
paprika
s/p
wine
vinegar
1 cup of rice


simmered for about 1 1/4 hour. Served with bread.

It turned out very rich, good and satisfying.
A wonderful meal after a hard days work in the field.....

Since we were a little hungry we had started the meal with a little toast, canned food and sweet wine; i.e. foie gras and left over Sauternes from Saturday.

... we did not need dessert....

Food 8/10

We had a bottle of Targum 2005 from Ribera del Duero with the Lecso. 
The wine was still very fruity with lots of oak. T recalled it less so when tasting it in the spring and believes it will do better than tonight where we must rate the wine as 7,2/10 and the wine/food matching as 6,5/10



K later googled Lecso and found that it is basically a traditional vegetarian dish that you can add whatever meat you have in your back yard – or refrigerator.

Lasagne

A quiet evening with the kids so it is time for Lasagne. No recipe today as we are using the sauce bolognese leftover from the other day when friends came and visited (and did their own shopping and cooking!)
T bought some Brunello the other day and suggested we try it, but K was more in the mood for meatball wine. So we picked a favourite, the Chateau le Chêne 2009 (Haut Medoc). For 50DKK this is very good value for money.