57 kilometres

Saturday is a day for challenges and rewards. T will play golf with his friend, H. This leads H's girlfriend, A to challenge K to ride from Copenhagen to Elsinore on mountainbike (even if there are no mountains in Denmark). K will normally accept any challenge and this is no exception. And so it is. While the boys play golf, the girls ride from Copenhagen. For such an occasion we will look for wine that is a little out of the ordinary. As a reward, of course. However, the day begins somewhat chaotically for T who doesn't get all the sleep that he would have wanted. In fact it is not until hole 15 on the golf course that he starts to relax. Before that he has driven to Copenhagen and picked up K for shopping at Torvehallerne without being able to find a parking spot. K in the meantime has found some entrecôte steaks, a handsome filet of monkfish and various root crop. And so T drives back to Elsinore while K prepares for her bicycle ride.
When H & T finish another useless round of golf the girls are still 5 km away. That gives H&T 20 minutes to prepare some toasts of Il Fornaio's whole grain bread, open a bottle of 2008 Puligny-Montrachet from Joseph Drouhin and then arrange some pata negra on top of the toasted bread.
The girls arrive in high spirits and the starter and the first bottle of wine is soon consumed. After this, bathing starts. First K, then T and finally A. H doesn't want to, so that's too bad for A.

The first dish is baked monkfish and trumpet mushrooms on fried spinach and pine nuts.
The monkfisk is cut in portion sizes and baked in the oven at 200° C for about 10 min.
The carefully rinsed spinach is fried shortly in olive oil with a bit of shaved garlic and a squeeze of lemon
The trumpet mushrooms are given a similar treatment en another frying pan
Arranged on plates and finished with a few roasted pine nuts.

With a bottle of 2007 Corton-Charlemagne we’re off to a good start.....

Next are the beautifully marbled Entrecôtes. Just salted and fried 3 minutes on each side. They were selected as a companion to the next wines. Many rich wines with lots of body would do, but in this company we lean towards neuf du neuf. We find a bottle of Chateau Beaucastel 2009 and a bottle of Vieux Donjon 2009 both from Chateauneuf-du-Pape of course.
With the steaks we prepare a dish of roots crop that will be baked in the oven. In the dish we put beetroots (regular and candy), turnips and onions. We also have to add uncounted cloves of garlic with the skin on and herbs (the latter are massaged down into the bottom of the dish so they are not burned in the oven.) All baked for about 30-40 minutes.

It all come out very well and the wine is thus accompanied excellently. About the wine: The Vieux Donjon is delicious and already very drinkable. The Beaucastel (as some of you may recall) is not the first time we do away with a 2009. Once again, it is also excellent, a little more tight, and will keep well, if only we'll let it.

As you can imagine the 57 kilometers instills some appetite in the girls (and the boys know how to follow suit), so we need to have some cheese. We have some Danish dry cheeses (Høost and some others that we have forgotten about). It may just be an excuse to open another bottle of wine, which we do. This time a lovely/lowly Cote de Nuits Village, but from the excellent year 2005 and it tastes wonderful. K, who you you may recall has Beaucastel as one of her top-10 wines, seem to recall this latter one better the next day, whereas T does not recall much of anything.

In the end we have to eat some dessert. At this point it is kind of like a sprint. We have already put a bottle of Rayne-Vigneau Sauternes 2005 Premier Cru in the fridge and it cannot stay. But it is a race against time. H has dropped to the bed and is napping and anyone who knows T will be wondering how he is still up.

The dessert is baked plums with caramelized almonds and vanilla ice cream.
A couple of plums per person (Reine Claude) are cut in halves, stone removed and put in a baking pan with a bit of muscovado sugar and baked for about 10 minutes.
Sugar and butter are melted in a pan and when brown and bubbly almond splinters are put in.
Finally the (bought) vanilla ice cream is arranged on the side.
(Reminder: we need an ice cream machine) (and a bigger kitchen)

And it is another success, but it is also the end of the line for this evening and we are happy to send our guests to bed and hitting our own the moment their door closes.
In case you were wondering about the challenge and award thing... K was of course rewarded with some extraordinary wine (as were the entire company) this evening. T, who played some terrible golf was rewarded with an extraordinary hang-over. Both were equally just.

Strawberries

We have just returned home from a wonderful holiday in Italy. A week of seafood and white wine means that we by now crave for some red wine and what better than a nicely chilled (15-16) Chateauneuf du Pape. We find a bottle of Mont-Redon 2007 and so it is just a matter of what to eat.

Becoming used to the Italian style of a Primo and a Secondo we need to figure out what to start with and since Irma has chanterelles on offer we naturally go for a crostini with chanterelles.

Chanterelles crostini:
Rinse the chanterelles but try to avoid using water. Fry in good olive oil with some garlic, and a bit of herbs (on this day it was marjoram). When almost tender throw in a couple of deseeded fresh, sweet small tomatoes and a splash of lemon juice.
Serve on toasted bread and finish off with a bit of shaved parmesan cheese and lots of black pepper.



Another thing on offer and in season is a Danish trademark, strawberries. We have earlier experimented a bit with salad containing strawberries and so we try again. T prepares a salad of sliced strawberries, thinly sliced fennel and crumbled feta cheese. Add to that some mint leaves. The salad is topped with our best olive oil, raspberry vinegar, salt and pepper.

In the meantime K has marinated a flank steak (could be marinated like this, but on today it is olive oil, garlic, oregano, mint leaves, black pepper, lemon zest and juice and a bit of soy sauce.) which by now is grilled and when ready is sliced thinly. It all works out nicely and the Mont-Redon goes hand in hand with the strawberry salad 8,5/10

Copenhagen - Brdr. Price

Plenty of Butter (or in Danish Rigeligt med smør).

It's M's birthday and so he gets to choose what, where and how to dine. Actually, he selects something that we have all been awaiting, namely visiting the newly opened Brdr. Price restaurant (the Price Brothers) in Copenhagen. Brdr. Price have become culinary celebrities in Denmark, because of their television show on DR. Initially this was aired on the more specialized DR2 channel, but it became very popular and it was then moved to DR1 prime time. As you can see on our facebook page, we are naturally also fans of Brdr. Price. But it is not only K and T, but also M and MK who loves it and the show will provide one of the few occasions where we are all watching the same television show.
The restaurant is divided into two sections - the dining room and the kitchen. The latter being less formal seems the better place for us, since we have MK with us. The menu is a bistro style menu which suits us just fine.
For a starting snack we have bread with three different kinds of butter (of course) - regular, smoked and wild garlic (ramson), olives and bread fries with brandade mayo

Next is the starter and MK has a carpaccio of scallops (as you will see, MK is not afraid to order a full menu despite her tender age of 7 years). This is delicately served and the small bitter salad leaves are finely dressed.

M orders the fish soup with croutons and Rouille. Maybe not quite what he had hoped for, but that says more about his expectations as it is quite nice.
Needless to say, T and K have the foie gras terrine. Somethings never change. But we do so in the the certain conviction that we will get to taste the dishes of the kids and we don't feel like the salmon smorgaas.

For the main course, MK gets her eagerly awaited moules frites. It is quite overwhelming, in particular since she should no longer have any appetite left and so she eats a little of the large dish before giving up and starts roaming around the restaurant. The very nice waitress asks if she wants to come and see the kitchen and MK eagerly accepts. Our debriefing is not too good, so we learn only that it was a "biiig kitchen".
M has ordered a Steak sandwich and is once again not quite happy - we suspect it's the rocket. It is rather good and he eats it all after freeing it of its dangerous green attributes. Actually, we should credit M for being adventurous. He has ordered two dishes somewhat different from his normal preferences.
K and T decide to align to the concept of the French bistro and orders Steak-Frites and of course a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, which we can no longer recall and don't recognize from the wine list.

For dessert we have again something different each one. The kids have Creme Brulée and K has the lemon tart while T has chocolate fondant.

It's Sunday and we need to get all the way back to Elsinore so the kids may attend school next day and so we thank the very nice waitress, but still MK is disappointed not to have met either Adam or James.

In conclusion we think that the concept is fine. The dishes certainly are those of a better bistro. The wine card is limited, but good. The prices are however too high, we think. Still, it feels a little bit like the brothers are chatting and bickering over the dishes  we have been served and so we pay that little extra on this occasion, but we don't think we'll do that on a regular week day.
7/10

Curry – great kongo style

During this month – the month of christmas – we have been trying to bring down the intake of calories in various ways and with various luck. It is hard work – temptations are numerous and hard to resist. Today we want spice and heat instead of animal fat. We can't quite agree on the origin of this curry. It is neither really north African nor eastern but we finally agree on great kongo curry.

Curry

1 spoonful cumin

1 spoonful coriander seed

black pepper

all burned on a hot pan

mortared with turmeric, chili, lemon zest, 2 cm ginger

350 gr cubed beef

3 carrots of various color

1 onion

1 bell pepper

1 fennel

1 leak

1 can of chick peas

1 can of tomatoes

4 cloves of garlic

1 green chili + 1 pepporoncini

Brown meat and vegetables, add curry and salt.
Found a bottle with some left over white wine (what, really???!!) and put in a small glassful of that.
Perhaps not authentic but good.
Then the tomatoes, a bit of soy, a squint of syrup.
lid on and low heat for about an hour.

After about 45 minutes the basmati rice were started – cooked with cardamom and at the same time the chick peas were put in the curry.

For once we could not finish it all. There was plenty left over. Enough for two and a half meals for K over the next days. And no calorie drawbacks. 9/10

With this we tried a very good Vacqueras, Dauvergne Ranvier 2009, which was rich in fruit, but already well balanced 9/10 and it was even quite good with the curry. so that was another 9/10

Paris

A business trip to Paris provides T with an excellent opportunity for culinary exploits. T, a long time fan of the Italian cuisine, is gradually warming to France – both the wine and food. It does not mean that he did not like it before, just that he had not paid enough attention. Not surprisingly there are many positive experiences waiting for T (and some not so positives ones, too).
The trip provided four occasions for French dining.
Day 1: Auberge Nicolas Flamel
This is a small place at Rue de Montmorency. T has the Menu Degustation which means
Foie Gras on fruited bread - one piece fried and one piece au naturel. Quite nice.
St Jacques (Fried Scallops)
Monkfish
7-hour Lamb
Creme Brulée
The Menu Degustation was good, but time has erased the memory somewhat.
The plan was to have a bottle of white wine and a bottle of red with the meal, so we ordered a bottle of Mont-Redon 2008 Chateauneuf-du-Pape. It was very nice and crisp, but somehow it dried up before the monkfish arrived and so we had to have a bottle of Meursault (T does not recall which one, but it was a favorite in the company). For the Lamb we had a bottle of Chateau Marquis d'Alesme 2005.
Day 2: Le Grand B
With a prominent location on Boulevard des Italiens this place might be what we have otherwise categorized as a tourist trap. The nature of the dinner did nothing to change that prejudice, but it has to be said that serving dinner for 42 people of course is challenging.

Day 3: Chez l'Ami Jean
This little gem is situated in a part of Paris that seemed a bit deserted on the evening. Most of buildings near Rue Malar seemed to be office buildings and it was therefore a bit of a surprise to enter a very crowded small room that buzzed with activity and atmosphere. The staff was extremely busy but still provided good service and in particular humour. They were quick to point out that they were basque, which of course was no surprise as it was announced at the front: "Basque Specialtees"
It was decided that we went for the big 8 course dinner (Le Carte Blanche) in which the chef selected what to serve. T was not really opposed to this. We asked the waiter for recommendations to go with the courses as we did not have a clue as to what we were going to have. They suggested white wine to start and later red wine! Good recommendation, thought T and looked into the wine list.
We started with a bottle of Champagne from Drappier made on Pinot Noir (blanc) and with this we had some slices of iberian ham.

The first course was a parmesan soup served with croutons and chives (and T also thinks there was a little ventreche in there). With  this we had started a bottle of 2004 Vire Clesse which was recommended and well so.

Next up was a terrine of beef (jellied beef, we were told). There were raisins in the terrine, which was surprising, but worked well. It was served with a basil coulis. We had somewhere along the way run out of Vire Clesse and turned to a 2009 Meursault La Barre.

The next course was fresh St Jacques clams served in their their shells and then baked lightly. It was sprinkled with chives and small croutons.
Then it was time for the meat courses and we shifted to a bottle of Coteaux de Languedoc. It was good, but T did not get to see the details properly.
We started with a braised hare on an emulsion of mushrooms and small pieces of turnip.
After this we had a piece of wood pigeon on a base of cresson. It was cooked perfectly in T's opinion and he had so far only had had bad experiences with pigeon. This one was red, but not raw inside.
Finally we had three desserts served together:

Ris au lait with roasted and candied almonds, sablér with pear and a lemon shot. With this we had glass of dessert wine from Jurancon.
Altogether this was an excellent evening.
Day 4: Hippopotamus
The Charles de Gaulle airport does not offer many options when it comes to dinner (maybe it does in some of the other terminals): Either McDonalds or Hippopotamus. Naturally we chose the latter. T did not want to end his foie gras streak early and so had a bloc de foie gras and an Entrecote.
For an airport restaurant this was actually OK and of course drinking a bottle of 2004 Cote Rotîe from Guigal helped a lot.
It is actually quite dangerous for T to go dining in France, because the bottles normally cost the same as he has to pay for them in Denmark... in the retail store.

Bearnaise-mission accomplished

On the historic date 11.11.11 MK turned . . . 7, which on the date was celebrated throughout her extended family – and will be celebrated on several days to come. On friday we – T, K, M, MK and Fine – went to a local (Helsingør) Italian family restaurant, Ciao Ciao. This is a place we often return to as the kids love it and other options are few in this area.
M and MK had bruschetta for starters, Fine, T and K Antipasti Misti. The bruschetta for MK was classic tomato and mozzarella, M got the extended version which also included one with cured ham and cheese and one with tuna and capers. The plate of antipasti had melon and prosciutto, vitello tonnato, carpaccio, marinated bell pepper with cheese and a giant shrimp. All was made traditionally and was very tasty. To drink a chardonnay from Casa Girelli. For main course M and MK had Rigatone all Tartufo with sliced beef and the rest of us had Scallopine al Tartufo – Lots of cream and truffles. The Rigatone tasted as though some Ricotta had been added to the cream for texture. It was very rich and good. With the main course the waiter persuaded us to try a 2004 Brunello from Pinino, whomever that is.
Finally two times pistachio ice cream and three extended dessert plates; chocolate mousse, tiramisu and ice cream.
Ciao Ciao is a hot favorite with the kids and despite the heavy use of cream in their pasta dishes we also kind-of-like it. The staff in particular is splendid and as such it feels authentic.
On Saturday evening the family comes to celebrate. MK has chosen the menu, well almost. In her early years MK's favorite dish was Spaghetti alle Vongole and T hopes it still is, even though he suspects that given the choice MK would go for Pasta Pesto. For the secondo MK wants Bearnaise. And since we have neglected the challenge for too long this is a welcome opportunity to make another attempt.
The vongole is by now familiar, but nevertheless we succeed in cooking the pasta in too small a pot and we have to throw away some of it as it sticks together. Let that be a lesson about cooking pasta, but we also have to concede that pots for 14 people is not part of our stock. Despite this mishap everything is eaten and the sauce is scraped off by our guests.

Coming up next is the Boeuf Bearnaise. The roast has been out at room temperature for a couple of hours and placed in a dish with some salt and oil and a few rosemary stalks on top. In this way it is not cold when put it into the oven and also the gas that is used for keeping the meat fresh in the plastic wrapping tend to need to vaporize. It is put in a hot oven (210°) for 10 min, then turn down to heat to 180°. Cooking time for a 2 kg roast is about 45 min for medium rare.
The potatoes is a K-speciality and doesn't take a lot of work. Leave the peal on, half or quarter the potatoes to friendly sizes. Boil in salted water with lots of unshredded garlic cloves and rosemary for 10-15 minutes. Drain and put in a dish in one layer. Add a generous splash of olive oil and bake in the oven until lightly brown. When finished sprinkle with flakes of salt.

When all this out of the way we turn our attention to the bearnaise. Actually we have had to prepare the butter and vinegar reduction in advance.
For 4-6
First melt 250 gr butter at very low temperature so the fat and whey is separated. Set aside.
Next vinegar reduction. Stalks of tarragon and one shallot, chopped, in a pot with half white wine vinegar and white wine (app. 1 dl all-in-all) and crushed pepper. Reduce to a couple of spoonfuls. Set aside.
Now place the reduction-pot in a larger pot for a bain-marie. Whip in the egg yolks (4 yolks) until foamy and thickening. Now s-l-o-w-l-y add the butter while whipping. Finally add chopped tarragon and chervil.

It turned out beautifully. But just to make sure that it was not a one-time-happy-go-lucky we decided to repeat the dinner on tuesday – and it turned out even better – if possible. Now on to the low-fat dishes....

We like grenache for this kind of dish and so we had Clos de l'Oratoire 2008 Chateauneuf du Pape on the evening of MK's birthday and a 2009 Ogier Chateauneuf du Pape on Tuesday. It is a good match (8,5/10). T preferred the former.

Ambition

Saturday is time for dinner party. If you think that we have been quiet as of late it was because we needed to rehearse a little for this event. Also we have to consider the limited space in the kitchen, which is challenging when planing to have more than two guests for dinner.
We start the day out thinking that we have plenty of time to rest and reflect on the dinner from last night's 75 year birthday party, which included traditional, honest Danish food in Toldbod Bodega. And so we stay in bed late and read the newspaper knowing full well that we are prepared and this will help us execute according to schedule. After a while we head towards torvehallerne to make our last purchases. On a Saturday afternoon this is a very busy place. Not like their southern models in the sense that many people come here just to sniff around as opposed to coming with a specific objective. When we are about finished we consider a cup of coffee only to realize that we have been away for two hours and so stress sets in.
We will skip telling about the afternoon, which included an event of rare occurrence, namely T not (or almost not) watching his beloved football team cruise to a comfortable win. (The rare thing was T not watching, even though the comfortable part is also becoming quite rare).

First course is a salad. We have purchased 4 different kinds of lettuce which we will refrain from translating (Rød syre, Rucola savoy, mustard, the last one evades us by now). The leaves were mixed in a vinaigrette made of raspberry vinegar, olive oil, s/p and a little water. On top of this some smoked duck's breast thinly sliced (well, as thin as T could manage), cubes of apple and walnuts. To this we drink Meursault 2008. We had decanted the bottle for several reasons. For one thing it was something T had wanted to do for some time and secondly our poor guests were to be left guessing as to what they were drinking.

Next it is time for our primo which is oxtail ravioli. For this we have prepared oxtails one day in advance.
(Put the tails in cold water, heat to boil, skim impurities, skim, skim. Discard water. Prepare the usual soffreto (with whatever you have): onion, garlic, carrot, celery, parsnip, s/p and herbs. When soft add the lightly boiled tails, a small squeeze of tomato paste and a glass of white wine. Let steam off for a couple of minutes. Add water to cover. Cover tight and let simmer for 3-4 hours. When very tender, separate meat, vegetables and soup. Discard vegetables and let meat and soup cool. When the soup is cool it is easy to remove the top layer of fat.)
During our hectic afternoon the meat was separated from the bones. Two shallots, a couple of finely chopped cloves of garlic and 250 gr porcini is fried, chopped finely and mixed with the meat. A splash of good truffle oil. And finally a little grated parmesan to glue it all together (a fact that we cannot hide from our non-cheese-eating guest, but that does not prevent him from eating, thanks msm wb). In the meantime we have made a dough of durum flour, 3 eggs and a little salt. Now it is time for the pasta machine to roll out very thin layers of pasta and then cut out small round pieces and fill them with the stuffing. It should not be a big surprise, but this takes quite some time. Maybe it's because we do not have the help of MK and M as we did when rehearsing. The ravioli are served with broth from the preparation of the oxtails, pepped up with a little sherry and a splash of lemon juice, and a gremolata of parsley, chopped garlic and lemon zest is sprinkled on top. For this we have a 1996 Barolo from Manzone.
We now go into the kitchen to prepare the secondo and predictably the wait means that we can serve some wine in between and this we have prepared for. Nobody is able to identify the bottle of 2005 Utopia from the Danish winemaker Kelleris, but it holds up quite nicely and we will soon experiment a little with dishes to have with this wine.

The secondo is fillet of lamb served on top of puree of eggplants and baked root crop, namely pale root beets and turnips baked with oliveoil, white wine and pieces of organic lemon and some baked fennel.
The puree is made by cutting the eggplants open and filled with a little rosemary and garlic before reassembling, rolled in foil and baked for app 40 minutes until very soft. Then the insides are scraped out (removing the garlic and rosemary) and mixed with a little olive oil, vinegar and s/p. A small splash of sauce from the meat and a little red wine. For this dish we serve a Grant Burge's Filsell 2000 Barossa Shiraz from old vines.

Before dessert we serve three small pieces of Danish cheeses, all of the dry kind. First a sheep/goat milk cheese from Knuthenborg, Fyn which is the mildest then a Høost and finally a Fyrmesterost which is, we were told, actually a Vesterhavsost that has matured longer. To go with the cheese we have made chips of very thin slices of rugbrød (pumpernickel) covered with a little butter before baking for 6 minutes at a 160° C. Furthermore a small splash of homemade rhubarb marmelade. The rugbrød is a little too fresh and moist which means that we cannot slice whole big slices but they smaller, uneven slices are just as tasty, nevertheless. For this a glass of Rio Viejo Olorosso sherry from Lüstau.

For dessert it is time for Chocolate fondant with a sorbet made from elderflower and on top some fresh raspberries.
The fondant is made from (4 servings): 100 gr dark chocolate (70%), 100 gr unsalted butter, 1 dl sugar, 3/4 dl flour, 2 whole eggs, 2 yolks. Melt the butter, chocolate and sugar in a bain marie (as cool as possible). Add the eggs and flour. Stir. Pour in suitable tins. Preferably single ones. Not like the ones we used in this photo! Put in refrigerator. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 200°C.
The sorbet is made from 6 dl. frozen dark elderflower syrup/concentrate mixed with water to a suitable sweetness. The mix should still be half frozen. Zest and juice from a lime is added. 3 egg whites are whipped and mixed. Put in freezer. If you don't have an ice cream machine, stir every now and then to get the best texture. (One kitchen appliance, we don't have – yet).
This is our most difficult serving as getting the chocolate fondant out of their baking tins take some time and so when we get the last one out and come into sit with our guests, some have already eaten theirs and asks for seconds, but alas, we have no more! Makes us wonder if we made too little food....
This is served with a glass of 2005 Chateau de Rayne Vigneau, 1er Gand Cru Sauternes.

Our big-city-kitchen is very small and does not posses a dishwasher, so we are grateful for all our guests who might not have been prepared for this kind of dinner party where everyone was made to work for their food, either as kitchen help, serving or dish washers. Which they very willingly did. THANKS!

A Monday Celebration

Today calls for a small celebration despite it being Monday. We often find something to celebrate. Even though it's going to be late, T sets out to make Osso Buco Milanese and Risotto allo Zafferano. The soffreto is of the known kind:
2 chopped (red) onions
2 chopped celery stalks
2 chopped carrots
3 chopped cloves of garlic
and then some fresh herbs: thyme, rosemary and sage.

The meat is browned first and the soffreto is fried in the left over. Afterwards a small can of concentrated tomato paste is fried with the soffreto and then the meat is added along with a bottle of various wine left-overs. Add ½ liter of beef stock and then let it simmer for 3 hours. A trick that K has learned from Jamie Oliver (well, not personally) is to make a lid of baking paper and after draining it in water to put that over the dish while it simmers. The advantage of this approach is that it keeps the steam with the meat and you therefore don't need to turn and drip to keep it moist and juicy. T is a quick learner so he has adopted this as well. On top of this we add 3 de-seeded chopped tomatoes.

When K arrives she helps with the finishing touches, i.e. grating the parmesan for the risotto and skim off some of the fat and, of course, to arrange the dishes. Never send a man to do a woman's job.

In the meantime we make the risotto. Take a small sauce pan. Heat some butter and fry one finely chopped shallot. Add rice (on this occasion, Aborio) and let them fry until they become transparent (should be 2-3 minutes), but not burned. Pour a glass of dry white wine in and also some saffron (what can be held between thumb and index finger). Stir regularly and then add ½ liter of  chicken stock in small amounts. This should take about 25 minutes, but you should start tasting in the last 5 minutes to make sure that the rice is al dente. With regards to texture: We prefer it a little runny (and so should you). This means that a little extra stock may be required (or just some water). When ready add a handful of grated parmesan and remember that this will actually make the texture less runny so take that into account when you determine "the runniness" before you add the parmesan.

The finishing touch, which is of big importance, is the Gremolata. Chop parsley, a couple of cloves of garlic and some lemon zest together and sprinkle on top.

The result today is marvelous. It is a favorite dish of T in particular and this was an especially successful version and therefore it gets a 9/10. With it we selected a Barbaresco Albesani 2006 from Franco Rocca which was decanted and chilled on the porch to 16 degrees. It was wonderful, 8,3/10 and the combination was even better 9,3/10

Take-away, Part 2 – Homemade take-away

It's getting a bit late and the kids need to get dinner. This situation has called for Thai take-away on other occasions and so we seem destined. However, K is running a bit late and T decides to shop for Thai food - we must be able to make it just as quickly as they are at the local Thai restaurant... or so we think.
We start by roasting a piece of roast beef and in the meantime we prepare vegetables:

Half a stalk of lemongrass
5 sprigs of spring onions
A small handful of ginger cut into small stalks
A red chili - half of it de-seeded
When the roast is ready, cut thin slices and then again cut them in half so the pieces become more easily edible. In the meantime heat up a wok with a little sesame oil. When hot add the vegetables and fry for a little while then add soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, a bit of honey and lime juice. In the end add some green salad (this is inspired by the Thai salads) and some pieces of lemon for decoration and to add more lime juice for those who want that. Serve with rice and sprinkle with chopped coriander.

We discussed some time what to drink. T favors white and suggests a Sauvignon Blanc, while K thinks red is OK, for instance a fruity and fairly chilled red. In the end, T gets his will and we select an Amayna Sauvignon Blanc 2009 from Chile. This works out quite nicely with the food and we rate it as 8/10 with it. The food itself is also nice, but we cannot get more than 7,5/10 Today. Next time, we will not de-seed any of the cilli, will add some roasted sesame seeds, and also a small red onion cut into small pieces and added raw after the dish has been taken off the heat.

Chateauneuf-du-Pape

T's wine collection and knowledge of Chateauneuf du Pape is sadly lacking and this we now set out to address. We arrive at Hotel Le Sommellerie just outside the village. Because of the late hour we go to the hotel's restaurant, but this time with the help of the Michelin guide we feel assured that this may not be a bad choice and we are not disappointed.

Since our lunch in Collioure was rather overwhelming we settle for just one course. K has the truffled fillet de beouf and T has lamb in two different fashions - braised shoulder of lamb and lamb rack. The lamb rack is just slightly overdone, but the shoulder is very nice and overall with the salted eggplant base this was very delicious indeed.



K's dish had suggested white summer truffles. There were none, but still it were plenty of black truffles. It was very well prepared, but K could not help but feel disappointed. But the wine...

If K was to name her favorite wine, the Chateau Beaucastel might not reach the top spot . That is reserved for a very special wine that we hope soon to enter this blog. But it will op in the top 5, T gathers, so we order the 2001 Chateau Beaucastel. This is an exceptional wine that will mature for many years from now. Today it is a very complex wine with notes of fennel seeds, lilies and hints of cow shed and also some notes that were delightful, but that we can't really place. In the mouth were much of the same tastes as were suggested in its nose, but also significantly black pepper that we later learnt came from the combination of Grenache and Syrah. Remarkably the bouquet was the even more impressive than the taste.

Next day we set out for some serious wine tourism. The rain somehow stayed behind us and though it is windy and a full 10 degrees cooler it is nevertheless splendid weather in Chateauneuf du Pape. The weather apps on our smartphones speaks of rain in Chateauneuf du Pape, but as K remarks this is the best rainy day we ever had. We get to taste a lot of the wines of Chateauneuf du Pape and also do some research of what we would like to bring home. Unfortunately after all our hard work we are unable to buy what we had decided upon. One producer has decided that obscurity is the best protection against the likes of us and a second has sold all their 2009 Chateauneuf du Pape. Nevertheless we agree hat we have had great day and of course we also get something to eat.

Lunch is eaten in the center of the village. T has a grilled entrecote that thanks to our visit to Margaux is now correctly ordered as a point.

K has Le Plat du jour, which T thinks was chicken which it is, but this as part of seafood stew. Crevette bisque laced with curry. And the mix quite delightful.
Nevertheless, T has ordered a 2009 Domaine Conositère. This is served chilled and despite its young age it is still very drinkable adding to an excellent lunch.

In the evening we again visit the hotel restaurant and this time we ordered the menu traditionel, which means we can choose between two dishes for both entrees, main course and dessert.

K has a flan of eggplant and T has eggplant with chevre chaud and eggplant (yes, we did get a lot of eggplant on this visit but this was very much to our liking). T's dish was great, whereas K's was a bit too cold and properly also a little uninteresting.

With this we shared a half-bottle of white Chateau Mont-Redon 2010. Apart from the label of the bottle which was very flashy and colorful this was an excellent choice and unfortunately for us the half-bottle is a little too small.

The main course was guinea fowl on a base of green olives and zucchini. The meat was very well cooked, tender and juicy. With this we had a bottle of 2001 Clos Mont-Olivet. Compared to the Beaucastel of the previous evening this was a much more mature wine, but not with the same complexity. Nevertheless it was extremely enjoyable.

For dessert T had a chocolate fondant with red berries and K had dome of strawberries (strawberry mousse) with a thin sheet of chocolate. T who has not eaten that much dessert in his life even if it doesn't show expressed that from now on he would only have chocolate fondant for dessert. K assured him that even though it was good she had tasted better, This we will have to examine in the not-too-distant-future. For now it is a goodbye to a couple of enjoyable days in Chateauneuf du Pape that had us forget that we are now heading homewards, save for one last stop...