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

Beaucastel

A couple of days ago we were invited to the opening of the new wine center of Vinoble/Østjysk Vinforsyning in Krystalgade Copenhagen. It is an impressive center now with much more space for the shop and offices. Furthermore important additions have been made in the form of tasting room and of course just more room for the exhibition area.
There is much to tempt us, but as happens more and more often, we go into the "treasury". This area in a wine shop is where private owners have placed their wines for the shop to sell on with commission. On this occasion we simply have to buy a bottle of Chateau Beaucastel 2009. We know it will be child murder as we say in Denmark, but nevertheless...

We start the dinner with a little foie gras. This we have with some toasted dark bread and pickled plums and pickled green tomatoes. We try the Puligny Montrachet 2007 from Joseph Drouhin. It is very good 8,8/10 even if often prefer something more sweet with foie gras, e.g. Gewürtztraminer or even sauternes.

For the main course we have prepared a veal 'culotte' and on the side a small serving of potatoes thinky sliced and packed with shallots, chicken fond and some gruyere cheese. We also make some ratatouille of red onions, garlic, eggplant, red peppers and salted capers.
But of course, tonight it is the wine that plays the leading role and it does so very nicely. Despite its young age, it is still a complex and readily drinkable wine. That is not to say that we wouldn't like to have it again in 10-15 years, but that will have to wait. 9,4/10

Dinner with friends

It's time for having friends over for dinner. Not that this happens seldomly. It's just such a good occasion to try out more than a single bottle of wine (or two as it sometimes happens). Tonight we try out a whole lot.
T has decided that we shall have some white Hermitage and for this a lobster bisque seems like a good choice. Secondly we will have some Lamb, as this will allow us to select som wine together with our friends. Our friends brings delicious cheeses which also calls for some wine and in the end a little desert should also provide an opportunity for a glass of wine.
Since it is Friday we are a bit stressed, so our friends have to put up with us being a bit disorganized and very informal. They are placed the at the kitchen table (and are even doing dishes from our initial preparations) and are served some tapenade with toasted bread. With this we have a glass of champagne from Debas-Comin. (Un)fortunately, we are not even close to having the first course when the champagne runs dry, but this gives K an opportunity to serve a glass of Meursault that she tried on her own some time ago and which she is understandably quite fond of. The Meursault Les Charmes, Domaine Chavy-Chouet, 2010 is very good, full and buttery and the acidity is very well integrated in the young 2010 vintage. In the meantime...

For the bisque, which is a quick friday-version, we have started a vegetable fond by frying carrot, parsnip, garlic, onion, leeks, (one small) Jerusalem artichoke and a few fresh tomatoes, one chili, adding white wine, white pepper and letting it steam off the alcohol and then pouring water on top and let it simmer for an hour. The bisque tonight is made of Norway lobsters. The meat is taken out of the lobster tails. Then the claws, heads and empty tails are fried on a hot pan. Next a generous measure of what should have been cognac, but on this occasion was rum was added and ignited. This caused quite some panic as one of the guests is on the verge of fleeing the apartment. The pan is withdrawn from the stove, the fire subsided and the fleeing guest is calmed with another glass of Meursault. We’re sorry that we did not think of taking pictures of the scene.
Next the vegetable fond, which has been sieved and the vegetables discarded, is poured over the lobsters and is left to simmer for 10 minutes, then about 1 dl of cream is added and simmers until thickening. In the meantime large scallops are fried hard and short and are placed in the bowls along with the lobster meat and the bisque is poured on top.
We are very happy with the result and together with the 2001 Chave Hermitage Blanc we are mildly exuberant. 9,4/10.

The main course is a leg of lamb arranged on root vegetables – potatoes, carrots, beet roots and of course some fresh, crisp fennel. The lamb itself is prepared with a marinate of oil, anchovies, fennel seeds, garlic, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper.
It goes in the oven at 180°C for a good hour and then it is simply ready to go and delicious.

Our friends may have a slight preference for Chateauneuf du Pape (but have on other occasions agreed to most of what we serve for them), so when given the choice the outcome seems inevitable, as T is also very much partial to such a selection on this evening. We try out the 2008 Vieux Telegraphe and also a 2008 La Roquète. This is not as good a year as most of the recent vintages in Chateauneuf du Pape, but it is still very much to our liking. 3 prefer the Vieux Telegraphe and 2 actually prefer the less well known La Roquete.
Our guests have brought cheese – Epoisse, of course, Langre, which is a bit similar and in the end a Roquefort. This calls for a little variety, we think so, we start out with a bottle of Tasman Bay Pinot Noir 2008 and then when getting to the blue cheese we turn to an Australian Port from Kalleske, which we tasted during our trip to London. Unfortunately it is corked and so we have to open a bottle of Ortiz Port.
Actually, one of our guests suggests that the Langre should be accompanied by some Calvados and so this has to be tried out also. Alas, T is feeling sleepiness approach and so it is just our guest and K who embarks on the Calva experiment.
This port  also goes well with our small dessert – apple crumble with whipped cream. The apple crumble is on this occasion made only with apples and made in portion sizes.

Leftover grease

December has been a month of plenty – and some of the plenty can make a January dinner into a feast. The christmas duck has left a huge bowl full of wonderful, rich grease to be used for a round of confit de canard. We gratefully thank Gastromand for the inspiration.

Day 1: Duck legs are thoroughly rubbed with a mix of 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, zest of one lemon, rosemary, garlic, and pepper. Leave in the fridge for 24-36 hours.

Day 2 (and a half): rinse off the spices from the meat and put in a pan and cover with the fat. Cook at low temperature for 3-6 hours under lid.

Put the legs in a clean bowl or glass. Cover with the fat and put in the fridge. After 1-2 days the legs can be used. Remove from the container, heat on a pan or in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Eat with for instance mashed potatoes and a salad.

We also try to make a blend of greek youghurt (10%), grated horse radish, lemon zest and a pinch of salt. It tastes delicious – indeed so that we have it with some slices of bread since we by now have come to the very last drumstick.

It is not as fat and unhealthy as one might expect. The confit-method is an old way of preserving different kinds of meat. It keeps well as long as it is covered in fat and it tastes wonderful. Most of the fat melts right off the meat when it is re-heated, leaving just juicy, tender duck on your plate.
We generally try some grenache with the confit de canard, both from Chateauneuf du Pape – Reine Jeanne 2009 from Ogier and also from Priorat - Finca del Puig 2003. It tastes well, but maybe we should have tried some Pinot Noir instead. Oh, well. That'll be next year... if not sooner.

Bistro Nord

Living in Elsinore (Helsingør) as T does means that there are not that many options for dining out (if you are T, that is). One place has delivered gourmet food consistently despite change of owners. Today this is Bistro Nord. Earlier the restaurant on Strandvejen in Ålsgårde was managed by the famous Danish chef, Jan Hurtigkarl who has since opened another very good restaurant, Mielcke og Hurtigkarl in Frederiksberg (Copenhagen). T has on more than one occasion visited the restaurant under its former owner, but hasn't tried out the new one. It has received splendid reviews and so we set out to test it.

We are placed on what was once the porch, but is now covered by a roof, but still maintaining the great view towards Sweden with the sea of Kattegat to separate us. On this evening it has turned dark a long time ago, but a nearly full moon shines icily over the sea and though attempts to take photos of the scene fail it still is quite beautiful. It has to be said that, even though it is covered it is still rather cold to sit on the porch, which they of course know at Bistro Nord, so they have put a blanket on the backs of the chairs.

We have pre-ordered a 4-course menu which includes a glass of champagne for an aperitif. The waitress, who we find to be extremely pleasant and knowledgable during the evening, has no difficulty persuading us to have a small starter with the champagne. We also suspect that the waitress is in fact also one of the two general managers, but that does not affect our opinion that we got excellent service this evening. K has two oysters – one from Bretagne and one from Limfjorden (Denmark). They are both served fresh with a little bit of tomato/vinegar/tabasco sauce on the side. It was a nice touch to try them next to one another and patriotic as we are, we found the Danish oyster to be the better one (in fact it was also much bigger than its French counterpart).

T had caviar on citruscreme and crisp flakes of Jerusalem artichoke. The caviar was in fact a combination of both caviar and salmon roe, but still quite nice. Maybe the citruscreme was a bit too dominant, but still quite good.

First course was Sig roe (Sorry no known English name for that fish, but the nice waitress told us that it was a fish related to cod and that it lived primarily south of Fyn). This was served on a blinis with a dill mayo, croutons and Vesterhavsost (which, of course, is a favourite of both K and T). Very good.

Oftentimes we choose to go with the wine menu that a restaurant like this suggests. We trust them to come with good suggestions and also this is a way to broaden our horizon and taste something other than what we would choose ourselves. Today, however, we think that the wine list looks good. It is not that extensive, but what they have looks good and furthermore, it seems to us as if the markup is not too big. The thing with buying wine at restaurants in Denmark is that you can easily pay 3 times the retail price fore a bottle of wine. That is rather tiresome. On the other hand it means that when we dine abroad we often find the wines quite affordable. We do revise that point of view when we return home and add up the sums spent on wine. We ask the waitress to suggest something and we select a bottle of Beaune 1er Cru “Clos de La Feguine” 2006 from Jacques Prieur and for later a bottle of Chateau la Nerthe 2007 Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Just to give an idea about prices we later check up and find that the Beaune, which we pay 615 DKK for can be bought in retail in Denmark for 368 DKK, which of course makes the mark-up much better than what is the norm in Denmark. Of course Danish prices are in themselves much higher than the rest of the world with the possible exception of Norway and Sweden.

Well, back to the dinner. Next we have fried scallops with spinach and cauliflower and browned butter. Again, this was very good and we did not regret our wine selection.

The main course was filet of beef with caramelized celery, Brussels sprouts and truffles from Gotland. This is delicious and, naturally, cooked perfectly. The  Chateau la Nerthe goes well along with the beef and is s great drink now. Rich in fruit and the tannins are smooth.

We are not quite ready for dessert and so ask for a plate of cheese. This was probably a mistake. The plate contained an assortment of Danish cheeses, høost, vesterhavsost and Blå Kornblomst. All good cheeses that we would, and indeed have served ourselves on occasion. The problem was in the variety. The first two are dry cow milk cheeses and would perhaps go well with a glass of dry white wine or sherry, whereas the the latter, blue cheese would be better with a glass of sweet (dessert) wine. That problem could of course be remedied and indeed our excellent waitress came with a glass of Eiswein. Unfortunately, the damage had been done and we were not quite content. T has come to the conclusion that he does not enjoy a cheese plate with very different cheeses. The correct way to eat them, is  in order of strenth of taste. But when served like this, T would have preferred one type of cheese with one glass of wine. The blue cheese is very rich and thereby the contrast between cheeses become to strong.

We come to the dessert, which is "Buckthorn and white chocolate", which is a an ice cream made with the berries from buckthorn bush. It is quite good  and we have the aforementioned glass of Eiswein with it.

After a cup of espresso we are ready to leave. Despite being the first to come we are almost the last to leave. It has been a great dinner and is a commendable restaurant, when you are in the north of Zealand (Sjælland). K, the city girl, does not on this occasion talk about as the "outskirts of Denmark" (Udkantsdanmark)  All in all 8,5/10

Lamb and eggplant

T coming back from Paris is definitely worth celebrating which we do again tonight. First a little crostini with tuna, tomatoes, garlic and herbs – actually an attempt to recreate something that T had seen in Paris, but somehow it turned out italian instead.

For secondo lamb (culotte – upper thigh), marinated in olive oil, lemon, garlic and rosemary, roasted in the oven on top of eggplant, bell pepper, onion, fennel and more lemon. First the diced vegetables went in the oven at 190° for about 30 minutes, then the lamb was put on top and got another 30 minutes.

By now – if you have read through just a few of these pages – it should be obvious that K has a thing for lemon. And on this occasion she may have gone a bit overboard. Some mouthfuls were a bit on the bitter side (from the white part of the zest). But all'n'all it turned out good. 8/10
With it we had a bottle of Chateau La Gardine 2006 Chateauneuf-du-Pape, which was a good idea. Maybe not Chateayneuf at its best, but still good glass of wine 7,5/10 and together 8/10

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.

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...