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!

Bridge with the Brothers

Every second month or so, T plays bridge with his two brothers and their childhood friend. Tonight is such a night and this normally calls for something that can simmer while they are playing. This time we opt for braised veal tail with polenta and a green salad.
The kids and two of their cousins make up a party of 9 people and the portions are made accordingly.

3,5 kilos of tails are browned first whereafter a soffreto of three red onions, 5 cloves of garlic, 3 stalks of celery and 4 carrots are fried with thyme, sage and bay leaves.

When fried a small tin of tomato paste is added and fried a little.
After 5 minutes all the browned pieces of veal tail are put back in the pot and 1 liter of beef stock as well as 1,5 bottle of (left-over) red wine is added and the pot is almost ready to be left simmering for 3 hours.

Before that the, by now customary, lid of baking paper is placed on top.
The tails contain much fat from both the marrow and the meat and a lot of starch from the bones which means that fat and starch can and should be skimmed off after the 3 hours of simmering.
Skim, remove the meat, skim again, cook down and skim and finally blend so that the vegetables are used for thickening the sauce. Add s/p and perhaps a bit of acid like balsamico. When finished return the meat and let it heat up while making the polenta.
The polenta is not a favorite with everyone in the company. Some would have preferred mashed potatoes, but the fact is that polenta is selected for how easy it is to make and as such making it is well suited for a night where we hope to focus on playing bridge. Actually that is a lame excuse as K is exiled in the kitchen while the men pursue the noble game. But, at least, that was what was planned..

For the polenta use 600 grams of coarse-grained corn flour and 0,75 liter of boiling water and mix over the stove. When cooked (after app. 5 minutes) add some grated parmesan and butter. The veal tails are very successful and we think it is a 8,5/10, but our guests might differ due to the polenta. But there is no arguing that the tails are a huge success.

A lot of wine is tried tonight and some goes better with the than others:
Poggio Valente 2007 Morellino di Scansano
Casanuova 2004 Chianti Classico Riserva
Waterbrook Shiraz 2006
Killikanoon The Covenant 2005
K thinks that the fruity shiraz'es are totally wrong with the intense taste of the braised sauce and T would normally concede but by this time his tasting buds have lost some of their edge. K's argument is that this extremely rich dish needs the acidity and bitterness from for instance the Sangiovese and insists on staying with the Chianti.

For dessert K prepares an apple-blueberry crumble.
6 large apples, 150 gr blueberries. These apples were kindly given to us by K's sister from her garden. Nice spicy cooking apples – a bit on the sour side but great for this dish.
For the crumble: 2 dl of flour, a good handful of almond 'flour' (almonds crushed to flour in the blender), 2 dl of sugar, 200 gr butter, a good handful of oatmeal. All mixed to a crumble.

The fruit is put in an ovenproof dish. Muscovado-sugar and cinnamon is sprinkled on top and finally the crumble is spread all over.
30 min. in the oven at 200°C. Served on this occasion with sour cream, but it may have been even better with whipped cream. 8,2/10

Leftover but not left out

We ate almost all the osso buco but some sugo (gravy) and little pieces of veal were left in the pot. The perfect base for pasta al sugo. And as always with braised dishes, it tastes even better the following days: Not much work in that – cook the pasta, heat the sugo, sprinkle some parmesan and a few leaves of basil. Primo – Basta! It doesn't get much better. 8,5/10
A glass of Echeverria Chardonnay 2005 on the side completes the dish.

For secondo we make (whole) chicken breast on the bone with fried potatoes and insalata mista (green salad).
Rosemary and s/p is put under the chicken skin.
The chicken is browned in a pan and put in the oven at 170° for about 30 min with pieces of lemon.
Organic chicken tend to need longer time at lower temperature than the 'industrial' chicken.
They live longer, have better lives and taste better.

Potatoes cut in pieces of choice and cooked in a pan with a small dash of olive oil, herbs, s/p. 7,7/10

To this dish we drank a very nice Grant Burge Filsell old vine Shiraz 2000. 8/10.
Good, mature wine – lousy mix. 6,5/10

Sorry for the unsharp photos. Winter is approaching and daylight is rapidly vanishing. The blitz outshines all details and we're practicing steady hands but are not yet there – as you can see.

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...

The ferry

Today we start our vacation that will take us to various wine capitals of Europe. But first we have to drive a long way to get there. The first day we take the ferry between Denmark and Germany and even though this provides us with time for dinner we are apprehensive to the extent that T suggests that we stop for a drive-in burger instead.
K talks him to (a little more) reason and we get to the ferry. To our pleasant surprise there are only two other guests in the Steaks and Seafood restaurant and that leaves time for the good humored waiter to chat a bit with us and he recommends the veal medaillon. We accept his recommendation and have a glass of Brown Brothers Shiraz with it. Not because this strikes as the best wine to accompany the veal, but because of the wine lists 3 wines this seems the lesser evil.

The result is very positive. the veal is good and well prepared. Cooked to near perfection and nice and tender. The salad bar is reasonably fresh. The potatoes come in two varieties (french fries or the Danish specialty – potatoes baked in cream) and neither of them made within the last couple of hours. Three sauces are offered: a bernaise look-a-like, a brown thick gravy and one more .... probably whiskey sauce. we try the bearnaise, but quickly abandon this sauce as well. But never the less: The dinner at Prins Richard, sailing Rødby-Puttgarden, was actually satisfying ... and good. We had expected to give this meal a harsh review, but as it is we will just give the waiter and the veal a fully deserved 9/10

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

The 6-year birthday

Today we go to celebrate the 6th birthday of the daughter of our good friends. Lots of snacks and wine which we get around to taste and then some Pizza. Here are the wines as we recall them.







Chivite Chadonnay 7/10
[A Riesling special cuvée, but unclear] 6/10

The Mentor 2005, Peter Lehmann 8/10
Catena Alta, Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 7,5/10
Kalleskie Grenache 8,5/10

Kalimna Shiraz (Penfolds BIN 128) 7/10
J J Hahn Nineteen Fourteen Shiraz 8,5/10
Bishop by Ben Glaetzer (Shiraz) 7,5/10

Finally a magnum bottle of Il Caberlot 2003 from Podere Il Carnasciale was opened, but unfortunately it was corked. Bugger!

NPG Festival

Saturday we went to 10øren which was the scene of Prince's NPG festival (New Power Generation). Initially this was to be a Prince concert, but it was turned into a festival with more than one artist that we would (and have) seen separately in concert.

PRINCE (Support: Larry Graham) (On stage 21.00)

CHAKA KHAN (On stage 19.00)

RAPHAEL SAADIQ (On stage 17.20)

PALOMA FAITH (On stage 15.40)

NIKKA COSTA (On stage 14.00)

His Purpleness.

After a long day with lots of excellent performances and superb music the day ended rather abruptly when the sky opened, rain poured and lightening boomed – not the purple kind – and the concert was cut short after ca 90 min. Larry Graham only played for a very short while. But what 90 minutes! Gold, Not like I love my guitar, cover numbers, Let's work from Controversy amo.... And before the real rain it actually rained purple silk.

Ms Chaka Khan

The great Raphael Saadiq. Even better than the concert in Vega not too long ago. He is absolutely, fundamentally great!

Festival food and beer (1,5/10). Frankfurter  sausages. Too late we discovered the Gourmet sausage offering, which was two sausages (one chorizo type and one with Thyme, I think)

Festival dinner, Durum roll (1,5/10) and still water. (Three beers in one day means that T has had enough of beer for months to come)

Music 10/10

drink 2/10

food 3/10

all'n all 12/10

Finally home, soaked from head to toe, ready for a snack; Vesterhavsost (Danish regional cheese) and a Two Hand Shiraz, Max's Garden 2006. Ahhhhhhhh

The Vesterhavsost, we had at AOC about a year ago (another great CPH restaurant). They served it grated, blended with olive oil and white summer truffles and toasted rugbrød (pumpernickel) and served a glass of sherry. It was sooo good that T actually ordered a second serving for the table.

The Bearnaise Challenge

Alas, we do not comment on meals by friends, and we will not, except to state the unacceptable truth: K cannot get the sauce bearnaise right.... This time it never thickened.
The one thing K was asked to help with – at an otherwise great setup – and she failed.



T was given the less challenging task of picking tomatoes, which he still seemed to have problems solving.

Expect a lot more Bearnaise on these pages in the future – until we get it right. And eventually also a long line of low fat meals ....

Even if we do not rate meals when we are invited as guests, let us suffice to say that it was excellent and the wine that we brought ourselves was:
A bottle of Meursault (8/10) which we enjoyed with K's Aioli and with the dinner we drank a Casalferro 2001 from Ricasoli (8,5/10) and a Stonewell 2004 Shiraz from Lehmann (8/10)