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.

TGIF

It's Friday evening and T picks up MK and is planning for Lasagne. MK and T enter Irma and take stock of the situation when T changes his mind. It is, after all, only Friday once a week and so he shops for something a little more special.
K who is severely tested by the train schedule and the winter arrives somewhat late at the station but she is rewarded with a specialty that both she and T love – foie gras. It is served with some toasted dark bread (Irma's Lantz) and some green tomato relish and pickled plumes. With this we have a bottle of Gewürtztraminer 2010 from Hugel & Fils. Always nice.
After this we prepare the main course: Sirloin roast of veal with morel sauce and potatoes that T has tried somewhere, but the name eludes us.
The potatoes are cut into very thin slices and arranged in layers in a small baking cup with shallots and chopped garlic. A little butter and a few spoonful of chicken stock is added and on top some gruyere cheese. Then baked in a an oven at 170 degrees for approx. 30 minutes.
We also prepare a salad made of thinly sliced fennel. This you may have seen before around here, but it is a favourite of ours, so it will not be the last time. The fennel salad is tossed with oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper and thin shavings of parmesan cheese right before serving.
In the meantime the sirloin roast is fried in a deep pan. When brown on all sides some leftover red wine is added (well quite a bit, actually as it is drastically reduced for the sauce). In the end the roast is taken out and set aside to rest a little while and we then add the morels and in the end also a handsome portion of butter.

The result if very satisfying. MK states that it is just like eating at a fancy restaurant. That makes us very proud at least until she explains that it is because of the way that the potatoes are served and not necessarily because how it tastes. But it tastes very well and in particlar with the wine that we select for this evening – a 1997 St Esthephe – Moulin de Pez. We rate the wine as 9/10, the wine the same and together 9,1/10 :-)

Thai Noodles

Thai food is often subject to take-away for us. That is of course a bit lazy, but sometimes it's getting late and sometimes we would like something more spicy than the kids can stomach. In the latter case it is well managed by ordering take-away so everyone gets what they desire. Normally that means sweet and sour chicken for the kids and a hot beef salad for the grownups. That is not was this post is about, but more like an explanation why it is sometimes OK to do take-away. And Thai take away can be quite good.
Today we set out for making it ourselves. This is a quick dish to make.

For 4 persons: (First put on a pot with water for egg noodles)

500 grams of chicken breast cut into thin slices.
100 grams of brussels sprouts
100 grams of mini corn
100 grams of sugar peas
200 gr mushrooms
garlic
onion
1 de-seeded chilli, finely chopped (this is the mild version)
The chicken is fried at a high temperature. When done (or even, as we did, use two separate pans) heat oil and fry the onion, chili and garlic and the add the peas and corn. Mix the chicken in and add some chicken stock and maybe a little white wine. Finish with some sesame oil,  fish sauce and lemon (or lime). In the meantime the water should have reached boiling point and the egg noodles should be about ready.
Mix it all and serve.
We had an Australian Riesling, Knappstein Winery 2008. Both food and wine and matching turned out to our liking 7,5/10

Pasta ai frutti di mare

Winter is here and even if it not as cold as it can be, it still feels a long way from Italy... one of our favourite places to be. Alas, we have one small way of consoling ourselves until next time. Italian food and wine! Today we go to the small village, Hornbæk, that was once a fisherman's village, but by now is one of the better summer resorts for the Danes. Still, there is a fishmonger on the harbour. The harbour no longer has any fishing boats and the fishmonger, we suspect, gets all his commodities from Copenhagen. We pick up some venus clams and since we already have langostini and mussels we are all set for a great dish of seafood pasta, or as they say in Italy, Spaghetti ai frutti di mare.

It is the easiest thing to make:

Briefly fry some finely chopped shallots, garlic and one de-seeded chilli in olive oil. Add a tin of peeled tomatoes and let it simmer until the onions soften. Add a couple of glasses of whitewine.

In the meantime you should be boiling the pasta - for this dish linguini is better. When the pasta is 5 minutes from done add your seafood. For us (4 persons) it was one langostini per person, two handfulls of mussels and 600 gr of venus clams. (Sorry about the different measures, but some of it was bought and split the night before - see Jambalaya). Put a lid on and let it cook/steam for 5 minutes. When the pasta is ready mix it altogether with some chopped parsley and serve.
Today we again try the Toledana Gavi di Gavi and it is very good. If you are a regular reader you may recall us mentioning it earlier. The thing is, we bought a case of them and we liked it very much. That has led us to try it out with different dishes, but this  time it is perfect.

Performance Anxiety

Like everybody else we have dishes we like and repeat now and again. Since starting our blog it has become a challenge to think up something new each day. If you think our posts have become less frequent then that is indeed the case, but please bear with us as we strain for something new and interesting to write about on days when we are not into big experiments.

Indeed the pressure of it hit T the other day. He went out shopping alone and was overcome with performance anxiety. Indeed he longed for the old days when he could decide for something he felt like. On this occasion he needed to consider if it was novel to the blog, if both he, K and also the kids would like it... and of course, what to drink with it. I hope you appreciate how challenging all this blogging has become.
Well, enough of excuses. T found some mussels and some langostini and then decided on Jambalaya. Actually, T's knowledge of this dish is solely second-hand, as he had this at an old acquaintance, so you may disagree with the recipe (even though this is also originally a left-over dish, and as such difficult to define what the original version is).

Home again and both K and all kids picked up, we bring forth our brand new christmas present – a Le Creuset Cast Iron casserole. Vegetables are fried: (red and yellow capsicum), onions, garlic a de-seeded chilli. After this we put in a sliced chorizo sausage – a Danish version from Aalbæk slagteren with Jalapeño. This is fried together with cubes of chicken (breast). When fried, two tins of peeled tomatoes and ½l of chicken stock are added. When it has reached a boiling level 300 grams of Aborio risotto rice are added and the we let it simmer for 20 minutes. Remember to stir as the rice will otherwise burn or just stick together – neither of which is very pleasant. After the 20 minutes we put some langostini and 3 handful of mussels in there and put a lid on so they will not only cook, but also let the steam work. Also a couple of handfuls of mini corn are tossed into the mix.

And that's it!

This was not a dish where we could easily tell what to drink with it. We consulted various experts. The choice ended up to between Riesling and Zinfandel! In the end we decided to go with Hugh Johnson and the Stawa 2005 Old Vines Zinfandel and we didn't regret it.

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.