Sunday 25 November 2012

ABC

On some occasions we have come across the saying, “Anything but Chardonnay”. Abbreviated that is ABC. A close examination (well, maybe not really very close) of our sidebar index reveals that this is not an idea that we subscribe to. We love chardonnay. But more than that, we believe that different dishes calls for different wines. If you are tired of chardonnay, it is probably because you either had it too much (and therefore to some wrong dishes) or it is because you have had some bad chardonnay. Any grape can be be treated poorly, we guess, and produce poor wines. By the way, ABC could also be used for Anything but Cabernet, but we remain firm against such a point of view.
In T's home, ABC has taken on another meaning. After MK's birthday we have a surplus of parsnips and carrots and so we think that a Lemon chicken could be a good idea. M disagrees. Actually, M has become quite adverse to chicken and so when we ask him, what we should prepare for dinner, he answers, “Anything but chicken” – ABC!
Equipped with this requirement we go to Irma to find something to go with our vegetables. Luckily we are in luck as we find some cheeks of veal, which satisfy us.
Back in the kitchen we set out to prepare braised veal cheeks.

4-500 gr veal cheeks
3 whole fennels
0,5 kg small turnips
2 shallots
5 cloves of garlic
1 deseeded chili
150 gr pancetta
1 glass of white wine
1 big glass of stock
fresh thyme, oregano etc
salt and pepper

Trim fat and tough tendons from cheeks and cut in big bite-size chunks.
Heat a pan and brown the pancetta, remove and use the pancetta-fat to brown the meat and vegetables. Don’t do this in one go, as the meat may start to boil instead of caramelizing. When finished add salt and pepper and herbs and pour the wine over and steam off, then the stock, cover and let simmer for 1,5 to 2 hours.

On the side we had a green-bitter salad with garlic-anchovies dressing and mashed potatoes:

Boil peeled potatoes to a very tender state (20 minutes). No salt added.
Sieve and mash with a bit of butter and salt and pepper.

With the dish we had an old acquaintance, the 2005 Cote de Nuits Village, which was just right to accompany the dish and so we make it 9/10 for both the dish and the combination.

Saturday 24 November 2012

The 8 year birthday

MK turned 8 earlier this month and Saturday it is time to celebrate with the big family. Having 18 for dinner in T's smallish flat is a test, but one that has been successfully passed on earlier occasions and is passed well yet again.
MK is a fickle girl when it comes to pasta. T assumes that what MK wants for her birthday dinner is pasta with homemade pesto for the primo. When T seeks to verify the menu for the evening he expects that it will be business as usual. But MK states that she wants pasta carbonara. Now, this is a problem for so many reasons. One of them being that K and T are not in agreement as to how carbonara should be made or even the very essence of the dish. As a consequence, T brushes aside the wishes of the birthday child and reinstates pesto as the primo of MKs birthday dinner. Incidentally, MK has done this before. For a whole year she would wish only for Spaghetti alle vongole, but on arriving in San Remo after a year away from Italy, she switched to pesto and that has been the preferred pasta dish for the last three years. That is until last Friday.
The pesto is made in the Ligurian style that we experienced this summer in Tellaro. The minor variation is that small cubes of potatoes are cooked with the pasta and served as part of the dish. They add a little sweetness to the dish.
The next dish is pork roast rubbed with fennel seeds served with baked parsnips, fennel, apple, potatoes and carrots. Since we posted this dish initially we have made a successful variation which we repeat today: Rather than adding wine (champagne) we substitute it with apple juice and water. This gives not only some acidity but also some sweetness. (again!)
Also we use another piece of the (organic) pork. Pork loin, wich requires about 2 hours in the oven. Thefore we also had to cook the meat and vegetables separately. The vegetables only need app. 1 hour. We added some of the good liquids from the roast about half way through.
The guests are pleasantly appreciative of the efforts and we are also rather content ourselves.
Serving wine for the big family cannot follow a strict plan, so wine is placed on the table in rapid succession. What we aim to do is to have something with a little acidity to handle the richness of the pork. So we try various chiantis. The Isola e Olena 2008 and 2009 are tasted. The 09 is preferred. It seems more balanced. Where the 08 is more fruity, the 09 is less so and has a note of lactic acid. We also try the Ser Lapo 09 from Mazzei. This is quite nice and rather different. The wine is more oaky from the maturing in oak casks.
In conclusion the chiantis do very well with the dish. Before that we have had some various whites:  Viognier from Pesquie and Chateau Ferran 2005 from Graves.
In the end it is time for the traditional birthday cake. In Denmark that is a layered cake (Lagkage). For this occasion we make to two types: The first has whipped cream mixed with raspberries and finely chopped dark chocolate. The other has cream mixed with banana and crushed macaroons.
The cakes are served accompanied by the singing of the traditional Danish birthday song and then comes the moment of truth: MK has to blow out the candles! Myth has it that the number of candles still burning signifies the number of boyfriends the birthday child has. Much to T's satisfaction, MK blows out all the candles.
The evening ends on the dance floor where children and adults are equally excited about the Wii dance contest. Even to the extent that commotion occurs due to the close quarters, but that cannot change the fact that this has been a successful birthday with big family.

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Barack Obama

With very short notice we invite a few guests to brunch on the morning after election day in the US. All the polls suggest a very tight race, so we are expecting a tense morning.
The guests have been invited for 06:00, but we don’t really expect them that early. Nevertheless we set the alarm for 05:45. When T tries to stop the alarm on his phone the first thing he sees is a news flash stating that Obama has won. So much for the excitement.
In stead we settle for celebrating Obama’s victory.
Photo © FineFinurlighed


(Unfortunately we only posses the Obama 08-streamer, but we feel equally supportive in the ’12 election, – hope you will forgive us)

To celebrate we fry some organic bacon from Irma and make an omelet with spinach, goat's cheese and mushrooms. Quite simply, three eggs are beaten, add some cold water, and salt and pepper. This is put on a hot pan with a splash of good olive oil. Immediately after putting it on the pan slices of goat's cheese are placed on the omelet and after that a generous handful of baby spinach (which have been rinsed and tumbled) are placed on top. The effect is that of a lid and will make the goat’s cheese melt nicely into the eggs. Before wrapping the omelet a handful of fried mushrooms are added.
Finally pineapple, cantaloupe and oranges are cut in bite-size and arranged on a plate.
Our guests bring bread and croissants. Then we only need some cheese and of course it is one of our favorites, Tirstrup Ost Kraftfuldt lagret. A Danish cow’s milk cheese. Also a Tomme de Savoir finds it way to the table. All of it is accompanied by Kenya AA coffee, freshly grounded and made on a Bodum coffee press. Our favorite coffee.
Rather than experiencing tension we celebrate and are moved and happy to see Obama back to his old oratorical form.

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Mushroom Season

Mushroom season is drawing to a close. We have been blessed this season and lately MK and her grandma' have contributed. It has for a long time been a tradition when first M and now MK have gone hunting for mushrooms in the woods while walking Eddie, the dog. Their grandmother knows many good spots and she is not revealing them to anybody but her grandchildren. The result is as always a fairly sized bag of various mushrooms. Primarily chanterelles, but also trompethatte and pigsvampe (Sorry, no translation for these Danish names. A visit to www.rogersmushrooms.com suggests that they are all part of the Chanterellus family).
Since these mushrooms are so fresh we show them deference and make crostini.. After 3 days of mushroom crostini even we think that it could be time for a change. We consider making a risotto, but MK protests. After some debating we go back to the crostini, but then MK decides that she would like risotto anyway. We decide to compromise and make the crostini and then a seafood risotto afterwards.
The crostini are accompanied by the excellent Bourgogne Chardonnay 2010 from Henri Boillot. Even if it is the entry wine from this producer it is still fairly expensive, but for a good reason. We love it and have to admit that we are now on the second case this year.
The risotto should be made with fresh seafood, but that was not possible this day in Elsinore. We have some blue mussels, some norwegian lobster and some prawns. All frozen.
First stock for the risotto: The heads and claws are cut from the lobsters and fried in a pot. After a minute or so they are covered with water and chicken stock. Some vegetables are added in big chunks – shallots, parsnips, garlic, herbs and it is brought to a low simmer.
The risotto-making is then commenced (always stir). Two small shallots are cut finely. These are then browned in a combination of melted butter and olive oil. After a minute Canaroli or Aborio rice are added. This is a heavy dish and even if it is your main course you should probably not use much more than 60-70 grams/person. After frying the rice for a little while (they should begin to look a little glassy) add some white wine (one glass for each 3 persons). Always stir. Then the long process of adding stock and stirring proceeds. We use a ladle to get the boiling stock and add it to the risotto. This will take some time and you may tire in your arm. MK did.
In the meantime the remaining lobster tails have been split and they are now fried on a hot pan. The mussels get the same treatment. They will produce some juices and we add them to our risotto as supplement to the stock.
Determining when the risotto is finished is the subject of conversation afterwards at the table. Luckily T and K agree that the risotto should be fairly runny and the rice shall have some bite. Therefore a fair amount of stock is added in the end before adding a generous handful of grated parmesan cheese and finally the prawns are added so they will just cook for the last 30 seconds. The lobsters and mussels are arranged on top.
With this we have the Bastianich Plus 2007 from Friuli. Also a wine that we have enjoyed much, but we are now down to one bottle and that is OK, as we feel it is beginning to show its age.
By the way, M produced the opposing opinion that the risotto should be less runny and the rice be more soft. Even though we disagree, we will look into this on our next risotto endeavor.

Saturday 8 September 2012

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.

Wednesday 5 September 2012

Veal casserole late summer style

Naturally weight issues are not far away when food and wine is a passion and something we even attempt to blog about. For us this means that certain things are, as a rule, avoided – but of course we can always decide that exceptions need to be made. If we intensify exercising a little we can normally lose weight. One of the main things we try to do is to substitute potatoes, rice and pasta with whole grain varietals/products.
To the kids, this is apparently close to torture.
Tonight we make a casserole of veal and we plan to have some whole grain bread from Il Fornaio on the side and a green salad. M is unhappy. In the end we have compassion for the poor boy and decide to boil some rice for him.


The veal casserole is made with tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms and chanterelles.
The Veal is cut into good size cubes 3-4 cm and browned in olive oil in a large pan along with 4 cloves of garlic, one red onion, salt and pepper.
600 gr of small, sweet tomatoes (san marsano or cocktail tomatoes). Squeezed free of seeds (which for a greater part end up on the wall and on K’s t-shirt – again).
A couple of handfuls of herbs.
1 generous glass of white wine is added and allowed to boil down.
1 glass of stock (or cube) and a heavy lid on top. Let simmer for 20-30 min.
In another pan the mushrooms and chanterelles are prepared in olive oil, with a bit of garlic and lemon zest.
The mushrooms/chanterelles is added to the meat for the last 5-10 min.

The bread is rubbed with garlic and a few drops of olive oil. The veal tastes deliciously on top.
In the end M decides that the bread is quite ok and not as bland as he had expected.
We have a bottle of Cascina Morassino 2005 Barbaresco. It was decanted as it has been very closed on earlier occasions. This time it is perfect and worked well with the dish – 8/10

Tuesday 28 August 2012

Beetroots and Amarone

To tell the truth, T is not too fond of Amarone. You may have have noticed its absence from the sidebar, but now it is time to have some.
Tuesday night we have a very good and old friend for a business dinner. Important matters are to be discussed. That calls for some wine. We start off with some Meursault, first a 2008 from Rotem Brakin and since this bottle clearly leaks (or vaporizes) we have to open another one, this time the 2009 version from Joseph Drouhin. They are both lovely, but we think we should have switched sequence as the acidity of the latter is lighter and it comes out more smooth, whereas the former likes to be accompanying food. Which in this case (of course) is a little crostini with chanterelles.
Next is a roasted leg of lamb. Our friend, who was taken into Irma to participate in the shopping, loves lamb (and so do we). We will try something a bit different and K covers the bottom of the pan with beetroots, red onions and lots of garlic. The Leg is prepared with (more) garlic, salt and pepper and lemon zest and juice. Finally some handfuls of all the good herbs from K’s garden and fennel seeds. A glassful of apple juice is added and the pan is put in the oven at 180-200° C for about an hour. Along the way a small glass of white wine is added and the the meat and vegetables is dripped with the liquid. To accompany the lamb and beetroots we serve some hot lima beans with chopped red onion and a little green salad.
With this we have a couple of bottles of Musella 2003 Amarone 8,3/10. And that is a very good idea. The richness of the wine is needed for the beetroots. The combination of beetroots and fennel seeds (and lamb) is very savoury. The food/wine combination is a huge success 9,3/10

Monday 23 July 2012

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

Friday 13 July 2012

Chardonnay

Looking at the sidebar it is quite apparent that we enjoy a bottle of Chardonnay now and then. Friday night was yet another occasion and we felt like something special. We had been postponing buying new suitcases for a while but now we drifted into the center of Copenhagen and we made a small detour to L’esprit du vin. We have been meaning to go there for quite a some time after our tasting at Copenhagen Wine Forum. This store holds the agency for some of the best winemakers (Leroy and Peter Sisseck) and is very clearly run by people with great passion for wine and also great knowledge. Somewhat nerdy.
We give them a difficult task of suggesting a Friday wine. They are clearly trying to figure out how much we want to spend and it takes quite a while. In the end we settle for Meusault-Genevrières 2002 from Hospices de Beaune. We also buy some of Peter Sisseck's new wines, Quinta Sardonia and PSI, but they will have to wait for another occasion.
Since we are getting ready for our holiday, we decide to ”snack” rather than prepare a warm meal. We purchase various charcuterie and a Ølandshvedebrød (bread) from Meyer's bakery.
We manage to eat most of what we bought at Magasin – Mad & Vin. Pata Negra (Iberian ham), Finocchio (Italian fennel salami), Saucission Noisette (French salami with nuts), Terrine de trois foie, gruyere cheese and a sheep's milk cheese, the name of which have slipped our minds. Our sole contribution is some guacamole.
Word of advise: If you want to buy pata negra, then Torvehallerne is a third of the price of Mad og Vin (and then it is even correctly cut).
Oh, and then a small sin – Summerbird's Flødeboller. T’s sister found them first, but they are heavenly with white chocolate, marcipan and a hint of liquorice.

Sunday 8 July 2012

Reunion

T has been away on holiday and golfing for far too long and we have been looking forward to the reunion. T is close to exhausted after golfing for three days in sunny weather, but not enough so to miss the opportunity to celebrate and so we go to Torvehallerne late sunday afternoon to get inspired. Most of the booths have closed or are in the process of closing, but we find an open fishmonger and get six norwegian lobsters (langoustine) and half a tail of monkfish. We find a single booth selling bread and get a nice rosemary focaccia. Next we need some vegetables and we head out of the glass building only to find the shop closing down. We get to pick from produce not yet packed away and so we buy broad beans, fennel, tomato, chanterelles and strawberries. (The latter we keep for next morning's breakfast).
Home again we start figuring what to do with our purchases. We start making a crostini of the chanterelles. The chanterelles are fried in olive oil and garlic and fresh tomato, without seeds. It is all arranged on the toasted focaccia and topped with some parmesan shaving. With it we drink our wine, Villa Fidelia Bianco 2004 from Sportoletti. This Umbrian chardonnay was served to us on our very first date, but now we have come to the last bottle. 8/10.
Next up is the seafood, which is grilled in the oven. The langoustine are split in halves (well only the tails), drizzled with olive oil, and rolled in mixed herbs and lemon zest, grilled along with the monkfish (which get the same treatment) for app. 8-10 minutes. On the stove we prepare the vegetables (actually it is K who does it as T just sits and checks out the results from his golfing exploits).
1 fennel is diced and cooked in olive oil with 3 cloves of garlic, one huge tomato, lots of herbs, a bit of cayenne pepper and, for the last ten minutes, a handful of black olives.
On the side broad beans are cooked just tender (2 min) in salted water and cooled in ice cold water.
The best olive oil is added along with some sheep milk feta cheese.
With it we want something special and K has saved a bottle for just such an occasion: Vintage Tunina 2006 from Jehrmann 9/10

Saturday 2 June 2012

In good company

Happily, it is once again time to see good friends, I and A. A is a champagne connoisseur, so we will have to be sharp. I is in waiting and so there is so much more wine for the rest of us! And what wine it is, tonight.

Krug Grande Cuvée
Puligny-Montrachet Joseph Drouhin 2008
Sammarco 2007 Castello dei Rampolla
Sassicaia 2004
Sauterne random


We start with a bottle of Krug champagne and for snacks have some of T’s trademark almonds – soy-roasted and salted. Also, we try some broad beans with a bit of salt, since K is still preparing some for the starter and does not want to stay in the kitchen while the rest of us quickly soak up the champagne. The champagne is very nice and ”toasted.”
T's roasted almonds
The almonds are dry-roasted on a hot pan. Toss frequently in order to avoid scorching. After 5-6 minutes (for 200 grams) pour some soy sauce on and after 10 seconds add some salt, all the while tossing the almonds in the pan. As the soy is salty don’t exaggerate the salt. Let the almonds cool for 10+ minutes.

First course is Monkfish and broadbeans,
green and purple asparagus, Danish produce.
Beurre Blanc 
The monkfish has a great taste and texture – almost like lobster. When salted slightly before cooking the meat becomes even firmer.
It is cut in slices – one for each serving – and fried shortly in butter. The broad beans, with the white skin peeled off is added to the pan for a second.
The asparagus stalks are broken off. They snap exactly at the tender point so there is no reason to cut them. If you cut them, you may cut away too little resulting in tough bites or even worse, cut away too much of the wonderful, tender young asparagus.
The Beurre Blanc sauce is prepared by finely chopping 1½ shallots (the large banana shaped ones), put in a small pan with 1 dl of white wine and a spoonful of white vinegar. Cook until reduced to half and, strain, then add 125 g of butter cut into smaller cubes so that they can be whipped into the extract gradually. Turn off the heating quickly so it is done on the afterburn. No boiling!
We are quite satisfied and even the not-so-fond-of-fish guest scrapes the plate with rustic bread from il Fornaio in Torvehallerne. The Puligny-Montrachet goes well with the dish. It has good acidity and is not too ”fat”.

Since we supply the champagne, A is denied of opportunity to be the champagne-man for tonight, but has instead brought another special treat – the Sammarco 2007 from Castello di Rampolla. This is exceptional. We have decanted it immediately and after 2 hours we can approach it, but it is still child-murder to a little extent. We find no flaw, save for the fact that there is too little of it.

Back to the main course. For our main course we try something new. We presume that wild board will go well with the wine and by the end of the evening we also a rather satisfied with ourselves.


Cinghiale arrosto 
(Shoulder of wild boar roast)
1 small boneless shoulder (1.5 kg) is filled with a paste (the mortar again) of 1 spoonful fennel seeds, 3 fillets of anchovies, 3 cloves of garlic, a handful of oregano, a handful of rosemary, black pepper, a small spoonful honey, zest and juice of one lemon, a generous pour of olive oil, salt and lots of black pepper. Tie the roast tightly.
Put in the oven at 180° for about two hours with a bit of white wine in the bottom of the pan (add more wine along the way). Turn the roast frequently.

Fennel
The fennel cut in eights are added to the pan after one hour.
Whatever juices are left ind the pan – from the roast, white wine and fennel is used as sauce. Not much, but good.

New potatoes

Tossed endives with garlic and anchovies dressing
This dressing works great with any kind of bitter lettuce.
Dressing. Paste 2-3 anchovies with 1-2 cloves of garlic, olive oil (the best kind, always), a splash of white wine vinegar in the mortar. Mix thoroughly with the lettuce.
No salt – the anchovies are plenty salty




Now, as we mentioned, there was a small problem with the Sammarco and we need to take care of it. We can’t really see any other solution to the problem than to continue in the Super Tuscan track and so we open a bottle of Sassicaia 2004. It is exceptional with fine rounded fruit and at this stage more mature for drinking than the Sammarco.

Time for a little cheese and luckily we have saved a glass of the Puligny-Montrachet.

Finally there is only the dessert left:

Baked rhubarb with sour cream and almond cookies.

The rhubarbs are cut in pieces of app 2 cm and put in an oven proof pan in one layer. Orange zest, one stalk of vanilla and a generous pour of cane sugar is added. Cover with foil. Cooked at 180° for 20-25 min. Arrange on plates with the crumbled almond cookies and the sour cream.

We drink a little Sauternes of uncertain origin, but that is just for the sake of appearances as we have had about enough. T is on the verge of falling asleep and I and A are gracious enough to head home. We look forward to seeing a family of four next time!


Monday 28 May 2012

Hornbæk – Søstrene Olsen

After the longest november ever, summer suddenly arrives in Denmark for a short visit. The temperature rises to the mid-20°-ies and all the locals shed their clothes to reveal different shades of white and surprisingly many actually already have a golden tan. K is envious and try to make up for it with a bronzing cream and ends up orange and spotted. But that is another story.

Anyway, the summer is short and sweet. After a week and a half the meterologists  predict a sudden temperature drop of 15° ...and rain, of course. Just 24 hours to countdown. So we decide to go to the quaint seaside town of Hornbæk to spend the last mild evening at a restaurant with outdoors seating. After a short stroll we decide on Søstrene Olsen. 
A pretty garden welcomes us and we are seated at a table with the setting sun shining generously. Of course we are not the only ones. It is the Monday of Pentecost, a holiday, and the place quickly fills up. MK decides on a plate of seawater-boiled shrimps and T&K wants sole, new potatoes and beurre blanc.
To drink Pouilly Fussé 2009, Joseph Drouhin. And a Fanta for MK. Bread and butter quickly arrives and after a while the shrimp and sole. (MK is hungry and think it takes a thousand years but actually it is within reasonable time). The plates look and taste fine – not more not less than what is expected. But the fish are not brought in from the sea the same morning and a little overcooked and compared to the servings of the neighboring table, very small. The shrimps are similarly acceptable but not wiggling their tails with freshness and the mayonnaise appear to be taken from a good jar.
We order 3 different kinds of dessert: Apple tart, chocolate cake and rhubarb terrine. The apple tart is nice and warm with a lightly frozen whipped cream, the chocolate cake has a soft center and the rhubarb a slight note of licorice. All plates are scraped clean. Two espresso to finish the night.
It was all ok and fine – but we end up with a 5,5/10 when considering  the prize which is rather high.

Monday 7 May 2012

A quick Monday feast

Golf season is on and T will more and more often arrive home late. But, it is also pollen season and so K is under the weather (or pollen, as it is). We have almost negotiated the terms for a late Thai take-away when T passes Irma and discovers that opening hours have changed and it is now open until 8 PM and so T stops and takes a look. He finds some nice looking veal, but alas there is no sage. Despite the fact that we are cutting down on calories at the moment T persuades K to make veal the Milanese way. And so it is, Scaloppine Milanese.
There is still a long ride into Copenhagen from Elsinore and so we are glad to have a dish that will not take long to prepare:
The veal is soaked in one beaten egg and afterwards turned in bread crumbs seasoned with salt and pepper. They are then fried in a heated pan with melted butter and olive oil app. 3-4 minutes on each side. And now, the key to this dish: grated horse radish, anchovy, lemon slices and some capers.
For contorni we have some white aspergus boiled for a few minutes after being peeled. Also, a green salad with tomatoes, radishes and red onions for more crunch and crispness.
For the sake of good order we also have to toast a few small slices of bread, rubbed with a slice of garlic and just a sprinkle of olive oil.
In the end, it comes off as a feast and we are very happy with the result, 8/10. T was all the way into Copenhagen thinking of Nebbiolo, so we have a 2007 Barbaresco from Marchesi di Barolo (8/10) and it worked out very well together (8,5/10)

Sunday 22 April 2012

Copenhagen - Ché Fè

We have discovered that one of the better restaurants in our neighborhood, Acquamarina has been closed and another one opened in its place. As usual we have researched a little and found out that it is the same team that are behind the new restaurant. The team is famous in Denmark, mainly for their gourmet restaurant Era Ora, which has a certain significance for us. The former restaurant, Acquamarina had a concept of "Fish from heaven and wine from Italy". That certainly appealed to us, but so does the new concept of Ché Fè: Organic Italian food and so it has been just a question of how long the wait would be, before we visited the place. Not very long.
The menu has 4-5 antipasti, 4-5 primi and 4-5 secondi. Whereas we often select the same on this occasion we select as much as possible. For antipasti we select 7 small antipasti, "O Sole Bio", which on this occasion is

  • A small ball of crumbed black rice
  • Tuna on black bread
  • Umbrian ham on toast
  • Roastbeef powdered with breaded crumbs and orange zest
  • Focaccia with a mild gorgonzola
  • Umbrian sausage with fennel
  • A small souffle of broccoli and capers
Everything was very nice, well-balanced and tasty.

For primo we ordered Creole which was pumpkin gnocchi with tomato sauce, chilli and basil. The gnocchi were not heavy and the tomato sauce was very good. The other primo was Piemonte proibito. This was a risotto of red and black rice with artichoke and Monteveronese cheese (and some orange zest). This was also very good, but considering the sizes of the dishes it was actually much more than what we could eat. And maybe too big a serving in general for a dish of "just risotto", but we cannot really complain about this as it was very good. With the primi we had a glass (well, actually a glass and a half) of the Verdicchio superiore, which we cannot recall and cannot find on the wine menu, but it was commendable.

We tried to order Perlizie, but that was no longer available, which we suppose is OK, since we arrived very late on a Sunday night. Instead we had the Tagliata di Vitello (veal steak with rosemary potatoes and a salad) and Pesando a domani which was braised veal with porcini. Both courses were good, but the steak was a bit too rare for T and we would have liked the otherwise very polite waiter to have asked how it was to be cooked. The braised veal was both very tender and tasty.

We had a bottle of Umbrian Villa Fidelia Rosso 2005 from Sportoletti. This was a Bordeaux blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Very potent nose, but still unmistakably Italian. We were aiming for some Sangiovese, but since the Chardonnay based Villa Fidelia Bianco is one of our long time favorites we had to try the red and we didn't regret it.

The restaurant is a welcome option when the fridge is empty and the shops are closed (or we just need to spoil ourselves a little on Sunday) and we will be back soon.

Saturday 7 April 2012

Val Thorens – Le Sherpa

Skiing was postponed until Easter this year. A busy work schedule and a funeral for T's mother meant that March culminated in one of the busiest days ever. After returning from Paris, working hard to make the deadline T continued on to the cemetery and from there on to a 75 year birthday before starting the car and heading down south.
We realize that driving all the way to the Alps from Copenhagen is not everyone's cup of tea, but we feel it is an integral part of the vacation. One of the reasons is that we have purchased and downloaded audio books that we listen to while driving. One summer we even considered driving a few rounds around Siena to be able to listen to the end of the book we were listening to at the time.
This year we are going to Val Thorens in France. The destination is chosen as it is 2300 m above sea level.  This late in the season we need to have some altitude to be assured of snow. And we are not disappointed, even if the heat will turn the Plein Sud into slush ice during the afternoon. Sitting in the sun feels well above 20 degrees centigrade.
We have booked a stay at the Hotel Le Sherpa. K has stayed here before and recommended it warmly and T quickly agrees in her assessment. The hotel is very cozy and kept in raw wooden materials. Access to the skiing area is just outside the door. We walk out in the morning and put on skis and continue down to the Ski Square from where we can run down to a number of lifts. Similarly, by the end of the day we just stop outside the hotel and take off our skis and find a place on the patio and order a cup of Vin Chaud (which is too sour, however it is served with sugar on the side to adjust the sweetness).
The stay is booked as half board, which is a bit of a test for us because we don’t have opportunity to try something else (unless we want to pay for it of course). As it turns out there is no need to worry. The food is excellent. Most nights we get soup, starter, main course, cheese and in the end there is an abundant table of cakes and desserts.
Not all nights follows this pattern as we have to taste the famous Savoir dishes: Raclette, Tartiflette and fondue. All seem appropriate for people who have returned from a hard day’s (work) in the snow, but for us they increase the need to go on a diet when returning home. For now, there is no way we are going to avoid it.
The wine list is full of very nice French wine. It is not a big wine list, but it is fully satisfactory and we get around Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Chateauneuf and Hermitage, but also some of the wines of Savoir. All were good, some were excellent.
We are certain to return one day. 8/10

Sunday 18 March 2012

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