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

A.O.C. Copenhagen

It is fully deserved that AOC got a Michelin star in 2010. AOC is one of the best restaurants in CPH and Christian Aarø's ability to select wine to go with the food made by Ronnie Emborg is exquisite. This makes it an choice to order the Wine menu of which there are two varieties. They are much alike and contain many wines that are in, both, but the wine menu 2 is just a bit more exclusive and thus more expensive. On this occasion we visited the restaurant in the company of 3 generations with each their preferences and taste buds and it seemed that all were impressed and satisfied.
We started with a glass of champagne and ...

Starter one: charcoaled bread with roe of lumpfish and a cheesed cream.
The bread was served on top of actual charcoal and in the dim light we were happy to choose right.

Starter two: foam with cauliflower and danish oyster served in egg shell. Light as clouds with the taste of the sea

The bread: fried brioche with butter

And on to the menu:
Grey mullet, salted and rolled mushroom powder. Raw mushrooms, mussel cream and double cream with oak oil.
Looked like pieces of wood but was soft and moist. Seved with stems of watercress and the leaves of indian cress. Juicy and crisp.

2009 Pouilly-Fumé, Les Duchesses, Domaine Laporte

Next came Summer celery and celery roots, with pure of hazelnuts, green hazelnuts and apple. The soft, bitter celery root with the sour-sweet apple, the richness of the pure and the crispness of pieces of green hazelnuts all went beautiful together.

2009 Meursault, 1. Cru Gouittes d`Or, Domaine Pierre Yves Colin-Morey

The Meursault was so good that we forgot to take a picture!

3rd dish was Cod, poached in butter. Served with summer cabbage and "irritated" egg whites flavoured with tarragon.
Perfectly treated cod. A salty marshmellow and a rich tarragon sauce.

This went down particularly well with the 3rd generation - M - asking T why he could not make dishes like this and of course T could only respond that if he could he wouldn't be working in the IT industry. But nevertheless, a challenge has been issued!

2008 Grüner Veltliner, Berg, Reserve DAC

Weingut Markus Huber, Traisental, Austria

Confit of veal sweetbreads and corn fed chicken
In sauce with lemon verbena, lingonberries and chiffon of fried jerusalem artichokes.
Yet again M voiced his pleasure and with good reason. The combination was delicious and also the sequence in the menu was perfect, i.e. the lighter fish-based dishes and then a more salty and rich dish before the beef.

2006 Pinot Noir Rho, Ampelos Vineyards, Santa Barbara, USA

Piece of beef covered in beetroot, served with parsley and smoked marrow sauce.
We asked for bread to soak up the rest of the sauce, which was delightfully concentrated. 1st generation was sure that it was wine based, but it wasn't...

2007 Fratelli Ravello, Barolo Vigna Giachini. Yet again served perfectly. Decanted and served at the right at (we think) 16 degrees ensured that this relatively young Barolo was superb.

Cheese, Danish cheese 'gnalling' shredded, served with syrup and fried pumpernickel (rugbrød). We came here last year also and had a cheese dish of the Danish Vesterhavsost with truffle oil and toasted pumpernickel and amontilado Sherry and it was so good that we had to order a second helping! This was also good, but not quite up there.

1975 Colheita Port, Burmester, Douro, Portugal

Chamomile tea pudding covered in whole milk gel and granité of sorrel juice


2006 Ürziger Würzgarten, Riesling Auslese
Weingut Jos. Christoffel jr. Mosel, Germany

Black currant in a frozen dome with elderflower and lemon juice.

1997 Château Y’quem, 1. Cru Superieur, 

Sauternes, Bordeaux, France

Coffee with petit four
Marshmallows and chocolate in a rubberlike state














Overall this was an excellent night and our choice to come back here for this years board meeting was proven successful. There are many good restaurants in Copenhagen and this is one of the best in our view. 9,5/10

Copenhagen Wine Forum

Saturday we went to Copenhagen Wine Forum. T was in a foul mood due to poor golfing and adverse football results. (This might happen quite a few times the next 8 months (K adds; and to be repeated every season....). We got there 2 hours before closing and took stock of the show. It was divided into two sections: Danish Wine producers and more or less Danish wine importers. K has on occasion tasted Danish wine, whereas T has not done so yet. (Yes, T knows it is embarrassing). So, we headed into the Danish wine producers section.
The Danish climate is not suited for wine production. It might become so in a couple of years when Global Warming has affected our climate, but for now, it is not. Even so, it is all the more fascinating to meet the Danish wine producers who, like their more southern colleagues, are just as enthusiastic about their wine albeit most are very modest. Having said that, we tasted some wines that were rather good, even if the price tag is to be compared with wines of another league. The wines we tasted cost between 100 DKK and 500 DKK.

First off we came to Ørnberg whose dessert wine won a gold medal and who K had had an opportunity to taste before. The white wines are made on Ortega, Phoenix, Siegerrebe, Zalas Perle and Solaris. The dessert wine, Mynster, was quite nice. Not too sweet and with fresh fruits 7,5/10

We also tasted the dry Jørgen and the sparkeling Perle. Both very nice and drinkable :)













On we went down the Danish aisle to the next stop; Degnemosegaard.
Especially their light red Vinbondens lette røde cuvée was very pleasant. 6,5/10


















Last of the Danish wine producers we visited was Kelleris that is situated in North Zealand. It appeared to us to be quite ambitious and we had a long talk with the producer who gave quite a few insights on the various barriques. His wine, Utopia, comes in various versions with the barrique fermentation being the main diversifying factor. The 2008 on show was promising (6-6,5/10). The Utopia Rex 2006 was also the most expensive wine we tasted at almost 500DKK (6/10). All wines were made on the Rondo grape.











It had been very interesting and fascinating to talk to Danish wine producers and taste their wines. In conclusion we decided that we have to compose some dishes in the future to which we serve Danish wine.

On we went to the importers' section. This was actually not very interesting. Maybe it was because of the late hour, but we found many of the exhibition staff to be more interested in (single) female audience. Quite a few of them were probably friends of the importer and presented the wines with rehearsed comments such as "this goes along well with Sushi". Time was running out when we came to the stand of L'Esprit du Vin. Here we tasted a nice Slovakian Riesling from Egon Müller (7,5/10) and a corked Schartdorf (T thinks it was called), but which was nevertheless the last few drops from the bottle, so we think others might have found it OK! While tasting a glass of Riesling Spätlese it came to our attention that a Burgundy tasting was underway next to the stand. T asked if we could participate despite not having requested this before. (This we could have done, if T had not been in such a foul mood)

We got the last 30 minutes ... but what 30 minutes. It was almost spiritual! We got to taste 4 wines:
Domaine des Varoilles: Gevrey-Chambertin "La Romanée 1er cru" 2005. 8,5/10
Domaine des Varoilles: Clos de Beze  2005 8/10
Gevrey-Chambertin 1982 Leroy 9,3/10.
(Tasted of tobacco, rope, light red fruit, cowshed....)
Mersault Perriere 1988 Leroy 9,5/10













Jørgen Krüff who presented the wine was extremely knowledgeable and reminded us of how far we have to go in order to say something truly expert-like about wine.

... and we licked up every drop. You may be able to still get an idea about the age of the Gevrey Chambertin on the right.









Jørgen Krüff continued on talking about the wine despite the closing of the show being announced over the loudspeaker, but in the end we had to leave.

It was a very tough task to follow after the burgundy tasting, but the evening ended up with a couple of steaks with green beans and red onions. The meat was a little tough but the taste was fine. We started out with olive oil, fresh goat cheese, pickled sweet chilies and cured ham. (7,5/10) and bottle of Monpra from Conterno Fantino (8/10) and it held up on its own very nicely despite the competition from the big boys