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!

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