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!

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.

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)

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.

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

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

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