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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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