The last few days I have been having a rough patch medically, so this is a little later than I had planned.
MY JOURNEY WITH WINE 3Hi there again and thanks for joining me on my journey with wine. Today's recollection is one that you might want to relegate to the wanderings of a mind that has had a wine too many. Nevertheless the story is true but I leave your belief up to you. As a young man "travelling " in Spain we were frequently paid for our labour with or paid our peseta's for a rough red wine, often sold in a skin. The quality of the wine varied but at the end of a long day we would be looking for some refreshing beverage with our coca, a flat bread and some home made goats cheese. I asked many of those that provided us with the wine "what is this called?" to which the reply was almost universally "Bulls Blood" Imagine my surprise when thirty five years later I was in a Tapas Restaurant in Liverpool Street in Sydney and saw a bottle of Spanish wine labeled "Sangre del Torres" I translated this as Blood of the Bulls and then in my head Bulls Blood. Puzzled by the fact that I had been told the wine I drank from fifty sources during my three month stay in Spain was called Bulls Blood, what I until then thought of as a generic description of the wine, was now sitting in a trade marked bottle. I questioned the very knowledgeable proprietor of the establishment who told me this story that many of you may not know, I didn't.
The legend began in Egar a town in Hungary, which gained a reputation when 2000 soldiers defended the town against a siege by nearly 200,000 Turkish troops on their way to invade western Europe. During the siege the citizens of Eger either broke open or were invited into the cellars of winemakers and noblemen where they drank the local red wine to give them courage and strength to fight off the invaders. It is said that the wine spilled over their beards and onto their skin and armour or other clothing, colouring them blood red. The Turks saw the red and noted the fearless way in which the Egerian's fought and word quickly spread among the them that the Egerian's were drinking the Blood of Bulls to make themselves invincible. This turned the tables on the Turks who were very superstitious and the siege was repelled.
The story was relayed throughout Europe and in Spain where the peasant wine was rich, rough and red. It was given the name Bull's Blood to excuse it's lack of refinement and to honour the bravery of the bull and those early Hungarians. Today wine with the name Bull's Blood is produced in Spain, Australia and once again in a revitalised Hungarian wine industry.
MY WINE LOG
Yesterday there were five of us for dinner, Jocelyn and our daughter Robyn and her partner Glenn, Geoff and our grandson Matthew. Robyn cooked us a Laksa with Ham, which was divine.
This was accompanied by a bottle of Cruickshank Callatoota Estate 1994 (CF4) Two Cabernets. This wine is one of the classic Bordeaux Blends, but unique in the proportions that the wine was blended in, 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Cabernet Franc. Bordeaux blends are notoriously food friendly and less fussy when served with dishes that are unconventionally matched. Firstly let me give you my notes when I tasted this wine in 2001.
This full berry rich wine is a 60/40 blend of the cousin Cabernet's, Sauvignon and Franc. It was fairly rough on first taste and had considerable bottle stink, but by the time we sat down to dinner and I poured a glass each it had opened up and softened considerably.
It is now 2008 and the wine is another 7 years older and had a period when the cellaring conditions were not ideal, so it was with some trepidation that I opened our last bottles. I was not disappointed as this wine has continued to mature elegantly. There is some sediment that can be sieved by decanting, but the wine is rich ruby in the glass with a nose that is full of stewed dark fruit and vanillan oak In the mouth, the wine has zest and the complexity of liquorice and tobacco with hints of stewed blackberry and dark chocolate, the tannins are supple and leave a subtle hint of the delights gone before on the back palate, for some time.
Cruickshank Callatoota Estate is situated in the
We love the wine from this vineyard which only crushes grapes grown on the property.
The Laksa Lemak
This is a classic! The flavours are a true example of the type of Laksa that you will find in Southern Malaysia which are coconut based; as you travel further north toward Penang the Laksa is presented as a clear sourish Tamarind based dish. So Lemak is creamy yet spicy with the hint of fresh herbs such as lemon grass and Laksa leaves. It goes well with yellow mee or white Laksa noodles or a mixture of the two.
Rempah
(use either a mortar and pestle or a food processor to whizz the ingredients together):
1 lemon grass
1 thumbsize galangal, sliced thinly
6 candlenuts
13 shallots
1 tbsp ground chilli powder
1 slices shrimp paste
1/2 tbsp tumeric powder
1tbsp coriander powder
50 grams dried prawns, ground finely
850 mls prawn stock
850 mls coconut milk
Salt and Sugar
Heat a frying pan till hot, add 10 tbs oil and stir fry rempah on
low heat till fragrant and chilli oil oozes out from the mixture. Add in
ground dried prawns and stir fry mixture for another 2-3 mins. Put up
the heat, add in prawn stock and coconut milk and bring
to boil. Add sugar and salt to taste. Lower the heat and simmer for
10 minutes stirring continuously.
Garnish:
350 grams tiger prawns, boiled and peeled
350 grams fried fish cake, sliced
350 grams bean sprouts
1/2 kg laksa noodles (lai fen)
1/2 kg mee noodles
10 stalks laksa leaves, washed and shredded
1 packet of tofu puffs, cut into slices
6 eggs boiled and quartered
To Serve:
Blanch noodles and bean sprouts in hot boiling water and drain. Place in
individual serving bowls and arrange prawns, fish cake, tofu puff and
egg slices on top. Pour the steaming hot soup over the noodles and
sprinkle generously with laksa leaves.
Serves 6
For those of you who would like to try some Laksa recipes I have include some pages that highlight these dishes
http://www.soupsong.com/rlaksa.html
http://millennium.fortunecity.com/sweetvalley/300/laksa.html
http://www.dawncities.com/virtualbistro/recipes/laksa_recipe.htm
http://members.iinet.net.au/~mulataga/laksa.htm
http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/recipe.asp?id=1166
http://www.cuisine.com.au/recipe/Laksa
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