Just Loving Food n Wine

Hi again everyone,

Lots of food and wine over the past weekend that I hope will all be blogged by the end of the week. I will try to post several times a week over the next few weeks so that we can get all those dos for visiting cellar door out to you before Spring is to far advanced.

This week my thanks go to Stephanie and Clive, Vicky and Richard and Gael and daughter Georgina who were my guinea pigs during an evening we shared together over the weekend. Those guys truly do love food n wine.

However before we get to that lets cover some more:

The DOS of Wine Tasting At A Cellar Door

3. DO think ahead during your tasting. The best preparation for wine tasting is to have a clean palate, however using very strong toothpaste or mouthwash shortly before tasting can cause the wine to taste differently than it was meant to. Eating lollies while tasting wine can have the same effect. You may think that when you have wine with curry or cheese that the same thing happens, and you are correct, but this discussion is about tasting the wine, getting to know it without other influences initially. Most wineries will provide water to cleanse your mouth with and some will provide dry biscuits olives and even cheese, use these liberally especially when you are changing wine style or color.

4. DO think about what you want to taste. If you are visiting several wineries in a morning or afternoon it is usually unwise to taste everything that the winery has on offer. Firstly because even relatively small individual amounts of wine can add up very quickly and leave you unable to drive. Secondly and perhaps more importantly in the context of this post, to many tastes does tire the palate and cloud the senses beyond what can be repaired by water or olives, and although this can be deferred by spitting instead of swallowing, that requires a level of discipline reserved for wine judges, who also tell me that at the end of a day tasting and spitting their palates become jaded.
If you are new to wine or wine tasting you could ask to taste two sparkling, two whites, two reds and two dessert wines. This will give you the opportunity to get a feel for the range that the winery offers, and help you make some decisions about which wine you liked best. For instance if you found you really liked the Chardonnay and the Rose you could try those particular wines at each winery you visit during the day. Winemakers and cellar door staff just love to introduce those new to wine drinking or visiting wineries, to their wines and will go out of their way to make sure that you are made to feel at home and given the best experience possible.
If you are more experienced and already know the varietals or blends you love and more importantly those you are not fussed about, telling the person on the other side of the counter will enable them to provide you with tastings that suit your taste, my experience is that winemakers love people who have an opinion, and Jocelyn and I have often been treated to a vertical flight tasting of a particular varietal or blend over a number of vintages, because we have talked about our wine experience, even about wine from other producers.

5. DO taste in the order suggested by the winery. They have the order for a purpose which is to increase your enjoyment of the wine. The order is from from dry to sweet and within that continuum the dry whites are tasted before the dry reds and the sweet whites before the sweet reds. There are good reason for this that revolve around the ability of your palate to remain accurate when it is overwhelmed by flavours. If you try a dry wine after having tasted a sweet wine, the dry wine wine is likely to taste sour, not because it is but because the contrast from sweet to dry confuses the palate. Tasting a red then following it with a white can result in similar palate confusion. This is because, in general, white wines do not present the same range of complex flavors or aromas as do reds. As a result, a white tasted after a red can seem watery and lacking depth. The cases where this rule doesn't always apply is when you have a sweet red, such as a port wine. In this case, it comes down to the particular taste of the server, and the array of sweets on the tasting menu.

MY WINE LOG
There were eight of us for tea tonight and peoples tastes ran from beer to muscat. The beer came from a tasting we had arranged for some of our beer drinking friends some months before.
The White was my last two bottles of a 1992 Semillon from The (Old) Olive Farm Winery in Guildford, Western Australia. That winery has now closed and the family tells the story of their wine making history on their website for the (New) Olive Farm Winery situated in the heart of the Swan Valley
The wine was golden in the glass with the slightest spritz, masses of honeysuckle on the nose
Very full bodied, rich strong honey with exotic fruit on midpalate, blending into an oily finish
Nicely mature with low acid on finish.

This was served with an entree of seafood on a bed of shaved sweet potato.

Ingredients
Shaved Sweet Potato
Three medium size orange sweet potatoes
2 table spoons of dried Chilli Powder
100 grams of grated fresh Parmesan Cheese
50 grams of pepitas ground with the mortar and pestle
Two tablespoons of dried Winter Savory


Seafood
Three large prawns per person
Two calamari rings per person
Two scallops with roe on per person
1 teaspoon of salt
1 table spoon of ground black pepper
Two tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 large Cloves of Garlic

Preparation of Sweet Potato
Each Sweet potato was shaved until all used then placed in a bowl and then the other ingredients were mixed through the sweet potato by hand. The moisture from the potatoes caused the cheese, chill, Winter Savory and Pepita's to coat the sweet potato.
An oven dish was sprayed with Olive Oil and the Sweet potato was placed in eight portions in the dish and placed in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes, until the bottom of the portions was crisp and the remainder was just cooked.
A portion was placed on each plate.

Preparation of the Seafood
The Chef's Toolbox Wok I had recently purchased was preheated and the Olive Oil drizzled onto the hot surface followed by the the cloves of garlic which were sliced finely, and the salt and black pepper. Water was added a tablespoon at a time until there was sufficient liquid to cook the seafood and then the seafood was added Calamari first, Scallops second and Prawns third, keeping everything in the wok moving all the time. After about 5 - 7 minutes serve the seafood onto the shaved sweet potato and serve immediately.

The main course was accompanied by three reds, a Shiraz from Lake Moodemere Wines and a Shiraz and a Durif from Warrabilla Wines both wineries are situated in the Rutherglen Wine Region.

The 2004 Lake Moodemere Shiraz is produced from a vineyard perched above the beautiful Lake Moodemere a natural lake declared a wildlife refuge in 1889. Lake Moodmere has a wide range of bird life. It is also the venue for the Moodemere Masters Ski Tournament held towards the end of January each year. Michael Chambers is part of the family that includes wine making legend Bill Chambers and is a sixth generation wine maker, he is ably assisted by Belinda.
The 2004 Shiraz is a mid weight wine when compared to the Warrabilla offerings. The colour in the glass is rich, dense purple. The nose has a creamy vanillin aroma with spicy violets in the background. The palate is a complex riot of flavours ranging from plums to chocolate mint to leather finely integrated by long silky tannins that linger for a long while.

The 2004 Shiraz from Warrabilla Wines was marketed under their Parola's label reserved only for wines that meet their highest level of quality. Parola's means "words" in Interlingua and Esperanto but I must ask the winemaker Andrew Sutherland Smith and Carol his partner and wife their reason for choosing the name.
This wine was uncorked about and hour before it was poured, to give it time to open up. I think that given it was late winter that I should have allowed two hours as the wine continued to develop after pouring the black/purple liquid into our glasses. The classic spiciness of Shiraz was accompanied by vanillin oak, dark chocolate and blackberry on the nose. Fine tannins and balanced acid are the backbone to strong dark fruit, dark chocolate and star anise flavours that remain on the palate for an exceptionally long period of time. This was a complex wine of great depth.

The 2004 Durif is marketed under the Warrabilla Reserve label, still exceptional wine. Inky black in the glass, the nose is characterised by dark fruit aromas and hints of spicy French oak. The palate is full and has black plum and black cherry in chocolate flavours on long lingering tannins.

All Warrabilla wines are bigger than life, with heaps of alcohol, tannin and acid used to accentuate the fruit flavours.

These wines accompanied the main course which was Sesame Seed coated chicken thigh fillets, on a bed of sweet potato and silverbeet mash, with sides of steamed Courgette and Green Beans.

Ingredients
Sesame Seed Coated Chicken Thighs
1 chicken thigh for each person with four spare
four eggs
1 cup of plain flour

Preparation
Chicken
Lay the Chicken thighs on a tray as flat as possible. Use a meat mallet gently if necessary but remember chicken flesh is more easily destroyed than red meat by hammering.
Put the cup of flour in a dish and roll each fillet in the flour and shake of the excess.
Crack the four eggs into a bowl and lightly whisk
Place the Sesame Seed into a bowl.
Dip one side of the fillet into the egg and then the same side into the Sesame Seed
Place the Fillets Sesame Seed Side Up in a Baking tray that has been sprayed with Olive Oil and cook in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C for 15 minutes or until the seed start to brown.

Vegetables
Top and Tail 4 Green Runner Beans for each diner
Take 4 Courgettes and cut in half longways then in half again, giving you sixteen lengths of courgette.
Place the Green Beans in the bottom tray of your steamer and set the timer for 30 minutes

Peel and Slice Four medium size Orange Sweet potato and place in a pot with a pinch of salt
Boil until the sweet potato is firm but soft

Wash and Slice 15 Large Leaves of Silver Beet and place in a pot with a pinch of salt
Boil until the Silver Beet is firm but soft.

Then mash the Silver Beet into the Sweet Potato until completely integrated.

Serve the Sweet Potato and Silverbeet mash to one side of the plate.
Place the beans and courgettes along side with a sprinkle of grated Parmesan Cheese
Then put the hot chicken on the mash and serve immediately.

The muscat was/is a Bannister blend using wine from, Campbell's, Stanton and Killeen, All Saints and Mount Prior all Rutherglen wineries, but with some interesting variations within the style. The wines are added in no particular order to my 20 litre Muscat barrel and have over a three year period blended into a burnt caramel toffee sweet delight that beautifully complimented the dessert provided by Vicki which was a sumptuous and decadent Chocolate Mint Cheesecake and together made a splendid end to an evening of food n wine.
For those of you wanting to know more about Australian Wine and Food Here is a great book on the Subject:
THE AUSTRALIAN & NEW ZEALAND WINE & FOOD PICTORIAL ATLAS

This post I have some links that will help you cook your vegtables so they are interesting and nutritious.

http://quamut.com/quamut/vegetables/page/how_to_prepare_vegetables.html

http://www.alive.com/2391a7a2.php?subject_bread_cramb=952

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/get_cooking/cooks_guide/vegetables.shtml

http://www.chinesefood-recipes.com/chinese_vegetables_recipes/chinese_vegetables_recipes.php


http://www.ifoods.tv/ingredient/Vegetables/

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/19th_century_recipes/64275

http://www.vegetable-recipes-by-cooking-method.com/

Second part of Post

Maybe the last post was to long Blogger cut this bit off. Sorry folks.

MY WINE LOG

Tonight was one of those where Jocelyn preferred to have a scotch and dry leaving me free to indulge myself in a white wine. I chose a 2001 Gartelmann Reserve Semillon which is still for sale at a very reasonable price from the winery. Semillon pronounced "Semi yon" is renowned as a seafood wine, especially when young and needing food to merge with it's lean, flinty, citrus flavours. However tonight's wine is maturing well and the golden hue in the glass reflects in the butter papaya aroma on the nose and a soft silky lemon honey taste with a long back palate which I think will go well with my meal choice for the evening.

I am a meat lover and it is rare that as an adult I have a meal where there is not some form of meat on the plate, but I no longer discard completely the idea of meatless meals and on one occasion several years ago, some of my friends may remember the agony of a meatless day. Last night I decided to revisit an old favorite and one that introduced me to meatless dining, Vegetable Casserole.

Broccoli, Brown Onions, three colors of Capsicum, green beans, fresh garlic, carrots and pumpkin were steamed to bring out the vibrancy of their colours. This is then placed in a casserole with a gravy of red and white wine vinegar, soy sauce, mustard, basil and ground black pepper. I then put a tub of fat free cottage cheese into the mix and cooked it for 10 minutes in an already heated oven. Then added grated low fat cheddar as a covering and left for a further 15 minutes. Add a side salad or serve over rice, but we had it on its own. It was delicious, creamy and crunchy at the same time, but I thought needed a cleanser afterwards. So I will start to look at adding some healthy desserts to the Wine Log from time to time

But in the meantime don't you just love food n wine

For those of you who would like to try meatless meals occasionally I have included some links to appropriate recipe pages

http://www.fatfree.com/

http://www.cilicia.com/armo_cb_no_mees.html

http://www.vrg.org/recipes/egypt.htm

http://www.vrg.org/recipes/vjgreek.htm

http://www.ivu.org/recipes/

http://www.indiatastes.com/NewDirectory/Recipes/Default.aspx

http://www.conagrafoods.com/consumer/recipes/searchresults.jsp

http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchresults?search=meatless+meal+recipes%2Cmeatless+meal+recipes

What's a Fair Go When Tasting Wine

Hi everyone,

What great news, ranked 1, 2 and 3 for my broad match phrase Love Food n Wine on Google out of nearly half a million competing pages.

Thank you everyone for your support in achieving this great result.

Today I want to add a further dimension to the blog especially as Spring is fast approaching and with it the beginning of the wine tasting season, with it's plethora of wine festivals, events and weekends.

I have developed a series, beginning in this post, which I will present over the next few weeks. Each Post will feature as its core "My Wine Log" with it's focus on matching food and wine. The current supplemental features "My Journey With Wine"and "The History of Wine" will be joined by this new feature and they will rotate every three posts or so with My Wine Log.

Called "The Dos of Wine Tasting At A Cellar Door" I hope it will help you get the best out of your wine tasting experience while being respectful of the viticulturists and wine-makers you will be talking to across the wine tasting counter.

I don't want to make this process so mystical that people reading it think that tasting wine is only for "wine snobs", but I am concerned that the "dumbing down" of the process robs us of opportunities to extend our enjoyment and knowledge of wine.

So let's begin our series on The DOS of Wine Tasting At A Cellar Door

1. DO remember that wine tasting is part of a transaction between you and the winery that you are visiting. Given that in 2005 there were over 1900 wineries in Australia, wine makers and marketers want to attract your attention to their vineyard to introduce you to one or more of the following:

a) Wine in general. Many of the bigger wine producers put a huge effort into finding ways of getting people to change or widen the range of alcoholic beverage they consume, while smaller producers concentrate on promoting the individuality and quality of their wine.

b) The vineyard experience. Many people are introduced to wine through the supermarket shelf but come to love and understand wine because of the amazing efforts of wineries and vineyards to attract you to the cellar door, by promoting wine and supplementing it with a range of other experiences such as visits to historic cellars or homes, dining experiences where wine is matched with locally produced and cooked food, beautiful settings such as wetlands, lakes or rivers, or festivals that promote an area or even a wine variety within an area.

c) A new variety or blend. If you already appreciate wine then the wine-maker will want to introduce you to blends that they have created or varieties they want you to discover. Often they will promote a new blend with special prices and the cellar door is the place to taste it in pristine condition, before you commit to buying.

d) A new vintage or access to hard to find back vintages. Viticulturists and wine-makers are eternal optimists, the viticulturist believes that the next growing season will produce the best grapes yet and the winemaker believes that with those grapes the best wine yet will be produced. They want you to give your opinion on that and you can often get the opportunity to taste a varietal or blend over a number of years, with the ensuing discussion about the similarity and difference between each.

Your positive response to that effort enables them to build a relationship with you which will enhance your ability to make informed decisions about your wine buying.

For our next DO, it might pay you to have a pen and a notebook with you, or if the cellar door provides takeaway tasting notes you can extend them by adding, commenting or disagreeing with the winemaker's assessment.

2. DO remember that your tasting experience involves a total experience with the wine. That is:

a) Presentation (How it looks)
Presentation is about the look of the wine; to enhance your enjoyment of the wine it is important that the winery provides you with the best glass they can, to assist your view of the wine. Many of the better wineries are now tasting from Riedel glasses from the Austrian crystal and glassware manufacturer. A good glass, and Riedel would say the correct glass is important in getting the best experience of your wine of choice, however the standard XL4 glass is what most wineries taste from and they are quite adequate.

The first attribute you would be looking at when you are considering appearance is wine clarity. Wine clarity is easier to assess in white wines and Rose's while red wines range from crimson to inky black and assessing clarity is a little more difficult. In most wineries you visit you will see that the counter is white or has white runners or mats on it. you can either stand your wine on the white surface and look down into the glass or hold the glass in your hand and tilt it so that the white surface is in the background. Clarity is the ability of a wine to absorb and reflect light, this is observed in different wines in differing ways, but for our purpose it can be considered to be the glow that wine gives off, a warmth and vitality from within the wine. If that glow is not present or the wine has any traces of film or cloudiness, it may indicate that something has gone wrong in the wine-making process.

The second area to assess in the wines appearance is it's color. This aspect of wine is divided between color hue and color intensity.

Color hue is assessed by trying to describe the color you see when looking through the eye (the thickest part in the glass) of the wine. This can be from pale green to golden honey or from light pink to inky black. If you talk with people about your observation of a wine's color you will be surprised by how many similar descriptions you will hear.

Colour intensity is the other part of wine color and describes the saturation of colour in a wine. How much of that colour is present. This is assessed on a scale of 1-10. Try talking with your friends, please don't bore them, about color intensity and you will find that they will have an opinion too and you might be surprised by how close together your opinions are.

You can also tell much about the age of a wine from it's appearance, with older wines developing a clear to khaki margin occurring between the wine and the surface of the glass.

b) In glass (The aroma, nose or fragrance)

People seek to ascertain the aroma of wine for two reasons.

Firstly to detect if the quality of the wine is acceptable and wine faults such as corking are not present. This is often seen when the person serving the tastings swirls the wine in the glass and smells it. This is a quick test of quality for a server, which may be followed by a taste and spit if they have any doubts, and usually occurs when they open a new bottle of wine or wine has been left open overnight.

Secondly, you will often see people who are tasting with their noses stuck above or even in the glass from which they are tasting. The practice is usually the taster trying to identify the aromas that the wine gives off either to confirm the wine-makers notes or to develop a "nose" which can then be readily verbalised to the aromas they are experiencing.
The swirling of the wine assists this process by distributing a thin layer of wine on upper parts of the glass, this is often described as opening up the wine as the thin layer is more readily aerated releasing the aroma of the wine.

Another point not often mentioned is the fact that holding the bowl of the glass in your palms, when tasting red wine in a cool climate can warm the wine slightly and release the aromas.

c) In mouth (sensations and flavours on the palate)
Here you get to actually taste the wine, but going through the previous two steps will have provided you with a huge amount of information about the wine you are tasting that would have otherwise been lost to you.

Before beginning to taste wine, it is important to clean the palate from any overwhelming tastes, such as toothpaste or mouthwash by eating a dry biscuit an olive or swishing some water through your mouth. It is also useful to taste the contents of your glass in two stages, the first sip to prepare your mouth by getting rid of all other tastes other than the wine. Some people spit the first sip for this reason. The second sip is then able to provide you with a tasting of the wine free of other flavours.

Firstly take a healthy sip of wine into the middle of your mouth. You can either let the wine rest behind your teeth and draw air through your mouth and over the wine, this aerates the wine releasing flavour or you can swirl it around the mouth so that the wine is in contact with all parts of it.

The purpose of this exercise is to look for and name key characteristics of the wine. Apart from the first these are presented in no particular order.

Sweetness or Dryness -
I believe the first sensation you get from wine is the sense of whether a wine is sweet or dry. At some stage we will look at how sweetness or dryness occurs, but suffice to say for now that you should be noting how sweet or dry it tastes to you. The intensity of sweet or dry will vary from person to person and that is why your opinion of the wine is so useful as feed back to the wine-maker. Judge on a scale of one for totally dry (like wood-chips) to 10 very sweet (like a mouthful of honey or treacle)

Acidity
All wine should have some acid and there is a balance to be found between sour (too much) and flat (to little). Acidity is essential in maintaining freshness in wine giving it some pizazz, but also integrating with the other wine components to shape the flavour as in aged premium red wines.

Alcohol -
is a pretty important component of wine, especially as a preservative, but excess alcohol will exhibit itself by a slight burning or more, in the throat when swallowed. Alcohol can also be seen on the glass in the form of "legs" which I will relate a story about and explain further at a later date.

Tannin -
is a natural preservative found in grape skins and stalks, it makes young red wines seem harsh and leaves the mouth feeling dry. Tannins are found in tea as well as wine, in both beverages they provide pigment to the beverage, as well as being a high source of antioxidants which gobble up those free radicals like Pacman on steroids. Tannin also plays an extremely important role in preserving high quality red wines that are made to age for many years.

Body -
is an indicator of how the wine feels in the mouth. Verdelho and Pinot Noir tend to feel quite light in the mouth while Chardonnay, Durif and Shiraz tend to be full and dense. So the progression for both reds and whites is light-bodied, to medium bodied, to full-bodied.

Fruit -
wine is made from fruit and especially when young, should have fruit flavours as a central component. The fuller the taste and intensity of the fruit in the mouth the better the wine. Premium wines will retain evidence of the fruit for many years, but younger wines are generally more fruit driven.

Finish -
The finish also known as length is the length of time that the taste of the wine remains in the mouth after the wine has been swallowed or spat out, and the pleasantness or otherwise of that taste. (to be continued.....)

If you are well organised you may be able to successfully develop a record of your journey with wine. If you would like some assistance can I recommend the following:

De Long's Wine Tasting Notebook

The best place in the Wine World to live

If you enjoy what you read in these pages I would appreciate it if you would:
Stumble It! Please

Depending on your wine background you might choose France, Germany or even Spain areas to visit where each has a strong wine identity and history. I love to visit these areas and soak up their uniqueness.

But how lucky am I? I live in an area of Australia that is only one hours drive from wine growing areas that can produce wines with the characteristics of all of the above. From the Alpine Valleys where the grapes grow slowly in a cooler but longer season, to the hotter lower lying Rutherglen area. During the next months I hope to give you the opportunity to not only hear about these wines from places such as Beechworth, The King Valley, Millawa, Glenrowen and Rutherglen but taste them in conjunction with food that pushes the epicurean boundaries. More of those exciting developments later.


Lets get onto a little more of My Journey with Wine

MY JOURNEY WITH WINE 4
I arrived in New Zealand after about 5 years of travelling in 1967. This tiny ex dominion of the UK, still had many, if not all it's European settlers calling where I had come from and often they had never been, the 'mother country.' At the time I used to think, if only you knew. I had come from a country where unemployment was high to one where you could count those not working on the fingers of one hand (believe me this was true.)

I arrived at Mangere Airport in Auckland following a romance begun in Sydney, only to embarrass the girl when I knocked on her door and anger the boy she had chosen this night to celebrate her engagement with. So instead of the vision in my head of a warm embrace and an even warmer bed, I was faced with a white faced girl and threats of what would happen to me if I didn't get out of town. It was so long ago but I still remember the address as Melody Lane Otahuhu. I remember walking for several hours, dragging a heavy suitcase without wheels and a large rucksack that contained my worldly possessions. Someone must have felt sorry for me because I was offered a lift to a place called Henderson. Not knowing that this was taking me north away from the city of Auckland, I gratefully accepted and was dropped in the main street of Henderson at 10:30 pm at night with just a few dollars in my pocket and no idea where I was going. It was here that I first experienced the amazing hospitality that New Zealanders are capable of. A young couple asked if they could help and I said I needed a place to stay until I got my bearings, but had just arrived from Australia without a lot of money and my accommodation had fallen through. Without hesitation they both said come with us and we'll make sure you are okay. They took me to the place where they were living, fed me, let me steam in a bath, phoned friends who might be able to set me up in a job and by 3 am I had a place to stay including meals(with them) until I got some wages, a lift in the morning to a job interview and a loan to cover lunches. I got a job at Fisher and Paykel in Ellerslie and lived with those great people for about three weeks until I found a flat, back in Auckland.

During the time I was with those folk I was introduced to the concept of having a wine before the evening meal. Alice's (the girl in the couple) parents had always had a glass of sherry before the meal and her dad had a glass of port afterwards. Alice was determined to introduce this refined practice to all who came to her place. I had drunk wine in the past because the water was poor and to get sociable at a party while travelling, but I must admit that the rough and dry wines of Spain and France didn't prepare me for the viscous and sweet drink that also has its origins in Spain, prior to eating and the experience of eating warm fruit cake that was the Port, at the end of the meal. It took me some time to come to terms with these extremely sweet thick drinks being classified as wine and I know that I and the boys would often sneak a beer to break the sweetness and cleanse the palete.

Not understanding the range of drinks that are classified as wine left me a beer drinker for some time after, and it was many years before I was able to appreciate the place of sweet sticky wines in the wine continuum.

Alice never knew how much I hated that wine and sadly she will never know having passed away some years ago, but Jack still smiles when I do my wine rave and talk to people about maturing the blends within my muscat, Tokay, port and sherry barrels.

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MY WINE LOG

Tonight I prepared peppered turkey steaks, potatoes and a Greek Salad The turkey was supplied by our local Haus of Chicken, which until recently, was located in the West End Plaza in Albury.

The steaks were quite small and I had underestimated the amounts when ordering, which was probably ok for my health.

Preparing the Turkey Steaks

I placed the steaks on a flat plate and applied ground rainbow pepper to them, turned them over, covered them in glad wrap and left them to sit in a cool place for an hour.

I am always amazed by the amount of liquid that most of our meats produce when left to stand and was not disappointed as the meat has produced it's own sauce and the pepper was right through the meat.

Preparing the Cranberry Glaze.

Combine the following ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil..

½ cup of Canola Oil

½ cup of fresh orange juice

1 tablespoon of Tarragon wine vinegar

2 tablespoons of fresh parsley

¼ teaspoon of dried tarragon leaves

½ teaspoon of dried sweet marjoram leaves

200 mils of jellied cranberry sauce

½ cup of Sauvignon Blanc or Verdelho

Simmer until thoroughly integrated.

Cooking the Turkey Steaks

Place the steaks in a dish in a preheated oven (180 degrees C)

Use the glaze to baste the turkey steaks with until it is all used. Then continue basting using the pan drippings until the turkey is almost cooked. Remove turkey from oven and from pan and allow to finish cooking under foil or Glad wrap.

Save the glaze for future use by freezing when cooled.

Preparing the Vegetables

The potatoes were Desiree boiled in their Jackets and quartered when cooked

The salad was a simple mix of rocket and baby spinach leaves, with a handful each of crushed walnuts, grapes, grated cheese, fetta cheese marinated in garlic and olive oil with heaps of big red Kalamata olives with a side dressing of Greek Yogurt and lime juice.

We shared a bottle of Mirrool Creek Merlot 2000, from Miranda Wines, a company with Vineyards in the King Valley, The Barossa Valley as well as the Riverina

Merlot is sweeter, smoother and has less tannins than Cabernet Sauvignon and is most often used to blend with other varietals to make them more palatable. Lately we have noticed an increasing number of straight Merlot vintages, which indicate that the wine is coming into it's own as a varietal. What a surprise I got, this is a very fine wine. It had good deep crimson colour and a distinct and pleasant spiciness on the palate. This wine variety is no stranger to you North Americans but I'm glad that Australians are finally recognising it's outstanding characteristics. If you haven't tried it before as a varietal, it is an admirable alternative to Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.

For those of you who would like to try or expand your repertoire of turkey recipes here are some links to pages that may assist

http://www.ehow.com/how_6594_roast-turkey-paper.html

http://www.turkey.mb.ca/recipes.html

http://www.justturkeyrecipes.com/index.html

http://www.homeschoolzone.com/m2m/turkey.htm

http://homehearth.virtualave.net/leftturk.html

http://www.myprimeyears.com/rv/yeaw_holidaycook2.htm

http://www.todaysturkey.com.au/

http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Meat-and-Poultry/Turkey/Main.aspx

http://www.eatturkey.com/home.html

My fifth post in this exciting new venture

Today, before I start to talk about wine I would like to introduce you to a free service which I have used for a number of years and which has enabled me to build up a list of friends with whom I can share my interests



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Okay, lets starts today's post with another episode in my understanding of the History of Wine

HISTORY OF WINE 3

I would like to summarise our first two sessions and maybe add some information which I think may assist to put modern day wine culture in context. Firstly let me say explicitly that the history of wine is intertwined beyond unravelling with the history of farming, food, the evolution of humankind and the society in which they lived. As I have already alluded to, there is some archaeological evidence suggesting that the earliest wine production came from sites in Georgia and Iran as early as 6000BC. However, undeniable evidence does not become available until approximately 3000 BC, where there is agreed evidence of the domestication of the grapevine, in a region encompassing Asian portion of modern Turkey, Syria, Jordon, Israel, Lebanon, Georgia, Armenia, Iraq and Egypt.

There is also strong evidence to suggest that European wine production occurred in Macedonia as early as 6500 BC. This is where the earliest evidence of crushed grapes were also found.

There is also evidence of dregs of wild wine dating from as early as 2000 BC, in China.

So rather than beginning to talk about wine making in the Dark Ages as though it were the result of a single linear process, I wanted to pull back and tell you a little about the other contributors to the complexity of good history as well as good wine.

When wine arrived in Greek territory is unknown, it was certainly known from as early as 3000 BC being referred to in many ancient Greek writings.

Many of the grapes grown in modern Greece are grown there exclusively and are similar or identical to varieties identified as being grown in ancient times

Pliny the Elder a Roman chronicler describes the ancient Greek method of using partly dehydrated gypsum before fermentation, and some type of lime after fermentation, to reduce acidity. The Greek writer Theophrastus also provides evidence of this practice.

The Greek god of revelry and wine Dionysus or Bacchus who was frequently referred to in the works of Homer and Aesop was sometimes given the epithet Acratophorus, and he was designated as the giver of unmixed wine, which resulted in frenzied behaviour. Wine in those days was served with and diluted by water and referred to as “The Juice of the Gods”.

It was Greek wine that was initially exported throughout the Mediterranean basin. Amphorae with Greek styling and art have been found throughout the area. The most likely origin of wine that appeared in ancient Egypt was when it was a Greek owned territory. It was also the Greek who first introduced the Vitis Vinifera (Common Grape) Vine and made wine in their numerous colonies in modern-day Italy, Sicily, Southern France and Spain.

MY WINE LOG

Last night I prepared Pan fried chicken thighs and pumpkin with steamed vegetables and a sauce “lak” which is translated as made from many ingredients.

We had a "Deen De Bortoli, Vat 2, Sauvignon Blanc 2007" to accompany this dish. Of all the white wines I find Sauvignon Blanc to be the most consistently appetising. Deen De Bortoli the son of the founder of De Bortoli's, has developed a range of varietals that he believes truly reflects the essence of each. De Bortoli’s Vat2 Sauvignon Blanc 2007 though still young, has strong characteristics of the best of it's kind. I especially like the long finish that tastes to me of ripe gooseberry, with a hint of pineapple, which I found very refreshing.

De Bortoli’s is a winery that was only about 8kms (5 miles) from where we used to live and we were frequent visitors to the Bilbul cellar door. Since moving away from Griffith it is much more difficult for me to pop in, but we follow the progress of the winery with interest and intend to visit the Yarra Valley vineyard in the not to distant future.

Of course for those of you into dessert wines it is also the home of the world famous Noble One, the bench mark in Australia, for dessert wine

Ingredients For the Meal

2-3 chicken thighs per person

Poppy seeds

Sesame seeds

1 egg

Two table spoons of corn flour

Broccoli two small pieces per person

Pumpkin 2 small pieces per person

Onions 1 medium per person

Spinach leaves 1 cup per person

Potatoes 2 medium per person

Butter 1-2 oz to taste

½ - 1 cup of milk

The Sauce

Small shrimp 10 per person (uncooked)

Garlic 2 cloves per person

Seed mustard 1 teaspoon per person

Ginger 2 thin slices per person

Coriander a small bunch fresh

Olive oil 2 tablespoons

Balsamic vinegar to taste

Cottage cheese 1 heaped table spoon per person

Parmesan cheese for thickening

125 mls of Chicken stock per person

Juice from pan in which the chicken was cooked

Preparing The Chicken

The Thighs should be skin free

Cut each thigh so that it lies flat on a shallow plate

Roll each piece of chicken in the cornflour and the egg which has been whisked

Then lie in the poppy seed

Preparing The Vegetables

Ensure that the broccoli pieces are about the same size

Finely dice the onions

Preparing The Sauce

Ensure that the garlic and ginger are cut into fine slivers

Cooking The Chicken And Pumpkin

Place the pumpkin in into a preheated pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. Cook on one side until beginning to turn brown and softening, then turn over,

Place the chicken pieces poppy seed side down in the pan with a drizzle of olive.

Cook for 5-10 minutes on medium heat, then sprinkle the top side the sesame seed and turn the fillets over.

Add ¾ of the onion per person and add more olive oil cooking until the onion is glazed

Cooking The Vegetables

Place broccoli in steamer and cook until it turns bright green, then add the spinach leaves until they start to shrivel in the steam.

Boil the potatoes in their jackets in a separate pot. Use a potato suitable for mashing such as Desiree, Nicola, Pink Eye or Purple Congo. Try mixing potatoes to get different textures. When the potatoes are soft all the way through, drain the water off and put the potatoes back over a medium heat, shaking the pan for 2-3 seconds.

Always mash the potatoes using butter to begin with; when the butter has melted, then add milk to cream the potatoes, then add the remainder of the onion, to add zest and texture.

Cooking The Sauce

Cook the sauce in the pan used to cook the chicken and pumpkin, keeping any liquid remaining.

Add olive oil

Add the Garlic, Ginger and Mustard seed

Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil stirring continuously until garlic and ginger are soft.

Take off the boil and add the coriander and shrimp, simmer for five minutes.

Then add the cottage and parmesan cheeses

Taste test and add balsamic vinegar for a bit of zing factor.

Serving The Meal

Serve the mash in the middle of the plate and the pumpkin and broccoli alongside.

Put the spinach leaves over the mash and place the chicken on top of that.

Pour the sauce over the vegetables

Bon Apetit!

In this day of cosmopolitan dining a meal is often differentiated by the sauces and gravies that the meat and/or vegetables are served with. For those of you who would like to expand your repertoire of sauces and gravies I've included some links to pages that specialise in them.

http://www.recipehound.com/Recipes/sauce.html

http://www.thegutsygourmet.net/sauce.html

http://busycooks.about.com/od/saucesandgravies/Sauce_Recipes_and_Gravy_Recipes.htm

http://www.real-restaurant-recipes.com/Sauce.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/get_cooking/cooks_guide/sauces.shtml

http://www.cancerproject.org/resources/handbook/sauces.pdf

http://recipes.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Category:Gravy_Recipes

http://saraskitchen.faithweb.com/sauce.html

http://www.fatfree.com/recipes/sauces/