Wednesday, April 24, 2013

24th April 2013 Main Ingredient's MENU - Table of Friendship at Azure Restaurant, Savage wine launch, Gourmet Vegetarian, Organic in the market, Fun with food, Dry Rub recipe for Steak


MENU
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Gourmet Foods & Ingredients
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The view from Kommetjie to Chapman’s Peak and the mountains round Hout Bay
In this week’s MENU:                                                              
*       Horst Frehse’s Table of Friendship at Azure Restaurant
*       A Savage launch
*       Fancy some Gourmet Vegetarian?
*       Buy Organic in the market
*       Off to see the gardens at Klein Optenhorst
*       Fun with food
*       Dry Rub recipe for Steak
*       On Line Shop
*       This week’s Product menu
*       Our market activities - Neighbourgoods, Long Beach
*       Wine and Food Events
*       Wine courses & cooking classes
To take a look at our Main Ingredient blogs, follow the link: http://adamastorbacchus.blogspot.com/ because to tell our whole story here would take too much space and you can also read earlier blogs. Click on Bold words in the text of this edition to open links to pictures, blogs, pertinent websites or more information. Follow us on Twitter: @mainingmenu
Main Ingredient's On Line Shop is performing very well. We are continuing to update it with new products and with photographs of products. Please do not pay until we have confirmed availability and invoiced you. When you make an eft payment, make sure that it says who you are. Use the form on the website to email us your order and we will send you the final invoice once we’ve made sure stock is available. Click here to see the shop.
This week’s Product menu  In our Recipe this week, Lynne has used black peppercorns. We sell wonderful, very pungent black peppercorns as well as red peppercorns and Szechuan pepper. We have ordered more of the sensational Grains of Paradise and will let you know when it arrives.
We have a lot of fun putting MENU together each week and, of course, doing the things we write about, but making it possible for you to enjoy rare and wonderful gourmet foods is what drives our business. We stock a good range of ingredients and delicious ready-made gourmet foods. You can contact us by email or phone, or through our website. We can send your requirements to you anywhere in South Africa.
Our market activities Come and visit us at the Old Biscuit Mill’s wonderfully exciting, atmospheric Neighbourgoods Market, as always, this Saturday and every Saturday between 09h00 and 14h00. Tip: Some visitors tell us how they struggle to find parking. It’s quite easy if you know how. Click here for a map which shows where we park. We will be back at the market in Long Beach Mall, Sun Valley, Fish Hoek on Friday, May 4th.
Horst Frehse’s Table of Friendship at Azure Restaurant     What better way to spend a very stormy day than to have a very gemütlich lunch at a smart hotel with a sea view, so you can watch the storm sweep in from across the Atlantic. Last Thursday, at the very beginning of a sensational and very early Cape storm, we drove though sheets of rain to the Twelve Apostles Hotel at Oudekraal to have a warm and friendly lunch at Azure with Horst Frehse, the General Manager of the Hotel, at one of his regular Table of Friendship lunches. We were also joined by Peter Finlayson, winemaker at Bouchard Finlayson. Lynne had some stimulating conversation with Nils Flaatten, CEO of Wesgro, who have taken over the task previously performed by Cape Town Routes Unlimited. As we believe we’re out there on the cutting edge of tourism, promoting the food and wine of the Cape in MENU, doing wine tours and working in markets where we meet many, many different nationalities, we have opinions and positive solutions on how to promote our beautiful city. So, thankfully, does Mr Flaatten. At John’s end of the table were the charming Lungile Nhlanhla, the junior food editor of DRUM magazine, and award winning wildlife photographer Daryl Balfour. We remembered Lungi as a contestant in Masterchef SA last year. A delicious lunch was prepared by Head Chef Michael McIntyre and we drank Bouchard Finlayson wines with each course. Click here to see the photographs.
A Savage launch     Thursday night, with the storm still raging, we drove through to Kuils River to the Langverwagt venue for the launch of Duncan Savage’s own range of wines. Duncan is the renowned winemaker at Cape Point Vineyards in Noordhoek and was now ready to release his Savage wines. The function venue belongs to members of his family and is very large and attractive. The launch was a gathering of a large number of the great and the good of the wine world, plus many members of Duncan’s wider family. Duncan has released two wines – there are 5000 bottles of 2012 Savage White, which is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon in his classic crisp and elegant style. It has sweet fruit notes resting on top of crisp long flavours of granadilla and lime, marmalade and vanilla. The 2011 Savage Red is a blend of Shiraz Grenache and Cinsault and only has 12½% alcohol. Dark toasted wood, liquorice, cinnamon and black pepper on the nose, it is full of soft sweet red fruit with a salty liquorice and pepper end. Even rarer there is only 3000 bottles of this first release wine so order some now. Cellar door price of the wines is R180 per bottle, white and red. Contact Duncan here. We had a marvellous buffet dinner at a very long table in the old cellar. Click here to see the photographs. And the rain held off all through the evening.
Fancy some Gourmet Vegetarian?     Rhonda Watson is a very talented vegetarian private chef, who lives in Kommetjie and does catering in people’s homes. We met Rhonda when she was selling her wares at Long Beach Mall market. She wanted us to taste her cooking, so invited us to come to dinner last Friday after the market. We had a wonderful evening, as we both like eating this sort of food very much, although we will never be vegetarians. As a seasoned professional, she had done all her preparation beforehand and was able to spend much of the evening eating and talking with us while she quickly whipped up a feast. We took along a bottle of Bloemendal Suider Terras 2009 Sauvignon blanc and it went extremely well with all the food. If you would like her to cook some excellent vegetarian fare for you, you can contact her on: rcwprivatechef@gmail.com  Click here to see the photographs of the food and the evening.
Buy Organic in the market     There is a new organic vegetable stand behind us at the Biscuit Mill and it so distresses us to see that they are not being supported by customers. Surely this is exactly what you want to buy? Lynne has bought some great fresh peppadews from them and served these in a curry this week. And...(she doesn’t really want to tell you about this as you might take all of them) she has bought some superbly fresh organic farm eggs with blindingly orange yolks. She has tasted their freshly pulped organic apple juice and see their beautiful carrots and beetroot and preserves and bottles of fresh vegetable soup. Come and help them stay at the Biscuit mill by buying something from them.
Off to see the gardens at Klein Optenhorst     Klein Optenhorst wine farm in Wellington has one of the most beautiful gardens in the Cape and, luckily, you can visit them this weekend as they have open days on Saturday and Sunday – 9.30 to 4.30. The R35 entrance fee will also get you homemade scones with cream and tea; 2011 Klein Optenhorst Brut Rosé will be available for sale by the glass and by the bottle and there will be an art and pottery exhibition. They will also have a sale of rare and unusual plants. Do let them know if you are coming, so they can bake enough scones. We are definitely going with friends on Sunday and hope to see lots of you there. See www.kleinoptenhorst.com/
Fun with food     Lynne has been having a lot of fun cooking in the last week. It started with the Masterchef method to cook the perfect steak and she made the ‘dry’ rub using onion, garlic herbs and black peppercorns blitzed with olive oil and then applied to the steaks as far ahead, if not overnight, as possible. They were stunningly good and we will definitely use this recipe again.  She had a lot of the rub left over and so this went into a Minestrone soup she made on Monday, which added huge amounts of flavour. When you make minestrone, remember to cook your onions till caramelising, then do the same with the celery, carrot and fennel. Then add the rest of the vegetables and cook them for only half to three quarters of an hour. Should you add tomatoes? Stock? Beans? Bacon? I think it is regional and entirely up to you..
Rhonda Watson gave us the rest of her green Thai curry paste, which went with cubes of beef, coconut cream and three hot peppadews last night – not one drop was left of this curry. It is interesting to note how Lynne finds the effects of different chillies. Some burn on the lips, others on the front of the tongue, others at the back of the throat and others are so hot your whole mouth is on fire. Peppadews made the mouth so hot it felt ice cold. Must be the brain playing tricks on the palate but the effect was good. John is much less affected – perhaps a legacy of being born in Durban.
Here is James Privit’s Masterchef recipe for you to try yourself. We used it on 2 Rib eye steaks rather than Sirloin and halved the recipe.
Dry Rub for Steak
2 medium onions, cut into chunks -12 cloves garlic - 3 tablespoons rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped - 3 tablespoons thyme, leaves picked and finely chopped - 1 tablespoon dry sage - 3 tablespoons black peppercorns -4 tablespoons olive oil - Salt to taste - 4 x 250g sirloin steak
Place onion and garlic in a food processor and process until a mulch is formed. Transfer to a bowl.
Add rosemary, thyme and sage and combine. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the peppercorns so that they are not a powder but resemble a fine kibble. Add this to the marinade with the olive oil and some salt. Mix the marinade together, forming a paste. Massage marinade into the steaks and allow to sit covered in the fridge overnight (or at least 6 hours).
There is a huge and rapidly growing variety of interesting things to occupy your leisure time here in the Western Cape. There are so many interesting things to do in our world of food and wine that we have made separate list for each month for which we have information. To see what’s happening in our world of food and wine (and a few other cultural events), visit our Events Calendar. All the events are listed in date order and we already have a large number of exciting events to entertain you right through the year.
Learn about wine and cooking We receive a lot of enquiries from people who want to learn more about wine. Cathy Marston and The Cape Wine Academy both run wine education courses, some very serious and others more geared to fun. You can see details of Cathy’s WSET and other courses here and here and the CWA courses here.
Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their classes can be seen here. Pete Ayub, who makes our very popular Prego sauce, runs evening cooking classes at Sense of Taste, his catering company in Maitland. We can recommend them very highly, having enjoyed his seafood course. Check his programme here. Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has cooking classes in Fish Hoek and conducts cooking tours to Normandy. You can see more details here. Emma Freddi runs the Enrica Rocca cooking courses at her home in Constantia. Brett Nussey’s Stir Crazy courses are now being run from Dish Food and Social’s premises in Main Road Observatory (opposite Groote Schuur hospital).





24th April 2013
Remember - if you can’t find something, we’ll do our best to get it for you, and, if you’re in Cape Town or elsewhere in the country, we can send it to you! Check our product list for details and prices.
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Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
Our Adamastor & Bacchus© tailor-made Wine, Food and Photo tours take small groups (up to 6) to specialist wine producers who make the best of South Africa’s wines. Have fun while you learn more about wine and how it is made! Tours can be conducted in English, German, Norwegian or Dutch flavoured Afrikaans.
Recommendations of products and outside events are not solicited or charged for, and are made at the authors’ pleasure. All photographs, recipes and text used in these newsletters and our blogs are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus. Our restaurant reviews are usually unsolicited. We prefer to pay for our meals and not be paid in any way by anyone. Whether we are invited or go independently, we don’t feel bad if we say we didn’t like it. Honesty is indeed our best policy. While every effort is made to avoid mistakes, we are human and they do creep in occasionally, for which we apologise. Our Avast! ® Anti-Virus software is updated at least daily and our system is scanned continually for viruses.
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Dinner with Rhonda

Lynne and Rhonda Watson discuss food and cooking
Our amuse of a miniature caprese salad topped with Rhonda’s homemade basil pesto
Rhonda in her tiny kitchen – it is amazing what you can do with very little equipment if you know what you are doing
Rhonda plating our two starters
First was a cake of ricotta on top of spinach served with a green salad and garlic bread
Delicious starter of blanched asparagus spears wrapped in pan fried haloumi cheese and tomatoes
A very small table for plating up the main course
which was a superb vegetable and tofu spicy Green Thai curry with fluffy jasmine rice. The vegetables ere green beans, broccoli and courgettes.  And Rhonda makes her own green Thai curry paste from 23 ingredients. We were given the leftover paste to take home
Dessert was rich chocolate mousse with cream, grated chocolate and pomegranate aruls
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Lunch at Horst Frehse's ‘table of friendship’ with Peter Finlayson at Twelve Apostles

We all met in the Conservatory for drinks pre lunch and watched the storm beat upon the windows
From the left Horst Frehse, Janie van der Spuy,  Peter Finlayson, Lungile Nhlanhla, Daryl Balfour

No. Lunch will not be on the terrace today... It’s ankle deep in rain water
Horst Frehse welcomes us all and tells us about the hotel and his Table of Friendship lunches
Horst introduces us to Michael McIntyre, the Head Chef
who was in charge of preparing this delicious lunch
Peter Finlayson, winemaker of Bouchard Finlayson wines in Hemel and Aarde valley
The amuse of cured salmon ceviche, salmon caviar and Mrs Bea Tollman’s secret sauce
First course was Lobster Risotto topped with a lobster tail served with either Bouchard Finlayson’s 2012 Sauvignon Blanc Reserve or their Sans Barrique Chardonnay 2012. Both matched perfectly.
Horst tells us how he learned that Table of Friendship lunches had started at the Ritz Hotel in London in the early 20th Century and how he has carried on this tradition throughout his career as a hotel manager.
He then told us about the Bouchard Finlayson wines served with lunch
Gregory Mutambe, the Sommelier of Azure restaurant, suggests a wine with the current dish.
Greg’s decision to put the 2012 Galpin Peak into a decanter and to pour the 2000 straight from the bottle was absolutely the best way to showcase both wines. The 2000 would have died in a decanter and the 2012 needed a bit of space and time to breathe. All the wines and the Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel Cap Classique bubbly were served in the correct glasses

Greg pours wine for Lungile Nhlanhla, the junior food editor of DRUM magazine
And for Janie van der Spuy, owner of FIVESTAR PR
The most impressive wine of the lunch, Bouchard Finlayson’s Tète de Cuvée Galpin Peak 2000 Pinot Noir. ..
...which went perfectly with the main course of a tender pink Chalmar Beef fillet with a gem squash purée, a courgette and asparagus salad, a rich beef jus and rocket crumbs
Dessert was a Passion Fruit cremeaux with tonka bean, pear gel, raspberries and almond dacquise
Irish coffee for one
And lemon in hot water for someone else
It is really good to see sommeliers teaching their staff about the wines served
Horst introduces us to his colleague Michael Nel
Lungile Nhlanhla, the junior food editor of DRUM magazine
Lungi saying goodbye to Horst
and to wildlife photographer Daryl Balfour. Note the lovely log fire in the background, most necessary on a very chilly day
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013

Monday, April 22, 2013

DUNCAN SAVAGE LAUNCHES HIS OWN WINE LABEL

Langverwagt, the venue for the launch of Savage Wines
 A few fellow winemakers arrived early
 and the number of guests grew and grew
until we were ready to go in to dine 
 Maryna Strachan, Alan Mullins and Su Birch
 Duncan welcomed everyone and thanked everyone who had helped him
 
 and everyone listened 
 Riedel glasses matched to the wines
 Maryna Strachan giving the wine serious consideration
 Savage Red and Savage White
 
 
A buffet supper to cater  for a crowd
 Christine Rudman and David Biggs discuss the large urns with Pierre le Roux
Neil Grant of Burrata and Duncan
 Angela Lloyd and Ray Kilian
Wine merchants Caroline Rillema and Mike Bampfield Duggan
 Ray Kilian and Caroline Rillema
 'n bord kos
 Nils Verburg and Maryna Strachan
 Duncan and Zani Savage
 A good selection of cheeses
 and a selection of tarts to finish off the feast
 
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013