Eating Leeds

Roast Beef and Bordeaux

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:57:00 +0000

Sun 20 July 2008

A bit of a trip back in time here!

When my parents visited us last year, they bought us a lot of wine, which included a bottle of 1998 Château Bouscaut. I knew this hadn't been a particularly cheap wine so we'd wanted to make sure we made a bit of an occasion of drinking it.

The "occasion" presented itself in the form of Sunday lunch: a piece of roast beef from Yorkshire Highlanders, roast vegetables, and (of course) Yorkshire pudding and gravy.

Yorkshire pudding still in the oven at this point!

However, I'm going to take this opportunity to give you an overview of Bordeaux. Nothing like learning while you're drinking!

The label of this wine proudly announces Grand Cru Classé de Graves, and has Pessac-Léognan in large letters. Nowhere does it mention Bordeaux - so even a little bit of knowledge goes a long way (I think this is more true of Bordeaux than pretty much any other region in France - I'm sure that will spike some debate!).

The label of more recent vintages has had a design change. 'Grand Cru Classé de Graves' is in gold letters across the top.

In wine terms, Bordeaux is the region in south-west France which encompasses the Gironde Estuary, formed by the Garonne and Dordogne rivers. This region is divided into smaller regions, one of which is Graves, and some of those are divided further still - hence Pessac-Léognan.*

Very importantly, the two dominant red grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and the dominant white grape is Sémillon.

Usually, wines from Graves would be Cabernet Sauvignon dominant, but the Bouscaut is about 60% Merlot, with the balance made up of Cabernet Sauvignon and a touch of Malbec.

So what did it actually taste like?

The short answer: very good.

The long answer ... well, it was pretty closed to start off with, but unceremoniously sloshing it into our decanter certainly helped open it up (don't worry - it hadn't thrown very much sediment at all!). It definitely developed as we drank it, so if you have a bottle it might be worth decanting it an hour or so in advance of drinking it. On the nose, both red and black fruit developed into definite forest fruit aromas, accompanied by tobacco, cedar and hints of warm spice. Initially, the palate had considerably less fruit than the nose, but here too the fruit flavours developed into definite black fruit. The fruit was complemented by the same cedar and spice notes found in the nose. The tannins were still quite grippy (although nicely integrated - they didn't hit you and dry out your mouth in one hit), so make sure you drink this with a big piece of red meat, or leave it alone for a little while longer. The wine is only 12.5%abv, but did feel slightly warm.

We both really enjoyed this and it went really well with the lovely beef. If you're fortunate enough to have some bottles stashed away, wait until mid-winter, cook up a hearty beef daube and invite me round for supper!

* You can click through to a map pinpointing the Château here - zoom out for the Bordeaux region.

tagged with: bordeaux, pessac-leognan, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, red wine, france, beef

Roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:07:00 +0000

Tues 05 August 2008

The start of a new month and time to take stock of where things are at.

Although not related to Leeds, I was pleased to read this gem on the BBC website: Starbucks has closed 61 of its 85 Australian shops!* As you may know, I grew up in Adelaide, a city with quite a high number of Italian immigrants. This translates into a lot of very superior coffee - and if you're a visitor to the city I recommend you check out either Lucia's at the Central Market or one of the many Cibo Espressos. Frankly, Starbucks' sterile and formulaic environment and not very good coffee have never really done it for me, so I'm pretty chuffed that Australia's bucking at least one globalisation trend!

Cibo Espresso, Moseley Square, Glenelg, in winter

Closer to home, the news of the day is that Oddbins has been sold. It's all over the web today, so you'll find more information than I can offer here by googling it, but it's interesting to note that the small company (two outlets) that has bought the chain is run by Oddbins' founder's son. It will be interesting to see what changes.

And really close to home ... on Thursday 24 July the Leeds heat for the PUDZ Amateur Pudding Chef was held at Thomas Danby College. I found out about this too late to participate but the heat was won by Louise Yankovic of Chapel Allerton, who'll be heading down to London for the final in November. There's time for people in the Glasgow, Birmingham and Bristol areas to participate, but I'm sure that all of us in Yorkshire will be wishing Louise and her mixed berry shortcake tart all the best in London!

Louise Yankovic's Mixed Berry Shortcake Tart

In writing news ... by far the most popular post at the moment on Eating Leeds is our visit to Larocca. Eating Leeds got its review of this new Italian restaurant out before even the Metro! I was a little undecided ... so have you been yet? What did you think?

Finally ... don't forget to subscribe to the Eating Leeds feed, follow me (Alex) on twitter, or join the Eating Leeds Facebook blog network! Adding to the Web 2.0 armoury, if you see a post you like, don't forget to stumble it!

*Thanks to Robert at The Wine Conversation.

Onion Bread Tart

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:19:00 +0000

Sun 03 August 2008

This started off as an excuse to make use of the Kitchen Aid, but I've now discovered an excellent technique which should mean we can keep ourselves in home made bread for much of the time.

Both parts of this recipe come from Patricia Wells's At Home In Provence.

I started by making her basic bread recipe. The KitchenAid turns out to be a fantastic beast for bread making, because it turns it into a all-in-one-bowl exercise, and also removes from my hands the mucky work of incorporating flour and liquid!

So - in the bowl of your heavy duty mixer, put 1 tsp of yeast (I was using dried, active yeast), 1 tsp of sugar and add to this 11 fl oz (approximately 325mL) of warm water. Set the mixer on to its lowest setting to stir up the yeast and sugar, and then leave for the yeast to activate.

When the yeast has started its bubbling, add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and a teaspoon of salt. Stir this, and with the mixer on, start adding 500g of strong bread flour. I add it a heaped tablespoon at a time.

Once you've added all the flour, let the mixer do the work until you have a smooth, elastic ball of dough. If, like me, you like kneading, you can pull it out earlier and knead yourself. Place the ball of dough in a large bowl, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge overnight.

To make the topping for the onion tart, take 3 or 4 large onions, slice finely and sweat in some olive oil. Add a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of sugar, a sprig of rosemary and a bay leaf or too. When the onions have softened and taken on some colour, add pepper to taste and leave to cool.

Preheat your oven to 230°C. Take your bread dough (preferably already brought to room temperature, but straight from the fridge is fine) and roll it out and shape it to fit a standard baking tray. If your tray is non stick, just place the dough on, stretching it out so it meets the edges. If it's not a non stick tray, grease or line with baking paper.

Mix the onion mixture with a beaten egg and a teaspoon of carraway seeds and spread over the dough, right to the edges. Bake in the hot oven for about 25 minutes - until the onions are golden and the bread is risen. Serve on its own, or with some salad, and (of course) a glass of wine.

Thanks to our enthusiastic fan oven, some of our onion came out a little darker than I would have liked, but fortunately it was not at all bitter. This was absolutely delicious and between the two of us we managed to polish off the whole thing, bar two lunch sized portions.

Of course, you may not be as greedy!

tagged with: bread, baking, onion

Farmers' Markets

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 07:38:00 +0000

Sun 03 August 2008

Back in May I wrote about my trip to the Oakwood Farmers' Market. This has become a quasi monthly fixture on the Eating Leeds calendar, helped along in no small way by the fact some friends live nearby and it's an excuse for a bit of food shopping followed by a coffee.

A Scientist in the Kitchen is hosting a farmers' market blog event, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to cover not only Oakwood (the subject of this photo montage) but other farmers' markets in Leeds.

The markets I have been known to frequent include Headingley (second Saturday of the month, the Rose Garden, on North Lane) and the Leeds' event (first and third Sunday of the month). There are also markets in many of Leeds' suburbs, including Shadwell, Chapel Allerton and Pudsey: the chances are that there's one near you, so there's no excuse not to go along. Check out West Yorkshire Food to find details on your nearest market.

You'll find that many of the stall holders will visit more than one market: Yorkshire Highlanders, for example, are at both Oakwood and Leeds (as well as other markets), as are Woodside Pick Your Own (the lovely asparagus above, and some gorgeous raspberries last month), Lincolnshire Poacher Cheese and Church View eggs. Of course, you can't visit a market with too much of a definite shopping list in mind ... but then, that's half the fun!

tagged with: leeds, yorkshire, farmers' market

Meringues

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:16:00 +0000

Mon 28 July 2008

I appreciate that this may be rather like teaching one's grandmother to suck eggs, but the newest toy in the Eating Leeds' batterie de cuisine is a shiny, eggshell blue (and very heavy) KitchenAid Artisan.

Of course, it had to be tried out immediately, and luckily there was a single egg white left over from a batch of brownie baking on the weekend ... and Andy loves meringue and I've never made him one. Not a single one, let alone a whiff of pavlova or lemon meringue pie ...

The real secret with meringues is to let them dry out rather than cook them. To this end, preheat your oven to just 100°C.

So, having acquired your egg white*, weigh out 50g of caster sugar. There are many ways to ensure good egg white whipping and on this occasion I used a pinch of salt. Marcus Wareing (in How To Cook The Perfect ...) directs you to rub a cut lemon over the entire surface of the bowl. Other people will use a pinch of Cream of Tartar, or a drop of lemon juice. The most important thing is that your bowl and whisk are clean and dry.

All of that sorted, egg white in bowl with a teaspoon of the sugar, and begin whisking. Start slowly and build up the speed. When the white has reached soft peaks, keep whisking, adding the sugar a generous teaspoonful (or so) at a time. When you're at stiff peaks - you're done.

Shape your meringue how you please. I used tablespoons to make quenelles, but you could use a piping bag, or just drop spoonfuls of meringue on a tray lined with baking paper.

Place in the warm oven for an hour, and then turn off the oven and leave the meringues in for as long as possible. This way, they'll dry out but should still retain a gooey, chewy sticky centre. Ours did! Also, because the temperature is so low, they'll stay gloriously white.

We just ate them. But, if you have some cream or mascarpone and some fresh fruit lying around, you could coarsely crush them and make yourself some Eton Mess. It may just contribute to your five a day ...

*I've read horror stories about people trying to make meringue with pasteurised egg white (whatever that is) and sugar substitutes. DON'T DO IT! It's a meringue - it's a pudding - it's NOT MEANT TO BE HEALTHY.

tagged with: meringue, dessert, baking

Another Portuguese White

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 10:43:00 +0000

Thurs 24 July 2008

At the beginning of the month I wrote about a Fernão Pires from Portugal. With summer finally here, it's the perfect excuse to drink more white wine, and, from what I'm seeing Portugal is offering some good value (and widely available) specimens.

I picked up Quinta da Alorna's Portal Da Águia 2007 from Oddbins for £5.79. It's a blend of Arinto and Fernão Pires and comes from Ribatejo. Ribatejo (a little inland and a little south of Estremadura, where the straight Fernão Pires came from) is the fertile region around the banks of the River Tagus. In terms of red wine, the area produces 'international' varieties, such as Cab Sav and Shiraz, as well as the local Castelão and Trincadeira. White wine production is dominated by Fernão Pires.

Arinto (a new grape for me to taste) is decribed, by Johnson and Robinson, as Portugal's "most aristocratic" white grape. You'll also find this grape in Vinho Verde and Bucelas as well as in wines from Galicia (Spain), and it goes by a variety of names, including Pedernã and Pedreña. That's just to keep you on your toes!

The wine itself is a pale lemon yellow colour. It has quite a pronounced nose, with plenty of herbaceous notes, balanced with distinct floral and limey citrus aromas. There is also a touch of tropical or stone fruit - I really struggled to put my finger on it, eventually moving from stone fruit to melon and settling on pineapple. While the palate isn't quite as sophisticated as the nose, there is plenty of pineapple and tropical fruit, backed up by some medium acidity. Although not hugely complex, the wine has pretty good length.

It's a very different wine to the straight Fernão Pires and I'd love to try them side by side. I'm guessing it's the Arinto that fleshes out this wine and makes it a slightly fatter, rounder beast. Seafood and chicken would be natural food pairings for this - something like some marinated chicken on the BBQ would be perfect. You must avoid salty food with this: I didn't and the combined effect was rather bitter and not at all pleasant!

As you can probably tell, I think this is a good, not to mention enjoyable, wine for the money.* Grab a bottle of this and sit out in the sunshine while you can!

*Andrew over at Spittoon tasted the 2005 at the start of 2007 and rated it highly - so it's not just me that likes this wine!

tagged with: portugal, wine, arinto, ribatejo, fernao pires

Tarrango

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:45:00 +0000

Sat 19 July 2008

Over at At First Glass there's been a bit of discussion about chilling reds. It's fortunate that, at pretty much the same time Nancy was writing her post, I was cracking open a lightly chilled bottle of Brown Brothers Tarrango.

I'm not going to launch into a lecture on the temperature at which different wines should be served, but let's establish that, when I talk about chilling a bottle of Tarrango (or Beaujolais), I don't mean leaving it in the freezer for so long ice crystals start to form. You don't want it so cold that your glass ends up dripping with condensation. You just want it ... cool. 15-20 minutes in the fridge should do the trick nicely.

Brown Brothers Tarrango is, at present, on sale at Somerfield for the princely sum of £3.99 a bottle (normally retails for £5.99). This is an 'offer' which is repeated often, so you probably will never need to pay the full price for it. This is a light, very fruit forward wine: plenty of red fruit, low in tannin, and when chilled, a very refreshing drink. It's also very food friendly. Something different to go with the melon and parma ham salad? Pair it with cold roast pork. Or even a hot roast chicken with a rich sauce.

But what is really interesting is the grape: Tarrango. Despite its Italian sounding name, it's a grape which came out of a laboratory. A hybrid of Portugal's Touriga Nacional (a black grape) and the mighty Sultana (a white grape, in dried format a staple of school lunch boxes across the Sunburnt Country), Tarrango was developed by the CSIRO in Merbein, Victoria, Australia in the 1960s. The CSIRO does a lot of work around viticulture, and developing grapes* to suit Australian conditions is a large part of this. Unsurprisingly, this means that Tarrango requires very warm conditions and takes a long time to ripen. Perfect for long, hot Australian summers.

So, although we're not exactly enjoying a long hot summer here in the UK, you can beat both the credit crunch and the dire weather by popping a bottle of Tarrango in the fridge. At the next BBQ, as you shelter from rain and wind, you can wow your mates with a little bit of vinous trivia!

tagged with: wine, tarrango, australia

*Brown Brothers also produce wine from another CSIRO baby, Cienna, but I've yet to see this in the UK.

Spicy Beef Wraps

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:56:00 +0000

Sat 19 July 2008

The latest food show on the BBC is Chinese Food Made Easy, presented by the mildly irritating (according to 4/4 viewers asked, not just my opinion!) Ching-He Huang. It's a shame that she spends a disproportionate amount of time shouting "Wok on! Oil hot!" when she's actually putting together some reasonably interesting, but quick to prepare, dishes. And coming from someone who doesn't eat a lot of Chinese food - that's saying something.

Andy was inspired enough to suggest making the spiced beef wraps which appeared at the end of last week's episode. There was, as usual, a few departures from her recipe, and we came to the conclusion that, while the basic ideas were good, it needed refinement.

The original recipe uses beef fillet, but we opted for (the considerably cheaper) rump. Before heading out to the cinema, I cut up the rump finely (in future, we would batter it with a meat mallet first), and tossed it with ground cumin, chilli flakes, chilli powder, salt and pepper. The recipe on the BBC says to use 2 tbsp of chilli flakes. I would say to ONLY do this if you are very, very sure about how mild your chilli flakes are. I used less than a teaspoon and about the same again of the chilli powder and the final mix had a pleasant warmth about it. 2 tbsp and I'm sure it would have been close to inedible.

I also prepared the dressing by mixing crème fraîche (substituted for mayonnaise) and wasabi paste - all done to taste. This was undoubtedly the star of the meal and definitely a mix we'll be making use of in future for all sorts of things.

On our return from the cinema, Andy heated some oil in the wok (without having to shout anything, at all) and added diced onion. This was cooked until softened and then he added the beef and let it brown. At this stage he added Shaoxing rice wine (substitute dry Sherry if you can't get hold of this) and soy sauce. To finish, he added plenty of chopped fresh coriander and finely sliced spring onion.

The idea is to serve the meat, topped with the wasabi mix, in a tortilla wrap. There was a lot of discussion over dinner as to how we'd do this a second time (if we were to bother - which we've decided we won't), what it (potentially) says about the recipes from Chinese Food Made Easy and (most importantly) how we'd use the wasabi-crème fraîche mix!

Any meal which stimulates discussion is good, and this was a good, quick and satisfying supper. 50% of boxes ticked!

tagged with: beef, chinese, ching-he huang

Dare

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:50:00 +0000

Sun 13 July 2008

On Sunday night, a much overdue foray into Headingley (hmm, that means walking down the road) to check out Dare: a café, bar and restaurant. All things to all people then.

Dare does offer some very reasonable set meals but most of the menu is so cheap that unless you are extremely skint, you will be able to eat plenty and not break the bank.

We opted for wider choices afforded by the à la carte menu, which surprised us by being very Mexican in flavour. Andy started with stuffed, fried jalapeños followed by the taquitos, while I started with calamari, followed by a burrito.

Now, this is not subtle food by any stretch of the imagination, and if we had paid more for our meal, I could be tempted to be quite harsh. So, while the batter on the calamari was a bit heavy, the squid itself was tender, and the dish wasn't oily. Andy had five jalapeños -not overly spicy, but hot, cheesy and utterly as expected.

The main courses were generous portions of simple, tasty Mexican food. My burrito was huge, surrounded by some tasty guacamole, rice and salsa and topped with sour cream. The taquitos were very similar in presentation, although Andy had opted for salad rather than rice. He commented that he would have preferred the dips kept separate (something that I'd normally say!) but that otherwise, he was a happy chap.

There was no way we could fit in dessert, so it was time to assess the damage to our wallets. For two starters, two mains, 3 bottles of Peroni and a small glass of house red ... £32. I can't fault that for value.

Yes - Dare is a little 'studenty', and no, the food isn't haute cuisine. However, the service is not only efficient but also extremely pleasant (how rare to find waiting staff who look like they actually enjoy their jobs!). The food is honest and the whole experience is one of straight forward comfort.

Next time we're too lazy to cook on a Sunday night - we'll be back.

1. Dare, 49 Otley Rd, Headingley, LS6 3AB, phone: 0113 230 2828

tagged with: leeds, headingley, restaurants

Prawn and Samphire Risotto

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Sat 12 July 2008

Going to the expense of buying the dressed crabs for the crab linguine meant that I was able to make a lovely fresh stock from the left over shells. Because crab is quite strong it was very simple: the two shells, water, a carrot, an onion, a couple of bay leaves and some peppercorns.

While most of the stock is now in the freezer in an ice cube tray, the balance was used to make Saturday's supper. We bought prawns and massive scallops at the market, and added a handful of samphire to the mix.

For someone who spends so much time on the internet it didn't occur to me that I should google what to do with this new (to me) green vegetable. So I rinsed it, blanched it and refreshed it with cold water. Quite a result. Sort of like salty asparagus.

I put together a simple risotto: an onion finely diced and sweated off in (unsalted) butter, with a finely chopped clove of garlic. Then I added 150g of arborio rice (enough for two), and after I'd ensure a good coating of butter on the rice, started adding the hot stock a spoonful at a time and stirring patiently.

The prawns (we bought green but peeled and deveined tiger prawns) and scallops were very lightly fried off in butter that had melted with a crushed clove of garlic in the pan.

When the risotto was almost done, the prawns were stirred through to finish cooking, and the samphire was added right at the end. The scallops sat atop the finished dish.

On this occasion, it was not an entirely successful rendition of what should be a lovely dish. We were hungry and rushed the rice, leaving it just a little too toothsome for our liking. We cooked the scallops too early, so they were a little cool (although the hot rice soon warmed them) and I could have been far more generous with the samphire (I was worried about it all being too salty). But these are all just tiny blemishes on an otherwise light and fresh risotto.

To drink: a Torrontés from Argentina, purchased from Leeds' new wine shop, Latitude. Down on The Calls, it's the new incarnation of Hoults. Santa Ana Eco 2007 pressed a lot of buttons for me. A predominantly floral nose with stone fruit which really shone on the palate, cut through with lime. Hints of green fruit at the edges, refreshing acidity and very good length. It balanced nicely with the delicate shell fish in the risotto. Having said that, Andy was decidedly ho-hum about it, so we won't call it a universal crowd pleaser. But for £7.99, it's more than worth a try!

tagged with: risotto, italian, shellfish, prawns, scallops, seafood, torrontes, argentina

Larocca

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:07:00 +0000

Fri 11 July 2008

Last week's poor weather caused problems for Friday's lunch. Everywhere was just too far away from the office for anyone to be bothered. And this caused problems for me because I had no lunch. So I solved the problem by suggesting @Larocca (yes, it has the '@' in its name ... not sure what it's for ...), the recently opened Italian restaurant and bar in Clarence Dock.

It's a very large, shiny restaurant, with very contemporary furnishings and a very large bar. It's very red and brown inside. So it's not really surprising that the menu is ... very long.

Fortunately, for those of us on lunch breaks, the restaurant also offers a £10.95 cut down lunch menu, which will get you two courses and a coffee. For my starter I chose the bresaola carpaccio with a Balsamic vinegar sauce. My companions both chose the very scary sounding deep fried, crumbed mozzarella with garlic mayonnaise. It wouldn't have been my first choice, and they both started to look a little defeated as they ploughed their way through large (and rapidly cooling) pieces of fried mozzarella. First course roundly won by me!

Main course wise, I chose the pork tenderloin in basil and tomato sauce. It was served with some slightly odd mashed potato and a side of tagliatelle with a basil and tomato sauce. The pasta was definitely the star of this show. The portion was quite small, and the glue-like mash just didn't work at all - especially not with pasta too. However, the pasta was cooked almost perfectly, with a good bite to it, and the tomato sauce (which I assume was the same on both meat and pasta) tasted completely different: very fresh and light.

The other dish chosen was a Capricciosa pizza: ham, mushroom, mozzarella and tomato. This was the definite star of the main courses and the verdict was that it was better than the pizzas at brb. High praise indeed.

Overall, on the food front, I am a little undecided. Putting some bresaola on a plate and dressing it is not rocket science, and my main course was not that smart. But then, if the pizza is good the kitchen should be producing good food ...

We rounded off our meal with our coffees - and, while my espresso was good, it was the caffè latte looked most impressive - because it actually had a generous amount of milk in it!

The service was OK - it was certainly prompt and polite, but I noticed that a larger table near us had a few issues with its orders, which makes me wonder how things would go on a busy Saturday evening. I really rated the cloth napkins but I do think they should do away with the comedy oversized pepper mills and the music policy should be revisited.

Normally I come away from restaurants with a quite decided opinion. In the case of @Larocca, I'm going to sit on the fence. I'll be going back for an evening visit to see how the wider menu performs. I'm hoping that the kitchen and service is just taking a while to bed down and that my next visit will demonstrate some consistency.

1. @Larocca, 5 - 6 Armouries Drive, The Anchorage, Leeds, LS10 1LE, phone: 0113 2346000

tagged with: leeds, restaurant, italian

Spicy Potatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:13:00 +0000

Thurs 03 July 2008

After the expense of the linguine al granchio, I thought I should offer something a little more in keeping with these credit crunch times ...

Regular readers will be aware that Andy and I do a lot of our food shopping at the Leeds' market. We are fortunate because we both work in town and can pop in as often as we need to (or can be bothered). A side effect of this is that whenever I enter a supermarket I am appalled by the vast expense of the fruit and vege.

But, in Somerfield one day, we spotted a 500g bag of washed baby potatoes, marked down from £1 to 25p ... because it was near its use by date (yes, a use by date on potatoes ... I kid you not). I take next to no notice of use by dates. It's a potato - I'll be able to see and feel if it's alright to eat!

At the time, I thought £1 for 500g of potatoes rather steep, and when I went to the market on Tuesday I spotted the same little washed baby potatoes at 50p for 2lb. I knew it! The supermarket comes in at FOUR TIMES the cost of the market!

Once you have your cheap potatoes ... what to do? A quick, simple, mid-week supper was called for and I headed to Camellia Panjabi and her 50 Great Curries of India for inspiration. The fried potatoes with mixed spices looked like a good place to start ...

I've added to this recipe considerably, as the potato dish was our meal, rather than an accompaniment.

Begin by ensuring your potatoes are cut into roughly bite size pieces. Some of mine were left whole, others were halved. Boil the potatoes with 1/2 tsp of turmeric in the water.

When the potatoes are cooked, heat some vegetable oil in a wok and add 1/2 tsp of coriander powder and 1 tsp of chilli powder, 1 tsp of cumin seeds and a pinch of methi leaves, if you have them. As the spices start to cook, add a large onion, finely sliced, and some garlic and ginger. Allow the onion to go brown.

When almost ready to serve, add the potatoes and give them a good fry, so you not only have bits of crispy onion, but you also have bits of crispy potato.

And when ready to serve, toss through 1/2 tsp of garam masala. Taste. At this point, I added more garam masala.

Eat.

Simple! With leftovers for lunch the next day, our 25p worth of potatoes did three meals.

And this meal was cooked almost a week after those potatoes had been earmarked for the bin - and not one of them had to be thrown out. Bit for (personal) economy - done!

Finally ... if you're not already a member of the Eating Leeds blog network on Facebook if you join now you'll do a bit for your own economy, as I've linked to a 2-for-1 Pizza Express voucher - valid Sunday - Thursday until 7 August. That's tonight's supper sorted then!

tagged with: potato, curry

Linguine al Granchio

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:38:00 +0000

Tues 08 July 2008

Aside from being an opportunity to try something new, WBW also represents an interesting food and wine matching challenge. After all, the fact that it's a mid week event puts some time constraints on the production of a dish. And often we're drinking a wine with which we're not familiar.

Some research suggested (somewhat unimaginatively) that seafood was a good match for Soave. For some reason, I'd been talking about the gnocchi al granchio (gnocchi with a crab sauce) that I used to enjoy at a café on Rundle Street in Adelaide (yes, being a student was tough!). So fate decided our dish - with linguine taking the place of the gnocchi because we seem to have something of a surfeit of dried pasta at home!

This is perhaps not the most accessible of dishes. While the dish is ridiculously easy to put together, many readers may find acquiring fresh crab either difficult or prohibitively expensive. I am lucky in that the market in Leeds has an excellent row of fish mongers. I had a choice of buying whole crabs (the cheapest option, but most fiddly), pots of mixed brown and white crab meat or dressed crabs. While the pots of mixed meat did look quite good value, it was a bit hard to tell what the ratio of white to brown meat would be, so I opted for the dressed crabs. Two reasonably large specimens came in at £8*. Ouch.

Once home, with the linguine set to cook, I heated some olive oil in a pan, threw in some finely minced garlic (two large cloves, one small one) and a sprinkling of crushed red chilli. As the garlic softened I added the crab meat and cooked it gently, adding a good slug of vodka. As the crab meat warmed through in went some cream, a touch more vodka and then I turned off the heat and waited for the linguine to finish cooking. Finish the sauce with a generous handful of chopped parsley.

Toss the sauce through the linguine and serve, with plenty of Parmesan cheese and black pepper.

Absolutely delicious - and on the table in the time it took to cook the pasta!

By luck, I got the crushed chilli balance just right: it had a gentle, warming effect that crept up on you. The Soave went well with the dish - it had enough weight and flavour to stand up to both the full flavoured crab and the warm chilli, with its acidity balancing out nicely the cream and the richness of the crab.

Quite a result, really!

tagged with: crab, seafood, pasta, soave

* The two crabs were more than generous for two people: we had loads of crab meat and I had a very large lunch the next day. If you aren't inclined to be quite so frivolous with the pennies, one dressed crab will serve two just as well. Just use extra cream (and perhaps some white wine) to create a more saucy sauce.

WBW47: The Letter S

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:56:00 +0000

Wed 9 July 2008

This month's WBW, hosted by Grape Juice, is brought to us by the letter S. Simple - choose a wine which has a connection (as tenuous as you please) with the letter 'S'. All the things that I love that I could choose from ... but I like to use WBW as an opportunity to stretch my wine drinking experience, so I chose a Soave.

It's no secret I'm not a fan of Italian whites ... I try really, really hard and I just don't get them. At the beginning of the year I bought a Pieropan Soave which I gave away as a house warming present. I was pretty disappointed when InterWined tried the same wine and found it an excellent accompaniment to a children's birthday party. So when the opportunity came up to buy a bottle (at 30% off what's more!) I seized the day!

Let's start with the facts ... Soave is one of Italy's DOCGs*, produced in the north east, in the area known as the Veneto. The principal grape is Garganega, and the wine can be fleshed out with up to 30% Trebbiano (also known as Ugni Blanc - one of the main grapes from which Cognac is made). A rule of thumb is that the greater the ratio of Garganega to Trebbiano, the better. And, of course, the more expensive the wine will be: Trebbiano is easy to grow and high yield, but can be a little uninspiring.

And that's how we arrive at the Pieropan Soave Classico 2006**, which is 90% Garganega and costs around the £9-£10 mark. My retailer was selling it for £10, and I paid £7. I couldn't rustle up a children's birthday party, so we drank it with linguine al granchio - about which, more tomorrow.
The wine was a pretty sunshine yellow colour but the nose was incredibly closed. I'm prepared to accept some responsibility here as I might not have retrieved the wine from the fridge early enough, but even as we made our way through the bottle and the wine had an opportunity to warm up things didn't become more pronounced. Being a generous type, I thought there was a hint of pear. Andy thought it smelt of nothing.

On the palate things were much improved. The pear was still there with a slightly confected note. You started here and the flavours developed into a nutty, richer, fattier middle, before finishing with some good clean acid - so good length and structure. The fruit flavours weren't especially complex and the fatty middle made this a wine with considerably more weight than you might expect from a Soave.

I have to say that this is a good wine ... it ticks most of the boxes, and sat well with our dinner. However, I can't really say I enjoyed it - and I can't really put my finger on why not. I certainly wouldn't be spending £10 on a bottle and, faced with it in a restaurant, where it would be hitting the £30 mark, I'd be choosing something else altogether.

Soave drinkers - I recommend it.
Italian white wine aficionados - I recommend it.
Alex - I recommend you drink more Italian white wine.

tagged with: wine blogging wednesday, wbw, wine, italy, soave

*DOCG - Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita - the top rung of Italy's wine hierarchy. Only around 30 regions are at this level.
**Classico on Italian wine indicates that the grapes were grown and vinified in the centre of the region. In the case of Soave, this means around in and around Soave itself, and Monteforte d'Alpone.

Bargain Hunt!

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:04:00 +0000

Fri 4 July 2008

Hoult's, my favourite wine shop on Call Lane, is changing hands - next week! In order to shift stock prior to this, everything is currently at 30% off! Yes - everything in the store is 30% off.

There's still plenty left ... the big, big name bubbles have gone, but there's still vintage Pelorus and vintage Veuve, amongst others. And I found plenty of my favourites still in stock.

But you have to hurry as tomorrow (that's Sat 5 July) is the last day. The shop will be closed on Monday and will be reopening in its new guise on Tuesday.

If you're interested ... I've just picked up a Pieropan Soave, a Lindeman's St George Cabernet Sauvignon, a Turckheim Gewurztraminer and a lovely (I hope!) red Burgundy. All for just over £30. I could have done a lot more damage to my wallet and liver except that I'm limited to bus as my means of transport!

1. Hoults, 5 Cherry Tree Walk, Leeds, LS2 7EB, phone: 0113 245 3393

tagged with: wine, leeds

Fernao Pires

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:39:00 +0000

Thurs 03 July 2008

Those of you who follow me on twitter will already know but ... my results from my WSET Advanced Certificate arrived yesterday! It's been two months of anxious waiting (ok, the first week was anxious, and then I tired of worrying pretty quickly!) and I'm pleased to announce that the hard work (bad moods, pestering Andy to test me on anything and everything) paid off. Not only did I pass but a distinction in the theory section AND a distinction in the practical means that I've come away with a distinction overall! Hooray!

No immediate celebrations (mid-week and all that), but we are going to take a peek at a grape that may or may not be new to you: Portugal's Fernão Pires (also known as Maria Gomes, Fernam Pires or Fernão Pirão). This is Portugal's most widely grown white grape and one of the main grapes grown in Portugal's most productive region, coastal Estremadura. Which is where my example wine comes from ...

The wine is Casa Santos Lima 2007 Fernão Pires, which I purchased from Oddbins for just under £6 (on offer). In non-wine-geek-speak, I would best describe this as a toned down Sauvignon Blanc. The herbaceous, green, vegetal notes are definitely there, with hints of gooseberry. While there's nowhere near as much acid as you'd expect in a good Sauvignon Blanc, there's certainly enough for the wine to be crisp and refreshing. Apparently some examples of Fernão Pires can exhibit some floral, aromatic qualities - but not this one. On the palate, there was a slight creaminess and even hints of tropical fruit to go with the citrus.

As we move into BBQ weather (hopefully ... I know there's some rain forecast for us in the North this weekend) this is a wine to keep in mind. It's perfect for quaffing while you wait for sausages and burgers, and will no doubt prove a bit of a talking point - always a good thing!

tagged with: portugal, wine, fernao pires

Round Up

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:25:00 +0000

Wed 2 July 2008

July already! I've not done a round up for ages, so here's a quick reminder of the top five Eating Leeds posts at the moment ...

My visit to Napa and Felicini in the one night is still at the top of the list! I called into Felicini for Saturday lunch a couple of weekends ago and I'm pleased to say I'm still enjoying the restaurant. I had a red onion and goats cheese bruschetta followed by the very generously proportioned tiramisu. Not exotic Italian food by any stretch - but if you want a spot of reasonably priced lunch or dinner you can do far, far worse than Felicini!

Next comes Viva Cuba (city centre). This was October last year, but a work mate has visited recently and was similarly impressed.

Moving on to cooking, rather than eating, the simple almond cake from The Complete Traditional Cookery Book takes third place honours, followed by baked eggs. This is probably one of the dishes Andy and I have enjoyed the least but for some reason it enjoys a consistently high place in the popularity stakes.

And rounding off the top five is our trip to Kendell's Bistro, near the Playhouse. Again, I haven't been back since but I know quite a few people who have been more recently who are more than happy to rave about it (despite the anachronous and uncomfortable chairs!).

In other news around Leeds' restaurants ... Yo!Sushi is again offering a 50% discount, Mondays and Tuesdays only, until 19 August. As usual, you need to print out the voucher and pay careful attention to the terms and conditions. Loch Fyne is running the Dine with Wine promotion until the 30 September - 2 courses with a glass of wine for £11. We visited last summer and weren't impressed enough to go back and pay full price - so it's a good opportunity to see what you think!

Also, I've heard rumours that Leeds Seventeen, in Alwoodley, is to be hosting a Yorkshire themed tasting menu on 1 August, at £35 per person. Unfortunately, the website hasn't been updated with any information about this, so if you're interested it might be best to give them a call to find out details. In the meantime, the site does give details of the 'Tea Time Treat': 2 courses for £9 between 5 and 7 weekdays.

Finally - if you use Facebook you can now follow Eating Leeds' blog posts there: join our blog network! We know must have fans out there - so go on - get in touch!

tagged with: leeds, restaurants

Blackhouse

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:30:00 +0000

Tues 24 June 2008

A discussion at work about how hard it is to get a steak cooked properly in a restaurant prompted our visit to Blackhouse. That, and the fact that I was forwarded a 30% off food voucher.

Blackhouse has taken over the spot formerly inhabited by Est Est Est on East Parade. It has been quite a revamp, too: the interior is all dark wood and leather, with a sort of ranch-like feel, as the dining areas are, literally, fenced off from the bar.

We arrived a little late for our 7pm booking so I was disappointed to be told that our table wasn't ready and that we could have a drink at the bar. I was even more disappointed because there were plenty of tables free.

Things weren't starting too well. The barman didn't come across as overly efficient (although he might have been hampered by working alone and having to deal with a large group that seemed to be just having drinks). We weren't given a drinks list so Andy asked what beers were available. They were rattled off and it was only when I asked about wines by the glass that a menu was produced. This suggests that there is an additional selection of wines by the glass on the 'guest list' ... but before I had an opportunity to ask about this, the barman had disappeared. And just as he was about to take my drinks order ... our table was ready.

Eventually I got my glass of Arium Reserva from Valdepeñas, Spain: a Tempranillo billed as an 'amazing alternative to Rioja'. Maybe it is, but I'll never know because the wine was served so warm it was like a slightly jammy, rich cordial. I was convinced it must have been body temperature and Andy agreed that you could almost bathe in it. Now - a full bodied red wine should be served 'room temperature'. Which means nothing. But 16°-18°C ... surely that's understandable? I'm starting to wonder if sending a wine back because it's too warm is justifiable ...

We started with some bread which was served warm, in a small loaf (or large roll), on a breadboard (with knife, obviously!). The bread we both rated quite highly but I was underwhelmed by the olive oil and Balsamic vinegar dipping combination. Blackhouse would be better served by paying more attention to the quality of the olive oil and using less Balsamic vineger (or omitting it all together).

As a starter we shared the chicken skewered on lemon grass with a Thai red curry paste. I felt (and remain) ambivalent about this dish: nothing wrong with it, utterly inoffensive ... but ... I don't think I'd order it again. Andy was a lot more enthusiastic.

Moving on to the main course, we both ordered 8oz rump steaks, cooked rare. We both had chips - although mash or jacket potato were alternatives. Although the chips were good, Andy was convinced they'd been frozen at some point in their lifecycle - I have no opinion on this! I ordered Béarnaise sauce, while Andy ordered a side of spring greens (£2.95 - quite a small portion, but a definite thumbs up in the flavour department).

Now - the steaks were ... perfect. They were actually rare. They were chargrilled, and had that great, smoky flavour. The Béarnaise sauce was creamy, and while I initially thought the portion a little stingy (at £1.95) I have to eat my words because it was actually the perfect amount.

But the main course was where our meal ended ... not because of poor service, as we had one waitress throughout the meal who was fantastic, not because we thought the desserts or coffee might not be up to scratch, but because we couldn't hear ourselves think. The restaurant is hard surface central and by fitting all the diners into the front section - with big glass frontage onto East Parade - it almost felt as though there was no breathing space for all the noise. And the noise added an edge to the evening: the staff seemed almost frantic, the sense of pace was frenetic. This is clearly not dinner date material!

While Blackhouse isn't cheap, it is offering you a good steak. You won't leave feeling hungry. And maybe at lunch time, you won't leave feeling deaf!

Bottom line: £55 (without discount) for 1 bread, 1 starter, 2 mains, sides and drinks.

1. Blackhouse, 31-33 East Parade, Leeds, LS1 5PS, phone: 0113 246 0669

tagged with: restaurant, leeds, steak

Gateau Opera

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:53:00 +0000

My last recipe (for a while) from the excellent One Perfect Ingredientby Marcus Wareing. This is the very last recipe in the book and, unlike the others, actually is a bit of a bother.

But it's worth it.

Well, I would say that because it's cake. Not just any cake, but Gâteau Opéra. Apparently created in honour of the Paris Opéra in the 1930s, Wareing's version is a coffee, chocolate and butter cream cake that's exceptionally good.

I had two goes at this, because my father volunteered me to make the birthday cake for my grandma's 90th. The first effort resulted in four huge portions of cake ... which were very good, but not particularly dainty and totally unsuitable for handing around to about 40 guests.

The cake is made in parts: sponge, ganache, buttercream and a glaze. The order in which you make these parts is incidental - the first time around I made the sponge last, but for the big event I made the sponge first.

So, let's start with the sponge. Cream together 100g soft unsalted butter, 100g caster sugar and add 2 medium eggs. When well combined add 100g plain flour, sifted with 1 tsp baking powder. Finish with 1tsp of instant coffee dissolved in 1 tsp hot water.

Easy.

The tricky part is baking this. You need to bake it in a preheated oven (160C fan, 180C) in a 22x36cm rectangle for 4-5 minutes, or until done. What you're aiming for is a very thin (but still light) sponge, that is nice and flat. On my first pass, my sponge was far too thick (hence the monstrous final cake). Second time around, I used a much larger baking tray (baselined, of course) and just spread the mixture across it. This was much more successful.

Once the sponge is done, leave it to cool in the tray and move on to the other parts.

Next - the ganache. Scald 100mL of whipping or double cream, take it off the heat and add 100g of dark chocolate, chopped. Beat until the chocolate is fully melted and finish with 20g of soft unsalted butter.

The buttercream is the really tricky part, and I'm still not entirely happy with how mine turned out looks-wise. Fortunately, looks don't matter, as it will be sandwiched between cake and ganache.

Beat 1 egg with 2 egg yolks, until thick. In a pan, dissolve 75g of caster sugar with 2tbsp of water and boil for 3 minutes. Now ... Wareing's recipe says to turn off the heat and allow the bubbles to disappear before beating the sugar syrup into the eggs. When I did this I found the sugar was too cool and I ended up with toffee stuck to the end of my whisk. My solution was to just pour the sugar in, hot and bubbling. Now, you need to keep on beating so you don't end up with scrambled sugary eggs. If you're doing this by hand, I feel really sorry for you. If you're using a stab mixer with a whisk attachment (as I did the first time) it will still be hard work. Use a Kenwood Chef and it's pretty painless. Once your sugar is all mixed in and the mixture is starting to cool, beat in 125g of unsalted butter, softened and diced. Finish the cream with 1 tsp of instant coffee dissolved in 1 tsp of hot water.

My mixture tasted FAB but did look a little curdled. I suspect had I followed the instructions more to the letter (beat the sugar and eggs until completely cool, and then add the butter, for example) it might have looked a little prettier. But the fact is, I stayed sane, I didn't shout at anyone and it tasted really really good.

Finally, the glaze. I actually passed on this for my final cake as the first time round I wasn't happy with the consistency or appearance. Scald 1tbsp of whipping/double cream, remove from the heat and add 25g of dark chocolate. Dissolve 10g of caster sugar, with 1 tsp of cocoa, a further tbsp of cream, and 50mL of water. Simmer for 2 minutes and then strain on to the chocolate and cream mix. Mix until smooth.

By the time you've done all of this this, your sponge will be cool - if you made it first. I tend to make the sponge and fillings the day before and then assemble the next day. It breaks the process up a bit. If you do this, DON'T refrigerate the filllings, as they'll be impossible to spread!

Take your sponge and spread with the buttercream. The aim is to have an even, flat layer of buttercream. You use all the buttercream. You don't need to do this again.

Refrigerate the cake for at least half an hour.

Now spread the buttercream with the ganache. You need to be a little careful here: don't rush. Again, use all the ganache to form a flat, even layer.

Refrigerate the cake.

Now you need to decide how big or small to make your cakes. Marcus Wareing opts for stacks three high: doing this I ended up with just four portions! For grandma's birthday, I only made stacks that were two high. Much daintier.

You need to cut the cake into the right size cubes (use a hot knife, and I found that using a chef's style knife easier than using a long thin knife, like a ham knife). Stack your cubes of cake, top with the glaze if using, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

The flavour improves and the cake keeps really well. I also enjoyed eating it a lot more when it was at room temperature rather than straight from the fridge. Wrapped in foil and taken to work for afternoon tea it develops a really delicious sticky, gooey character ...

Yes, it is a fair bit of work, and quite fiddly - but I think quite worth it!

Here's a summary of the important bits:

you're aiming for a thin sponge. Not so thin it turns into a biscuit, but the thinner and flatter it is, while still being a bit cake-y - the better.
don't refrigerate the buttercream or the ganache - you'll struggle to spread them
DON'T RUSH - break up the making of the cake, as you really won't be able to spread the ganache over the buttercream if it's not set, and you won't be able to cut the cake if the ganache isn't set

tagged with: cake, baking, marcus wareing,

Sunday Frivolity

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:06:00 +0000

Sun 22 June 2008

Such a shame it's not a Friday (purely for alliterative purposes) ... Nonetheless, it's been a busy day as Andy and I enjoyed yet another round of house moving - and an arrest right on our doorstep!

This means that I've only just settled down to read the paper and have a glass of wine. And there, on page 21 of the Observer, I spy the headline "Chip shops to display fat content".

After my shouty rant, all I could do was have a giggle.

The actual story is a little less ludicrous: "when asked where respondents would expect to see nutritional information for it to be most useful, 81% of people said they would like to see it at the point when they order food, such as on the menu in a restaurant, or visible when they are buying a sandwich or a muffin in a coffee shop or café". So, immediately to hand rather than in corporate printed or internet propaganda.

Let's face it - we all KNOW that a chip butty, a portion of fish and chips or a large muffin is bad for us. But in many cases, that large muffin will be bad for you not only because of the number of calories, but also because of the use of hydrogenated fats or high fructose corn syrup. And the fact that you've had a mayonnaise laden sandwich for lunch and fish and chips for your supper. The responsibility for what an individual chooses to eat lies with that individual. As with so many things, shouldn't we be aiming for education rather than legislation?

tagged with: food standards agency, obesity

Hardy's Wine Tasting

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:38:00 +0000

Wed 18 June 2008

Hmm, the tickets to the Hardy's wine tasting arrived announcing that I would learn everything I needed to know about wine in just half an hour. I guess it all depends on your definition of 'need to know'.

Not one to knock back a free night out, I dragged Andy along to the Smokestack on Lower Briggate. This is a quiet little bar (well, on a Wednesday), apparently run by the same people as Sandinista, and its only nod towards pretension is not having any beer on draught.

We didn't have to worry about that, as we were greeted with glasses of bubbles and settled ourselves down, before being inundated with canapés. Overall, there wasn't too much to get excited about here, although I was taken with the pineapple which had been grilled with five spice: I'll be tucking that one away for later use!

The real show started at 7, when we were ushered upstairs and seated, wines set out in front of us. I think that less than half the expected number turned up, which might have been a good thing: too many more people at my table and I would have ended up spilling more wine than I did!

The presentation was in the form of a romantic comedy. Yes, bear with me on this one. On the small stage area sat a man and a woman, both gazing at their laptops. "Is this a BLOGGING wine tasting?" said Andy incredulously. No, these were the protganists in our fable which took Miss Wine Expert and, through the magic of internet dating, introduced her to Mr Average Guy. Along the way, the audience got to learn about wine, thanks to the enthusiasm of the narrator, Chris Scott, of ThirtyFifty.

In just half an hour he covered an awful lot of ground, and while I was happy (it was all factually correct) Andy suspected that the amount of information that might sink in was limited. On reflection, I'm inclined to agree: cool climates might mean higher acidity but what does "cool climate" mean? And higher acidity compared with ... what exactly?

What I did like was that we tasted five different wines, all from Hardy's Nottage Hill range. Andy wasn't sure about the wines: he thought we should have had a cheaper Pinot Noir and a better quality (and no doubt more expensive) one as a compare and contrast type exercise (ha! I've turned him into a wine snob without him knowing it!). However, bearing in mind this was a marketing event, and that the average spend on a bottle of wine in the UK is about £5 (or is it £4), I was quite happy.

So ... to drink (all Hardy's Nottage Hill) we had the Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz, and Shiraz Tempranillo. We did different things with the wines: the Chardonnay we tasted holding our noses and then sucking in air through our mouths to open the flavours, the Riesling was for acid and the Pinot Noir and the Cab Shiraz were to learn about weight. A neat trick for describing the mouth feel of tannins to non drinkers - run the tongue over the roof of the mouth. Tannic wine will make it feel 'grippy'.

In terms of the wines ... the winner was the Riesling, followed by the Pinot Noir. Andy was pretty happy with the Shiraz Tempranillo, but I thought both the 'big' reds were simply too hot. But these are wines that retail around the £5 and they were all basic, clean, reasonable examples (apart from maybe the Chardonnay - or is it just me that dislikes oaked Chardonnay so ureasonably?).

At times the action on stage was a little cringeworthy. At times, members of the audience laughed too loudly at an 'in' wine joke (that would be me). In case you didn't absorb everything you need to know, Hardy's offer a text service (64007) for food and wine matching.

I came away thinking that it had been a far more enjoyable couple of hours than sitting in front of the telly ...

And now, Robert of the Wine Conversation knows all about it!

tagged with: wine, wine tasting

A Trio of Restaurants

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:42:00 +0000

While we were in Adelaide we visited a few restaurants (unsurprisingly). Some of the eating out was casual and some of it wasn't.

So, today we have a quick trip around three small Adelaide restaurants. Our first meal out was at Yakumi, a small Japanese restaurant on Glenelg's Jetty Road. Things didn't start off too well, as our reservation had gone missing. Even though it's a tiny restaurant the staff managed to fit in our table of six, and soon the South Australian Riesling was flowing. We started by sharing a couple of plates of gyoza: Japanese dumplings stuffed with pork and dipped in soy sauce. Our main courses seemed to be a little bit of a hotch-potch. My grilled eel was absolutely delicious: sticky glaze, soft meat, plenty of rice. But dad's tuna was quite disappointing: a large piece of fish doused in a strong sauce. Mum found her squid uneven but Andy really enjoyed his beef and salmon. The service was a little indifferent: it seemed to suffer from a general lack of interest in things related to food, although the staff were pleasant enough. However, the bottom line tells you everything you need to know: just $AU40 (£20) a head for more than enough food and wine.

Next stop was Sunday yum cha at Ding Hao in the city centre. Reservations absolutely required! We arrived at 11 to find the footpath crammed with eager diners waiting for the doors to open. A massive group of 15, we squished around our table and let the food arrive. Too early for wine, we drank tea and ate and ate and ate until our slot was over and we were booted out - squeezing past the people anxiously waiting for the next sitting. As far as I'm concerned, I would have been quite happy to sit and eat the salt and pepper squid for an hour or so but there were plenty of other tasty dishes which appeared on the table. Somehow we managed to eat pudding midway through the savoury dishes but that didn't seem to matter. We left well fed and having parted with just $AU20 (£10) a head.

And finally, back to Glenelg for a meal at the Glenelg BBQ Inn. I pretty much grew up in this restaurant and while it's morphed into a slightly shinier version of its 1980s self, the cornerstone of the restaurant - it's great meat - remains the same. You start by munching on bread because, the chances are, you don't need to look at the menu. I can't imagine having anything other than the lamb shaslick with a kidney on the side, dad always has a pork chop with two kidneys on the side ... you get the idea. When the plates arrive, the meats are accompanied by chevapchichis (small Serbian skinless sausages) and salads: cabbage, potato and tomato. And all washed down with plenty of red wine. Vegetarians should probably not attend.

1. Yakumi, 109 Jetty Rd, Glenelg, 5045, phone: +61 (08) 8376 1366
2. Ding Hao, 26 Gouger St, Adelaide, 5000, phone: +61 (08) 8211 7036
3. Glenelg BBQ Inn, 160 Jetty Road, Glenelg, 5045, phone: +61 (08) 8294 3432

tagged with: adelaide, australia, south australia, restaurants

Broad Beans

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:38:00 +0000

Sun 15 June 2008

Someone at work (with an allotment) commented on how many broad beans he had. The next day, I had a pile on my desk.

Now, I'm not so keen (at all) on huge, floury broad beans which have been boiled out of existence. But young, tender, small beans, with a taste somewhere between pea and asparagus ... that's different.

For a moment I almost tried to do something curried with them, but sanity prevailed and I headed towards The Silver Spoon. While we could have just eaten the beans raw, with some Pecorino, I chose the fave alla piemontese: Piedmontese broad beans. I decided it would serve well as a simple pasta sauce, and, with some left over very Italian style salad, we would have a more than serviceable light supper.

Beans podded, I cooked them in boiling water for about 5-10 minutes. The recipe says 10 minutes, but they were so tiny and fresh, I figured I could get away with less. Beans cooked and drained, they were tipped into a frying pan and plenty of cream was added. The cream simmered and thickened and finally I added some grated Emmenthal (the recipe said Fontina, but we couldn't find any). A good stir allowed the cheese to melt through and finally, I tipped in cooked pasta ... and away we went. Parmesan and pepper optional!

Not a lot of visual interest perhaps!

I loved it. A simple sauce dressing a load of pasta and I'm as happy as the proverbial pig in mud. For Andy, it's just bread and cheese. "Well, you could have put some ham or bacon in it", "It would be alright without the pasta as a side dish" (hmm, as intended, then).

We did manage to agree on the wine. I was after a really green wine to go with this dish: something high in acidity to cut through the cream and cheese, and something that would really pick up on the pea, broadbean, asparagus, vegetal theme. I thought a reasonably obvious choice would be an Old World Sauvignon Blanc. We ended up buying a Henry Pellé 2006 Menetou-Salon from Oddbins (link goes through to 2005 vintage), for £9.99. A very pale wine with a not overly pronounced nose. Principally gooseberry, with some green vegetable notes like pea. The palate was more pronounced, with the same green vegetable notes, as well as citrus, gooseberry and even some lychee. The acidity was pretty high and the length wasn't bad either. Certainly a lot more approachable than the £5 Argentinian Viognier from Wine Blogging Wednedsay. And it didn't go too badly with the food.

But. £10? Really? Not worth it. One of my friends is (almost exclusively) drinking an £8 Sancerre which, if my memory serves me correctly, represents much better value for money.

If I were to reproduce the meal again, I'd serve the creamy beans (minus pasta) and salad as side dishes to a juicy steak. And to drink, I'd be tempted to revisit a Cabernet Franc. The Chinon we enjoyed a couple of months back had the right vegetal notes, and it would work well with both the steak and the beans (OK, I might have to rethink the salad). And I'd still be spending £10 on wine. Oh well, I'll know for next time ...

tagged with: menetou-salon, sauvignon blanc, broad beans, pasta, piemonte, piedmont

National Wine Centre of Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 18:24:00 +0000

Tues 3 June 2008

While in Adelaide, one of my priorities was to visit the National Wine Centre of Australia. This institution (now run by the University of Adelaide, my alma mater) has had something of a chequered history and at one point it almost closed down. It has only taken me five or six trips back to Adelaide to get around to visiting ...

The (stunning) building is set in Adelaide's very beautiful Botanic Garden, adjacent to the very cosmopolitan East End of the city. If you're particularly lazy, you can catch a free bus (the City Loop) from the train station down North Terrace and jump off at East Terrace: a journey of under a mile. Although the City Loop is well used by locals, it's also an excellent way for tourists to get a potted guide to the city, as the stops are announced and the driver narrates the journey. It's a short, sign posted walk through the Botanic Garden to the Wine Centre.

Hackney Road Entrance

I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting from my visit. Whatever it was, the Wine Centre didn't hit the mark. The Wine Discovery Journey is a relatively simple affair if you already know a little about wine. I really liked the massive map of Australia with wine producing regions pin-pointed and details of technical information (like rainfall and hours of sunshine) spread around it. I thought the "smelly" things (where you could smell specific aromas associated with particular grapes) diverting. My favourite part of the exhibition (in a very wine-geek way!) was the large wall, divided into boxes, each with a large photograph of a bunch of a different grape. For the grapes most commonly found in Australian wines, an actual bunch of grapes was mounted, an individual grape was dissected and even the pips were on display!

The exhibition finishes with a virtual, interactive meet-the-winemaker display, which I had a quick look at but didn't delve into in any detail.

Unsurprisingly, the reception area features a vast amount of information about South Australia's wine regions. This alone makes it a worthy stop for any wine-tourist.

There is also a café, and they have various wines available to taste. The tastings are all done in flights (of about 4 or 5 wines) and, while you have to pay, you do apparently get a tutored tasting and material about the wines to take away.

However, I very much got the feeling that the Wine Centre is there for the locals. There's a nod to tourism, but the impression is that it's all about pretty serious wine education. A raft of courses are available (including, impressively, one dedicated to the many overseas students studying in Adelaide). There are wine dinners (coming up, Penfolds on 27 June, hosted by Penfolds winemaker Steve Lienert), and Wine Fridays (fortnightly after work, featuring a different winery each time). I picked up a brochure for a day of cheesemaking. There are conferencing facilities. And if you're super keen on wine, you can hold your wedding there.

For the tourist: the National Wine Centre is a diverting half hour or so if you're in the Botanic Garden. It's a beautiful building, it has a café, and entry to the exhibition is by gold coin ($1 or $2) donation.

For the local: if you're interested in wine, you should be on the email list. 'Nuff said.

1. The National Wine Centre of Australia, cnr of Botanic and Hackney Roads (but accessible through the Botanic Garden), Adelaide, SA, 5000, phone: +61 8 8303 3355.