Showing posts with label wine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wine. Show all posts

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Entertaining with the Skamp - Wine Tasting Party


Entertaining with the Skamp - Wine Tasting Party
Entertaining with the Skamp - Wine Tasting Party


As you may have gathered from the plethora of recipes that use it, or tales of my trips down to the Margaret River region, I’m a big fan of wine. Like most people, I started on sweet white wines before my palate developed and now I’m a solid red drinker, with forays back into white and rose usually weather dependent. (I loved seeing the hashtag #summerwater as a reference to rose over the Northern Summer. Such a cute name!) And whilst I really enjoy my wine, and I’ve reached a point where although I am fussy about drinking bad wines…I’m certainly no expert. So when Lance and I decided to host some wine tasting parties, I knew it would have to be a little bit different to the usual.
My first experience with wine tasting events was as a white wine only drinker in my early 20s. There was a group at my workplace who met after work once every few months with a wine seller who would bring wines to taste and snacks to eat and we’d sample away. The more experienced wine drinkers of the group would discuss all of the technical aspects of the wine – the tannins, the length, the flavours. The two of us youngens would discuss the wine in terms of how we’d drink it. This red feels like you’d be wearing a smoking jacket, sitting in front of the fire. This white feels like a summer lunch, flash-fried prawns and crispy greens. And that remains to this day the way that I approach wine tasting at cellar doors, or just generally out and about. That helped broaden my taste in wines and introduced me to the wonders of reds.
I’ve spoken of my love of Cape Naturaliste Winery before. Many times. One of the wines Lance and I fell in love with and bought on our first trip here (on our honeymoon) was the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. We bought (a few of) both the reserve and non-reserve and decided we would drink them side-by-side to compare them. Then have a lovely meal to go with it. So into the “cellar” it went, ready for that special occasion. Then we bought the 2010 Cab Sauv, so that one was going to become part of the tasting. And then we bought the reserve and non-reserve 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon. 5 wines - all the same, but different. That was going to require us enlisting some help to taste and drink! A wine tasting party it was!

Entertaining with the Skamp - Wine Tasting PartyEntertaining with the Skamp - Wine Tasting Party

Entertaining with the Skamp - Wine Tasting Party

We decided to host it as a blind tasting. We put all of the bottles in brown paper bags and numbered them at random. We’d taste them blindly, making notes and then taste them again, knowing which one was which. We had plain water crackers for cleansing the palate – you don’t want anything with heavy flavours as a snack between wines or it will affect the taste.
The 5 of us at the tasting were all seasoned Cape Naturaliste drinkers – we often take a little picnic and have a glass or two on Jen’s balcony watching the vineyard – but none of us are wine experts. So the tasting notes page Lance and I designed looked a little different. We had the usual spaces for the flavours and smells we could discern. We even printed out a little sheet with terms that might spurn on ideas. We had a little space for the mouthfeel. Lance suggested we had a place for a breakdown of the drinking process. What was the “first bite”, when you held it in your mouth, what it was like to swallow, the aftertaste. These are all things that we have noted whilst drinking that can greatly vary and influence your overall experience of a wine. But the think that set ours apart was the experiential questions. Is it a food wine? What would you eat with it? What’s the ideal day/occasion for it. Does it evoke any particular memories?

Entertaining with the Skamp - Wine Tasting Party
Entertaining with the Skamp - Wine Tasting Party
Entertaining with the Skamp - Wine Tasting PartyEntertaining with the Skamp - Wine Tasting Party


Whilst it might be obvious because of how many shared memories our group had with each other and with wine, I was still surprised at how similar our experiential tasting notes were. One wine we all said would be best drunk on a crisp afternoon down south “Luxury Fishing” (for reference, luxury fishing is everyone with a line in the water in the river, deck-chairs, a cheese platter and some wine while Lance baits our lines and does all the other dirty jobs. I then handfeed him cheese crackers so his baity grossness doesn’t mean he can’t eat). We also all imagined eating with a variation of fresh bread, olive oil and dukkah. And although I was biased because I knew what was coming, it didn’t stop 3 of us thinking that the same wine would go particularly well with sticky ribs.

Entertaining with the Skamp - Wine Tasting Party - HamburgerEntertaining with the Skamp - Wine Tasting Party - Hamburger

We finished up the wine tasting with a DIY Hamburger lunch, then continued listening to music, chatting and finishing off the bottles. Basically just creating more shared wine memories for the next tasting day. Being a hostess-with-the-mostest, in our admittedly “happy” state by the end of the night, I made sure there was a good dinner. There were no photos by that point, but I previously slow-cooked some pork in the cherry ribs sauce (good thing we left the 2011 Reserve til last!!) and re-heated that and served it with some freshly steamed buns and cucumber and radish slices. This is such a good party option as all the hard work is done before-hand. We stood around the kitchen island and assembled them as each batch of buns came out of the steamer.


We've also used the same approach with three 2013 Sauvignon Blancs from the Margaret River region (Cape Naturaliste, Leeuwin Estate and Cullen) and one $5 2013 Sauvignon Blanc from South Australia and the cheap bottle was unquestionably the least liked.


Have you held a wine tasting party? I’d love to hear how you do it, or if you like our approach to it.


Entertaining with the Skamp - Wine Tasting Party
Entertaining with the Skamp - Wine Tasting Party

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Slow Cooker Love - Mulled Wine Kangaroo

Slow Cooker Love - Mulled Wine Kangaroo

When I was sitting and eating a bowl of my Beef, Pear and Red Wine Casserole, my mind wandered into how the cinnamon and red wine were like a mini-mulled wine with the beef. So naturally, my next thought was why not make a full-on mulled wine casserole? Cinnamon, cardamom, cloves all lend themselves to a hearty meat dish – as well as the wintery beverage. A lot of casseroles already use red wine as a flavouring component, why not go all the way and use a whole bottle? I know that you should  use decent quality wine to cook with, but when I’m using a whole bottle and adding a lot of other flavours to a dish, I’m not reaching for my best bottle. It just won’t be appreciated. My general rule is if you can’t drink it, don’t cook with it. There are a lot of good quality lower cost spectrum wines available, try a few out until you find one you like. Just make sure you drink a good quality wine with the dish! 


Kangaroo is a good meat to use for this dish as the wine and spices cut through the gameyness that can put people off. Adding the lentils makes it a one-pot meal. Meat and vege in one. Although I also served it with steamed sweet potato and sautéed kale with gorgonzola. That way I had leftovers to take to work! Whilst I am so ready for Spring, meals like this still make me appreciate the benefits of colder nights. It won’t be long til it’ll be nothing but BBQs and salads.


Slow Cooker Love - Mulled Wine Kangaroo
Slow Cooker Love - Mulled Wine Kangaroo


Mulled Wine Kangaroo


500g diced kangaroo
1 red onion, diced
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp rosemary leaves, minced
Juice and peel of one lemon
2 sticks cinnamon
5 cloves
5 cardamom pods
¼ cup brown sugar
1 cup beef stock
750mL bottle of red wine (something with oomph like a Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon)
2 carrots, cut into 2cm dice
1 cup de Puy lentils


Heat some olive oil in the base of your slow cooker up to a medium high heat and brown the kangaroo pieces, around 3 minutes on each side. Remove to a plate, cover and keep warm.


Turn the heat down to low and cook the red onion until translucent, around 5 minutes, then add the garlic cloves and rosemary. Stir and continue cooking 10 minutes until the onions start caramelising. Stir through the carrot and cook until it softens, 5 minutes. 

Add the lemon juice and scrape up any bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add the stock, wine, sugar, spices and peel. Bring to the boil and add the kangaroo and lentils. Place into your slow cooker and cook on high for 2 hours, alternatively, just reduce the heat back to low, place the lid on and simmer for 45minutes to an hour, or the lentils are soft and the meat is tender and pulling apart.


Slow Cooker Love - Mulled Wine Kangaroo
 Slow Cooker Love - Mulled Wine Kangaroo
Slow Cooker Love - Mulled Wine Kangaroo

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Still Cold at Night - Beef, Pear and Red Wine Casserole

Still Cold at Night - Beef, Pear and Red Wine Casserole
Still Cold at Night - Beef, Pear and Red Wine Casserole


There are blossoms on my mango tree. And a few on the blueberry shrub. Spring is definitely in the air. Intermittently. It’s supposed to be thunderstormy and rainy again any day now. Despite being around 24C yesterday. And nights are still cold. So slow-cooked foods and casseroles are still well and truly on the cards. Rich flavours that warm you up are still part of my cravings.

This beef and pear stew combines sweet and savoury in a fairly subtle way.The cinnamon and ginger waving a friendly hello to the sweetness of the pear and the red wine in a way that made me then go on to cook a full mulled-wine flavoured stew. More on that soon. Everything is cooked in the one pot, veges and all so it's the complete package.

Whip me up a bowl, I'll be sitting under a blanket on the couch. At least for a few more weeks.
 Still Cold at Night - Beef, Pear and Red Wine Casserole
Still Cold at Night - Beef, Pear and Red Wine Casserole

Still Cold at Night - Beef, Pear and Red Wine Casserole

Beef, Pear and Red Wine Casserole

800g beef chuck, diced
1/3 cup plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika
Oil to fry
3 baby carrots, diced
1 red onion, finely diced
1 large red capsicum, diced
2 buerre bosc pears
1 bay leaf
3 anchovies
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 cup red wine
1 cup beef stock
¼ cup capers
1 small zucchini, large diced
Cooked brown rice to serve

Preheat your oven to 175C

Combine the flour with the salt, pepper and paprika. Whisk to mix it well.

Heat a coverable dish that can go on the stovetop and in the oven (such as a tagine) over medium-high heat and add a thin layer of oil. Dust the beef chuck pieces in the flour mix and brown on all sides. Do it in batches so you don’t crowd the pan. Remove the beef and set aside.

If the pan is dry, add a tablespoon of oil. Add the onion and cook until translucent, around 5 minutes. Then add the capsicum and carrot and cook until softened, a further 5-10 minutes. Stir through the anchovies, cinnamon and ginger until the anchovies have ‘melted’.
Pour in the stock and red wine, bring to the boil then add the bay leaf, pear, capers and the beef.

Cover, and place in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, then add the zucchini. Return to the oven for 15 minutes.


Serve with brown rice.

Still Cold at Night - Beef, Pear and Red Wine CasseroleStill Cold at Night - Beef, Pear and Red Wine Casserole

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake

Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake

Another July come and gone, which means another Christmas in July come and gone! This year has just flown by! And in some exciting news, at Christmas in July whilst there was already bubbles flowing, we also got to toast my new job! I am really happy and can’t wait to start!

Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake
Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake
Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake


As usual, our Christmas in July is a bring-a-dish affair. Lance smoked a leg of pork and I made two cakes. This was the spread – how good does it look? I can assure you that it tasted even better!

Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake
Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake


This is the first of the two cakes and wanting to use Christmassy flavours, I decided to spice up the Boston Blackout Cake from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. Quite literally. Red wine, wintery spices and citrus add a depth to the already rich chocolatey cake. It is made of three layers of cake held together by a mulled wine chocolate “custard” which is then covered in cake crumbs. It needs at least a few hours in the fridge to “set” the filling and cake, which makes it perfect for entertaining as it can all be made beforehand. Keeping with the wine theme, I’ve decorated it with some grapes for a fun look! Being a rich cake, this is best served with whipped cream, or even crème fraiche.

Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake
Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake
Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake
Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake
Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake
Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake
Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake
Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake

Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake

Cake

100g butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 1/3 cups plain flour
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup red wine (I used Shiraz)

Custard

2 ½ cups sugar
1 tbsp light corn syrup
½ cup cocoa
60g dark chocolate
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch cloves
1 cup red wine (I used Shiraz)
1 ½ cups water
1 ½ cups cornflour
¾ cup water (extra to the above)
80g butter
1 tsp vanilla
Zest of an orange

Start by making the custard so it can chill and set in the fridge. In a small bowl, mix the cornflour and ¾ cup of water together to make a slurry. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, add the sugar, light corn syrup, cocoa, dark chocolate, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Pour the red wine and water over the top and over a medium heat, stir to combine and bring to the boil.

When boiling, add the cornflour slurry and stir constantly to combine. When it starts to thicken, add the butter, vanilla and zest and mix well until it’s fully incorporated. Pour into a baking dish, cover the surface with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

For the cake, preheat the oven to 170C. Grease and flour three cake tins of (preferably) equal size.

the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy on a medium speed. Add the eggs, one at a time, and keep beating until fully incorporated. Scraping down the sides if necessary. Turn the mixer down to low and add the vanilla, spices, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt. When combined, add half of the flour and turn the mixer up to medium again to mix well. Add the red wine. When fully combined, add the milk. Finally, add the second half of the flour.

Pour the cake mix evenly amongst the three cake tins and bake for 25 minutes, or until it springs back when touched and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in the tins, then turn out to cool completely on racks.

To assemble, pile the three cakes carefully, and cut a small ring around the outside. Blitz the offcuts in a food processor to get cake crumbs. Place on ring on your serving plate, then smear a layer of custard over it. Top with cake, then more custard, then the last layer of cake. Smother the whole thing in a layer of custard, smoothing the sides and top as best as possible. Gently pour and press the crumbs into the custard so they stick.

Refrigerate for 4 hours (or the day before), then remove from the fridge half an hour before serving.


Decorate with grapes if desired. Serve with whipped cream.

Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake
Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake
Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake
Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake
Christmas in July - Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Simple Sides - Muscat Butternut Pumpkin

Simple Sides - Muscat Butternut Pumpkin

Winter is the weather for drinking ports and muscats and Pedro Ximenex. There’s nothing better than a small glass in front of the fireplace after a good meal. It’s also fabulous to cook with. This is a simple side dish that tastes so good on these cold nights. This is a fairly sweet side dish, the onions, pumpkin and muscat all combining to a sticky yumness. This pairs well with beef or lamb. It's also fabulous with some goat's cheese or gorgonzola dotted on top.

I’ve used Monte’s Fine Old Muscat from Cape Naturaliste – my favourite winery. Partly because I always have a bottle of it, because it’s fabulous. Partly because it is the perfect match. Sweet, without being too cloying, a tad gingerbready. Add a little onion and thyme and you're onto a winner.

Speaking of winning, this pumpkin was one that Lance grew for me! Getting fresh produce feels like such a prize!

Simple Sides - Muscat Butternut Pumpkin
Simple Sides - Muscat Butternut Pumpkin


Muscat Butternut Pumpkin

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 red onions, sliced into thin half moons
1 tsp salt
2 tsp thyme leaves
½ tsp fresh black pepper
½ cup muscat (such as Monte’s Fine Old Muscat)
1 small butternut pumpkin (around 750g), peeled, de-seeded and finely sliced into half moons
1 tbsp each pepitas and pine nuts for garnish

In a frypan over low heat, warm the olive oil and butter together until the butter has melted. Add the red onions and cook for 10 minutes, stirring here and there. Add the salt, thyme and pepper, mix through the onions well and cook a further 10 minutes, until the onions are golden.

Add the pumpkin slices and stir through well, coating them in the onion mixture. Pour the muscat over the top and cook for 20 minutes, or until the pumpkin has softened and the liquid has been absorbed.

Scatter with pepitas and pine nuts and serve.

Simple Sides - Muscat Butternut Pumpkin
Simple Sides - Muscat Butternut Pumpkin
Simple Sides - Muscat Butternut Pumpkin