How nice to receive an invitation from our alma mater
to attend a Food and Wine pairing evening guided by chef Wanda Cronje. It is a very clever
concept and we thoroughly recommend them to anyone who wants to know more about
this subject. It costs R395 a person and you get a full dinner with lots of
wine, in smaller portions
When we got there we were faced with 8 glasses of
different wines and a small platter containing a walnut (tannin), a (salty)
biscuit, a slice of apple (fruit), a slice of lemon(acid) and a small dish of
soy (umami). No, this was not the only food of the evening, we were relieved to
learn. You taste each of these with a sip of the wine to see how they affect
it, as many of these flavours are found in wines and some compliment and others
clash. The wines were a popular selection of what many people drink with food.
Then came several courses which were tasted with the wines and discuss how we
found the matches and learn more.
The wines we had for the tasting: Nederburg
Cellarmaster Sauvignon Blanc, Durbanville Hills Rose, Raats Old Vine Chenin
Blanc, Nederburg Baronne, Swartland Hanepoot, 4th Street Natural Sweet, Graça,
KWV Cafe Culture Pinotage
The line-up on
our tables of the glasses
Our lecturer
for the evening, chef Wanda Cronje
The “class
room”
1st course: Smoked
salmon salad with balsamic vinegar
2nd
course: Chicken and mushroom tartlet with delicious crisp edged cinnamon
pumpkin pie which made an instant convert of Lynne who has never liked this
before. Recipe please someone
3rd
course was Fish and Chips. 4th course was Cape Malay Bobotie on
yellow rice. This is the 5th course of Tomato and basil Oxtail stew
on brown basmati rice. Rather sweet, as was the Bobotie, but that is
traditional.
6th course was
dessert a fruit salad, koeksister (crisp deep fried syrup dipped doughnut) and a
chocolate mousse. Traditionally all very hard to match with anything else than
the Hanepoot. And the last and 7th course was a cheese platter with
crackers and a green preserved fig
Our conclusion
was that Graça and the Rosé go with almost everything. The Raats Chenin was a
joy to drink
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014
