Friday, October 06, 2017

This Week's MENU. Creation pairing menu, Karibu, Longridge, Michelangelo Awards, CWG Auction, brandy pud, Longridge Emily

Wheat fields near Caledon, Western Cape
Life’s a buzz, especially right now. Lynne has been saying that she doesn’t know when she will need to cook again, we are out so often; John says he longs for a home-cooked meal. This weekend will be a longish one, with our wine club in a favourite region. Next week, we'll tell you of lunch with a favourite winemaker, the rebirth of an iconic restaurant, Sommeliers' best wines  and another great restaurant, so read this week’s stories and come back next week...

We have been producing MENU for many years, in which we have written about many interesting things. You can find them all in the Blog Archive in the right hand column of our blog page and in the Previous MENUs page on our website. Entering a word in the “Search this Blog” window on the blog site should bring up everything we have ever written which relates
A Creation feast of flavours and tastes and textures
When we last visited Creation, Carolyn and Jean Claude Martin said we must come again to do their special pairing menu The Story of Creation. And spending the long weekend in the Hemel and Aarde weekend was the perfect opportunity. It truly was a marvellous, if rather challenging experience, the wines are paired with cleverly created dishes, some small, some bigger that highlight these special wines - R360 for 7 courses with 8 wines. If you do not have the stamina to attempt this you can do the smaller pairings.....

At Karibu Restaurant in the V&A Waterfront with Jenny Morris

Last week, Jenny invited us to come and sample the menu at Karibu. And sample we did with a massive 10 course tasting menu, all paired with the correct wines, and the courses just grew and grew in size. If you have visitors to the Cape who are curious as to what traditional South African food is like, send them to Karibu. And no they will not have to have a 10 course menu, unless they chose to. A large restaurant with seats outside on the front terrace with great views....
In the vineyards at Longridge
An Invitation to visit Longridge in Stellenbosch last week, so that they could show us methods of Biodynamic farming, pruning of the vines and give us a wonderful wine tasting and light lunch. We were instructed to wear comfortable clothes and suitable shoes for a walk through the vines. And bless them, they provided a shuttle from the Waterfront. Longridge is in the Helderberg ward of Stellenbosch. It was an early start, so we welcomed the coffee, tea and rusks on arrival....
Michelangelo Awards 2017     We were invited by Lorraine Immelman, owner and CEO of the Awards, to attend the Awards ceremony last Friday. It was held at the Cape Sun in Strand Street which has recently been refurbished. The Michelangelo International Wine and Spirits Awards was established in 1997 as the only international wine competition in South Africa. They are celebrating their 20th anniversary. The competition is unique in South Africa in that all judges are hand-picked wine experts, representing all seven continents around the globe. The banqueting room was filled to bursting with tables; we estimate 44 tables with 10 people at each, which made for a very large audience....
2017 Cape Winemakers Guild Auction     This was held at Spier again this year and we had to get there before 9am, which meant an early start for two quite tired media people; it has been a busy week. But the excitement on arrival is palpable...
We had this dessert at Karibu restaurant, and realised that you just don't see this lovely traditional old Cape pudding very often, Malva pudding yes, but not this, which we prefer
250g chopped dates - 175ml boiling water - 5ml bicarbonate of soda - 1 egg - 175ml caster sugar - 1 pinch of salt - 15ml butter - 75ml cake flour - 15ml baking powder - 250ml chopped pecans or walnuts
Mix the chopped dates, boiling water and bicarb and leave them to soak for about 15 minutes while you start the rest of the recipe. Beat the butter and caster sugar together well, you can do this in a food processor. Add the egg and mix until creamy. Sift the dry ingredients and fold into the egg and sugar mixture alternately with the dates, using the food processor with metal blade. Remove the blade and stir in the chopped nuts
Transfer the mixture to a prepared 25cm pie dish and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 30 to 35 minutes.
SYRUP:        
375ml white sugar - 300ml water - 5ml butter - 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract - 125ml brandy
Boil the sugar and water and add the vanilla extract and butter. Allow the syrup to cool and add the brandy. Pour the syrup over the hot pudding as soon as it has been removed from the oven.
Serve hot with whipped cream or real vanilla ice cream. You can add another splash or two of brandy if you like. You can flambé it for a spectacular entry
At Longridge this week we tasted this rather unusual wine, which we liked a lot. Called The Emily and named after Emily Hobhouse http://zar.co.za/hobhouse.htm a British woman who became one of our local heroines during the Boer War
It is an unwooded Chardonnay, blended with a small amount of lightly wooded Pinot Noir from the Elgin valley. Toasty apples on the nose, nice layers of apple and plum fruit, refreshing with long flavours. A wine for quaffing and a good food wine too. Cellarmaster Jasper Raats told us this is one of their best sellers here and abroad. According to their US importer it sells like liquid crack! R70 on the farm 

6th October 2017

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
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