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
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 aromas, tastes and textures
- At Karibu Restaurant in the V&A Waterfront with Jenny Morris
- In the vineyards at Longridge
- Michelangelo Awards 2017
- 2017 Cape Winemakers Guild Auction
- Old Cape Brandy Pudding
- MENU's Wine of the Week. The Emily
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.....
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....
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
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
If you like the photographs you see in our publications, please look at our Adamastor Photo website for our rate card and samples from our portfolio
Recommendations of products and outside events are not solicited or charged for, and are made at the authors’ pleasure. All photographs, recipes and text used in these newsletters and our blogs are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus. Our restaurant reviews are usually unsolicited. We prefer to pay for our meals and not be paid in any way by anyone. Whether we are invited or go independently, we don’t feel bad if we say we didn’t like it. Honesty is indeed our best policy. While every effort is made to avoid mistakes, we are human and they do creep in occasionally, for which we apologise. This electronic journal has been sent to you because you have personally subscribed to it or because someone you know has asked us to send it to you or forwarded it to you themselves. Addresses given to us will not be divulged to any person or organisation. We collect them only for our own promotional purposes. If you wish to be added to our mailing list, please click here to send us a message and if you wish to be removed from our mailing list, please click here to send us a message.
