MENU
Main Ingredient’s weekly E-Journal
Gourmet
Foods & Ingredients
Eat
In Guide’s Five time Outstanding Outlet Award Winner
Follow
our blogs at http://adamastorbacchus.blogspot.com/
+27
21 439 3169 / +27 83 229 1172
Follow us on Twitter: @mainingmenu
The vineyards at
La Residence, in the shadow of the Franschhoek mountains
In
this week’s MENU:
Disabled
Access to restaurants This week’s recipe:
Feta and Spinach stuffed Chicken breasts Tastings and
Festivals Learn about wine
and cooking
To get the whole of our story, please click on
“READ
ON.....” at the end of each paragraph, which will
lead you to the related blog, with pictures and more words. At the end of each
blog, click on RETURN
TO MENU to come back to the blog version of MENU.
This week’s Product menu Next week, the USA will celebrate Thanksgiving
and if any of you need chestnuts for your turkey stuffing, we have some. And,
of course, if you are planning ahead for Christmas, this is a reminder to get
them soon as the supply often runs out. We can also get that amazing luxury, Marrons
Glacées. And sweetened chestnut purée for Mont Blanc dessert, a lovely
alternative to Christmas pudding. See them here
Planting the
future on Ayama Some of the best wines you are
drinking contain grapes that are grown in an area called Paardeberg. It is a
small but very fruitful area between Durbanville and the back of Paarl
Mountain. Although the direct translation is horse mountain, it is believed
that it was where Cape Mountain zebra were seen in abundance when the first
settlers arrived in the Cape and they mistook them for horses.
Michela and Attilio Dalpiaz
bought Slent Farm 10 years ago, renamed it Ayama (a Xhosa word meaning “someone
to lean on” – as the owners believe their Slent adventure leans on friendship
and love) and have been making their wine and selling their grapes with great
success. Now they want to do something different and, last week, we visited the
farm to help them plant the first Vermentino grapes in the Cape. And what a fun
day they made it. Vermentino which comes mainly from Sardinia and Corsica, is
very popular in Italy. We quote “Vermentino is a perfect match for our terroir,
which is hot and windy and features mostly clay soils with sandy areas from
disintegrated granite. The berries and bunches are large and the grapes are
late ripening, all of which fit perfectly with the existing varietals on the
farm and the harvesting schedule. ... it produces aromatic white wines which
can handle wood and give you a beautifully powerful wine”. We helped to plant
it. Read On.....
Klink Awards Sadly, we could not attend the awards
ceremony held last Thursday, as we had previously committed to Ayama. It was
held at Silvermist Estate in Constantia. To see the list of winners, click here
Bosman’s Annual
Release Celebration This was held on
Lelienfontein estate in Wellington on Saturday and Sunday. It was a chance to
taste all the newly released wines and have a fun day enjoying music, food and
the new wines. We had a ball and we really liked the food that was on offer.
And yes we did buy some of the new wine. Their new Malbec is wild and sassy and
full of lovely soft fruit. And the new Nero d’Avola is dark and sensuous and
deep. So some of each came home with us. Read On.....
Diners Club Winemaker
and Young Winemaker of the Year The award ceremony
was held on Saturday night at an apparently glittering dinner at La Residence.
We only made the Brunch list on Sunday, where we were allowed to interview both
the winners. Jacques Erasmus of Spier entered his Creative Block 2 2014 dry white wine blend and won Winemaker
of the Year and JD Pretorius entered the Steenberg Merlot 2012 and won Young
Winemaker of the Year. We know them both well, so it was great to talk to them
both about their wines and about what they are going to do with their prizes.
Besides the Trophy, they both
won 2 tickets on Delta airlines to San Francisco and five nights accommodation
in Napa Valley. Jacque Erasmus won R50 000 and JD Pretorius won R25 000. They are planning to
enjoy their trips next September/October when they may be able to take part in
a harvest if they can extend their stay. JD has already spent one season there
and looks forward to returning to re-establish connections and friendships.
Both the Winemaker and the Young Winemaker of the Year qualified with more than
one wine – Jacques had two wines in the finals and JD had three, proving that
their winemaking skills are consistent and worthy of their awards. JD told us
he thought he had won with the 2011 Merlot and was surprised and delighted that
it was the 2012 that was awarded the ultimate prize. Read On.....
La Residence We also took this opportunity to visit the
La Residence Manor house to see what it was like. It has been wonderfully
decorated and appointed by the owner Liz Biden. It is full of ormolu French
furniture, huge Indian glass chandeliers and many paintings. The rooms are
spacious and elegant and there is a feeling of opulence, quiet seamless service
and relaxation. If you can afford this 5 star boutique hotel, you are in for a
peaceful and luxurious stay. Read On.....
StreetSmart Annual
presentation of the donations This year, StreetSmart has raised an impressive R480 000, all from the R5 donation,
voluntarily added to your bill, at participating 32 restaurants in some of the
major centres in South Africa. Why only 32 restaurants? This was the first time
we had been invited to see the presentation of the cheques and they all go to
support agencies looking after street children (a constant problem in our
country) to get off the streets, get back to their families where possible or
to make a better life for themselves. If you are interested in the work that the projects who receive the awards are doing, we have put their website addresses on the blog, so you can read about them and StreetSmart.
One question we want to ask of
all our readers and those of you who own or work in restaurants. What is
holding you back? Diners: please ask your favourite restaurants why they are
not taking part in this worthy effort. Restaurants: please look at the scheme.
Every single cent you raise goes to the projects. StreetSmart have other donors
who support the administration and running of the charity. Read On.....
Disabled Access
to restaurants A regular reader, who has a
disabled husband, has asked us to try to tell readers if the restaurants and
farms we visit are friendly to the disabled. We realise we have not recognised
this need and want to do this in future but we need your help. Please let us
know how you find access in places you go to – we want to know about the good
AND the bad. There are rules existing but we do see that even when someone
builds a new venue, these rules are being ignored. Perhaps by putting some
pressure from their users, we can change things.
Recipe This is a very simple recipe and quick to
prepare. You wrap the stuffed breasts in bacon or smoked ham but if you don’t
want to use this, you could just leave on the chicken skin which will act as a
barrier to prevent them overcooking. We used Feta with black pepper for extra
flavour, you could use herb or any other favourite flavour. If you don’t want
to use butter, just add another Tablespoon of oil
Feta
and Spinach stuffed Chicken breasts
4 large chicken
breasts, skin off – 500g spinach or chard – 150g feta cheese – 1 T oil – 1 T
butter – salt and freshly ground black pepper – 2 rashers of bacon for each
breast – 2 sprigs of fresh thyme – 100ml water or chicken stock
Cut a deep pocket in each
breast and set aside. Wash the spinach well, then chop and cook in a dry
covered pan for 5 to 10 minutes until it has softened. The moisture on the wet
spinach should be enough to steam it. Drain it well, and then squeeze out any
excess moisture. Chop up the feta and add to the spinach, season (taste as the
feta is very salty) and mix well . Divide into four portions and stuff into the
chicken breasts. Take each rasher and using the back of a knife, stretch it
carefully till it lengthens. Then wrap 2 around each chicken breast. Heat your
oven to 180°C. Melt the butter and oil in a small frying pan that will go into
your oven. Add the thyme leaves. Carefully fry the wrapped chicken breasts for
five minutes on both sides. Add the water to the pan and allow to simmer for a
couple of minutes, then put into your oven for 8 minutes. Be careful of the hot
handle when removing. Rest for 5 minutes then serve. We had this with a mixture
of sliced fennel, baby carrots and courgettes simmered in stock with a knob of
butter till tender. Serves 4.
It is Festival season; we may see you at
one or all of these
Wine Concepts will celebrate their thirteenth year of staging their
“Finer Things in Life” Champagne Festival with the theme of Ebony &
Ivory on Friday, 21st November from 6pm. They will be offering taste bud
tantalisers from more than 40 cuvées of premium and boutique French Champagne
Houses. Expect names like Taittinger, Piper Heidsieck, Drappier, Mumm, Ruinart,
Montaudon, Jacquart, Philipponat and many more. For the price of one bottle of entry level Champagne, R380, you will be
able to taste many of the best ‘marques’ in France. There will be a lucky draw,
canapés and prizes for the best dressed. This year’s theme is Ebony and Ivory
and dress will be smart (and formal if you wish). Tickets from R380.00 if
purchased from Wine Concepts stores or online on www.webtickets.co.za Tickets will be on sale for R400 at the door on the evening if all the
available tickets have not already been sold. Best to make sure beforehand and
book at one of the stores or on the internet.
Franschhoek’s “The Magic of Bubbles Cap Classique and Champagne festival
will
be held this year on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th November from 12 to 5 pm in
the gardens of the Huguenot Monument. Their theme this year is Parasols and
Panama Hats, very suitable for the usually hot weather. Tickets here There is a reduction
if you pre-book using a MasterCard.
The Cape Town Festival of Beer Yes, we also like beer. John
used to brew at home. and will one day have the time to do so again. Lynne is
British, so it’s a given. And Cape Town is having its annual Beer Festival at Hamilton’s
Rugby Club on Green Point Common from Friday, 28th November to Sunday 30th. Get your tickets now. This is very
popular and gets very crowded, so go early.
There is a huge and rapidly growing
variety of interesting things to occupy your leisure time here in the Western
Cape. There
are so many interesting things to do in our world of food and wine that we have
made separate list for each type of event for which we have information. To see what’s happening in our world of
food and wine (and a few other cultural events), visit
our list of wine and food
pairing dinners, list
of Special events with wine and/or food connections,
list of Wine Shows and Tastings and list of special dinner events.
All the events are listed in date order and we have a large number of exciting
events to entertain you right through the year. Events outside the Western Cape are listed here.
Learn about wine and cooking We receive a lot of enquiries from people who want to learn more
about wine.
Cathy Marston and The Cape Wine Academy both run wine
education courses, some very serious and others more geared to fun. You can see
details of Cathy’s WSET and other courses here
and here and the CWA courses here. Karen Glanfield has taken
over the UnWined
wine appreciation courses from Cathy. See the details here
The Hurst Campus, an accredited school for people who want to become
professional chefs, has a variety of courses. See the details here
Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their classes can be seen here.
In addition to the
new Sense
of Taste Culinary Arts School, Chef Peter Ayub runs a
four module course for keen home cooks at his Maitland complex. Details
here
Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has French cooking classes in Noordhoek
and conducts cooking tours to Normandy. You can see
more details here.
Emma Freddi runs
the Enrica Rocca cooking courses at her
home in Constantia.
Lynn Angel runs the Kitchen Angel
cooking school and does private dinners at her home. She holds hands-on cooking
classes for small groups on Monday and Thursday evenings and she has decided to
introduce LCHF (Banting classes). The Kitchen Confidence classes, which focus
on essential cooking skills and methods, have been expanded and are now taught
over 2 evenings. She continues to host private dining and culinary team
building events at her home. She trained with Raymond Blanc, and has been a
professional chef for 25 years. More info
here
19th November 2014
Remember - if you can’t find something, we’ll do our best
to get it for you, and, if you’re in Cape Town or elsewhere in the country, we
can send it to you! Check our online shop for details and prices.
PS If a word or name is in bold type and underlined,
click on it for more information
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656
4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
Our Adamastor
& Bacchus© tailor-made Wine, Food and Photo tours take
small groups (up to 6) to specialist wine producers who make the best of South
Africa’s wines. Have fun while you learn more about wine and how it is made!
Tours can be conducted in English, German, Norwegian and standard or Dutch-flavoured
Afrikaans.
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. Our Avast! ®
Anti-Virus software is updated at least daily and our system is scanned
continually for viruses.
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. We own our
mailing software and keep our mailing list strictly confidential. 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.
