Winter has gone. Families playing at the water’s
edge, Three Anchor Bay
Cape
Town is a winning city We have to
boast! This week, The Conde Nast Readers’ Travel Awards 2016 in category “The
Best Food Cities in the World”, chose Cape Town as Best Overseas City for
Restaurants and Bars. We so agree. AND the globally-recognised travel magazine
also named Cape Town as a runner-up in the category of Favourite Overseas City
on September 1st
Cape
Town Tourism chief executive Enver Duminy said “It must be noted that tourism
in the city is a major driver of the economy to the Western Cape, providing job
opportunities to thousands of residents, and the attention earned by such
awards aids in the growth of this sector”
UK
Daily Telegraph readers named South Africa amongst their three favourite
countries alongside New Zealand and the Maldives
Game of Wines at The Hoghouse - A Pretty Pinot Quiz The HogHouse in
Pinelands invited us to join them and take part in this wine quiz which is held
once a month. We had no idea what we were in for, drank some good wine, did
extraordinarily badly at the quiz but met some great folk and had much fun.
Their resident sommelier Kimi Blackadder sent us the invitation and he sets and
runs the quiz. This time it was five Pinot Noirs, one Pinot Meunière and three
white pinots, some local, some international. If you want to attend one of
their events, check out their website http://hhbc.co.za/events/ Their
next event will be Hogtoberfest on the 8th of October, which sounds like a lot
of fun, given the great beers they brew and sell
Riscura White Hot Wines Awards for white blends These are blends of Sauvignon Blanc and
Semillon and produce elegant dry white wines which show a lot of depth, length
and quality. That may all sound rather vague but when you taste a good white
blend you know you have something special in your glass. The combination of
these two grapes is a magical one, the wines keep and get better as they age. The
Semillon softens the Sauvignon and it's an almost perfect marriage. If we could
only convince South Africans to drink more of them, they would deservedly
become more popular. In France they revere them. If this blend is grown in
Bordeaux near the Gironde River in North Western France they are simply
labelled with that appellation. 35 entries from 31 producers were tasted by the
judges Christian Eedes, James Pietersen and Roland Peens. The lowest score
(they use the 100 point scheme) was 86. This year there were certificates given
to 14 wines that scored over 90. Three wines scored 94, the highest. To see the
entire list click here: http://winemag.co.za/riscura-white-hot-wine-awards-2016-results/
The 33rd Blaauwklippen Blending Competition This annual blending competition, which is
now in its 33rd year and can be entered by wine clubs nationwide and overseas,
had its awards ceremony this week on the farm. We love to go and meet the
finalists over lunch and find out how their wine clubs work, how often they
meet and how they approach the blending of the wine. During lunch we tasted the
winning wine and, this year, we were surrounded by all four of the finalists.
We had fun asking them if they recognised their own blend
You
might have noticed this aged triangular roast in your supermarkets and wondered
what it is. The name is Spanish and it is a cut of meat used in South America where
it is regarded as one of their top cuts. It is actually the point of the rump
and Lynne cooked it for the first time last weekend. We discovered not only how
incredibly well flavoured and tender it is, and very easy to cook but it also
turned out to be rather economical for a family of 2. It made us three very different
dishes over three days. We will have guests next week and are going to cook
this on the braai.
Cooking
it is very simple. We had a roast of almost exactly a kilo. Traditionally, all
you do is cover it in flaked salt and leave it to sit for a couple of hours,
brush off the salt and cook. We had some South American Gaucho spice so Lynne
used that as well. You then heat up a ridged skillet and, starting fat side
down, sear the meat all over, including the one cut end. You leave it fat side
up on the skillet and put into a hot oven at 170⁰C for about 35 to 40 minutes. We
used a meat thermometer. When it gets to 50⁰C and no more, remove it from the
oven and set aside to rest under foil for 10 minutes. Remember that while resting
under foil the meat will continue to cook for a bit and it will also throw off
some good meat juices to use as gravy. This produces perfectly pink steaks.
There is contention about whether to cut across the grain or with it but
whichever way you cut it, you will have beautiful, tender flavourful steak. And
for those of you Banting, the fat is absolutely delicious. (John - who abhors
all fat, is shuddering). Cook for a slightly longer time if you do not like
rare meat or less if you like yours blue. Searing the fat for longer produces a
wonderful crisp outer skin. We cut of two 3 cm steaks, leaving two thirds for
the next day
On
Monday with a third of the meat, Lynne made an Asian beef salad, using lots of
different vegetables, seeds and a good dressing (recipe next week) and on
Tuesday she used the remaining third in Beef Stroganoff (recipe next week). It
is a great discovery
We
drank Phizante Kraal Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 with the steaks, Buitenverwachting
Blanc de Noir 2016 with the Beef Salad and De Krans Wild Ferment Unwooded
Chardonnay 2014 with the Stroganoff
On the Wine MENU this week: Buitenverwachting Blanc de
Noir 2016 Summer has arrived with this newly
released wine. Well, if you are not convinced, all you have to do is open a
bottle of this week's wine and you will feel the sun on your face. It is so
reminiscent of the rosés of Southern France. A blend of noble varieties, it is
full to bursting with strawberries, raspberries, a good bite of juicy white
peach and sunshine. So good with food. If you tasted this blind you might think
it was a serious red, but its light, fruity floral nose and beautiful lipstick
pink will convince you otherwise
15th September
2016
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
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Recommendations of products and outside events are not
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recipes and text used in these newsletters and our blogs
are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus. Our restaurant reviews are usually unsolicited. We
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