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Saturday, October 22, 2016

MENU's Recipe of the Week: Prawn Pilaff

1 shallot, very finely chopped – ½ t olive oil – 1 T butter - 2 cups of rice (not Basmati or jasmine) 100 ml dry white wine - 5 cups of fish stock –-sprig of thyme – half a bay leaf – a good pinch of saffron – salt – white pepper - 500g raw peeled and deveined prawns - 1 T chopped parsley

Fry the onion gently in the oil and butter with a pinch of salt. When it is soft, add the rice and stir till all the grains are transparent. Add the white wine and let it bubble away. Add the stock, a good shake of white pepper and the herbs and saffron. Stir then cover the pot with some greaseproof paper, then its lid and put into a 170°C oven for 20 minutes. Add the peeled prawns and put back into the oven for 10 minutes. By this time the liquid has almost all gone and the rice will be very moist and glossy. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Stir in the parsley. Serves 4

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MENU's Wine of the Week: Springfield Life From Stone Sauvignon Blanc 2016

This wine is lively, zesty, green plums and elderflower with great minerality. It sings in the glass. Sip it before dinner and it will make you hungry, serve with seafood or fish and it will be the best complement possible

The price on their website is R86.00, very good value. Platter gives it 4 Stars

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Friday, October 21, 2016

2016 FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 Awards at Nooitgedacht, Stellenbosch

Every year the Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group (SBIG) runs this competition, which is sponsored by First National Bank, "To celebrate and recognise excellence amongst local producers who have dedicated countless hours to perfecting their craft." This year there were 169 entries judged and this was our chance to see the winners and taste the wines. The award ceremony was held at Nooitgedacht Estate in Stellenbosch, and was followed by lunch

How very appropriate to be greeted with Steenberg's sparkling Sauvignon Blanc

The event was very well organised and we loved the format. We were invited to be there at 10h30. First, we went into a long hall where the top 20 sauvignons were available for us to taste and we were allowed 1¾ hours to do so. At this point, no one knew the names of the winners

Miles Mossop of Tokara with his 2016 Reserve Collection Sauvignon Blanc

Jacques Jordaan and Hannes Meyer of Simonsig with theirs, the 2015 Sunbird

Canapés circulated, just in case you were peckish. Beetroot and cream cheese on a crisp tart base

Danie Keulder from Nitida with the Golden Orb 2015 Sauvignon Blanc.

Tiny duck samoosas with a dipping sauce

The team from Jordan, winemaker Sjaak Nelson and Marketing manager Thea van der Merwe toast winemaker Lukas Wentzel from Groote Post. Jordan entered two wines: The Outlier 2015 Sauvignon Blanc and the Jordan 2015 Sauvignon Blanc

Charles Hopkins of De Grendel in conversation with Morne Vrey of Delaire Graff and some keen observers

Catherine Marshall and her mum Jakki. We really liked her wooded 2015 Sauvignon Blanc. There are not that many Blanc Fumés made these days.

Judge Christian Eedes and Joris van Almenkerk with Cathy Marshall. Joris had the Almenkerk 2015 in the competition

Then, at 12h15, it was time to go into the dining area to enjoy the awards presentation over lunch

A spacious building with a huge barn-like roof

The menu

The starter, a perfectly oozy poached egg with fresh asparagus, resting on a single salmon raviolo. Pasta a little undercooked, but great flavour from the salmon

JD Pretorius opened the proceedings. The aim of the Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group is to promote South African Sauvignon Blanc, which is the number one selling varietal in export wines, bulk and bottle by a long way. 2016 was a good harvest. They are seeing such originality in the wines, a huge array of different styles. This is our strength, regional site specific styles. There were 169 entries from 111 producers

Listening intently were Thys Louw of Diemersdal

GM of Tokara Karl Lambour

Hannes Meyer of Simonsig

Jacques Jordaan, Simonsig Marketing manager

Sjaak Nelson of Jordan

Main Course - two pieces of chicken breast (not too dry) stuffed with spinach served with a good parsnip and butternut puree, green beans, honey roasted butternut topped a delicious crisp piece of chicken skin. There was a good chicken and Sauvignon Blanc jus. It was a very large Boland helping of chicken!

Winnie Bowman CWM told us about the judging. Neil Ellis, seasoned winemaker and family estate proprietor, acted as convenor of the Top 10 jury which included wine journalist, Christian Eedes, winemakers, Wilhelm Pienaar and Narina Cloete as well as herself

Joris van Almenkerk with Chris du Toit, CEO of Graham Beck Enterprises

This year’s Top 10 wines, in alphabetical order, are

• Almenkerk Sauvignon Blanc 2015

• Cape Point Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2015 (wooded)

• De Grendel Sauvignon Blanc 2016

• Hermanuspietersfontein Nr 5 Sauvignon Blanc 2013 (wooded)

• Jordan The Outlier Sauvignon Blanc 2015 (wooded)

• Ken Forrester Sauvignon Blanc Reserve 2015

• Merwida Sauvignon Blanc 2016

• Nitida Golden Orb Sauvignon Blanc 2015

• Tokara Reserve Collection Elgin Sauvignon Blanc 2016

• Uitkyk Sauvignon Blanc 2015

The other 10 all received certificates

The top 10 winners with sponsors

Sjaak Nelson and Thea vd Merwe of Jordan with the award for The Outlier Sauvignon Blanc and the top 20 certificate for the Jordan 2015

Cape Point viticulturalist Hendri Burger and winemaker Riandri Visser

Mark from Ken Forrester Vineyards

Desserts were served on a table in the foyer with coffee. Tiny salted chocolate tarts

Mini angelfood cupcakes

Lemon tart cups There were also macarons

Lucas Wentzel with Uitkyk winemaker Estelle Lourens

A bank of nasturtiums at the riverside

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Dinner at The Alphen's new Blanko restaurant

You may, like us, have been to the Alphen restaurants in Constantia many times over the years under their different guises, there have been several over the years. The Five Rooms was the name of the previous restaurant in this historic building till September, now it has begun a new life as Blanko (an Esperanto word we are told). It is part of the group owned and run by restaurateur Paul Kovensky . He has initiated a new change: the Five Rooms have gone and Blanko has opened. The house has been transformed from historic into a modern all white, leather and glass space with lots of modern art from the Goodman Gallery. Gone are the antiques and the Cloete family art collection. We were invited to experience the place and the food. Group Head Chef, Amber-May Deetlefs, delivers Italian style food

It's a beautiful old Cape Dutch house set in a werf (Dutch: the space around a farm homestead and outbuildings) which was founded in the late 17th Century

This photograph of the voorkamer was taken before the renovations

The doors, windows, roof beams are all original features. This was the small lounge in the large foyer

Several rooms run off this main entrance room; they now house the tables chairs and banquettes of the restaurant. We had drinks in this back section. On the right hand side is an original antique Cape Dutch Armoire

Inside the restaurant. We ate in this room. All the chairs and sofas are covered in leather and the tables have white Corian surfaces

One of the other rooms. Lots of large modern pictures fill the white walls

The revamped bar in the entrance foyer

Dining outside on the terrace. Too chilly the night we visited but they do have heaters; and umbrellas for sunny warm days

It's a large terrace in front of the house

Two rolls and butter to start the meal. The lighting is very dim and it is turned down as the evening progresses, making it rather difficult to see the food. Perhaps they don't know that you also eat with your eyes? Romantic, perhaps, but we like to see what we are eating. We had a small led torch in our camera bag and used it to read the menu and to take the photographs

Lynne's starter of chargrilled polpetti with lemon and garlic and a little chilli. A great dish, you could taste the smoke of the fire and the baby squid was very tender. She had this with a glass of Springfield Life From Stone Sauvignon Blanc; perfect.

John had the asparagus with ricotta. Three flame seared spears, some asparagus puree, green olive oil and those two rounds of rather hard flavourless cheese. John also had a glass of the Life From Stone, which goes so well with asparagus.

Lynne chose Escalopes of veal which came sandwiched with ham, sage, new potato slices, a good jus and a tart lemon puree. The two slices of veal had not been batted out so was a little thick. The flavours were good. She had a glass of Rudera Robusto Chenin blanc with this course.

John ordered the slow wine braised lamb shank, It had a good glaze. He had a glass of Boekenhoutskloof Chocolate Block. You can also order pizza or pasta

The sides are all extra. We ordered a dish of the seasonal vegetables and they were a good surprise, nice and al dente and fresh.

Only John could manage a dessert. This is the very rich Chocolate and salted caramel torte with hazelnuts, burnt crumbs and creamy ricotta

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