Monday, February 20, 2017

This week's recipe on our MENU: Rich Chocolate Ice-Cream

We know that many of you loved the simple strawberry ice cream Lynne published a while ago. Now for another decadent ice cream. Masterchef Australia has been full of ice creams, parfaits and mousses this year and they made them look very complex, especially when chocolate was involved. It is not
Rich Chocolate Ice-Cream
75g caster sugar - 4 egg yolks - 600 ml single cream - 1 Vanilla Pod, split open - 200g plain 70% dark chocolate
Put the sugar with 6 tablespoons of water in a small pan and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and continue boiling until the sugar reaches the thread stage* – about 110ยบ C. Beat the yolks in a mixing bowl, then pour in the syrup in a thin stream, whisking all the time.
Put the cream, vanilla pod and chocolate, broken into small pieces into a pan over a low heat  and stir till the chocolate has melted. Take it up to just below boiling point.  Remove the vanilla pod and pour the scalding chocolate cream onto the egg mixture, whisking until it is thoroughly mixed.  Pass through a sieve. It should resemble a light custard in texture.  Cool and freeze for 24 hours. You can use an ice-cream machine if you have one.

[*Thread stage for sugar is when you drop a bit of the mix into a cold glass of water,  the syrup will form a loose thin thread]

MENU's Wine of the Week: Muratie Isabella Chardonnay 2016

Muratie's Isabella Chardonnay is luscious, with white peaches, citrus and gentle caramel, and a nice clean, dry finish. The new fermenting juice we tasted from this year's harvest has fresh nectarines & apricots in abundance, with a hint of pine nuts. It points to another lovely wine from the 2017 harvest
Winemaker Hattingh de Villiers showed us the new wine fermenting in the cellar. It sells for R145 on the farm or on line, and is also available at good wine retailers. It is drinking well now but, if you can keep it for a couple of years, it is bound to become even better. Platter awarded this vintage 4½ stars
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017

Muratie's Harvest Festival - family fun under the Simonsberg

Muratie opens its doors each year for their Harvest celebration and have a relaxed day in the garden with food, good music, lots of wine and fun. We saw the new Art Gallery, passed on the opportunity to stomp some grapes (much enjoyed by the youngsters), tasted their new fermenting wines, took a tractor ride through the vineyards and chilled under the trees with a huge box full of grapes, figs, cheese, bread and other delights accompanied by their wines. It was "Cool bananas" as the chilled Capetonians say
The fun begins with the grape stomping
We preferred to venture into the cellar for the tasting of the juice and fermenting wine
Supervised by winemaker Hattingh de Villiers, here pouring some wine for us to taste
It was a good, interested crowd
Carefully sipping the fermenting young wine. Sensational flavours of fresh fruit like nectarines and plums. But you don’t want to swallow too much or you will start to ferment. Next to Lynne is broadcaster Jon Meinking, tweeting
Rijk Melck discussing the harvest and the wine
Time to taste a tank sample of the Pinot noir
Peter Kampmeinert tastes a little
You could buy hamburgers, boerewors rolls, smoked salmon sandwiches, samoosas and other delectables for lunch
We had a few of these delicacies on the media table to share. Freshly baked bread, a selection of cheeses, ripe figs and grapes, humus, tapenade and pesto with koeksisters and chocolate brownies
Busy cooks
Under the umbrellas enjoying the day
We drank the Laurens Campher, an inspired blend of Chenin, Sauvignon Blanc Verdelho and Viognier. It was so much enjoyed. Stone fruit, nuts, a little smoke and richness from the Viognier
Magnums of it on our table
A colourful Greg Landman of Country Life enjoying the day
Tractor rides through the vineyards every half hour
No, “we are not drinking coals from Newcastle”, say Yvonne and Peter from Holland, it’s wine for us today
Our skilful tractor driver, Paul
On the way up the hill
Smile! He's a Hashim Amla fan
Enjoying the ride together
In the far distance the Peninsula and Table Mountain
Strange cloud patterns, hinting of rain. It never came, just more heat and wind. The vines were laden with grapes awaiting harvest
Sentinel pines at the farm entrance
The band is always good
A happy day
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017

Sunday, February 19, 2017

The new MOK Gallery of modern South African art at Muratie

MOK is run by Cecile Blevi, a relative of Muratie's owner, Rijk Melck. Rijk took us to have a look and we were very impressed. It is in an historic 300 year old house on the property, where freed slave Ansela van de Kaap lived with her German husband Lourens Campher from 1695
Rijk showed us the way to the gallery, which is across the road from his wine cellar
The gardens are full of these large bronze figures
Cecile has a very good eye for art and exhibits the works of many, varied South African artists
Amusing pottery from Ayanda Mji, a ceramic artist from the Eastern Cape
Admiring the works. The plaster has been removed to show the way the walls were made from mud bricks
Sometimes Art is the window
Gallery owner Cecile Blevi, The current exhibition is of charcoal drawings by Rentia Retief and oil and watercolour paintings by Johan Coetzee
If you are interested, MOK gallery and Diane Victor offer two advanced drawing workshops in June at Muratie wine estate in Stellenbosch from 26th to 30th June 2017 (Fee: R4100 excluding food and accommodation) and at Cape St. Martin, Britannia Bay from 3rd to 7th July. Check out the details on the MOK Facebook page
Woodcuts by Theo Paul Vorster and ceramics by Lisa Walker
Striking oil on canvas by Thembalethu Manqunyana, and some of his other powerful work
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017

Friday, February 17, 2017

Sign the petition! Stop sand mining in the Swartland. PLEASE!

The South African wine community is in a state of shock. An application for sand mining rights in the Paardeberg area of the Swartland has been approved by the Malmesbury municipality. If this is allowed to go ahead, some of the country's best wine producers will be very badly affected, if not ruined. These include Eben Sadie, the Mullineuxs, Adi Badenhorst, Vondeling, David and Nadia and Lammershoek. 
PLEASE go to http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/protect-the-paardeberg and sign the petition against this travesty

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017