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Tuesday, April 04, 2017

What's on the Menu this week? Black pepper Chicken with vegetables

Lynne uses strips of bite sized thigh meat in this stir fry, but a mix of breast and leg meat will also be fine. You can use any vegetables that are suitable for a quick stir fry like those below or add broccoli, sweet corn, mange tout, mushrooms, etc. You need about four cups. You can use coconut oil for frying if you don't have peanut. Peanut oil can take a very high heat which makes it suitable for stir frying. Never use olive oil, it laminates and turns to plastic which is very bad for you

350 g chicken cut into 5 cm strips - 1 T corn flour - 1 tsp light soy - 1 tsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry - 1 garlic clove, grated - 1.5 cm knob of fresh ginger, grated - 2 T peanut oil for frying - selection of fresh vegetables, see below - 1/2 an onion, roughly chopped - !/2 cup of fresh bean sprouts - 4 spring onions, sliced

Stir fry sauce: 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, according to your taste - 2 Tbspns oyster sauce- 2 tsp light soy sauce - 2 tsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry - 1/2 t sesame oil - 1 tsp honey - salt

Preparation

Stir the corn flour, the light soy and rice wine into the chicken, mix well and set aside for at least half an hour. This flavours and tenderised the chicken. This is known as velveting the chicken to tenderise it.

Vegetables: Cut these into bite size pieces: half a red pepper - half a green pepper - 2 small carrots - 1 courgette - 1 stick of celery - 10 green beans - 1/4 of a Chinese cabbage, roughly chopped

Heat your wok and when hot put in the oil. Just before it begins to smoke, quickly add the rough cut onion and stir fry for a minute. Add the garlic and ginger, stir then immediately add the chicken and brown quickly on all sides. Add all the chopped vegetables and mix quickly to stir fry for a minute or two. Add the sauce and stir well. Cook till it starts to bubble. Fry for about three or four minutes till the chicken is cooked and the cabbage is beginning to wilt. Add the bean sprouts at the end and quickly stir them in. Top with the spring onions and serve from the wok with noodles or rice. Taste and add salt if needed

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MENU's Wine of the Week. Paul Wallace's Black Dog Malbec

This wine has really come into its own and is drinking so well at the moment. It has green herbs, black cherries, and vanilla oak on the savoury nose. Supple and soft on the palate with dark berry fruit, salty licorice and soy. It's a wine for fine foods or just to quaff with friends over supper. And it goes beautifully with chilli and dark chocolate

The wine is named after Paul's wonderful black dog
Like others of us, he is feeling the weight of the years

Here he is when he was in his prime, enjoying the upper dam on the farm about 6 years ago

What a handsome lad!

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Elgin weekend - Sundowners with the Wallaces at Paul Wallace wines

We had booked an Airbnb for the night in Elgin following the Festival at Paul Cluver and made a stop at Wallowvale on the way to visit our friends Nicky and Paul Wallace and watch the sun go down while tasting their wines, exchanging trade gossip and making a fuss of the black dogs and the Jack Russell terrier

These are two of the wines made by Paul Wallace, Paul is a well known and renowned viticulturist who consults to many Cape Wine farms. Nicky, who has earned a great deal of respect in the industry as a wine marketer, runs the tasting room and takes care of the sales and marketing of their own wines. We began with The Little Flirt, a 2015 vintage Sauvignon Blanc, fresh and lively with lemon curd and lime notes, great at waking up the palate. The 2015 Brave Heart Pinot Noir is classic - restrained red berry fruit with potential to age and mature well.

Nicky and Paul helping customers with their orders in the tasting room after a busy Saturday

Paul pours John a glass of the Little Flirt

Hospitable to the end, Nicky brought out some cheese, biscuits and grapes, a perfect way to enjoy the wine and a busy day

The older Black Dog after whom the wine is named. Black Dog Malbec is Paul’s signature wine grown on the farm and it is our wine of the week; read about it here

Relaxing on the sofa. They light a fire in the tasting room in the winter

Autumn is upon us and the lovely lavender and ochre shades show well across the dam at sundown

New vineyards on the hill, with the established vines next to them

Egyptian geese in the farm dam

Elgin is going to have their Cool Wines & County Food festival on the 29th and 30th of April. Make sure you can get there. Details on info@winesofelgin.co.za We will be there

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96 Winery Road turns 21!

As we discussed during the lunch held last week, there are not many successful restaurants who can claim to have survived this long under the same owners. 96 Winery Road certainly fits the bill. Partners Ken and Allan Forester, Martin Meinert and chef Natasha Wray are still involved and the restaurant continues to provide superb food. At the celebration we tasted the all time favourites from their menu over the last 21 years, paired with some of the great Forrester Meinert wines

Arriving for the celebration, we were welcomed by PRO Nicolette Waterford and Restaurant Manager Allan Forrester and served glasses of the Sparklehorse MCC made from Chenin Blanc

Some respected members (and some would say survivors!) of the wine industry: Wine Selector for Woolworths Allan Mullins, Dave Hughes, author, judge and wine personality; and in the background Angela Lloyd, wine judge and writer

Inside the restaurant

Canapés were excellent: Small crisp puff pastry rounds topped with caramelised onion and balsamic reduction

Wagyu beef tartare with melba toast

Enormous Kataifi pastry wrapped prawns with a light creamy sate dipping sauce

Allan Forrester in charge!

The two Forrester brothers. Ken arrived just as we were sitting down; he had been busy on the farm

The celebration menu. These are the dishes that have been huge successes over the years that customers demand that they are still on the menu

Ken begins the lunch with a little history

Mosbolletjies is a rich bread traditionally made using the juice of fermenting grapes (or mos) . The dough is rolled into rounds and they are packed together into the loaf tin before rising and baking so that it can be easily pulled apart when serving

We began with a Meinert Riesling, the German Job. Crisp and dry with nice acidity to ping off the food and no terpenes

Titled New Style Sashimi this was raw sea bass sashimi in sesame oil & soy sauce, topped with a mild wasabi mayonnaise, sprinkled with sesame seeds and spring onions . Sea Bass sashimi was new to us, it was very good

The four partners, Alan Forrester, Ken Forrester, Natasha Wray and Martin Meinert

The next course was a morsel of tender and gooey pork belly with very crisp crackling. It was served on rather sweet caramelised sweet potato puree with a homemade (by Ken's mum) tomato blatjang (chutney). This was served with the 2016 Ken Forrester Old Vine Chenin Blanc Reserve. Dusty, grassy with faint cooked apple on the nose. Crisp and cooked apple on the palate, a nice tingle of fruit acid on the end. The wood is there but in the background, adding fullness and richness

A wonderful palate cleanser at this point, the Wild mushroom Cappuccino, so rich and creamy, wild mushroom (and some truffle?) aromas, with lots of mushroom texture, topped with a foam and a cheese straw. John was served an alternative, a delicious spinach and potato soup

The Reserve Chenin being poured

No one was weakening at this point and the next course was a delight. Crisp Panko crumb encrusted tender calamari in a taco shell, with Pica de Gallo salsa, salty black beans and an Ancho chilli mayonnaise to add a great hit of warmth

The FMC was then served. Forrester Meinert Chenin or F...ing Marvellous Chenin to quote Ken. This is his offering to Chenin, the wine that challenges all others in the Cape. So concentrated, so layered, so chic, clean lemon, apricots and peach, some spice and many other Chenin references

A memory on the wall of what went before, Gatrile’s restaurant in Johannesburg that Ken used to own. John remembers it well. He says it was where all the advertising people used to go

The final main course (which turned out to be two) was about to be served

so out came the 2006 vintage Devon Crest made by Martin Meinert. It is an elegant and intense Bordeaux blend with incense, maraschino cherries on the nose, Cherries and cassis on the palate with some chalky tannins, built to last and it still has some time left. it is drinking so well and was so good with both of the dishes that were served

Totally wicked hand cut chips with a hint of truffle to go with the mains

John cannot visit this restaurant without ordering this dish, the famous Duck and Cherry Pie, which Ken brought with him when he 'immigrated' from Johannesburg and Gatrile's. Full of tender duck in a rich red cherry sauce topped with light puff pastry

the other main was the famous "Hollandse" Pepper Fillet, so tender with the warm black pepper and thick cream and brandy sauce, a total indulgence

This is how it was served

By this point, some of us were begging for mercy and then the dessert arrived. Three restaurant classics. A classic crème Brulée, a 96 Winery Road Ice cream, rich with red fruit notes and chocolate sauce, and a light as air chocolate torte. We had the honeyed T Noble Late Harvest with dessert. Coffees too .... What a wonderful way to celebrate 21 years

Alan telling us about how they got to the menu. Customer insist that these dishes stay on the menu so, if you remember them, you can be assured of finding them there on your next visit

All the dishes were cooked by the current chef, Adrian Buchanan, who can ably recreate all of these but cooks his own dishes in his own style as well

A cheerful (and probably full) Alan Mullins with Linda Potgieter at the end of a marvellous day

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Cluver Family Harvest Day in Elgin

A Harvest festival of different sort, Paul Cluver organised a train to take families from Cape Town to and from the farm last Saturday for the fun day out, held in the Amphitheatre. We arrived under our own steam (pun intended) just as the train arrived and a very jolly day was had by all

The train has just arrived and the passengers are "degorged" into apple boxes on wheels, pulled by John Deere tractors

There were 200 tickets sold for this trip

The ticket booth on arrival

Two mountain bikers arrive on the trail. One had had a fall and was looking for a medic

It is Apple (and pear) harvest time and they were on offer everywhere, you could help yourself

The children were given cute gingham travel packs with an apple, a sandwich and an apple juice

Awaiting the deluge of children from the train

The event was held in the Paul Cluver Amphitheatre which is surrounded by a magnificent grove of tall pines and gum trees

The seating being explored by a new crawler

The Amphitheatre with the Magic radio stand on the stage. They provided music, fun and competitions during the day

Food stands so you could buy your lunch

We enjoyed a pulled Pork sandwich from the Smoke lads

The tractors arrive with the train passengers

When she said "John Deere", I thought she meant me!

And the apple box carts

There was a pizza stand

### lose and use the one below . Quiches from the Peregrine stand ...

... and wicked pecan and other sweet tarts at R20 each

Apple crumbles - of course!

Square pizza going into the oven

Paul Cluver winemaker Andries Burger and his pretty daughter, Aninke. Andries has been with the farm for 20 years; he is married to Inge, Paul Cluver's daughter

Another new member of the Paul Cluver family, Max, the son of Paul Cluver IV. So serious, so interested

Magic Radio announcer Guy MacDonald with Andries

And another broadcaster, John Meinking of Hashtag Radio, with Linda Potgieter

Our lunch, the pulled pork sandwich and a bottle of the crisp and satisfying Sauvignon Blanc bought at the wine counter. We were all given five tasting vouchers (and a good wine glass) which could be redeemed at this counter for a taste of the Paul Cluver wines

If you could identify Guy MacDonald you received a gift hamper as a prize from Paul Cluver

Just chilling and dancing to the music!

Tables were set in amongst the trees

A puff ball sky above the tall trees

The view from our table, which some kind people let us share with them

We love Labradors

Another wine and cider and apple juice station. We had a taste of the good cider on arrival

The juice from these different apples for tasting. Sadly, we didn't taste, we are a bit wary of sugar

Aaaahhh

Yes!

Janie van der Spuy exchanging vouchers for wine

It is like a tree cathedral

Aged wooden bench

A child making a suspended sculpture out of bark peelings. He was intensely concentrated on what he was doing and so aware of the spacial possibilities of the medium. A future artist in the making