Mama Mia Belissima

I attended a wine dinner the other night with all the wines coming from the Siena region of Italy and matched with dishes also from the same region. This was the second time that I had attended a dinner hosted by this restaurant and I have to say I am becoming increasingly a fan of matching wines from a particular region with the correct foods.

What made this dinner all the more interesting was the fact that we also had one of the wine makers in attendance and in addition to describing the history of the winery and the region that also explained about the making of each of the wines would be tasting that night.

What was also particularly interesting was their recommendation on what food they would traditionally serve with it. In a couple of cases the restaurant had gone with a different type of dish but in every case they nailed the matching perfectly and even the wine maker was impressed which is no mean feat.

The wines that we had were not spectacular as it was not in that kind of dinner where money is no object but what we did have were wines that were excellent value within their price bracket.

Of particular enjoyment was the Mater Matuta 2005 made with 85% Syrah and 15% Petit Verdot it was bull bodied and exploding with flavour. The grapes for this wine are pressed solely by natural gravity with no external pressure allowing the juices from the grapes to flow freely and not pick up too many of the tannins that many cheaper wines are left with.

I also enjoyed the second white wine of the night – an equal blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay which surprised me as I am not normally a fan of Italian chardonnays but this was light and full of fruit on the palate and yet had a slightly astringent second level of taste that made the mouth seem clean and refreshed.

These were also both pressed in the soft press natural format and no oak casks were used in the development of the wines so this could possibly explain why I enjoyed it so much.

I am looking forward to the next dinner that the restaurant will be providing but knowing the owner it will be a while until he finds the right combination of wines and food and can ensure the wine maker is also available,

That said this is the second successful dinner with an Italian winemaker and I am sure the word is getting out that there is a lucrative market for good quality wines here in our tropical paradise and what a great place to come and visit and spend a few days imbibing wine so hopefully the wait will not be as long as we expect.

Anyone know the telephone numbers of any good wine producers we can call and entice to come here?

Corn on the cob

It’s amazing how your tastes change as you get older and whether it is clothes, hairstyles or clothing what you liked as a youngster is not the same as you like as you age. This is particularly so with food.

I remember as a youngster being forced to try everything at least once – in hindsight I am grateful to my parents making me do this as it instilled a sense of adventure that stayed with me as I grew older and came in useful when I travelled to Africa and Asia where some of he foods were COMPLETELY different and a little weird at times.

What I do remember from way back when was absolutely hating corn on the cob, maize to those that call it that.

A monthly ritual was on a Saturday night to have 2 each of these parboiled so that they were still firm and then covering them with copious quantities of butter and black pepper. The butter was first put on thick on to fresh bread and then wrapped around the cob so that the butter melted, some going on the cob and the rest soaking into the bread. Black pepper was ground over the cob and then eaten.

I remember watching my parents and sister gnawing their way through their cobs from end to end rotating as they finished that particular row of corn in the same way you would wind up the paper in the typewriter when you reached the end of the line.

There is a great Disney sketch with Mickey Mouse and Goofy that mimics this and is so true to life as to be unbelievable

Such was my dislike of this horrid vegetable that I would not even have it processed in cans….

I do not know when I changed my mind but now it is almost a staple part of my diet and a health snack if I am out and about as it is readily available from the man street vendors, both parboiled and bar b que.

What is also strange is that it is also the most popular snack to have at the cinema although not in this form. I am of course referring to Popcorn which is simply dried kernels of corn heated until such time as they explode or “pop”

I cannot imagine anyone not liking popcorn, especially in its sweeter variations so why not like popcorn….

The only thing that worries me about the changes in my dislikes to likes for foodstuffs is that maybe I will go the opposite as I get older and start to dislike things I liked as a youngster – I pray it will never happen to steaks and cream cakes…..

Off to the market to get some corn – happy nibbling

Non Milk Cheeses

I was in the pub the other night when the discussion got to cheeses and the different types you could make. 

As with many conversations that involve alcohol we quickly got into the naming of cheeses and after several minutes were running short of names

Someone brought up the subject of non milk vegetarian cheeses but no one could remember any of the names or if they had ever tried them.

I then put forward the name of bullace cheese and was met by a sea of blank faces, “No such thing” was the claim by all around the table and they were not having it even after i tod them what it was.

Not strictly cheeses in the Cheddar or Camembert sense but instead a form of jam much in the same way as marmalade is. This is a historic for of making a fruit preserve that has been lost to many people but still remains in the small villages in historic counties such as Suffolk or Somerset.

I remember by Grandmother making these 40 years ago and as a special treat we would have these spread on freshly baked bread and butter made that day in the local farm – such things are banned nowadays due to the strictures of EU directives and a part of our history has been lost again.

The cheese was easy to make and consisted of just fruit and sugar, preferably unrefined sugar. The fruit was gently sweated in a pan until it was soft and then passed through a fine sieve, or muslin cloth to leave just the pureed fruit. The sugar was then added and reheated gently for about an hour until the mixture stiffened.

As equal measures of fruit pulp and sugar are used this is an excellent way to use up excess amounts of fruit that become available if there is a glut. Bullace, Damson, and Cranberry are 3 of the more popular fruits to use.

Because there are no preservatives other than sugar used in the process the cheeses do not keep longer than 4 months, although they do improve after a couple of months. This could be the reason why fruit cheeses have become unpopular as commercially made jams and preserves last for months.

Cheeses such as these can be used as a spread or bread or crumpets as with commercial jams but can also be used as an accompaniment to cold meats or milk cheeses. They are particularly good with poultry especially chicken and pheasant.

It has been a long time since I saw such preserves available in mainline shops but there are more places now offering them in their catering establishments especially those historical sites such as castles and National trust homes in the UK.

The home of the fruit cheese is and probably always will be with Women’s Institute or WI as it is often called which has its base in the UK. Every year hundreds of women make these preserves both for completion and for use in their homes so next time you visit a fair or market keep your eyes open for this little bit of history and culinary enjoyment.

Strange wine making regions

I have had some great wines, some indifferent wines and some down right terrible wines - Mangosteen wine being top of the list. Some of these wines have come from unusual locations but this weeks was up there with the best.

If I asked you to name a county in North Africa that made wine those of you in the know would immediately say Egypt and you would be correct but how many of you would name Tunisia?

Apparently they have been making wine here for over 100 years starting whilst it was still a French Colony.

Matched against 2 French rose from Pays d'Oc and a Hardy's rose from Australia the Tunisian rose, made from vineyards growing in the Atlas Mountains stood its ground and amongst many of the tasters was voted as the best of the rose. Light in colour and subtle in flavor it is sure to go well with seafood.

These were entry level wines so now I am looking forward to tasting some of the better quality wines from the region.

We also had a French Merlot that tasted like a Cabernet Sauvignon and a South African Cabernet Sauvignon that tasted like a French Merlot. All in all a very confusing evening.

The wine of the evening? Definitely the Famille Castel Chardonnay 2008 from Pays d'Oc. Clean, crisp with great balance of flavours or a different taste from a Peruvian wine from Peru.

Where does meat come from?

I was watching one of those terrible TV programs where has-been celebrities, or in many cases never-were celebrities participate in a cooking program that sees them make fools of themselves gradual being sacked either by the chef in charge of the kitchen or at a later date by the watching audience.

In one scene the chef, who was very particular about the freshness of the food he served showed the remaining contestants how to kill and prepare an eel for cooking. He then instructed them to go out side and capture their own eel and prepare it for that evening’s meal.

From the reaction of several of the so called celebrities you would have thought he had asked them to commit first degree murder – one girl was even heard to call it inhuman....

After several minutes of watching them try to capture, kill and then prepare the eels we went to the interviews that were with the individual celebrities.

Now I have heard some rubbish in my time on the TV but what came next was unbelievable

One celebrity in all seriousness said that she had never considered where meat came from – she thought it just came from the supermarkets where it was neatly packaged on plastic trays and was now considering going vegetarian if it meant something had to die so she could have meat.

Do these people come from the real world or are we just being suckered in to some neat TV crap....?

Unfortunately having mentioned this to a few people down the local pub one person was also amazed to discover that meat did not always come on neat plastic trays with plastic covering.

I remember as a child going to the local butcher and watch him cut off exactly the amount of meat we wanted from a larger joint. A few years later aged 8 I learnt how to pluck and gut pheasants and pigeon and the following year to prepare rabbits including skinning and quartering them.

Now I may admit that I might not have had the same childhood as many people having learnt these skills but what is the world coming to when grown adults do not know where their foodstuff is coming from? How do they know which the best cuts are, whether the meat looks fresh, how to prepare it and how to serve them?

I have come to the conclusion that people living in the west are slowly but surely being indoctrinated in to what is acceptable to eat but where will it all end?

There are sci-fi books that depict a future where there is not enough food for the number of humans alive so mankind is re-graded by a controlling faction and lesser humans are bred as cattle and eaten in the same way. The “meat” is butchered on secret farms and then presented in shops in easy to cook portions.

Now we are a long way from that at the moment but now is the time to take back the knowledge of where our meat comes from and how it is prepared.

Visit your local butcher and ask for exactly what you want and learn more about the different regional varieties of beef, lamb, pork and chicken and then experiment with more exotic meats from your home country or overseas.

Who knows by discovering something new that you like you may be encouraged to visit the country or region that it comes from.

Happy eating