It was lovely to be able to spoil Jane rotten last Friday, for her birthday. MacK and I gave her pearl earrings to go with last year's necklace, a fossil watch and a hint glass frog! I also spent the day cooking a feast of Jane's favourites to share with a few friends. The menu we served was as follows:
Hors d'oeuvres
- Smoked salmon and scrambled egg
- Asparagus wrapped in prosciutto
- Potato Latke with spiced apple and sour cream
Fresh bread
Grilled lamb, beetroot, rocket and persian feta salad
Twice roasted pork belly, with roasted baby carrots and salsa verde, garlic hasselback potatoes and braised lettuce and peas
Chilled watermelon with pistachio dukkah and chopped mint
Smoked cheddar and cabernet paste 'Napoleon' with honey roast walnuts
"Angel Pie'
Kumquat pigs
So- a couple of things that need mentioning from this menu. First up - braised lettuce. I know that a lot of people think that lettuce is only for salads, but you really need to try this dish. Sauté bacon, onion and garlic, and add chopped iceberg lettuce and peas. Add enough chicken stock to wet the dish and finish with a little chopped mint. This is a really fresh way to eat lettuce, and as ever, bacon makes it all better!
The kumquat pigs were a little bit of fun. A couple of months ago we found a chocolate mould for a pig's head. They really are a little too real, and quite grotesque. The filling was a kumquat marmalade flavoured ganache. They were probably one step too far on this menu, but really good though.
The Angel Pie - this came from a book called 'Lost Desserts', and is described by the creator (a Sylvia Hirsch, from Miss Grimbles inNew York circa 1960) as follows:
Desserts are my business, and i find this possibly the most irresistible in all of dessertdom. Dieters fall off their diets and strong men go weak at the sight of it. It is beautiful to behold and luscious to eat.
Now that is a pretty tall order to live up to, but the photograph initially sold me. It has a meringue crust, with a chocolate mousse filling topped with whipped cream and berries. In the making, I realised that it was something a little special. It has all the elements of a classic dessert - cream/crunch/rich/sweet/fresh, and of course booze and chocolate (the mousse is flavoured with kahlua). What I found interesting was that both the meringue crust and mousse have a little salt added. It is just enough to prevent a cloying sweetness. I don't know if it is irresistible, but I have had it for breakfast for the last two days, and Jane wants it again as a part of our regular repertoire.
One of our guests brought a fascinating wine, made by Damien Tscharke (a 6th generation German winemaker from the Barossa Valley). The Project Naturalis Marananga Savagnin is a really different, lovely to drink wine that (through perfect happenstance) brilliantly matched the menu. We had one of the 670 bottles produced, so you probably won't be able to head off and grab one to try, but it is certainly worth looking for. It is also interesting for the wine's story on the back label, transcribed below:
Harvested 15th Feb at night - 12.2 baume
No foreign yeasts
Full solid ferment - skins, flesh, seeds and stalks
Cap management by hand and foot
Aged in an old Demi Muid French oak barrel
No acidification or fining
Bottled after five months
Unfiltered - minimal sulphur
If you do a search for Tscharke, you will see a passionate young craftsman with a range of really interesting wines. I am told they are really well made, and we will certainly be looking for them to add to our cellar!
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