A party for two or more

Recipes and tips

What nourishes? Ripe fruit in season, vegetables just harvested from our garden and the comfort of a familiar dish with friends can be the best. Some foods just always deliver. For Summer, it could be as simple as chicken schnitzel with a yummy potato salad; prawn and crab dumplings; smoked trout with caviar or the perfect example of the generous fish and potato croquettes I enjoyed at Neil Perry’s Next Door Restaurant in Sydney last week. Panko breadcrumbs are de rigueur these days when frying is called for. I was reminded of the moreish, lightly curried fish and rice rolls our family ate on the Strand in Townsville every Friday of my youth. If only I could replicate them- there were no Panko breadcrumbs then.

Food and wine for two

2010 Bloodwood Chirac

60% Chardonnay & 40% Pinot Noir on yeast lees for 12 years (Our rich and complex sparkling)

Serve icy cold & best appreciated in a (Chablis) or white wine glass rather than a flute. (Check the difference for yourself.) Why icy cold? Because the acidity is thrilling and it will warm up quickly in the glass.

Food matching with Chirac

Stephen grows potatoes so he can have a ready supply of his favourites, chips!

Homely:

Starters

• French fries, salt, (showered with finely grated Parmesan-optional.)

• Cheddar cheese on Jatz or a piece of Grana Padano (grating Parmesan) to chew.

• Smoked oysters on cream cheese and dry toast/ plain biscuits

• Tuna Aranchini balls

Mains

• Fish in batter, chips and salad

• Chicken Parmesan schnitzel and potato salad

• Salmon/tuna patties with salad

• Mushroom risotto

Fancier:

Starters

• Oysters (with Asian or European flavours- your choice)

• Lesley’s Mum’s Parmesan biscuits* (try pastry wrapped around pickled Caper berries)

• Petite crab cakes, steamed crab & garlic chive wontons

• Fish tartare (with caviar- or Wakame flakes) or smoked fish on crispbread

• Salmon gravalax

Mains

• Lobster Mornay*

• Seafood Tempura

• Prosciutto wrapped chicken breast stuffed with spinach & apple

Check out Josh Niland’s Petermens menu https://www.petermen.com.au/menu

2018 Bloodwood Pinot Noir

Our Pinots have structure and consequently can last many years (up to 15 years last count.)

Best appreciated in a Pinot Noir glass which enhances the nose, mouthfeel and compliments the tannins

Food matching with Pinot Noir

Homely:

Starters

• Local Fresh Fodder dips, smoked Taramasalata, Hummus topped with roast beetroot*

• Mushroom & cream cheese pate on plain biscuits or dried toast

Mains

• Chicken schnitzel with potato salad & green salad

• Pork & fennel sausages and potato bake

• Pork & veal meatloaf *and salad

• Tuna/salmon patties with fried tomato halves (as sauce) salad of rocket & basil

Fancier:

Starters

• Prosciutto, salamis. olives etc

• Exotic mushrooms with miso on Korean rice paper and seaweed crisps

• Salmon gravlax, fresh bagels & cream cheese

Mains

• Tournedo Rossini* (Summer version) with potato bake*

• Salmon /Tuna steak with roasted tomatoes and salad

• Prosciutto, grilled figs, walnuts & goat’s curd salad

• Duck breast with ginger, star anise & Hoisin sauce with roast plum

Matching summer food and Bloodwood wine

You’ll find Bloodwood 2022 Riesling, Schubert (Chardonnay) and Rose (Big Men In Tights) will also accompany many of these Sparkling and Pinot Noir food suggestions with one exception - Schubert (Chardonnay) and goat’s cheese don’t mix well so substitute a brie cheese in the prosciutto, grilled fig walnut salad and harmony will reign.

Our Merlot Noir is best appreciated out of a Pinot glass as well, for the same reasons as our Pinot Noir.

Most things lamb will suit Bloodwood Merlot Noir. For example, a lamb back-strap salad with peppery rocket or watercress., even an Ottolenghi mildly spiced lamb dish, would work on a warm evening. Unusually this wine works well with goat’s cheese and lightly caramelised onions.

Tips

• Extend the life of left over wine
  Instead of investing in suction pumps or inert gas machines, reduce the oxygen by pouring the wine into a smaller clean glass bottle (eg a half bottle) fill it right to the top and put the screw cap back on and seal. Place the white wine back in the fridge and keep the red in a cool dark place. That’ll keep your wine in the best condition for a couple of days.

• Keep in stock
  Have a variety of crisps on hand in airtight jars to cover the range of nibbles offered.

Rice crackers, Korean Rice paper & Seaweed Crisps, (refer https://christieathome.com/blog/korean-seaweed-chips/ ) dried toasts, Pitta bread crisps (refer https://www.frugalandthriving.com.au/pita-bread-crisps/)

• Pantry/Frozen Items
  Cryovaced meats and smoked trout; Careme puff and sour cream pastry; Panko Breadcrumbs; Tinned fish/anchovy; capers in salt; those ingeniously packaged long life Mascarpone and Sour Creams from New Zealand; local fruits and berries frozen; dried fruits and preserves- ours if the birds don’t get the fruit first, frozen spinach, peas and broad beans; Meredith Goat’s Cheeses, a chunk of Parmesan Cheese for grating; good quantity of Greek Style yoghurt to make Labne, Pomegranate Molasses; Kewpie Mayonnaise; store nuts in the freezer esp local hazelnuts; Asian sesame oil and sauces; dried Shitake mushrooms; corn tortillas; Dutch cocoa powder; Callebaut cooking chocolate; Vanilla paste; a few vanilla beans; some tinned pulses; dried herbs and spices.

• Updated recipes
  There are a few old favourites suggested in the mix but I’ve adopted some changes in preference to the traditional recipes and lightened some up for a summer version.

• Fruit with wine
  Raw fruit and wine can be problematic together so always grill or roast your figs, plums, tomatoes-Romas are best, grapes and citrus (sprinkle with a light touch of raw sugar for more caramelisation if you’d like.)

Use fruits in salads, sauces and toppings.

• Better in combination
  Some items individually don’t work well with a wine but some combinations do. All very curious.

We’ve found that hummus or cooked beetroot doesn’t suit our Pinot Noir but combine them on a cracker and the assemblage magically works.

Another example is that those tuna/salmon patties can easily take grated lemon rind in the recipe and lemon juice squeezed over them for the whites and Chirac but will not work for the Pinot Noir. So substitute the lemon acidity with red fruits like fried tomato halves (sweetness & acidity) and fried capers (lemony) and more peppery salad greens like rocket and watercress and a fragrant green leaf like basil and you will have a dish that works well with the Pinot Noir.

Recipes

Lesley Russell’s Mum’s Parmesan Bikkies

I’ve used these since my usual recipe for Parmesan biscuits stopped working for some unknown reason.

From the late Lesley Russell’s Orange cookbook Nothing Rhymes with Orange

Ingredients

• 25 gm Parmesan-

• 125 gm cheddar

• 150 gm plain flour

• 10 gm SR flour

• 1⁄2 t salt

• Pinch of sweet paprika

• 125 gm butter, cut into small pieces

• 1T lemon juice

Method

• Grate both the cheeses and set aside.

• Place the flours, salt, paprika and butter in a food processor and blend together thoroughly

• Add the cheese and lemon juice. Add together until the mixture comes together to form a dough.

• Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured board and knead together. Divide the mixture into 4, then shape each into a roll approx 3cm diameter roughly the size of a 20 cent coin. Allow to firm in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. The mixture can be frozen at this stage in ready to use rolls (I always have some in the freezer)

• Heat the oven to 170 degrees C.

• Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Slice the cheese mixture into 1⁄2 cm rounds and place on prepared baking trays.

• Bake for 15 -20 mins until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely then store in an air tight container.

My additional use for parmesan bikkies

• Wrap a slice of raw biscuit pastry around a dry pickled Caper berry and bake as above making sure you create a flat bottom so it stands up. The result is a little cocktail morsel that goes well with the Chirac, Riesling and Big Men In Tights.

Pork and Veal Meatloaf

Ingredients

• 1 kilo pork and veal mince

• 2 eggs

• 1T Dijon mustard

• 1 large onion diced and sauteed in oil

• 1 cup of parsley and shredded silver-beet

• Salt and pepper to taste

• A handful of toasted pistachios

• 4 rashers of bacon chopped

Method

• Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

• Line loaf tin with baking paper as well as the top and cook in a moderate heat until cooked through over an hour or more.

• Left overs are good for sandwiches and lunches with salad.

Potato bake (or Jansson’s Temptation)

My Christmas present was the cookbook Meatsmith, Home Cooking for Family and Friends by Andrew McConnell and Troy Wheeler. Funny it was their vegetable recipe I have cooked first and will continue to use. This tasted so fantastic also because the potatoes had just been dug up by Stephen. The biggest change is the way you cut the potatoes, more like French fry chips instead of baking potato slices and grating heaps of cheese on top. Better for summer and easier to serve, more time consuming preparation but worth it.. In fact you could just serve this with a lovely salad and enjoy with the Chirac or Pinot Noir. (Refer page 85 of Meatsmith)

I don’t have their permission to pass on their recipe. It doesn’t include garlic (which Stephen can’t have) so that is fortunate but does include anchovies. Without really referring to their actual recipe, I roughly used 3 large potatoes, a tin of Ortiz anchovies and their oil, 500mls of runny cream and salt and pepper. But I did arrange the potato matchsticks in clumps like they did in swirling at a 3⁄4 angle. I forgot the shallots which would have added more to the dish. And as well as buttering the dish and instead of more butter on top, I just poured over the anchovy oil. (Anders Ousbach was the first person I read who suggested adding anchovies to your potato bake in the late 70s I recall.) Delish – in fact next time I’d even substitute some reduced chicken stock (about a 1⁄4 of the cream) to lighten it even more for warmer weather eating.

Tournedos Rossini

Nostalgia alert. Stephen and I ate this for our wedding at a little 3 story French restaurant called Interval in King St Sydney in the mid 70s. They had Italian waiters with fake French accents and it was our special find.

I’ve ditched the soggy toast on the bottom of the fillet steak, substituted the foi gras or thick layer of pate for only a thin sliver of pate and used reduced chicken stock instead of concentrated veal stock. No shaved truffle either (out of season) and I definitely would not add drops of truffle oil. Cook the fillet as you would like. Finely chopped standard mushrooms and some shallots sauteed in olive oil (duxelle) and serve with simple sauteed green or wilted spinach. Use the reduced chicken stock and add to pan juices of the cooked fillet and mushrooms, then amalgamate juices, reduce and add a small amount of butter and take off the heat immediately. Swirl for a glossy finish as the cold butter melts. You don’t need to serve much sauce with each steak (See photo) Serve with crusty bread if you want to mop up any juices.

PS Don’t slice the pate too thickly (I just used a bought chicken liver one.) It didn’t work as well with our Pinot Noir but just a smear did. Not too much of a good thing. Sometimes restraint is called for.

Lobster Mornay

Again I would adjust the recipe to reduce the amount of flour and milk in the Bechamel. So lighten it up by using less roux, substitute some chicken stock for milk but I would add some runny cream, (it has to taste a bit rich.) Cut down on the thickness of Gruyere cheese in the sauce and use a lighter amount of topping of grated Gruyere and Parmesan. But make the sauce your traditional way if that’s what you prefer.

Our Chirac is complex enough to cope with either.