STUFFED AND PLASTERED

Linda Domas Reads This Blog......

2008-02-02T13:53:00.001-08:00

.....and I know because she told me last night at dinner.

The background - another legendary wine tasting at the Harbour Heights Hotel,

one year from the first time I met Linda and her viticulturist partner Steve Brunato. Then it was carnage, this time we had prepared, we had over-hydrated all day and were packing neurofen and dioralyte just in case.
Ex-Boyf and I had joined the FJB Wine Club in an effort to broaden our horizens and learn more about wine and food marrying, more for my job as at the time I had my own restaurant and bar. In reality we leave each wine tasting utterly bolloxed and suffer for days after......a comparative effect - 'kid in a candy store'.

This time we summoned the support of 6 good friends to bring the average age of attendees down further towards the 40's.
As always the food was fantastic, combined with Linda's very sexy wines.

Brixham hand caught Scallops
Vis a` Vis Viognier 65% /Chardonnay 35%

West Country Beef with Braised Oxtail, Horseradish, Beetroot with a Herb Crust
Boycat Merlot

Passion Fruit Tart

Shotbull Rose

Unfortunately my mains and dessert were different, you've got to love being coeliac, so I had Quail and Creme Brulee which was to die for.

My main was 20 mins late and so were were accommodated with even more wine than usual, a situation that obviously counteracts any good that neurofen can do. The evening wound up with die hards in the bar until the early hours and another hangover from hell today.

What Did I Think?

I am not going to blow sunshine where it should not be but Linda and Steve are amazing. He the quieter calmer one (allegedly) and I would describe Linda as 'Knickers on Fire'. The girl did good, I have rarely met someone so passionate about anything, the only exception is my Father who would preach religion from park benches when I was a child.

I cannot stand most whites, chardonnay, pinot, chenin and sauvignon blanc, with the exception of Marques de Caceres Rioja Blanc which is slightly leaning towards the dessert wine end of the scale, but I am now converted to Vis a` Vis Viognier with it's blend of 65%Voignier and Chardonnay 35%. It is soft, buttery, fresh and worth buying shares in Linda Domas Wines or just moving to South Australia. For a red wine girl, I could have drunk this all night, and I tried too!

Available at Oddbins for around £10 ish, my verdict -
IT'S WORTH EVERY SINGLE PENNY!.

Boycat Merlot named after the vineyard cat.
I'm not a merlot fan prefering hearty pinotage and rioja but this really was amazing, soft on the palate and not overindulgent, just bloody fantastic to drink. Definately worth adding to the wine rack. Linda and Steve's aim is not to produce wine that floors you in 100mls with a raging high alcohol content, and I am glad because this wine just lovingly nourished my palate in entirety.
Good job guys.

So to the Shot Bull Rose - a very crisp and fruity wine that would be perfect for summer lunch, but sadly clashed with Creme Brulee. Interestingly those on our table who didn't enjoy the Boycat Merlot, loved this so it's either palatte or timing. I think mine was out by this stage.

I have to say that the wines Linda and Steve make are astounding and seem to breach all the rules of conventional wine making.
Slightly sycophantic? Possibly, but then you should never ignore a good thing when you drink it!

For more info go here
To buy go here
and here

Ras-el-Hanout Lamb Curry

2007-03-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

So hot on the tail of the perfect lamb curry, I stumbled upon this recipie with Ras-el-Hanout, a subtle Moroccan spice that seasons the lamb in such a way that it leaves your taste buds clambering for more.

Ingredients:

2	tablespoons olive oil
500	g lean lamb, cut into bite sized chunks
2	large onions, chopped
2	garlic cloves, chopped
30	g sliced almonds, toasted
2	teaspoons ras el hanout spice mix
2	tablespoons honey
1	pint vegetable stock
	salt and black pepper

Prep

Add the oil to a large saucepan or deep-sided frying pan and fry the onions and garlic until brown. Set aside.
Fry off lamb until coloured, add onions and garlic back into the pan.
Add Ras el Hanout, salt and pepper stir well to coat everything.
Add vegetable stock and bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 hour 30 minutes.
Add the honey and continue to cook for 30 minutes, until the lamb is very tender.
Serve with rice and scatter the toasted almonds on the top.

As this is a medium spicy dish and not too hot to taste, I would recommend eating this with Camp Viejo Crianza, the reserva would probably be too rich.

Lamb Curry and Pinotage

2007-02-12T13:02:00.000-08:00

Firstly I adore lamb, secondly curry so it seems fitting that my first cooking sesh should be lamb curry. I adore this meal, it smells divine when it is cooking and does not taste like a true Indian curry, more of a Mongolian one with subtle spices and less afterkick. Don’t be thrown by all the ingredients, it is so simple to make. A good dollop of yogurt and my young daughters eat this with a jacket potato.

Spices

2 tablespoons of: fennel, cumin and coriander seeds

half tablespoon of: fenugreek seeds, black peppercorns

1 clove

half cinamon stick

2 cardamon pods

salt and pepper

Paste:

4cms peeled fresh ginger

3 red onions

10 gloves garlic

2 red chillis

bunch fresh coriander

Other Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter

2×400g tins chopped tomatoes

half pint stock/water

1.5kg diced lamb

handful chopped coriander and mint

drizzle of natural yoghurt

salt and pepper

lime juice (optional)

Prep:

Lightly toast spices under grill

Chop paste ingredients, add spices and puree in blender

Fry off spices and paste, add tomatoes, stock/water and cook in low oven for 1 hour.

Meanwhile fry off lamb and when brown on all sides add to sauce in oven. Cook on mod/low heat for another 2 hours or longer if covered. The longer cooking time, the more succulent the lamb is.

Sprinkle with fresh mint and coriander, drizzle yoghurt and lime juice on top and serve.

Serve:

Basmati rice

Other suggestions:

Add a handful of spinach or potatoes instead of rice

Wine

We have eaten this a fair few times with different wines.

Cabernet Sauvignon - food tends to eclipse this grape and make the wine taste sour

Rioja/Tempranillo - too heavy a grape and losing the rich flavour and aromas of the food

Best Choice - South African Pinotage ideally Stellenbosch e.g

Kleine Zalze or Beyersksloof Pinotage

The Beyerskloof is a little plummy for the dish and I prefer the Kleine Zalze, but definately pinotage works well with this.

What do I reckon? This is the way to a man's heart.

Linda Domas

2007-01-27T01:14:00.000-08:00

We recently went to the Linda Domas Wine Tasting Evening at the Harbour Heights Hotel. Linda is a quite controversial wine maker from Australia, in that she chooses techniques and locations not normally preferred by winemakers. The hotel overlooks Poole Harbour hosted a 3 course dinner to complement her wines.

Starter
Fois Gras
2005 Vis a Vis Voignier/Chardonnay

Main
Fillet of Scottish Beef
2005 Boycat Merlot

Dessert
Cheese
2005 Top Hat Grenache

We arrived to a champagne reception of olds, eventually located a table down the back with our-age folks and tucked in. The starter was amazing, but then Voignier is one of the few white wines that I like. The merlot was distinctive plum and voilet tasting, which went well with beef fillet. I wouldn't put cheese with a deep grenache and made the merlot taste very insignificant. After that it all went a little wrong for Linda and her viticulturalist Steve Brunato, a no-holds-barred discussion from her on the merits of cork vs screwtop produced some rather blue language for the olds and she had to tone it down on suggestion of the restaurant manager.
My birthday arrived at midnight together with a suprise stash of merlot, left over from mains, Linda and Steve started the drinking games in the bar shortly after that. Needless to say, on this first occassion we forgot the baked beans and lots of cheap wine, and drunk shed loads of very gorgeous wine instead. Happy hangover to me. And that is how it started. Since then it has been my mission to educate our palates in the art of fine wine, this has meant hours googling wineries and foodie website....life is hard isn't it.
So I hope you enjoy my blog. Try out the recepies, and some different wines of your own.
And let me know what you think.

The Beginning

2007-01-01T06:20:00.000-08:00

I'm learning to cook food that matches my love of all that is good and true.....wine and so this blog will be about how food and wine goes together, often, in my case with quite disasterous results. I have always loved wine, it goes hand in hand with being a bar and restaurant manager, hours spent compiling wine lists that customers will love, at affordable prices and matching with gorgeous A La Carte and Table D'Hote menus. We have joined a wine tasting club, that is the ex-royal-we, having become dissatisfied with quoffing baked beans on toast with large amounts of cheap wine that leaves you feeling bordeline dead in the morning. And on a school night too. There will be lots of links to great sites, often wineries that I love, and hopefully great food recepies too. Hope you enjoy!