Monday, May 11, 2009
Kids say the darnest things.
While shopping today a little boy in front of us looked up at his dad and said, "when I move out and marry someone can I take our dog with us?"
64 foodies and a Saturday Night
Mark and his Fore-Quarter Of Lamb,Yum . He cooked for 6 hours.
Jenny's Cup cakes (Butterfly buns )
Food in the Pink cottage on Saturday thanks to Mark and everyone else who cooked wonderful things .Wine and Food
In Above Picture Gustavo Sanchez( Terrazas de los andes) ,Matt Steel (Green point ), Rory O Connell (Chef) , Robert Mann (Cape Mentelle)
Roast Organic Chicken with watercress and wild mushrooms. Cape Mentelle
Roast Rack of Lamb with Spiced Chickpea Stew With Afincado Malbec
Salad of Ballycotton Prawns with oven roasted cherry tomatoes ,Organic greens , Herb FlowersWine -Cloudy Bay
Above Salad of Lobster Courgettes and peashoots to go with Greenpoint non vintageSo Saturday and Sunday Ballymole house Hosted and 2 day 5 workshops on wine and food Pairing Day one Domaine Chandon/Green point with Matt Steele. Cape Mentelle ,Margaret River with Robert Mann,Terrazas Mendoza with Gustavo Urbano. Sunday I helped in the kitchen . While Sioban Harnett from Cloudy Bay ,Marlborough Talked and Cheval des Andes , Mendoza with Nicolas Audebert finished the workshops . Day one I sat and enjoyed amazing food and wine and Day two I helped along side the most amazing chef Rory O Connell
In the kitchen
Above Grilled Tbone of beef with wild garlic relish and red wine sauce ( Wine -Cheval des Andes)Ballymaloe House and Moët Hennessy Wines
Unique Food and Wine Event in May
Ballymaloe House in association with Moët Hennessy Wines are running a unique Food and Wine Event and Gala Dinner over the weekend of 9th/10th May 2009
Meet the winemakers from the following iconic wines in person.
Cloudy Bay, Marlborough, New Zealand Sioban Harnett Domaine Chandon, Yarra Valley, South Australia Matt Steele Cape Mentelle, Margaret River, Western Australia Robert Mann Terrazas, Mendoza, Argentina Gustavo Urbano Cheval des Andes, Mendoza, Argentina (Cheval des Andes is a joint venture with Chateau Cheval Blanc, Bordeaux) Nicolas Audebert Click here to learn more about the winemakers (Powerpoint Presentation - 612 kB)
Moët Hennessy 5 Winemakers Gala Dinner
The Long Room, Ballymaloe House, Saturday evening, May 9th 8.30pm
Attend this fabulous 6 course Food and Wine dinner hosted by the winemakers from these 5 Iconic New world wineries. Each course will be partnered with a wine that will be presented by one of the winemakers. Each wine and food pairing will be a prefect combination of flavours.
As places are limited for this unique dinner, booking ahead is strongly advised.
Food and Wine workshops at the Ballymaloe Cookery School
Saturday afternoon, May 9th, and Sunday morning, May 10th
Attend a series of hands-on seminars covering iconic wine and food pairings.Each session will be presented by Rory O’Connell in partnership with the winemaker. Taste the perfect combination of freshly prepared food with these wines. Learn how to prepare these perfect food pairings for yourself. Learn about these modern day Iconic wines, how they were made, followed by tutored tasting by the wine winemaker.
Saturday - May 9th
2-3 pm Domaine Chandon, Yarra Valley with Matt Steele 3.15 – 4.15pm Cape Mentelle, Margaret River with Robert Mann 4.30 – 5.30 pm Terrazas, Mendoza with Gustavo Urbano Sunday - May 10th
11 – 12pm Cloudy Bay, Marlborough with Sioban Harnett 12.15 – 1.30 pm
Inverse Spherification - Mozzarella Spheres
You want to do what to my sphere? Inverse it? Well, that’s quite enough of that, thank you very much.
Despite sounding like the name of a prog rock group from the mid 70s or the title of an obscure drum and bass album, inverse spherification is a rather nifty culinary technique.
It may sound scientific (partly because it is) but fear not. There is as much chance of me boggling you with science as there is of George Bush being named Iraq’s Man of the Century.
Spherification is a principle whereby a flavoured liquid is encased in a flavourless skin. Imagine ravioli with invisible pasta and you’re somewhere close. It is a technique perfected by Ferran Adria and one he uses to great effect with his ‘olives’.
Here fresh olives are juiced then strained before being mixed with calcic gluconolactato. The mixture is then spooned into an algin bath where the two chemicals react together, instantly forming a translucent skin which holds in the liquid.
Phew. Still with me? Good.
The effect can be repeated with almost any liquid thus creating a tasty burst of flavour with near infinite possibilities. Imagine dishes that ‘self-sauce’ at exactly the right moment or cocktails that mix in the mouth rather than the shaker. Oh what fun to be had.
For the cauliflower cheese dish, the inspiration came in the form of incredible buffalo mozzarella from Laverstoke Park Farm (A British made mozzarella? Believe it).
Whilst it tastes superb unadorned, oozing freshness from within the delicious pale orb, I was desperate to try Adria’s method for making mozzarella spheres.
Previous attempts at spherification had yielded mixed results varying from partial failure to complete and utter failure. Only when I found a thread on eGullet about the effect of hardwater on algin baths did I realise what was going wrong. The natural lime present in the water was setting the algae extract and creating a jelly.
Enter bottled water and, huzzah! Success. No more jellies.
The cheese (125g) was blended with a little cream then passed through a sieve before being mixed with about 2g calcic gluconolactato. Spoonfuls were then dropped into the waiting algin bath and fingers were crossed.
The excitement of seeing the spheres set for the first time was truly palpable. I couldn’t hide the smile from my face, neither did I want to. Half expecting the white liquid to ooze out, it was fantastic to see it set instantly into a neat little orb that looked exactly like a mini mozzarella cheese.
The surprise comes when you bite into it – instead of the slight resistance of a semi-solid cheese you get a burst of mozzarella flavour in liquid form. A real revelation and certainly one to try again.
For more bursts of flavour, follow me on Twitter .
For UK supplies of the necessary bits and bobs to re-create some Adria inspired dishes try Cream Supplies who have a incredible range.
Despite sounding like the name of a prog rock group from the mid 70s or the title of an obscure drum and bass album, inverse spherification is a rather nifty culinary technique.
It may sound scientific (partly because it is) but fear not. There is as much chance of me boggling you with science as there is of George Bush being named Iraq’s Man of the Century.
Spherification is a principle whereby a flavoured liquid is encased in a flavourless skin. Imagine ravioli with invisible pasta and you’re somewhere close. It is a technique perfected by Ferran Adria and one he uses to great effect with his ‘olives’.
Here fresh olives are juiced then strained before being mixed with calcic gluconolactato. The mixture is then spooned into an algin bath where the two chemicals react together, instantly forming a translucent skin which holds in the liquid.
Phew. Still with me? Good.
The effect can be repeated with almost any liquid thus creating a tasty burst of flavour with near infinite possibilities. Imagine dishes that ‘self-sauce’ at exactly the right moment or cocktails that mix in the mouth rather than the shaker. Oh what fun to be had.
For the cauliflower cheese dish, the inspiration came in the form of incredible buffalo mozzarella from Laverstoke Park Farm (A British made mozzarella? Believe it).
Whilst it tastes superb unadorned, oozing freshness from within the delicious pale orb, I was desperate to try Adria’s method for making mozzarella spheres.
Previous attempts at spherification had yielded mixed results varying from partial failure to complete and utter failure. Only when I found a thread on eGullet about the effect of hardwater on algin baths did I realise what was going wrong. The natural lime present in the water was setting the algae extract and creating a jelly.
Enter bottled water and, huzzah! Success. No more jellies.
The cheese (125g) was blended with a little cream then passed through a sieve before being mixed with about 2g calcic gluconolactato. Spoonfuls were then dropped into the waiting algin bath and fingers were crossed.
The excitement of seeing the spheres set for the first time was truly palpable. I couldn’t hide the smile from my face, neither did I want to. Half expecting the white liquid to ooze out, it was fantastic to see it set instantly into a neat little orb that looked exactly like a mini mozzarella cheese.
The surprise comes when you bite into it – instead of the slight resistance of a semi-solid cheese you get a burst of mozzarella flavour in liquid form. A real revelation and certainly one to try again.
For more bursts of flavour, follow me on Twitter .
For UK supplies of the necessary bits and bobs to re-create some Adria inspired dishes try Cream Supplies who have a incredible range.
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