Food, Wine & Friends Page 242
We had some simply "nibbles" to start our evening...a homemade
"green sauce" based on parsley, garlic, anchovies and good olive
oil...perfect for dipping the fougasse breads.
Some grissini from San Francisco's Cuneo Bakery...
We enjoyed some Delamotte Champagne...
Kareasa, Ralph, Mark, Connie, Eric and Mao.
The famous Eric Lecours.
The Poonster then assembled a beautiful platter of fresh figs and Prosciutto...
...with some Mozzarella.
A Venica Sauvignon was absolutely perfect with this starter...beautiful
aromatic, mildly citrusy and lightly herbaceous. The stony notes in the
Sauvignon were apparent alongside the ripe, sweet figs and the salty Prosciutto.
Mao...
Ralph...
I had enjoyed a range of antipasti while dining with our friends Lara and
Massimo at a restaurant in Italy's Veneto region earlier this year.
I was inspired by one of the plates and came up with this idea for a starter...
There's a wedge of Grilled Polenta, surrounded by Smoked Trout and some cherry
tomatoes...atop the polenta is a green olive tapenade with a dice of roasted red
peppers and some lemon thyme.
We opened two Venezia Giulia IGT white wines with this dish...
The famous Jermann wine called Vintage Tunina (a blend of Sauvignon Blanc,
Chardonnay, Ribolla Gialla and seasoned with a bit of Malvasia and a drop of
Picolit)...the 2008 vintage showed a mildly honeyed note and it seemed quite
mature.
The other white is another proprietary blend...this one from a small producer in
the Carso region (not far from Trieste). Skerk's wine is called "Ograde"
and it's a wine made by fermenting the various white grapes with the skins.
Ograde is a blend of Vitovska, Malvasia, Sauvignon and Pinot Grigio.
This wine has a touch of a pinkish tone from the Pinot Grigio...it's bright,
fresh, crisp and stood up well to the smoked fish and the olive/tapenade
'sauce'.
Everyone was digging in...
Mao regaled the group with some jokes!
Who knew she was a comedienne?
"According to inside contacts, the
Japanese banking crisis shows no signs of ameliorating. If anything, it's
getting worse.
Following last week's news that Origami Bank had folded, we are hearing that
Sumo Bank has gone belly up and the little Bonsai Bank plans to cut back some of
its branches.
Karaoke Bank is up for sale and is (you guessed it!) going for a song.
Meanwhile, shares in Kamikaze Bank have nose-dived and 500 back-office staff at
Karate Bank got the chop.
We heard a report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank and staff
there fear they may get a raw deal."
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, the Risotto with Morels,
Porcini, Chanterelles and Champignons was nearly ready...
2004 Barolo with a Wild Mushroom Risotto...
The E. Pira from the Cannubi cru was exceptional, showing nice fruit and a
woodsy tone. It has fairly firm tannins and is still a youngster, but it
was nice to see this wine developing so beautifully (having followed it since it
was in barrel).
Robert Voerzio's 2004 "La Serra" was excellent, as well, with a nice
dark fruit note and some oak. It was at about the same stage of evolution
as the E. Pira, so it probably needs another ten years, but you can certainly
enjoy it at this stage.
Mark tried topping Mao's joke and he simply mentioned "The Milwaukee
Brewers in 2013" but nobody laughed.
"Okay then...let me tell you about medieval history..."
"Okay...never mind. I'll drink some Barolo then."
To cleanse the palate, we had a little Lemon Sorbet laced with some fresh
cilantro.
Connie was amused as Ralph prayed for his baseball team, The Oakland Athletics.
We then brought out two bottles of Guigal's Cote-Rotie to pair with the next
course...
Lamb "T-Bones" and some Sausages...
Braised Veggies (Artichokes, Zucchini, Summer Squash, Peppers, Mushrooms) and
Potatoes roasted in Duck Fat.
Mark surveys the landscape...
Ralph...a gentleman!
"Who? Me??"
Kareasa gets right to work, sniffing the two Cote Rotie wines...
"Ralph, Lamb?"
"Not baaahhhhd!"
The 1996 Chateau d'Ampuis of Guigal was exceptional. The wine showed
beautiful spice and fruit notes with a touch of oak.
The 1997 "regular" bottling of Guigal's Cote-Rotie was showing its age
and I felt it was pretty much at its peak or just slightly past...The wine
showed itself as a warm vintage Syrah and was fully developed and then some.
We had some Lamb T-Bones, a lamb sausage, braised veggies and the roasted
potatoes...
For dessert, The Cutie Pie baked a QT* Pie: Olallieberry.
*QT = Quite Tasty
The Olallieberry Pie was delicious and the crust flakier than me!
I made some Vanilla Gelato to go with it and the Cascina Gilli
Malvasia was exceptional, showing lots of berry-like aromas and flavors, mildly
fizzy and sweet without being heavy or cloying.
We had a lovely evening and at a late hour, called an adjournment to the
proceedings!
Thanks everyone for coming....
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