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Cheers,

Last week I took a little trip up to the Marlborough region to witness some of Harvest 2008, where the grapes are picked and the process of converting juice into wine begins. Marlborough is renowned for its Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir varieties of grapes and is home to some of New Zealand’s finest wine producers. The picture above is the Fairhall Vineyard at Marlborough which is home of the famous Marlborough Wine and Food Festival, taken from the top of Rob’s Knob looking north towards the ocean.

This stained glass window is in the Deutz press room at the Brancott vineyard. They have a unique machine from the House of Deutz that is used to make Deutz Marlborough Cuvee, called a Coquard. This is just next to one of the receiving areas at the vineyards massive production facilities where on the day we were there 300 semi trailers full of grapes were being brought to the vineyard to be destemmed, juiced and stored ready to make fantastic Marlborough wine.

Pernod Ricards Montana Brancott facility has the worlds largest pinot noir producing plant which is pictured below. It is capable of producing 1,000,000 (thats a million) litres of pinot noir. The huge rows of stainless steel vats are a formidable sight and the smell of grape is intoxicating. Even though they are marvelous modern production facilities they still need to be dug out once the fruit has been pressed and the wine run off.

They also have some fairly impressive big wooden fermentation vats as well.

Some of the wine is barrel fermented in French and American Oak Barrels and the inventory system for just organising the scale of this production is amazing. The barrels are only used for 3-4 vintages and then replaced with new barrels. The old barrels are sold and you will often find them filled with herbs, like in my garden.

We also took a trip out to the Awetere Valley which is a relatively new production area of Marlborough and is home of Triplebank Wines. The unique oceanfront climate means the vineyard has very different characteristics to those in the Wairau Valley. The terrior effect is something that can be seen through this range of Marlborough Wines. I will always remember the first Vinetage of Triplebank Sauvignon Blanc three years ago that had an intense tomato leaf aroma too it. Triplebank is now more established and producing sophisticated regional wines.

The photo below is taken from the top of “Mount Pinot” at Triplebank which is a hilly part of the vineyard. You can see a harvester and trailer working in the vineyard picking the Pinot Noir and the Marlborough Hills in the background.

The harvesters are french designed machines and worth about $350K each. There were three working at Triplebank on the morning we were there. The sheer scale of the production nesseciates the use of this state of the art machinery, but there are still individual blocks of premium fruit that are hand picked to make super premium wines. Each of the harvesters moves between 3-5 k per hour down the rows when picking and I got to go for a ride in one over a few rows. It was an amazing experience, and I will search to find that bottle of Triplebank Pinot Noir that I helped pick!

The end product is fine New Zealand wine from the Marlborough Region. If you ever have the opportunity to be involved in a wine harvest you will experience the pleasure of seeing great wine be produced from the treasure trove that is a grape.

Many thanks to all the team at Pernod Ricard for the hospitality we were shown during our trip.

Cheers,

I had the privelege to host a very special dinner for 10 the other night… Here’s what it looked like. Mumm Cordon Rouge with Bluff oysters, Lobster tail wrapped in cured Akaroa Salmon, Confit of Duck and Assiette of Citrus were all on the menu. The venue…the stage of the James Hay Theatre at Christchurch Town Hall.

Cheers,

Livestrong Day is 13th May 2008. It run by the Lance Armstong Foundation to raise awareness of people living with Cancer.  Barbara from Winos and Foodies is also organising a new photo competition this year after she had 149 food bloggers participate in the TASTE OF YELLOW blogging event.

Last year I made a custardy square thing about 2am after I had come home from the birth of my son. We are celebrating his first birthday next week. This year I had a little more time to spend in the kitchen for my Taste of Yellow recipe.

LEMON TART

I think it was Marco Pierre White that said every great chef should have an outstanding lemon tart recipe in their menu. The simplicity and freshness of a lemon tart is one of the timeless classics that can be enjoyed in so many environments. The citrus zing of a light tart with some smooth double cream is one of my favorite desserts.

I use a recipe frequently from the Australian Womens Weekly “Cook” book as it is easy to make and very tasty. The tart base is made from a sweet short crust pastry. You can make your own or it is also available in sheets from the supermarket if you are short of time. Blind bake the pastry in a tart case filled with rice for 10 minutes at 180 degrees C, remove rice and bake for a further 5 minutes. Let the tart case cool before filling.

Lemon Tart Filling

• 125 ml lemon juice (freshly squeezed) - I used 7 large lemons.
• 300 mls fresh cream
• 3/4 cup castor sugar
• 5 eggs

Put all ingredient in large bowl and whisk. Stand for 5 minutes and strain.  Pour into tart case and bake for 40 minutes at 160 degrees C.

I served mine with some creme fraiche and candied lemon zest and a hefty sprinkle of icing sugar. It was fantastic.

Cheers,

Well, the time has come and after 4 years is time to depart the shores of Alchemy Cafe and Wine Bar. It was a joy to work in the restaurant and I made many good friends that I will continue to share food and wine with for decades to come.. they are the lasting relationships.

Here’s a map of Where Alchemy is….

Location of Alchemy Cafe and Wine Bar

I am now going to join the team at Vbase, a venue management company in Christchurch, as Food and Beverage Manager for Christchurch Convention Centre, Town Hall and Westpac Arena and am looking forward to both new challenges and opportunities.

The guys from Alchemy presented me with a very cool farewell present that I am already making use of….. can you guess what it is?

In the meantime, I’m back into the kitchen as my tomatoes are all turning red at once to make this years batch of Tomato Chutney.

Cheers,

My beetroot relish with some crusty bread and olive oil.

Scotch fillet of beef on rosemary saute potaotes with green beens, beetroot relish and chive oil.

If your looking for the recipe for the relish, its in the previous post…. It was delicious!!

And so now I have used up all of the beetroots that I have grown in my garden, but I have a few jars of beetroot relish that I will continue to enjoy over the next few weeks, and maybe one of my friends will enjoy some. What’s next out of the garden??

Cheers,

Im currently in the middle of making beetroot relish… and later tonight will post a photo of what it turned out like.

I just wanted to jot down whats in the pot so far so I dont forget because Im using a cooking method I like to call “winging it”. I’ve read about two dozen chutney and relish recipes this afternoon on  the net and from different cook books so Im just experimenting with a mix of things I liked from a few of them.

So in the pot so far is….

• 2 large beetroots from my garden, peeled and cut julienne
• 2 small white onions sliced (pickling size)
• 1/2 red onion sliced
• red apple, peeled cored and diced
• table spoon yellow mustard seeds
• teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 60 mls red wine vinegar
• 120 - 150 mls cider vinegar
• pinch of salt
• I think about 120 gms sugar (its not chemistry!)

Im going to cook it for about 1 1/2 hours and check it every 15 minutes to make sure I’ve got my sugar and vinegar mix correct.

I’ll be back later to update with photos and how it all turned out…..

Cheers,

 Its February and some majic finally happened in my garden today.

 Ive been waiting ever so patiently for my burgeoning tomato plants to turn some of the fruit to the red colour that signifies the crop is coming to fruition. (pardon the pun!) and today I was rewarded with the colour red.

I have planted three different varieties of tomatoes this year as I want to try some of my recipes with different tomatoes to see what kind of difference it makes to the flavour and end product, and soon that process will begin after todays discovery.

 I also managed to snap this bee (see next post….) being very productive on a leek flower. I had a few leeks left in and let them flower becuase I enjoy having them in my garden - they are about four feet tall on a narrow spike with a globe the size of a small melon, and obviously the bees enjoy them as well.

Still it wont be long now and we will be saying where did Summer go as the leaves turn to their Autumn golds and oranges and getting ready for planning what to attempt to grow through the cold winter months. 

 Cheers,

With so many beetroots I have been playing a little. I had never made beetroot risotto before, but was rewarded by eating the dish pitcured above. As in the previous post, I first roasted my beetroots in the oven for two hours with some olive oil, salt and pepper wrapped in foil.

BEETROOT RISOTTO (Serves 4)

• 2 cups Aborio rice
• 1 litre Chicken stock
• Shaved parmesan
• 1 white onion, finely diced
• 1 roasted beetroot
• Fresh Basil
• Rocket salad
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Saute the diced onion in olive oil until lightly browned. Add aborio to pan and gently add 250 mls chicken stock and continue to stir, once stock has been absorbed by rice add some more. At the half way point add beetroot that had been cut into small lardons and repeat process until all your stock is in pan.  Add a handful of shaved parmesan and some fresh basil and stir into the risotto just before serving.

Serve and garnish with a lightly dressed rocket salad and parmesan crisps.

To make parmesan crisps simply place a sheet of baking paper on a tray and cover with shaved parmesan and then place in a medium hot oven until lightly browning. Cut into spears, wedges, discs, whatever suits the dish your making. These can be made before hand. They have a sharp salty bite and crunchy texture that complements the risotto.

Enjoy!

Cheers,