lesson in organic wine...by invitation

Green and Blue is a wine shop, wine bar and restaurant in East Dulwich. I have heard many good things including some great reviews of their school of wine. Unfortunately I had never had a chance to stop. Luckily, several weeks ago, owner Kate Thal, sent me an invite to a special wine and menu tasting.

Kate is a trained sommelier with a passion for real, natural wines produced by independent, small vineyards. She had set up a few specific pairings for us to get a taste for the difference in wines/champagnes that are made using natural methods by small producers. Small producers have the ability to focus on the quality of the starting ingredients and therefore don't have to put the wine through as much processing later on keeping the wine more natural. Our tasting started with an extremely processed champagne Moet and also included a completely organic wine to show the massive contrast. The other wines we tasted represented moderately processed natural wines produced by small wineries.

We started with a comparison of two champagnes. Moet is a well known, mass produced champagne. We compared that to the Larmandier-Bernier Terre de Vertus 1er Cru. This highlighted very quickly the difference between a good champagne and an over-processed champagne. Larmandier-Bernier produces just over 100,000 bottles per year compared to the millions produced by Moet. We all noticed the difference just with a sniff. The Moet smelled harsh and flat while the Larmandier-Bernier was fresh, floral and inviting. The Moet has the kick that you tend to associate with champagne, but the taste of the Larmandier-Bernier was so smooth and soft you realise the harshness isn't necessary. The Larmandier-Bernier is made almost entirely from Chardonnay grapes and very little sugar is added as is common with the mass produced champagnes. There is a price difference...the Moet retails for £25-30 while Green and Blue sell the Larmandier-Bernier for £46. However, if you are looking for something delicious, well-made and don't mind spending a bit more then this is an excellent choice.

Our next tasting included two white sancerres that can be purchased at Green and Blue. The first was a 2007 Gerard Bouley Sancerre (£19) from the Loire Valley in France and the second a 2007 Sebastian Riffault Akemine Sancerre Blanc (£19). Sebastian Riffault is passionate about biodynamic viticulture and does not use manure on his vineyards, he uses no sulphur during fermentation, and the wine in not filtered or fined before bottling. This results in the cloudy appearance seen in the wine on the right.

 
Gerard Bouley also keeps things as natural as possible and many of his wines are top rated for the region. His wine was delicious. Clean and fresh like you would expect of a good quality wine of this type. The Riffault was also delicious but in a completely different way. It almost tasted like apple juice. It took a bit of getting used to, but by the end of the evening we were all fans.  You had the feeling you could drink it all night long and have no ill effects the next morning. I struggled with it to start, it just didn't have the kick that I associate with wine. However, I am definitely going to experiment some more. It was a great chance to taste a good organic wine. Kate mentioned many people that don't know what to expect return it thinking it has gone off. This is the initial feeling because it is so different, but with continued sips you really begin to appreciate it for it's raw, fresh, natural taste.

The final two wines were Riojas. The 2005 Bodegas Palacios Remondo Crianza (£13) and the 2008 Olivier Riviere Rioja 'Rayas Uva' from Logrono (£14.50). These were both lovely. We chose a bottle of the Crianza to enjoy with our meal, but I think the Riffault really grabbed our attention for the evening.

Following the wine tasting, we enjoyed a lovely meal...

Beet root and pistachio salad. This was excellent. Several different types of beet root, fresh flavours.

The main was slow cooked pork belly in Breton cider with potatoes and salsa verde... The salsa verde was fresh and delicious and the pork belly perfectly prepared.

Finally, a Fino sherry matched with a rich and delicious chocolate pot... 

I loved the passion and knowledge that Kate Thal exuded as she explained the wines. It was an evening of learning. It's great to learn from someone that truly loves what they do. Green and Blue is a special find. A great place just to buy an excellent bottle of well-made wine, or a lovely cosy place to have a fresh and delicious meal. I was a guest of Green and Blue, but the meal would have cost about £25.

For more information on natural and organic wines, the Real Wine Fair will be held in London on the 20th May 2012. Many of the wines found on sale at Green and Blue will be featured. Tickets for this event are £20 and can be purchased from the website.

Fine Dining...Cattle Class

Everyone is familiar with the numerous voucher programs these days. Groupon and LivingSocial are the most well-known and offer tremendous discounts at businesses enticing us to make purchases we wouldn't normally consider. These vouchers are most common for restaurants and beauty/spa treatments, but are available for a broad spectrum of activities including horseback riding, holidays, rental cars and gym visits just to name a few. I have taken advantage of these discounts on a few occasions and as a result have been introduced to businesses that I now use that I wouldn't have found otherwise. In my opinion, for it to benefit the business, they should aim to provide an experience that you enjoy so much that you return and pay full price and rave to friends who might also pay full price. I usually avoid restaurant vouchers as I am worried about the quality of food if they are offering extreme discounts. However, recently, my close friend Katrina, found us a voucher for Roux at Parliament Square on TravelZoo. I am not familiar with TravelZoo but it is a website for finding discounts. She had heard great things about this restaurant and I read a positive review from the Critical Couple on their visit last summer so we were looking forward to it.  Unfortunately, our experience was far from enjoyable.

We were seated in a room toward the back of the restaurant. I wasn't too keen on the décor and it soon became clear this back room was reserved for voucher holders. The main room of the restaurant was for full paying guests. We were asked what we wanted to drink twice and in reply requested the wine menu twice. While waiting for the wine menu, we were served canapés...mini shepherds pie and beetroot cured salmon. The salmon was lovely, but the shepherds pie was cold and grisly. Like when you fry mince and leave a bit of leftover in the pan for a few hours and the fat congeals...that's what it tasted like...with some mash on top.

 

We finally received the wine menu and considered the tasting flight for £45, but opted to purchase a bottle instead and went for a New Zealand white that was not on the menu but was recommended by the waiter.

Not too long after we were served a cauliflower velouté topped with woodland mushrooms and a Gruyère gougère on the side (a pastry puff filled with cheese). The velouté was nice, light and creamy offset by the woody taste of the mushrooms. The cheese puff...very cold. I imagine it could have been delicious. The cheese filling was creamy with a nice strong nutty flavour, but I think it would have been better warm or at least room temperature.

Next up- Terrine of cornfed chicken & smoked ham hock, dandelion salad, mustard cream. The terrine was tasty, but topped with a sprinkling of very salty and not so crunchy pork scratching bits.

Next- Risotto Nero with salt and pepper squid. This was served in parley oil and topped with a garlic emulsion. The risotto was delightful. Well cooked and the flavours of the parsley oil and garlic emulsion married perfectly in my mouth with each bite of risotto. Unfortunately, the squid was horribly overcooked and chewy with soggy breading. It could have been a perfect dish, but was far from it.

This is about when the meal began to go horribly wrong. I think we had nearly an hour wait before our next course. I began to observe other diners and found many of them were having a difficult experience as well. The table near us was brought dessert THREE times and they hadn't yet received their main. When it was finally time for their dessert they had to wait nearly an hour. In addition, a woman a couple tables away had clearly mentioned a nut allergy when arriving and received her dessert loaded with almonds. Both of these tables received a complementary glass of dessert wine and an apology.

When we finally received our next course I mentioned the long wait and was told it was very busy in the other room and the chef was struggling. I felt like the implication was that the "other" room was more important.

The first main was a grilled fillet of trout, Jersey Royals and vinaigrette of sea vegetables with dill and cucumber.  The fish was lovely but I found the sea vegetables made it overly salty. This is when we ran out of wine and were never offered any more. We tried several times to get the attention of a staff member to order another bottle, but that failed. Our wait for the next main was another 30 minutes or so and we were so happy to receive it we forgot to ask for the wine...and of course they didn't come back.

This course was a roast quail with honey and truffle glaze, creamed potatoes and hispi cabbage. We enjoyed this course. Everything was done well, the mash was creamy and delicious and the sweet glaze complemented the tender quail perfectly.

We then received a pre-dessert. Apple panacotta, apple jelly and cucumber granita. I really enjoyed this. The flavours were light and fresh - very cleansing. 

The dessert was Poached Yorkshire Rhubarb 'pavlova', stem ginger chantilly topped with almonds. Despite the rhubarb pieces being undercooked to the point of being inedible this was a beautiful and tasty dish. It was a shame the rhubarb ruined it.

On a trip to the restroom, I had noticed the cheese board...it was amazing. Full of about 15 different types of cheese. When the waitress came for our coffee order we asked about the cheese. She said it was for the a' la carte menu, but if we really wanted some she could send someone over. I said I was interested. No one arrived until just after we received our coffee. He first went to the poor table next to us that had been offered their dessert three time before the main. They were still waiting for the dessert...so were probably not impressed when they were asked about cheese. He didn't wheel over the large cheese board, but instead announced to us that they had a "blue one, a goats one, a soft one and a hard one" and that we could have a plate of really small slices of each for £14. Seriously? Obviously I wasn't enticed by that sales pitch so I declined.

We had long finished our coffee while still waiting for our petit fours. Not sure the reason for the massive wait...plenty of staff members were wandering about not knowing what to do. When it arrived it was a plate with a passion fruit marshmallow and a lemon madeline that had obviously been previously prepared. We mentioned we would have liked to have them with coffee...instead of offering us a second one the waitress shrugged. The madeline was stale, the marshmallow nothing special but by this stage we were quite angry.

We had paid £45 each for this meal. Normal menu price is £70. I will say we weren't charged for our wine. However, I think this was a mistake rather than a comp as we did not receive any apology for the service. It seemed the normal freebie for all the other complaints around us was a glass of dessert wine. To be honest I would have much rather paid for this bottle of wine and another than to have sat wine-less and annoyed for so long. Our meal was a gruelling 3.5 hours long. We listed our complaints on our way out and the friendly receptionist was very apologetic. I delayed this post as Katrina wrote a letter and I wanted to see if she got a reply, but there was none.  I was appalled by the service we and every other table in the "voucher" room received on this evening. I would forgive slow service, but combined with all the other mistakes and the weird cheese situation I just don't understand what was going on. It really seemed as if the possession of a voucher had put us in the equivalent of economy class on an airline. I think that full paying guests probably receive a very different experience, but I won't be returning to find out.

lessons in fish filleting...easier than it looks

I love fish and seafood! Really I love anything that has to do with water. Rowing, scuba diving, swimming... This is possibly a bit odd having grown up in Arizona where water of any type is a rarity. I think the obsession was sparked by the long summers spent with my dad's side of the family in Seattle. I loved the fishmongers at Pike Place Market and the trips to Mukilteo to visit my aunt and uncle. My uncle had a homemade rowing boat and afternoons with him rowing on Puget Sound are amongst my best memories.

Since we almost never had fish when I was growing up, cooking it is something I have mostly taught myself. I have always been intimidated by the idea of gutting and filleting a fish. I did learn how to gut a squid in a university marine biology class, but other than that I usually get the fishmonger to do it for me.

Several months ago (it was actually in August...was slow with this post), I took a Beginner's Filleting and Cooking Fish course at the Waitrose Cookery School and learned that actually filleting fish is super easy!!

I arrived at the Waitrose Cookery School and enjoyed bubbly and nibbles (bread, olives, and cheese) while we waited for the class to start. The school is located just near Finchley Road Tube Station around the back of the Waitrose. It has been open just over a year and is a beautiful facility with a dining area, a lecture room and a large kitchen with stations for at least 20 students. After the nibbles we headed into the lecture room for an introduction and a lesson on recognizing fresh fish. This was followed by a demonstration on how to fillet a flat fish before we went off to try it ourselves.

The flat fish we were given was lemon sole to make lemon sole rolled and steamed with grain mustard.  Filleting it was unbelievable easy and I enjoyed it. Once we had the two fillets we simply spread a layer of grain mustard and rolled them up, securing them with a tooth pick and broiled until flaky. A simple recipe, but really delicious...great for a weeknight.

We watched a second demonstration on how to fillet a round fish. This was a bit more difficult. Well not really, but some people were grossed out by the need to remove the guts and rinse it clean. The round fish we were given was mackerel and once it was filleted we simply placed it on a pan with oil and salt and pepper and grilled until flaky.  It's best if it's brown and crispy on the outside.

In addition to the filleting we learned several quick and delicious recipes for different types of fish and some easy yummy sauces to accompany them.

This salsa verde was delicious and went with the grilled mackerel...

Salsa Verde
20g fresh flat leaf parsley
20g fresh mint
20g fresh basil
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp salted capers, rinsed
4 anchovy fillets in oil, drained
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice

We also deep fried some cod in a deep fat fryer at 190C using this beer batter recipe. It was served with a simple and fresh tarter sauce...

Beer Batter
125g self-raising flour
100ml soda water
100ml light beer
flour for dusting

Finally, we made simple Seared Tuna with Salt and Pepper (pictured on the left) and Sauteed Scallops with Butter and Parsley (on the right). Both took less than 10 minutes, but were delicious.

I really enjoyed this course, but did find it was targeted at those with little to no cooking experience. So if that's you definitely don't be intimidated. I am signed up to try a course at Billingsgate Market this week and hope that it will be a bit more challenging! I do recommend Waitrose Cookery School. It's a beautiful facility and the staff were great...I had a lot of fun! Plus for an evening after work it's nice if it's not too challenging.

Waitrose Cookery School
199 Finchley Road
Goldhurst Terrace entrance, (in the Waitrose building)
London
NW3 6NN