Ed’s note: We are very lucky to have the OK from John and Lynne Ford to publish their Main Ingredient newsletter on the Wines Online Blog. Main Ingredient offers gourmet foods, ingredients and fine wines. It has won Eat In guide’s Outstanding Outlet for the past three years. You can find them at: Shop 5, Nedbank Centre, 15 Kloof Rd, Sea Point 8005, Cape Town, South Africa. phone: +27 21 439 5169, or find them online.
High winds and flying tiles, lashing rain and tree branches are all over our leafy street this week. Those isobars must have been so close together. We are hearing of flooding in our favourite valley of wine and roses and are concerned that the wind may have taken the flowers off the Cape’s vines at the most vulnerable time of year when they need to pollinate. It will certainly reduce the crop this year.
We thought we had finally gone into summer but this is a setback. However it is not uncommon, as when we moved into our house on the 4th of December four years ago, we had a similar storm and our solar pool heating panels all ended up in our street. We now use solar to heat our domestic water and the collector panels are much more securely fixed.
New in store
It is probably the right weather for slightly spicy food and we have a new product in stock which Lynne is going to try at the weekend: a very authentic Indian Tikka paste which you add to yogurt and use to marinade boned chicken, then bake quickly in a very hot oven. Serve with wedges of lemon or lime, a simple salad and some rice.
It’s from Bushmans and we also have their very delicious mustard (Lynne never thought she would say this about a local mustard, having recently tasted several really bad samples and reverting to her favourite French). It’s a gentle sweet honey mustard and more like a mayonnaise in consistency. She is going to use it in a French dressing.
Then we have something for the Chilli lunatics among you – Dynamite! It’s a searingly hot sauce made from chillies that have been matured in barrel for five years and then blended with 70% Belgian chocolate, balsamic vinegar, molasses, spices and herbs. It’s in numbered limited edition boxes is a perfect Christmas or birthday gift for that Chilli crazy you know. We would never risk tasting it – they say its hotness level is 21 out of 10. (Mathematically as crazy as the heat).
We have frozen chestnuts for you to use when stuffing your Christmas bird and we hear that we will soon have new stock of tinned French chestnuts, purée, crème and even some in syrup. Also from France, we have some Crème de Cassis, walnut oil, hazelnut oil and grenadine and strawberry syrups. Sadly the prices of all the imported foods have gone up a lot but we know some of you can’t live without them so we will continue to stock them – but in very small quantities. The Rand Euro exchange rate is really terrifying some of our importers. Nevertheless, we can offer you (to special order, while the importer’s stock lasts) fresh Italian black winter truffles.
We have stock of Catherine Marshall’s delicious wines: Pinot Noir, Syrah, Syrah Grenache, Sauvignon Blanc and the superb Myriad dessert wine which was so popular last Christmas.
GINGER AND ORANGE CHICKEN
This week’s recipe is one of our favourite ways to serve chicken breasts
1/3 cup of orange juice
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 T dark Soya sauce
1 T Chinese Shao Xing rice wine
1 T honey or dark brown sugar
1 T finely grated fresh ginger
2 t mustard powder
Grated rind of one orange
1 fresh chopped red chilli or 1/4 t crushed chilli
4 deboned chicken breasts or legs, skin removed
Mix all the ingredients together to make a marinade, add the chicken pieces and marinade in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Preheat your grill and put the chicken pieces on a grid 20cm from the heat. Do put a drip tray beneath to catch the juices. Grill for 4 to 5 minutes each side and continue to cook until the juices run clear, basting occasionally with some of the marinade. Serve with noodles and the pan juices and some steamed broccoli.
WINED AND DINED
We have been rather spoilt again this week. First we were taken to La Colombe for a really splendid meal. The menu is full of wonderful rich and expensive choices, the food is delicious and sophisticated and the prices are more manageable for foreign visitors spending Dollars, Pounds and Euros than for locals.
John’s and my host’s starter was quail and langoustine with a delicious, complex sauce. It was truly to be envied and his steak in a savoury chocolate sauce had him in raptures. Our hostess loved her veal and sweetbread dish. She and Lynne had a Crab Jalousie starter.
Lynne and our host followed this with Loin of Springbok with a medallion of Foie and Uitsig Spring flowers! She could not manage a dessert but enjoyed watching the other three tuck into Chocolate fondants, ice cream and really interesting Tonka Bean dessert. Constantia Uitsig Semillon and red blend in pichets were delicious with the food.
On Tuesday we supped with good friends on broccoli soup, fresh salmon, served with an unusual and delicious sweetcorn and gem squash purée which matched perfectly. This was followed by a very pretty rose petal ice cream.
Yesterday Lynne had an excellent lunch at The Roundhouse with the ladies of the International Wine and Food Society, her first experience there, and definitely not her last. John Loubser, the winemaker and GM of Steenberg (he is also responsible for the wines of Constantia Uitsig) presented Steenberg’s delicious wines – the Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé, Lynne’s favourite Merlot and the 1682 Brut MCC, which were all matched to the food.
Starters were either a butternut risotto or the most sensational soft shell crab Tempura with prawns served on a bed of soft avocado with a light vinaigrette and baby greens. Our main course choices were the fish of the day which was confit of elf, a Springbok carpaccio (not really suitable for a main course portion unless you were seriously dieting, as some of our ladies are), and roast lamb rump with a black olive reduction.
Our desserts were a chocolate sensation and a marvellous guava frangipani tart or a cheese platter. The weather stormed and sometimes it was difficult to see across the Glen to Camps Bay, but inside was a warm and very chattery fun occasion. We have had reports of excellent service there – yesterday they were trainee staff, who were nervous but will be very good soon!
Recommended Events:
Wine Concepts will stage the seventh “Finer Things in Life” champagne and bubbly Festival at the Vineyard Hotel and Spa in Newlands tomorrow, November 14th. Guests will be treated to one of the most impressive selections of champagnes and MCCs ever seen in this country. More than 30 cuvées will be on show, accompanied by fresh oysters, rare cheeses and fine chocolates. In tune with the theme of the ‘Finer Things in Life’, elegant fashion and rare Italian motor cars will share centre stage. As in the past, proceeds will be shared with the Kids with HIV Foundation. Tickets can be purchased for R230.00 per person from Wine Concepts. Phone +27 21 671 9030 or email newlandshop@wineconcepts.co.za, or you can buy them at the door on the evening.
If you can’t get to that one, or if, like us, you cannot have a surfeit of sparkling deliciousness, you can join the Cap Classique Association and WINE magazine on Tuesday 25th November at 18h30 for a tasting of the top-scoring South African sparkling wines in the 2008 Amorim Cork Cap Classique Challenge, presented by winning wine maker, Elunda Basson at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town. This will be repeated on Thursday 27th November at 18h30 at the Hyatt Regency in Rosebank, Johannesburg, and again on Tuesday 9th December at 18h30 at the Riverside Hotel in Durban North, when it will be presented by Cape Wine Master and MCC expert Jeff Grier of Villiera. Tickets can be booked by calling 0860 100 203, or by sending an email to subs@rsp.co.za
And, if that were not enough, you’ll have another opportunity when Franschhoek will once again play stylish host to their annual Champagne festival on the weekend of 6th and 7th December. The 2008 Franschhoek Cap Classique and Champagne Festival, sponsored by Investec Private Bank, will showcase an array of celebrated Cap Classique producers as well as some of the finest French champagnes.
Jordan wine estate will hold their Open Day on Saturday, 29th November between 10h00 and 15h00. Relax on the lawn with family and friends to the sound of local community band, the “Stellenzicht Music Project”. A selection of food and wine will be available during the day.
Our wine tasting this Saturday will feature Morgenhof wines. We will have the very attractively priced Fantail white and rosé and the very elegant, newly released chardonnay.
Our next evening tasting, SERIOUS SAUVIGNONS on November 19th, is fully subscribed. We have a few names on the waiting list in case there is a cancellation. We will follow this on Tuesday, December 2nd with a tasting of selected Chardonnays. The wines have not been finalised, but there will be 22 places and you may book for two people.
Our Weekend Pavement Market:
Nelle will be with us on Saturday from Wolseley, with her freshly laid, backyard chicken free range eggs, home-made pies and breads and cookies and whatever fresh produce she has been able to pick. If you want wonderful naturally produced food, this is where you’ll find it.
Last Saturday we headed 120 km north of Cape Town to the little town of Tulbagh – famous for the 1969 earthquake – to enjoy the first ever House of Krone Summer Elegance event. The Tulbagh valley has quietly but persistently been producing some remarkable wines, and is making a name for itself as a region in South Africa, so I was looking forward to seeing what they had to offer.
from the 
