The Champagne festival at Franschhoek was, as expected, great fun and a huge foodie experience for us. There was a good crowd (more than 3,000 apparently) of people, content in enjoying life, summer and very, very good bubbles.
The extreme heat was the only downside. It reached a reported 43 degrees at one point. There was a good mix of our best local bubblies like Graham Beck, Tanzanite, Pierre Jourdan, Morgenhof, Villiera and Steenberg; some new and interesting and some good French – some of the top like Gosset and Taittinger and some of the lesser known but excellent Marques like Joseph Perrier and Tribaut.
The restaurant stands were tucked in among the bubbly tables and each one had small portions of something delicious. We sampled some great gravadlax on blinis with rocket, some huge prawns with rocket, a wrap stuffed with Serrano ham, apricots, goats cheese and rocket and a fabulous white chocolate cheesecake with mixed berries from Le Quartier Français and, of course, there were oysters – some with rocket too. (We love rocket, but at the moment everyone is doing it to overkill).
We told you that we anticipated being spoiled and we were. We had been invited to stay at Rusthof Country House by the owner, Ruth McCourt, on Saturday night and it is truly beautifully decorated in a mix of modern and classical with notes of oriental, cool and comfortable and very, very close to the Festival, as it is right at the top of Huguenot Street near the Huguenot Monument.
We all went off to a cooking demonstration with Julie Parkfelt at La Chataigne farm and then ate the result for supper. We drank their delicious wines with the food. Julie is a very good cook and produced a really great meal of very Mediterranean style food. Our welcoming canapés were super artichoke bruschettas and tiny nectarine halves stuffed with goats cheese and then wrapped in ham. These were paired with Colmant MCC. She showed us how to make really good spinach gnocchi – so good we have the recipe below for you. They are baked in the oven and are quick and simple to make.
This was followed by duck breasts served on noodles with a very spicy tomato & sesame chutney. Our dessert was a Christmas-flavoured nutty semifreddo served with mixed fresh berries, covered in a white chocolate sauce, a good alternative to Christmas pud and suited to these hot days.
For our Sunday lunch, we escaped from the heat and had a lovely leisurely lunch at Reuben’s – in his courtyard (where the overhead mist sprays were very welcome). No one was having starters, they told us, because of the heat, but it was lovely to eat his very delicious honeyed quail and yellowtail on fennel ravioli. Reuben has a fantastic new book out – do check out copies in the shops but, if you go to the restaurant, you might persuade him to sign one for you.
Spinach and Ricotta “Gnocchi Verdi” with Tomato and Parmesan Cream Starter
500g Spinach
250g fresh ricotta
grating of nutmeg
salt and pepper
1 egg
45g grated Parmesan
1 T flour
Wash the spinach and cook in salted water till wilted. Drain well & squeeze till absolutely dry, then place in food processor with the ricotta, seasoning and nutmeg and blend. Mix in egg, parmesan and flour. Chill, then shape into full teaspoon sized balls.
Tomato Sauce:
800g tinned tomatoes
1 T sugar
Salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
100 ml cream
Put all into a pan, bring to the boil and reduce for 10 minutes, then add the cream and blitz with your wand blender.
Take small individual serving dishes; ladle 2–3 T of tomato sauce into each. Put in 3 to 5 (depends how large you made them!) gnocchi in each, pour over same amount of parmesan cream. Grate extra parmesan on top. Put into a preheated 180ºC oven for about 10 minutes until bubbling and the cheese starts to colour. Serve and eat at once.
Ed’s note: 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.
To get you in the mood for the festive season, there are two summer sparkling extravaganzas in the next few weeks for your bubbly pleasure (if you are in going to be in the Western Cape).
This Saturday and Sunday (6 & 7 December) is the annual Franschhoek Cap Classique and Champagne festival “The magic of bubbles”. I went along last year and it was a phenomenal day out. Fabulous food from local restaurants (think mini-Reubens starters in tiny containers and the most amazing moules I have tasted) and of course all the bubbles from local and French producers.
Unfortunately I am giving the festival a miss this year, but please drop me a line with your feedback in the comments below – I trust it will live up to the precedent it set last year.
A little bit more off the beaten track is the day of Summer Elegance at The House of Krone, Twee Jonge Gezellen in Tulbagh on Saturday 13 December. From midday to sunset the event offers sushi, oysters (not sure if I am ready yet – still a bit off put after the great Knysna Oyster Festival debacle), olives, chocolates, fashion, art, vintage cars…. Oh, and the bubbly, of course.
I am looking forward to this enormously and want to take the opportunity to visit Saronsberg and Rijks as well (fingers crossed we get accommodation) so watch this space for my report back once the bubbles have subsided!
Tickets cost R 60 and you can email Luke Krone or call 023 230 0680 to book.
John has a birthday this week, so we will be having a super family supper at home, with all the things he loves to eat. Hopefully this will include fresh artichokes, smoked salmon trout, duck in pomegranate, which will be served with potatoes roasted in duck fat and, of course, a very, very wicked chocolate pudding…
If you are a chocoholic too, try these dark chocolate truffles. They are extremely easy to make and will be a real after-dinner treat over the festive season.
We plan to enjoy Colmant MCC, Rudera Chenin Blanc, Cordoba Crescendo (probably the spectacular ’98, from our cellar) and Cathy Marshall’s lovely Myriad dessert wine with the meal. In sensibly moderate quantities, of course, with leftovers to enjoy on Friday!
Dark chocolate truffles
150m double thick cream
400g Callebaut 70% dark chocolate callets
4 T butter, softened
Nomu’s best quality unsweetened cocoa powder
Boil the cream in a small saucepan until it reduces to 2 tablespoons. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate callets till they are melted. Add the butter and stir, then pour into a large flat dish. Refrigerate for 45 minutes until chilled and set.
Use a teaspoon to scrape across the surface of the chocolate so it forms a rough truffle shape – curls not balls. Roll them in the cocoa powder and put into the fridge till you are ready to serve them. You can add a few drops of flavouring like one of the Nielsen Massey extracts – try orange, almond, coffee or vanilla.
Lynne is making a new chilli recipe tonight and she hopes it will work out as expected. If it does, you will see the recipe here next week. It contains chocolate too!
MERRY SHOPPING
Christmas is now on the way – we cannot be in denial any longer, but we promise we will not be playing any Christmas Muzak to irritate you, especially the dreaded Boney M. We cringe every time we hear them massacre the lovely West Indian carol, “Mary’s Boy Child”, which was so beautifully sung by Harry Belafonte.
We know everyone is feeling the credit pinch at the moment, but we also know how much people love to receive gifts of food and wine at Christmas. We have been buying in lots of wine and other wonderful things over the last weeks for you to give as presents. We even have special doggie biscuits and puppy treats, containing biltong, for those of you who have favoured furry family members! Do come and visit us and fill your stockings. We can order gingerbread house kits for you to put together with your children or grandchildren. Email us and we will order you one, or two or more …
We haven’t managed to find any geese this year – if you have, we would really appreciate your source, as it is our favourite bird for Christmas. We have found a source of free range turkeys and will be happy to pass on the contact to anyone who needs it as we are not going to be stocking poultry – we don’t have the correct fridges. Call us if you are interested.
We also have a shop full of Lynne’s Luxury Christmas Puddings, which were so popular last year, so come and get them soon. They can be cooked in the microwave and will therefore save you 3 hours of boiling.
We are pleasantly surprised at the reception of Bushman’s dynamite chocolate chilli sauce, honey mustard and tikka marinade have received. All sold out very quickly. Sadly, the tikka is on back order and will only be here in a week or two, but the others have been replenished and are waiting for you. We now have their killer garlic sauce.
After our very successful Sauvignon Blanc special tasting, we have a variety of top Sauvignons in the shop for you, like Ataraxia, Cederberg Ghost Corner and Elgin Valley.
A special surprise has been the early release of Cape Point Vineyards’ very Isliedh white blend (a Platter 5-star wine). We, like other wine merchants, have a small allocation, but our first delivery is in the shop waiting for customers with great taste and the ability to treat it well.
We have also been given an allocation of Rupert & Rothschild’s very special limited edition Baroness Nadine Chardonnay 2007. This is only available in 6 bottle case lots, so let us know if you would like some and we will order it for you.
We expect to have a limited quantity of the fabulous Axe Hill White port soon. We do have a couple of vintages of the wonderful Cape Vintage in stock, any of which will be a perfect end to your Christmas dinner.
Corporate Gifts
Every year, at this time, we start putting in lots of new items and restocking old favourites that we know work very, very well as corporate gifts. We can help with the smallest budget – or the largest! One or two gifts or hundreds.
And we have access to some really good packaging, or we can suggest solutions, and we are sure we can find something suitable for you and your business. We find clients and staff absolutely love to receive something in the food and/or wine line at the end of what has been a rather tough year, when they need spoiling or thanking. Do contact us for suggestions.
Recommended Events Jordan wine estate will hold their Open Day on Saturday, 29th November between 10h00 and 15h00. There will be music from local community band, the “Stellenzicht Music Project”. A selection of food and wine will be available during the day.
Also on Saturday 29th, between 10h00 and 17h00, Fynbos Fine Foods will host an exciting day in the Paardeberg, just an hour from Cape Town, with wine tasting from small wineries of the area, a Farmers Market, Crafts, music and a lot more. Entry will be R15, adults and R5 children For directions contact them on 022 487 1153, or info@fynbosestate.co.za.
On the weekend of 6th and 7th December, you’ll have another bubbly opportunity at the 2008 Franschhoek Cap Classique and Champagne Festival, when Franschhoek will showcase an array of celebrated Cap Classique producers as well as some of the finest French champagnes.
Wine tastings
On Tuesday December 2nd, we will be holding a tasting of 6 modern Chardonnays – three premium and three at very reasonable prices, none of which are over wooded and too heavy – and 6 interesting red blends that we think will suit your Christmas celebration, or any other festive dinner you are planning (some of these will also be very good value wines, such as Cape Point’s Scarborough Red and Buitenverwachting Meifort).
Bookings are now open for this 2 hour tasting which starts at 18h00 and we do hope it will attract people who really are interested in buying some good wines from us. As before, we will take bookings for up to 22 people, as it gets a bit crowded with more. The tasting will cost R50 a head and canapés, prepared by Lynne, will be provided as well as a very interesting welcoming drink.
Our Saturday wine tasting this week will feature a range of wines from Mooiplaas, one of our favourite estates in Stellenbosch’s Bottelary ward.
The Weekend Pavement Market:
Audrey Grobbelaar will be here on Friday with her delicious home baked koeksisters, brilliant chocolate brownies, and wonderful pies and breads as well as her preserves and fresh produce. Nelle will be with us again 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.
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.
COMPETITION!
Tickets for a FREE BRANDY TASTING MATCHED WITH FOOD. Alchemy of Gold will host an exclusive tasting of international award-winning connoisseur South African brandies for our customers on Monday, November 24th at Dish Food & Social in Gardens from 18h00 for 18h30 till approximately 20h30, served with gourmet canapés prepared by Andrea Foulkes and her team. They’ll start us off with a lovely brandy cocktail and then we will taste a collection of brandies, each of which has won at least a gold medal at London’s International Wine & Spirit Competition or International Spirits Challenge. Some are trophy winners and have been rated the best in their class. Both these competitions are considered amongst the most important in the international spirits industry.
There is no cost at all for this tasting, but, in order to qualify for a place, you need to enter our competition: spend R200 at Main Ingredient in the next week and you will win one free ticket to this tasting. (R400 for 2, R600 for 3, etc.) Hurry, because there is space for only 14 individuals or seven couples, and first come is, as always, first served!
PLEASE, as a special request, could we ask that if you do get a ticket, make sure that you really do attend. We have had several no shows for our evening wine tastings and it is so disappointing, because we have had people on our waitlist who would have loved to have been there, but we believed that we were fully booked. Lynne went to a lot of trouble making lots of food to go with our tastings and it is not great to have food wasted. If you find that you can’t attend, please let us know and we will make sure someone who is really keen to be there takes your place. People who had not turned up were, sadly, those who had booked on email and therefore had not paid in advance – if this continues to happen, we regret that we will only be able to take bookings in the shop.
Our next tasting, SERIOUS SAUVIGNONS on November 19th – a selection of some of the best and rarest Sauvignons Blanc including Ataraxia, Cape Point Stonehaven, Cederberg Ghost Corner, Constantia Glen, Diemersdal 8 Rows, Elgin Valley, Oak Valley, Saronsberg and Springfield Special Cuvée is fully subscribed. We have a few names on the waiting list in case there is a cancellation.
The second Think Pink Tasting was a great success and we had enthusiastic feedback on all the wines. We started the tasting with Jean-Luc Sweerts’ MC Square La Vie en Rose Pink Bubbly and then went on to taste 11 more Rosés, tasted in order of alcohol content. The tasting sheet is attached so that you can see what we tasted. De Grendel, Morgenhof, Buitenverwachting and Zandvliet were the most popular wines.
Jean-Luc also produces the wonderfully lean French-style MC Square Chardonnay and supplies of this are starting to run low. We have procured some of both the 2000 and the 2001 vintages from him and, sadly, there will be no more because the vineyard in Franschhoek, source of the grapes, has been recycled. DO let us know quickly if you would like some of this very special wine, which is in our attached product list.
One of the dishes Lynne prepared for the tasting this week was an open tart, which is quick to prepare and was well received.
Spinach, Tomato and Feta Tart with Smoked Olive Oil
1 roll of cheese and herb pastry
1 bag of Swiss Chard, washed and chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
3 rounds of feta and black pepper cheese
12 small Roma tomatoes, cut in 1 cm slices
2 T fresh marjoram, chopped –
Smoked olive oil
Line an oblong baking tin with baking paper and roll out the pastry to fit the tin. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 190ºC. Wash the chard and cook it quickly in a covered pot with the garlic and some salt. Drain well. Strew this onto the pastry. Crumble on the feta and then add the tomato slices. Sprinkle on the marjoram and bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is crisp, but not burnt underneath. Remove from the oven and drizzle with the Smoked Olive Oil and serve.
If you don’t have smoked olive oil, use Extra Virgin and some smoked salt. We have them all!
SUBSTITUTION
Many recipes for pasta and pizza call for ham. We know that some of our customers don’t use ham and, by accident, we have discovered a good local substitute – and, no, it’s not called Macon. We had some slices of ‘chipped’ smoked beef in the fridge and it went really well on top of a cooked pasta dish we had with Puttanesca sauce.
New in store
The amazingly rich Italian Truffle Salt has been soaring into shopping bags and out of the door! We still have some, but do come quickly if you want it for Christmas presents, because we know it is very popular and we are not sure whether there new stock will arrive before the end of December.
We have a few of the French Syrups and, hopefully, our Duck Fat and Confit de Canard will have cleared customs by the end of this week and the full range of syrups (cassis etc.) will soon be here. We were told that the ship arrived a week ago, but Customs is very slow at this time of the year. Phone us to find out if we have it before you come.
Smoked Spanish paprika is in short supply and, if we run out in the next week, there is unlikely to be more before early December, so join the queue! And the amazing garlicky chilli Prego sauce is back on our shelves for those who are addicted, as are we…
Recommended Events:
Wine Concepts will stage the seventh “Finer Things in Life” champagne and bubbly festival at the Vineyard Hotel and Spa in Newlands on 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 to support their pioneering work, bringing children with that horrible condition the hope of a normal life. Tickets for the “Finer Things in Life” Champagne Festival 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.
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.
Elgin’s Open Gardens started last week, but you will still be able to visit them this weekend. More detail about all these events is available on the websites if you click on the highlighted and underlined event names above and below.
Our wine tasting this Saturday will feature the wines of Catherine Marshall, who won her spurs as a garagiste with her Barefoot Wine Company. She has moved into a more elegant, deliciously feminine style under her own name with her excellent Shiraz, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and her beautifully presented Myriad dessert wine.
Our Weekend Pavement Market:
A double bill, again! Audrey Grobbelaar will bring her home bakes and fresh produce from Robertson on Friday and 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 they have been able to pick. If you want wonderful naturally produced food, this is where you’ll find it.
The Champagne festival at Franschhoek was, as expected, great fun and a huge foodie experience for us. There was a good crowd (more than 3,000 apparently) of people, content in enjoying life, summer and very, very good bubbles.
from the 
