Menu inspiration please
Discussion
I have been given three bottles of d'Arenberg wine that I would like to serve over the course of a dinner. Given the same choices, what would you do?
Dry Dam Riesling (2001) (I have an awful feeling this will be waaaay past its best, so will have another Riesling in reserve)
Dead Arm Shiraz (2004)
Nostalgia Tawny (Grenache Tawny Port)
My initial thoughts were to add a slight asian twist:-
Scallop carpaccio with a ginger and lemongrass dressing
Tea smoked duck breast
Pears poached in vanilla and star anise, served as individual tart tatin
Over to you lot....
Dry Dam Riesling (2001) (I have an awful feeling this will be waaaay past its best, so will have another Riesling in reserve)
Dead Arm Shiraz (2004)
Nostalgia Tawny (Grenache Tawny Port)
My initial thoughts were to add a slight asian twist:-
Scallop carpaccio with a ginger and lemongrass dressing
Tea smoked duck breast
Pears poached in vanilla and star anise, served as individual tart tatin
Over to you lot....
Bit churlish of me to suggest anything beyond what's looking like a delicious menu.
But, you did ask...
I'm a bit obsessed with sharing platters to start, with all sorts of yummy 'bits'. You could put together quite few things which wouldn't overpower the Reisling.
Yet another mention of my fave eatery for a few (pictoral) ideas: http://www.andyhayler.com/restaurant_gallery.asp?i...
For the main I'd be tempted to consider some little individual game pies. With the naughtiest, shortest pastry and some rich game meats in a sweetish game sauce. Whilst this trangresses your meat/fruit boundary a bit its really just adding some sweetness and 'tang' in the background rather than having lumps of fruit.
Puddin'? I'm rubbish at these and can't better your poached pears principle.
Anyway.
Will my invitation arrive by courier or Royal Mail?
But, you did ask...
I'm a bit obsessed with sharing platters to start, with all sorts of yummy 'bits'. You could put together quite few things which wouldn't overpower the Reisling.
Yet another mention of my fave eatery for a few (pictoral) ideas: http://www.andyhayler.com/restaurant_gallery.asp?i...
For the main I'd be tempted to consider some little individual game pies. With the naughtiest, shortest pastry and some rich game meats in a sweetish game sauce. Whilst this trangresses your meat/fruit boundary a bit its really just adding some sweetness and 'tang' in the background rather than having lumps of fruit.
Puddin'? I'm rubbish at these and can't better your poached pears principle.
Anyway.
Will my invitation arrive by courier or Royal Mail?
d.tomw2000 said:
Dead Arm is a _BIG_ wine. Might swamp most foods would be my guess.
(other than the cliched BBQ stuff)
That was my worry, which is why I thought that smoking duck may get me somewhere towards the BBQ taste. Maybe I should forget fine dining and just slap some rib eye on the BBQ! (other than the cliched BBQ stuff)
That looks very good 
Prawn Cocktail: From the bottom; whole Honduran king prawns arranged in a ring mould, the gaps were filled with a prawn mousse. Avocado gently mashed with creme fraiche, a little coriander and lemon. Brown and white fresh crab with creme fraiche and a tiny amount of curry paste - I find it really brings out the crab flavour. Rocket with a little black lumpfish caviar on top. Finally, the ubiquitous Marie-Rose sauce and salmon lumpfish roe.
Chilli Con Carne: I used the Spanish translation of chili con carne, "chilli pepper with meat". The wine would be 'big' so I wanted to serve something flavourful without killing the palate with huge amounts of chilli, I also wanted something visually appealing rather than a bowl of goop. It's a fillet steak with red pepper, red onion and chilli jam as an accompaniment. The red squares you can see are griddled red pepper, I managed to get them to have a smokey flavour by cooking them on the same griddle as the steak. The jus is a simple red wine deglaze. The true beauty of the dish was the fine green beans, exactly 70 seconds in the microwave dontcha know.
Fruit Cocktail: Filo pastry bowls, various fresh fruits coated in a light lime/sugar syrup to prevent them discolouring. Passion fruit mousse, blackberry coulis and a few drops of passion fruit syrup to compliment the wine. I also attempted sugar work, it's much much harder than I realised. My first attempt ended up with burnt caramel so I abandoned the idea of spun sugar to go over the baskets and opted for shard instead Definitely something I'm going to try to perfect though, for that true 80's dinner party experience!
Lastly, espresso martinis
Chilli Con Carne: I used the Spanish translation of chili con carne, "chilli pepper with meat". The wine would be 'big' so I wanted to serve something flavourful without killing the palate with huge amounts of chilli, I also wanted something visually appealing rather than a bowl of goop. It's a fillet steak with red pepper, red onion and chilli jam as an accompaniment. The red squares you can see are griddled red pepper, I managed to get them to have a smokey flavour by cooking them on the same griddle as the steak. The jus is a simple red wine deglaze. The true beauty of the dish was the fine green beans, exactly 70 seconds in the microwave dontcha know.
Fruit Cocktail: Filo pastry bowls, various fresh fruits coated in a light lime/sugar syrup to prevent them discolouring. Passion fruit mousse, blackberry coulis and a few drops of passion fruit syrup to compliment the wine. I also attempted sugar work, it's much much harder than I realised. My first attempt ended up with burnt caramel so I abandoned the idea of spun sugar to go over the baskets and opted for shard instead Definitely something I'm going to try to perfect though, for that true 80's dinner party experience!
Lastly, espresso martinis
Edited by Chim Girl on Tuesday 22 March 14:20
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