Zucchini Salad

Late last year I was given a copy of the De Bortoli Wines 2015 Food and Wine Calendar. It is a lovely calendar with each month showcasing a particular wine from their range and a recipe to match it. There is also a little paragraph about the history of the recipe from the De Bortoli family and why the particular wine was made in the style it was.

Given how lovely the recipes are, I have decided that each month I'm going to make the dish and blog about it. I won't always necessarily match it to the wine, as some are not so readily available in bottle shops.

The recipe for January is a lovely fresh zucchini salad, perfect in the hot Melbourne weather that we're having at the moment. This salad is in memory of Vittorio De Bortoli and his young wife, Giuseppina, who were married in 1928. They had a collection of fruit trees, vegetables and grape vines and cooked with what was available in the garden at the time. With zucchini in season during summer, I'm sure this salad was a regular feature on their table.

Zucchini Salad

3 small zucchini, cut lengthwise into thin ribbons (I used a vegetable peeler)

2 Tbs white wine vinegar

2 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs Dijon mustard

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 Tbs tarragon, chopped

1/2 a small red capsicum, thinly sliced

150g semi dried tomatoes, thickly sliced

A few olives to garnish, thickly sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

Place the zucchini ribbons in a colander and toss with plenty of salt. Leave to sit for 20 minutes, then rinse well and pat dry with paper towel.

Combine vinegar, oil, mustard, garlic and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl.

Place zucchini, tarragon, and capsicum in a bowl and toss with the dressing. Allow to sit for 1 hour for the flavours to infuse.

To serve, toss the tomatoes through the salad and garnish with the chopped olives.

Enjoy!

And To Drink....

The wine matched to this salad is the De Bortoli La Bossa Sauvignon Blanc. Bossa is the nickname that was given to Giuseppina by her husband and childhood sweetheart. This range of wines also includes a Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Shiraz Cabernet Merlot and Pink Moscato. For approximately $10 a bottle, these wines are great value quaffers. The grapes for the Sauvignon Blanc are sourced from the Riverina and King Valley.

The Sauvignon Blanc is beautiful and aromatic, with green apple and passionfruit on the nose. It's not quite as full on as a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but still very fruity. There is a nice acidity, which helps to balance the wine, and a touch of sweetness. It was deliciously moreish!

The wine was a perfect match with the salad and a great choice to have on a hot night when you need something refreshing. The sweetness of the red capsicum and semi dried tomato, the saltiness of the olives and the acidity in the dressing made lovely friends. Certainly a wine to enjoy when you want something light, fruity and delicious!

After the success of January's food and wine match, I can't wait for the rest of 2015!

A Fabulous Dinner

I've recently started following a website called The Fabulous Ladies' Wine Society. They are a wonderful group of women trying to get more females interested in drinking and learning about wine in a fun way. They hold events, give tasting notes on wines and support females in the Australian wine industry. As part of their website, they also have an online wine club. No forced buying of wines each month at all! This fabulous wine club lists two wines per month for you to try and then rate using their tasting cards. The wines are easily available at regular bottle shops and are not expensive.

This month they have a red and a white and tonight I've made a fancy meal to match with the white. It's a Taltarni Fume Blanc, which is actually the Sauvignon Blanc grape variety, but made in a very different style to the New Zealand type. I'm not such a fan of NZ Sauv Blanc, so am really looking forward to trying this one.

After lots of research in to the flavour of the wine, I've decided on a warm beetroot salad with feta and pan-fried scallops. I'm hoping that this will match perfectly.

Beetroot is another of my favourite vegetables and we tend to eat it quite a bit, especially once the plants in the garden have grown and we have beets on hand. They have such a rich, earthy sweetness, which I love. I grew up with tinned sliced beetroot, which I did love with cheese in a sandwich, but fresh is a world apart!

When you are preparing the beetroot, be aware that the colour will stain your hands and your clothes, so it's best to wear an apron and disposable gloves.

Feta brings a nice tartness and creaminess to the salad and the scallops some sweetness too. As is my preference, go for the creamy Danish feta, rather than the Greek style. I tend to find this much too dry and salty.

If you've never cooked scallops before, don't stress too much. The orange roe on the outside can be eaten, but it's a matter of personal preference. I don't like the taste or texture, but others do. It's up to you whether you want to keep it on, or cut it off. I prefer to cut it off, for a sweeter and cleaner taste.

This would also be the perfect party dish. Served in Asian soup spoons, a dollop of beetroot and feta with a scallop on top would be a great appetiser.

And To Drink...

 

The 2010 Taltarni Fume Blanc was like no Sauvignon Blanc I have ever tried before. Being a couple of years old, it may not have been as fresh as it could have been, but it was still amazing. Full of passionfruit and stone fruits, with some gentle oakiness, it was perfect drinking.

This was definitely my sort of wine. There was still plenty of that fruitiness that you want in a wine, but it wasn't overpowering in any way. The oak also didn't overpower, as sometimes it can.  If you like a lightly oaked Chardonnay, then you'd love this one!

The sweetness of the beetroot and the scallops matched wonderfully with the fruit and acid in the wine, with the creamy feta adding some tartness. The handful of rocket added some extra pepperiness.

Thanks to The Fabulous Ladies, I've found another wine that I'll be drinking again and again. Next time I might look for a current vintage to compare with.

Warm Beetroot and Feta Salad with Pan-fried Scallops

2 medium beetroot
1 Tbs butter
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbs water
100g Danish feta, chopped
20 scallops, cleaned and roe removed
Salt and pepper to taste
A drizzle of olive oil
Rocket or parsley to serve

Chop the leafy tops off the beetroot and then peel the main section of the vegetable.
Cut them into halves or quarters so you have manageable pieces.
Coursly grate the beetroot and set aside.
In a saucepan, melt the butter, then add the beetroot, vinegar and water. Pop the lid on and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occassionally.
Take the lid off and cook for another couple of minutes to boil off any remaining liquid. You want the beetroot to be tender, but not swimming in juices.
Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Just before serving, stir through the chopped feta.

To cook the scallops, heat a pan with a drizzle of olive oil until hot.
Season the scallops with salt and pepper and then fry for about 40 seconds on each side, or until browned on the outside, but on the slightly raw side inside. How long you need to cook them will depend on how thick the scallops are.

To serve, place a good spoonful of the beetroot salad on the plate and then dot the scallops around it.
Scatter a couple of sprigs of parsley or a handful of rocket over the top and give it a grinding of cracked black pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Enjoy!

Lemongrass Chicken

A few weeks ago we dropped in to the Coburg Farmers Market, which runs on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month at the Coburg North Primary School. I'd been meaning to go for ages and was looking forward to trying and buying some delicious fresh produce.

We came away with bags of beautiful food and bellies full of delicious treats. There was amazing organic lamb and beef, local artisan chocolate and organic vegetables. Another of these treats was an amazing Lemongrass Paste, made by Under the Pickle Tree. It is a blend of lemongrass, onion, garlic and spices and is absolutely delicious! The recipe suggestion on the jar is to use it to marinate chicken, and that's exactly what I did. It would work fabulously with prawns or a firm fleshed white fish too. In fact, it's so good that you could eat it straight out of the jar on fresh bread!

To go with the Asian flavours of the paste, I thought I'd make a warm noodle salad, of sorts, using vermicelli noodles and some crisp vegies. The chicken was really the hero of the dish with its strong and bold flavours.

 

Lemongrass Chicken and Noodle Salad

2 chicken breasts, chopped into large chunks
2 Tbs Under the Pickle Tree Lemongrass Paste
Olive oil for cooking
100g rice vermicelli noodles
1 carrot, peeled and cut into thin slices
1/2 a bunch of asparagus, woody ends snapped off, cut into 2cm pieces
A handful of snow peas, top and tailed and sliced into thin slices
1/2 a red capsicum, sliced into thin slices
A drizzle each of soy sauce, Kecap Manis and sweet chilli sauce, or to taste
A handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Marinate the chicken in the lemongrass paste for 1 hour in the fridge.
While the chicken is marinating, prepare the noodles and vegies.
Place the noodles in a heatproof bowl.
Cut all vegetables into thin slices and add to the bowl with the noodles.
Pour over boiling water until all the noodles and vegies are covered. Allow to sit for 10 minutes and then drain. Keep warm.
This will blanch the vegies to slightly start the cooking process, but ensure they are still crisp and fresh when you eat them. The noodles should be soft.
Toss the soy sauce, kecap manis and sweet chilli through the noodles, to your taste.
Toss through fresh coriander to serve.

For the chicken, heat a drizzle of olive oil in a frypan over high heat.
Add the chicken and all the marinade and cook until the chicken is browned on the outside, but the middle is cooked. Don't over cook as you still want the meat to be juicy.

Serve the chicken and any pan juices over the top of the noodle salad.

And To Drink....

On a warmish Friday night in Spring, a Sauvignon Blanc was the perfect match to go with the lemongrass chicken. Not just any old sauv blanc, mind you! Claymore are a winery from the Clare Valley in South Australia, who also have vineyards in the Adelaide Hills. They have quirky names for all of their wines, using song or album titles, from U2 to Nirvana! This wine is a blend of fruit from Clare and the Adelaide Hills, which gives it a certain freshness.

Generally I'm not much of a fan of Sauvignon Blanc, particularly the New Zealand variety, which I find a bit too green and full on. I can handle them on a super hot summers day, but don't really want to sip on them with a nice meal. An Adelaide Hills wine, on the other hand is a different story. The wine is still dry, green and acidic, but not so strong. The flavours are a lot more mellow and go much better with food. Think green apple and passionfruit. This one was delicious!

Claymore are definitely worth looking out for, if you can find them. We have bought a number of bottles of their wine (cases in fact!) and have always enjoyed them, particularly the rose and the Riesling. They also make a great range of quaffing and special occasion reds and an interesting sparkling Riesling.