|
|
Archives
March 2009
**********
Slow Food Devon Topsham Market this Sunday 10.30am until 1.30pm
Just a reminder that another Slow Food Devon Topsham Market takes
place this Sunday. There will be another great collection of
producers offering everything from Dartmoor lamb, sourdough bread
and freshly picked winter veg, to jams, chutneys, Ark chicken
burgers, fantastic pâtés, and more. The Sushi Fairies
will be here again, offering delicious freshly prepared sushi
- beautiful with a glass of our Prosecco Bisol 'Jeio', the perfect
sushi wine.
***********
Italian Table coming soon to
the Pebblebed Tasting Cellar
We have now officially registered to enable us to do occasional
catering from our Quay Cottage kitchen for the Pebblebed Tasting
Cellar and other venues. The plan is to offer occasional Italian
Table meals, perhaps once a month, serving the sort of recipes
we've written about over the past months here: good, inexpensive,
simple mainly Italian and Italian-inspired foods, the sort of
satisfying, unfussy cucina casalinga that we hope will work up
a prodigious thirst to enjoy our range of Italian wines available
in the cellar. We are in discussion with Geoff about dates and
will let you know very soon when our first Italian Table will
be. However, if you are interested in joining us and would like
to reserve a space in advance, please email me marc@vino.co.uk
***********
Super-Tuscan Wine Tasting April 20th, Pebblebed Tasting
Cellar
The Tuscans are coming, the Tuscans are coming! Following our recent
very successful Tuscany Celebration Dinner with Michael Caines
at ABode Exeter, our project to twin Tuscany and Devon as food
regions is beginning to take on some real momentum. A group of
around 15 Tuscans - cheese and wine producers, chefs and more
- led once more by Simone Brogi and Michela Passetti, will be
over for the Exeter Festival of South West Food and Drink, hanging
out in the Slow Food Devon tee-pee with us around Peter Greig's
wood oven.
On April 20th, the Monday after the Exeter
Festival, Simone, who with chef wife Michela run their own restaurant,
I Cavatappi ('the corkscrews') in Valdera, will be hosting for
us a tasting of super-Tuscan wines from the Etruscan coast, accompanied
by typical foods of the region, such as salumi and pecorino cheeses.
This special evening will take place in the Pebblebed Tasting
Cellar and numbers are limited. The cost will be £25 per
person. To book your place, please email me as soon as possible.
***********
Vino Recipe of the Month: March
Korean-marinaded steak cooked over vineshoots
In vineyards throughout the northern hemisphere, as we move out
of winter and into spring, the vines start to awake from their
dormancy as warmer temperatures allow the sap to begin to rise.
The winter pruning, done in the coldest months of the year, should
have been completed and by March the vineyards are neat and tidy,
ready to come to life again.
While the growing seasons in Italy do not exactly mirror those
here in Devon, nonetheless Mario Fontana in the Barolo wine hills,
and Geoff here in the Pebblebed Vineyard in Ebford, share the annual
excitement as the prospects of a new season, another vintage, literally
unfolds like the new and fresh leaves that will soon burst forth
from the buds.
Each March, Geoff celebrates this annual rebirth of the land
with a get-together of friends to enjoy an outdoor vineyard lunch
of steaks grilled over a fire made from the pruned vineshoots.
This is food to enjoy standing up, the steaks, rare and bloody,
slapped between slices of bread, to eat with the hands, washed
down with a glass or two of Pebblebed rosé or Mario’s deliciously
punchy and vivid Dolcetto d’Alba.
Ask Tony at Arthur’s or Barry at Gerald David’s
for the thicker end of skirt steak. This inexpensive cut is just
perfect for such a simple meal. Score the meat, soak in this
pungent, Korean-inspired marinade of soy sauce, garlic, ginger
and spring onions, then fire-cook over vineshoots, charcoal,
or under the hottest grill.
(Serves 4)
1 kg skirt or other steak (rib-eye is also very good
Marinade
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled, crushed and finely chopped
2-3 inch piece of root ginger, peeled and grated
About half a cup of light soy sauce
About a quarter cup of water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp sugar
Bunch of spring onions, shredded or chopped
Lots of freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2-3 tbsp toasted sesame seed
Score the meat in a diamond pattern, then add to the marinade and
leave for at least 2 hours, preferably longer.
Make a charcoal fire, and when it is really hot, lay some vineshoots
over the hot coals. Grill the steak for just about 2-3 minutes
a side, depending on thickness and how rare you like your steak.
Leave to rest for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, add a little water
to the remaining marinade then bring to the boil. Slice the steak
across the grain on the slant. Pile the meat into sliced baguettes
then spoon over a little of the sauce. Or else serve with brown
short grain rice and a green salad.
Wine: Cascina Fontana Dolcetto d’Alba 2006
Our very best wishes to all,
Marc and Kim |
|
