Three course graze
Some weekends when we're down in Wellington,
catnip_mouse and I do a "chef challenge" for Mother Mouse - cook interesting food, one of us doing the main and the other dessert. This time we all felt like celebrating so it got upped to three courses, with Mother Mouse doing the entree. It's not over yet, but its going quite well. However, due to numerous interruptions, its turned into more of a three-course graze than a meal, which is actually a nice, relaxed way to eat.
After Mother Mouse's zucchini cakes with red pepper sauce (an Alison Holst recipe), we took a break to watch Kiwi Kitchen. I'm not sure I like Richard Till's food traditionalism (in fact, the demise of the sort of cuisine he is exploring is IMHO one of the things worth celebrating about the last few decades), but it is fun to watch. This of course delayed the main - vegetable ravioli (mushroom, eggplant, capsicum, red onion, celery and herbs) in a herb and butter sauce - but the wait was more than worth it. For dessert, I was planning a rerun of tarte tatin, but unfortunately there was a hiccup. I'd prepped my caramel (in a saucepan this time to avoid spillover; it went a lovely light brown), cut my pastry and got it all assembled - but I hadn't counted on the new oven needing to be "conditioned" (it was in the manual, and there was a funny smell). So currently I'm waiting for the heat to drive out (I presume) any residues from manufacturing before putting it in. If it turns out OK, I'll post photos later.
In the meantime, we're on our third (well, technically 2.5th) bottle of wine over the course of three hours. Which is a fairly pleasant way to spend an evening.
Drinking: Brown Brothers Victoria Dolcetto & Syrah 2007 (a sweet red designed to be served chilled as a dessert wine; tastes like balsamic vinegar, but without the sour aftertaste. Really good).
catnip_mouse and I do a "chef challenge" for Mother Mouse - cook interesting food, one of us doing the main and the other dessert. This time we all felt like celebrating so it got upped to three courses, with Mother Mouse doing the entree. It's not over yet, but its going quite well. However, due to numerous interruptions, its turned into more of a three-course graze than a meal, which is actually a nice, relaxed way to eat.
After Mother Mouse's zucchini cakes with red pepper sauce (an Alison Holst recipe), we took a break to watch Kiwi Kitchen. I'm not sure I like Richard Till's food traditionalism (in fact, the demise of the sort of cuisine he is exploring is IMHO one of the things worth celebrating about the last few decades), but it is fun to watch. This of course delayed the main - vegetable ravioli (mushroom, eggplant, capsicum, red onion, celery and herbs) in a herb and butter sauce - but the wait was more than worth it. For dessert, I was planning a rerun of tarte tatin, but unfortunately there was a hiccup. I'd prepped my caramel (in a saucepan this time to avoid spillover; it went a lovely light brown), cut my pastry and got it all assembled - but I hadn't counted on the new oven needing to be "conditioned" (it was in the manual, and there was a funny smell). So currently I'm waiting for the heat to drive out (I presume) any residues from manufacturing before putting it in. If it turns out OK, I'll post photos later.
In the meantime, we're on our third (well, technically 2.5th) bottle of wine over the course of three hours. Which is a fairly pleasant way to spend an evening.
Drinking: Brown Brothers Victoria Dolcetto & Syrah 2007 (a sweet red designed to be served chilled as a dessert wine; tastes like balsamic vinegar, but without the sour aftertaste. Really good).