Our always entertaining PA/EA/gal-who-get-things-done, Lisa, came into HQ with a tub of sweet chilli popcorn the other day. Thrusting it into the air in front of us she said “Here…match THAT with a wine!”We kinda looked at each other and said,”Well, okay.”
“Here, you do it.” Ryn said, eyes darting.
“Nuhu, it’s yours” I replied.
We love to eat it… it’s delicious! But could we really cook it?
Just the two of us? Remember, one of our prerequisites for
cooking a dish is that it has to
be able to be easily prepared
while sipping on a glass of bubbles… or chardonnay… or
pinot… or ok, you get the picture.
Don’t get us wrong, we can cook, but duck confit just seems to be more at home on a restaurant menu than on our kitchen bench. Nevertheless, we’ve never shied away from a challenge and we aren’t about to start now.
Entering our giveaway for BellaRiva wine packs?
It’s easy to enter, just email admin@rynandcordie.com.au and tell us what you would eat with these wines. Simple!
TERMS & CONDITIONS.
Love home-made pizza? Here’s that great dough recipe we mentioned on facebook. The toppings are totally up to you, but if you want some inspiration, our food & wine matching cookbook has three sensational pizza recipes with wine matches. Grab yourself a copy here.
PIZZA DOUGH
Makes 4 Mini, or 2 large pizza bases
INGREDIENTS
7g packet of dried yeast
1/4 tsp salt
1Tbsp of honey
500g plain flour
3/4 cup warm water
20ml extra virgin olive oil Continue reading
Who doesn’t love Matt Skinner? He’s attractive, accomplished, he’s great with booze, and he recently got the gig as brand ambassador for new-kid-on-the-block wine vessels – Plumm.
What makes Plumm stand out in the crowd of wine glasses currently on offer? Well, at the end of the day, that’s up to you, but our thoughts on the subject, after being seduced by them recently, are that they do things a little differently, and have paired down the sometimes complicated issue of “How many glasses am I supposed to own for godssake?”
Kick off this delicate entree with a Chardonnay. Remember that it needs to be unoaked* because chilli and oak don’t mix. Check out Margaret River or the Yarra Valley for a brilliant find! Cheers, R&C xx
SERVES 4
INGREDIENTS
2 small red onions, sliced thinly into rings
1 tbsp malt vinegar
2 tsp salt
1 large avocado, diced
1/2 red onion, diced finely
1 red chilli, de-seeded, diced finely
1 pomegranate, seeded
1 lemon, juiced
300g medium cooked prawns, peeled, deveined, with tails intact
1/4 head of green coral lettuce
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
Salt
Don’t you love it when you have to pick the herbs, just to keep the plants yielding (nerd alert!). It means we throw mixed-up herbs into almost everything…well, not the wine glass, but you get the idea…
Okay, we’re after your suggestions:
Go and pour yourself a glass of wine, then come back and tell us what you are inspired to do with a little medley of goodness like this.
This delicate little number is sensational with a bottle of Champagne, or a sparkling white made in a Champagne style. Have fun with the recipe and enjoy the bubbles! Cheers, R&C xx
SERVES 3 – 4
INGREDIENTS
4 x 150g white fish fillets
800 ml coconut milk
1&1/2 long red chillis,
sliced on an angle
3 coriander roots bruised
2 cm of ginger, sliced
1 stalk of lemongrass, bruised
Zest and juice of one lime
3 tablespoon of fish sauce
(may need extra to taste)
1.5 tablespoon of palm sugar,
chopped so it dissolves easily
1/2 bunch basil, picked and sliced (Thai basil if you can)
1/2 bunch coriander, picked
Sesame oil
2 x green shallots, sliced on the angle
1/2 cup roasted, crushed peanuts
Fresh rice noodles or pk of dry rice noodles
METHOD
1) Combine the coconut milk, chilli, coriander root, ginger, lemongrass, lime juice & zest, fish sauce and palm sugar together and bring it all to the boil for 5 minutes.
2) Add the fish fillets to the coconut milk mixture and simmer for approx 10 mins or until fish is just cooked through (Gently press the flesh, when it bounces back, it is cooked. Be careful not to over cook the fish as that will make it dry and tough).
3) In a separate bowl, combine the basil and coriander with a little sesame oil to form the garnish.
4) Test flavour of the coconut milk mixture and season further with fish sauce if required.
5) Cook fresh noodles in boiling water for a few minutes, or dry noodles as per pack instructions.
TO SERVE:
Twist a small nest of noodles into each of the 4 bowls, gently balance a piece of fish on top of the noodles and finish by pouring the drained coconut milk evenly over each dish. Lay some of the chilli pieces from the liquid in each dish and garnish with basil & coriander salad, shallots and peanuts. Pour a glass of bubbles and enjoy!
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Located in the Southwest of France, Bordeaux is one of the country’s most famous red wine regions and is known as the world’s major wine industry capital…but don’t tell the Burgundians that! The rivalry between these two regions is well renowned.
We really didn’t know where to start, and didn’t want to miss the best parts of Bordeaux, so we opted for a guided tour - The Bordeaux Wine Experience.
These guys were brilliant and thankfully, they had humble lodgings that were all part of the deal. This little shack is where we stayed.
Greeted each morning by our driver, Juillaume (see previous blog post on this man’s uncanny likeness to Jason Statham), we spent two days going through some of the region’s wine cellars (called “caves” in France, which led to some quizzical looks from us when our cave was referred to as being particularly lovely after mentioning a ’67 Margaux we’d recently purchased).
Important things for you to know about Bordeaux:
There really are no words to describe how beautiful this region is. It’s medieval architecture, kilometers of underground tunnels, vineyards, cobble stone streets and very French inhabitants have to be seen to be believed, so here are a few of our snapshots to inspire you.
Here’s some video footage of our trip to Burgundy and wine tour of the Cote de Beaune. We braved the cold vineyards (seriously, we were doing star jumps to keep warm), sipped and sampled our way through these stunning old world wines and learned as much as we could about Burgundy. Enjoy!
INCLUDES
