tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:151742 Photos, Cooking, Music Ozzy 2012-03-08T22:01:18Z tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:151742:49134 2012-03-08T21:48:08Z 2012-03-08T22:01:18Z cheerful public 0 On Wednesday I attended a special dinner at my "local" restaurant Alimentum where Stuart Smith of <a href="http://www.toreawines.co.nz/">Torea Wines</a> in New Zealand introduced their range of wines while Alimentum's chefs had designed a tasting menu matching dishes to those wines.<br />Before each dish was served, Stuart Smith talked a little about how each variety was grown and made which provided some interesting insight for wine novices like me. <br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/karohemd/6818963400/" title="Stuart Smith by karohemd, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/6818963400_29778c14f0.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Stuart Smith"></img></a><br><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/karohemd/6818963440/" title="Sauvignon Blanc in the glass by karohemd, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7207/6818963440_f4f0142e79.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Sauvignon Blanc in the glass"></img></a><br><br>Here are the dishes and the accompanying wines:</br></br></br></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/karohemd/6818963482/" title="Salmon, squid and ink by karohemd, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7055/6818963482_71ac235f46.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Salmon, squid and ink"></img></a></div><br />Salmon, squid, squid ink risotto, pink grapefruit and roast salmon broth. The fish was beautifully, just barely cooked and the rest of the ingredients offered good contrasting flavours and textures, all tasting fresh and light. The wine was the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, light and fresh, yet quite a few things going on there.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/karohemd/6965085825/" title="Rabbit lasagne, tarragon and mustard puree by karohemd, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7186/6965085825_e1a5b7676e.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Rabbit lasagne, tarragon and mustard puree"></img></a></div><br />Rabbit lasagne, tarragon and mustard pur&eacute;e. Another light and fresh dish with subtle and soft rabbit meat. The pur&eacute;e wasn't as strong as it sounds so well judged. With this we had the 2009 Chardonnay, a bit heavier and deeper than the Sauvignon but still light, another good match.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/karohemd/6965085895/" title="Spiced duck breast, pastilla of leg, cumin and carrot, pomegranate by karohemd, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7048/6965085895_60d32e91da.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Spiced duck breast, pastilla of leg, cumin and carrot, pomegranate"></img></a></div><br />Spiced duck breast, pastilla of leg, cumin and carrot pur&eacute;e. The menu also said golden raisins but I had pomegranate seeds. I didn't mind because they worked really well with the soft meat, best piece of duck I've had in quite a while. The wine was the 2010 Pinot Noir, also a good match as it was a little bit spicy but not heavy.<br />I didn't take a photo of the palate cleanser as it was the <a href="http://karohemd.dreamwidth.org/44872.html">pernod foam with fennel</a> that's currently on the tasting menu and a bit hard to take a good photo of.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/karohemd/6818963858/" title="Baked apple terrine, Granny Smith sorbet, Aspall&#39;s cider foam by karohemd, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7204/6818963858_7cca893631.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Baked apple terrine, Granny Smith sorbet, Aspall&#39;s cider foam"></img></a></div><br />The dessert was Baked apple terrine, Granny Smith sorbet, Aspall's cider foam. This was another brilliant dish with different textures and temperatures and varying flavours from cinnamony and sweet in the terrine to sharp in the sorbet. With this we had the 2010 Pinot Gris which while a good wine on its own was a bit too sharp with the dessert. Most people at the table agreed but that was just a minor negative point to the whole evening.<br />[<a href="http://bit.ly/khtorea">Short URL to this post</a>]<br /><br /><img src="http://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=karohemd&ditemid=49134" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments