Dear Edwina,
Here we are! We are now officially opened. After weeks of intense preparations and last minute frantic cleaning, Edwina and I turned ourselves into excellent floor scrubbers - or should I should I say floor technicians-. Even our unsuspecting friends were not spared, visiting us meant you ended up with a brush in your hands and not a cup of tea. It was all worth it, the opening events went without a glitch. The team and our local suppliers produced and showcased delicious food, Minister for food Trevor Sargent cut the ribbon, he showed a lot of enthusiasm for our project and food matters in general.
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Course News
Back at the ranch, It's all go, we kicked off with "Christmas in Italy" and " Girls night out" is just around the corner, we love the happy banter and the delicious smells coming out of the kitchen! Mummies and Daddies we are thinking of you too, with the February mid-term break in mind, we will be putting on some courses dedicated to your budding chefs , so watch this space. | |
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Christine's Blog: A Dream Invitation!
Having just barely recovered from all this, Julian and I got a dream invitation by a friend who owns an important vineyard called Batasiolo near Alba in the Piedmont region of Italy ; to come and spend the week-end to celebrate the white truffle season and related wine tasting, you can understand, dear reader, that tired or not tired we had to go.
After a short drive from Turin, in a spectacular countryside of rolling hills covered with autumn coloured vines we kicked of with a Barolo tasting an a visit to the impressive cellars, not in that order ! After that we were taken to a restaurant where the chef, Renzo, an adorable man in his seventies, the sort you want to take back home in your suitcase, and a close friend of our host, gave us a memorable dinner.
At risk of making you drool on your laptops, dear readers, I will attempt to describe one of the dishes: a perfectly poached egg, covered with a savoury Zabaglione (a sauce similar to Hollandaise) as light as a whisper and a generous amount of white Alba truffle over that. A triumph. The rest of the week-end continued in the same vein, more tasting of wines we are not very familiar with, like Barbaresco from the famous Nebbiolo grapes, a visit to the truffle market -€5000 per kg!- more succulent local food. Needdless to say Julian and I felt like beached whales by Sunday night, so steamed vegetables are on the menu all week in our house.
Northern Italy seems to be the place for food lovers this Autumn, our Hazel and her Neil spent a week in Turin to take part in the "Salone del Gusto" an event dedicated to the excellence of food in conjunction with the Slow Food movement.
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Holiday Canapés
Smoked salmon in filo cups with roasted peppers and dill salsa
Makes 20 Preheat oven 180˚C Gas mark 4
salmon & salsa filling
150g smoked salmon cut into slices
1 red pepper and 1 yellow pepper
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
6 basil leaves, finely chopped
1 lime, peeled, segmented and halved
2 tbsp chopped dill
1 tsp each of salt and pepper
100g crème fraiche
filo tartlets
12 filo pastry sheets
25g butter, melted
To make the filling:quarter the peppers, remove the stem and seeds and blacken under the grill skin side up until dark on all sides. Place in a bag, seal leave for 5 minutes. Remove and peel away the skin.
Cut the pepper's flesh into small dice and place in a small bowl. Add the oil, vinegar, garlic,basil, halved lime segments, dill, salt and pepper. Leave to marinate for at least an hour.
To make the tartlets: brush 1 filo pastry sheet with soem melted butter. Use a sharp knife to cut the pastry into 5cm squares. Stack 4 squares at different angles on top of each other, so that the finished stack has a star-like apperance.
Push the pastry firmly into a mini muffin tin to obtain a flat bottom for the tartlets. Repeat thsi process with remaining pastry. Bake in the preheated oven for 6-8 minutes until golden. Carefully remove from the tins and cool on racks.
To assemble: slice the salmon, place 1tsp creme fraiche into each tartlet , place a swirl of salmon and top with 1 tsp of the pepper salsa, garnish with extra dill or basil. |
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Well that's it for this issue, hope you enjoyed it. If you have any comments or suggestions on what you would like us to include in our newsletter, we'd love to hear from you.
Have a wonderful Christmas!
The Kitchen In the Castle
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Minister Trevor Sargent at our
opening cermony with Edwina, Myself and Julian
Batasiolo Vineyard
 Chef Renzo and Friends White Alba Truffles
First Night "Christmas in Italy" |
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Competition Winner
Congratulations to Breda Barber our winner of the gift voucher give away!! Breda won an €80 gift voucher by signing up to our website mailing list! | |
