Whole Bunch

This is an assemble-as-you-go/deconstructed muchroom lasagne. It’s quick and easy to slap up a single portion for those strict adherents to meat-free Mondays while Mondayless carnivores can use the filling as a sauce over their steak.

Lasagne sheets as required
A good knob of butter
1 large shallot, peeled, halved and finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed (extra clove of garlic if using everyday onions as sub for shallot)
150-200g mixed mushrooms, sliced
120-150ml double cream
1tbsp freshly grated Parmesan
tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a saucepan and gently cook the shallots and garlic for few minutes, add the mushrooms and cook with a lid on for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally until they begin to soften.

Add the cream, season and simmer for a few minutes until the cream thickens. Stir in the Parmesan and parsley. There should be a good amount of sauce to coat the mushrooms; if not, add a little more cream and simmer again.

Meanwhile, cook the lasagne sheets in boiling salted water according to the cooking instructions; drain. To serve, lay a sheet of lasagne on a warm serving plate, spoon over the mushrooms, reserving a spoonful of the sauce. If you wish, you can lay a second layer of lasagne and spoon the rest of the sauce on top.

Pair with Pepin Conde Pinot Noir 2010 – this is the best value for money Pinot in the country and a brilliant foil for the shrooms.

From Stark-Conde in Jonkershoek (Elgin fruit)

Jonathan Snashall

http://huntergatherervintner.blogspot.com/

Pinot Noir is both minx and manure, a supreme psychological manipulator, she will cagoule you with haunting aromas and silky textures. Once she touches your lips you are Samson with short back and sides and qualify for a complimentary life membership at Pinot Noir Anonymous (PNAS, or bi´na´is).

Or not, for some of her synonyms include widow maker and heart breaker. Her schizo side can reveal an acidic, shallow vixen sans backbone or colour. But she will beguile you and you will forever seek her once she indulges you with her ethereal, ancient charms.

But why? After some bottle age, the Pinot X-factor emerges, that something that makes you want to go back to the glass again and again to pin down those elusive characters. That ever so faint whiff of forest floor, farmyard, or mushroomy aromas that – with some red or black berry notes – appeals to higher and base instincts, hijacking at once both the primordial amygdala and the evolved frontal cortex. You are now truly under her spell, you pass orgasm and go directly to post-coital bliss.

                                                                                                    bit shy

Pinot Noir is a fragile, thin skinned variety but commercially is known to have a far tougher skin. With PNAS members driving prices up worldwide, the best examples are often Burgundian, where prices can be so stratospheric that families can make a living from a few rows of vines – literally.

And prices – like the terroir* in Burgundy – can vary dramatically from one vineyard and even one row to the next. Combined with the vagaries of Burgundy’s more continental weather and convoluted AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) rules it all makes for prime exploitation of prices and markets.

It’s the Champagne syndrome – giddiness and glaze all rolled into one. Just as you get nasty, yet over-priced examples of Champagne because only Champagne from Champagne may be called Champagne, so to you may pay a not inconsiderable sum of money for a Burgundy – expecting Ella Fitzgerald but ending up with PJ Powers. #nothappy.

Also – despite some 700 years of practice in Burgundy – nobody really knows quite how to keep Pinot on her best behaviour although quality in the Old world has increased since the 90’s, not least from technology and a warmer climate.

But her skittishness is in her genes. As one of the oldest cultivated vines in existence she suffers extreme genetic instability (as do other Vitis Viniferas). The dysfunctional Pinot family (Noir, Blanc and Gris) are – down to their DNA – the same grape but prone to constant genetic mutation. Not scared yet?

It also means that Pinot can adapt well to local conditions and new world wine makers who have stepped out of Burgundy’s shadow are making some delicious Pinot. Trial and error have enabled growers worldwide to workout which clones best suite their particular site.

This is where they start to sound like über models on a runway. The most productive clones, which have large-berried bunches, are described as Pinot Droit for the vine’s upright growth, while Pinot Fin, Pinot Tordu or Pinot Classique grow much less regularly but have smaller berries with thicker skin. The latter normally leads to more flavours, colour and aromas in wine.

But you still have to treat her right. Her sensitive traits make her vulnerable to pests and disease. Her precocious nature makes for early budding which is prone to frost and poor fruit set or coulure – not very haute.  Pinot is also more prone to rot and viruses.

She is also particular about where she lives, her preferred terroir* is limestone soil in a cool climate. Then Pinot is far more difficult to vinify than her other famous Burgundian sibling Chardonnay, requiring constant monitoring and fine tuning of technique depending on vintage circumstances.

Pinot Noir’s other home is Champagne – where else? Here she is required to go au naturale, whole bunch pressed to strip her of any colour but she manages to display her characteristic red berry aromas and lushness of palate.

Another of her hidden charms is Resveratrol – the phenolic compound found in red wine with proven health benefits – for the heart of course – and is 3 to 4 times higher in Pinot Noir than most other red varieties. This fortification of the heart is just the medicine required to deal with her capricious nature.

Pinot Noir can range from deeply coloured, tannic, oak-aged mouthfuls worthy of cellaring – no whips or chains please – to acidic dark rosés that should be drunk, drunk. The best are intense, vibrant, fruity wines with elegant structure (fine tannin, lively acidity) and subtle oak influence.

I made an exciting discovery in Jonkershoek last weekend – I found a Pinot Noir at Stark-Conde for under R100 that knocks the broeks off many a villages level Pinot. It’s the 2010 Pepin Conde made by Jose Conde from Elgin fruit. It was bottled recently so if you have the discipline try give it some time for improved oak integration, just make sure you get some its fantastic value for money.

Jonathan Snashall

As far as I can remember, winter in the Cape arrives around Easter weekend – regardless of where it falls in any particular year – and there is often snow on the mountains of Franschhoek.

All of a sardine you are craving rich stews & casseroles as the instinct to fatten up is activated.  This recipe omits the more traditional tomatoes and includes anchovies – one of my favourite secret ingredients – and white wine rather than red.

Veal shin is preferred but beef shin works fine, just a bit more glutinous and robust. The Gremolata garnish is the best and almost as inspirational as the rich savouriness of the dish.

8 pieces of veal shin, thickly sliced for bone marrow and some height on the plate.

75g plain flour; salt & pepper; 120g butter; 2 Tbsp butter, 2 peeled and finely chopped small red onions, 4-5 trimmed celery stalks for extra Umami, 2 peeled and chopped garlic cloves, 10 anchovies rinsed if salted, ideally red in colour, 375ml dry white wine preferably unoaked.

Preheat oven to 150°C. Put the flour in a plastic shopping bag with some salt and cracked pepper to dust the shin rather than yourself and the rest of the kitchen.

If you don’t have a casserole that can handle hob and oven, first brown the veal in a pot relay fashion. Melt all the butter and half the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot/casserole and brown the Ossobuco. Remove and pour away the fat. Add the remaining butter and gently fry the onion and celery until soft but not brown – lid on for a bit helps. Then add the garlic and anchovies, once they melt away pour in the wine, bring to the boil and reduce.

Put the Ossobuco back into the casserole, ideally in one layer with the narrower section of the bone in each piece at the bottom to keep the marrow in place. Cover with wax paper and the lid and casserole for at least 2 hours.

While it’s in the oven make the most aromatic and zesty Gremolata. Mix finely grated zest of 2 lemons, 1 peeled & finely chopped garlic clove, and 3 Tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley and sprinkle over the cooked Ossobuco.

If you want to push the boat out serve it with Risotto Milanese.

1 litre chicken stock – if you’re using instant dilute more than instructions recommend as they can be salty. S&P, 150g butter, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 finely chopped red onion, 300g risotto (fino cooks quicker),1 Tbsp saffron, 75ml extra dry vermouth or dry white wine, 150g Parmesan.

Melt 75g of the butter and all the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot and gently fry the onion until soft. Add the rice stirring to coat before adding 1-2 ladlefuls of hot stock to cover the rice, simmer and stir until it starts getting sticky. Add the saffron.  Continue stirring and adding more stock as required until al dente.

Add the remaining butter in small pieces while stirring vigorously off the heat, then the vermouth – which cuts the starch beautifully – and finally the parmesan with a few light stirs so it does not go stringy.

While robust, this is a lighter style Ossobuco so maybe avoid full bodied, heavily oaked reds. Besides a Pinot or Zinfandel try a rich, oaked Chardonnay. Its an enormously satisfying meal and definitely one of my top 5 winter meals. Buon Appetito!

Jonathan Snashall