Oven Baked Thai Style Whole Bream                                                  

Perfect with Upper Reach Verdelho

Ingredients                                        

1 x 600gm Whole Bream
1 Piece root Ginger (25grams Approx)
2 Whole Bullet Chillies
10gm Lemongrass
5 Kafir Lime leaves
2 Small Limes
50ml White wine (Upper Reach Verdelho of course!)
50ml Light Soy sauce
Baby Spinach and broccolini
Sea Salt
Aluminium foil
Glad Bake

Method

Cut three to four marks through the flesh along the fish to help the flavour penetrate and to speed up the cooking process.
Wash and Slice kafir lime leaves, de-seed chillies and slice into small dice, then slice lemongrass into small rounds.
Slice ginger into matchstick style pieces and mix all together with Lemongrass, kafir lime leaves and chilli.
Use half of the mix to stuff the bream and slice some wedges of the lime to fill the cavity. Season with a little sea salt.
Place a sheet of foil on the bench then place a piece of silicone paper on top of the foil.(Glad Bake) Top the fish with the rest of the mix.
Top with half moon slices of lime and layer them over the top of the fish. Zest the other lime and sprinkle on top of the fish and add some sea salt.
Wrap the fish and leave one end open to add the white wine then pace in a baking dish.

Cooking the Bream

Pre heat an oven to 220°C. Place baking dish with fish in oven for 25- 30 minutes. Open one end being careful about the steam. Check the fish and if cooked place it on a plate.
(I used baby spinach and broccolini spears. Steam the broccolini but leave the baby spinach, just wash it as the fish will cook it when plated up. Drizzle the light soy sauce over the fish and garnish as required.

Recipe provided by The Anchorage Restaurant

Grilled Swordfish with Caponata & Salsa Verde       

Reserve Chardonnay

Ingredients

4 X 180g slices of Swordfish

Caponata

3 Eggplants
1 Onion
6 Garlic cloves
5 Vine ripened Tomatoes
1/2 Bunch Basil
1/2 Bunch Parsley
1/2 cup Toasted Pinenuts
1/2 cup Tiny Capers
150ml Olive oil

Salsa Verde

2 Bunches Parsley
2tbs Tiny Capers
1 Oritz Anchovie
70g Stale Sourdough Bread
1/2 Clove Garlic
1 Boiled Egg
1/2 Lemon
100ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
50 ml Milk

Method

Dice the eggplant into cubes and deep fry until dark golden brown. Place onto absorbent paper and set aside. Dice the onion into small dice & slice the garlic thinly. Pick all the leaves from the herbs and rinse in a colander. Blanch and deseed the tomatoes & chop into small dice. In a heavy based pot fry the herbs on a gentle heat to infuse oil, add the onions and garlic and continue to fry on low heat. When onion and garlic is soft add the toasted pinenuts followed by the rest of the ingredients. Check seasoning and put aside for use later.

Remove crusts from sourdough and dice into large pieces. Put into a bowl and soak the bread in the milk, and put aside to absorb milk and soften. Pick the leaves from the parsley and put in mortar or food processor. Bash or blitz the the parsley so it breaks down slightly with a little oil. Squeeze the milk out of the soaked bread and combine with the parsley anchovies and the capers, continue to bash or blitz the mixture but not to fine, some texture is good, you want the capers to have some shape. Finally grate the whites of the egg with a very fine grater or microplane and add the lemon juice and some seasoning if needed.

Recipe provided by Le Kiosk

Upper Reach Shiraz matched with Lamb Shanks

This is Renee's recipe, its fantastic and very easy, impressive for a dinner party, an absolute treat after work. I prepare it in the morning, or the night before and only have to turn the oven on at lunchtime for dinner to be ready when I get home!

1-2 shanks per person

Stock (powdered is fine)

Upper Reach Red wine

bay leaf                                        thyme

orange zest                                 2 teaspoons paprika

1 cinnamon stick                        bit of saffron or turmeric

Seal the lamb shanks, remove from pan, add onion, carrot & red capsicum to pan and saute

Put the shanks back into pan with the vegetables, add 1 to 2 cups of red wine and approx 2 cups of stock (I just use powder)  -enough liquid to cover the meat, bring it to the boil, then throw into an oven proof dish, with other ingredients and slow cook it on 120/140 C for 4-6 hours (adjust temperature depending on long long you're going to leave it).

Serve with mash, and green vegetables or salad.

Perfect with our Shiraz

Merlot matched with Veal Scaloppine with Marsala & Mushrooms

150-180g Veal Scaloppine per person                                                                       Thanks to Stephanie Alexander    

Flour

4 thin slices of lemon

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1/4 cup marsala

1/4 cup stock (I use a tetra pack of prepared stock)

Preheat oven (100 C) and put plates into warm. season meat with salt & pepper then dip in flour. Heat a knob of butter in frying pan. 

Drop in lemon & brown on both sides, remove lemon onto a hot plate, then put veal in pan.

Seal for 1-2 mins, then turn & seal other side quickly. Remove veal to oven.

Tip in mushrooms and stir for 1 min. Add 1/4 cup of marsala allowing it to bubble up, stirring gently.

Stir in 1/4 cup of strong stock and bring to the boil, tip the cooked scaloppine into the sauce and serve straight away.

Perfect with Upper Reach Merlot

Tempranillo matched with Jamie Oliver’s  slow-roasted spiced pork loin

With black-eyed beans and tomatoes

The Perfect Post-Pruning Lunch!  

Jeni loves this with the Tempranillo, she is only interested in food as it relates to wine, and with a 'newish' variety like Tempranillo feels it is vital, as it's such an unusual wine.
She searched through recipe books & found JO's recipe, (she is an absolute JO fan!), loved the Spanish twist with Black Eyed Beans, Chorizo & Chilli & also that it is slow roasted. 

Don't be put off by the number of ingredients, you'll have most of them in the pantry! 

This is a great recipe to have a bunch of friends over to share with!

Ingredients:                                                         Serves 12 (can be halved)

• 3kg rib-end loin of pork with skin on, French-trimmed     • 6 bay leaves                                                        
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper                          • 3 x 400g of good-quality plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 5 teaspoons smoked paprika                                               • 2 handfuls of fresh ripe tomatoes, halved
• juice of 1 lemon                                                                        • 4 x 410g tins of black-eyed beans, drained
• olive oil                                                                                       • 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 red onions, finely sliced                                                      • a handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 6–8 fresh red, yellow and green chillies                             • red wine vinegar
• 200g small whole chorizo sausages, thickly sliced         • sour cream, to serve
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped

 Get your butcher to do the trimming and scoring of the pork loin for you to save you some time.

Preheat your oven to 240ºC/475ºF/gas 9. First, score the skin of the pork in a criss-cross pattern every 1cm/½ inch with a sharp knife, trying not to cut into the meat itself.

Mix a little salt with a teaspoon of paprika, the lemon juice and a little olive oil, then rub this over the meat and into the score lines. Put the meat in a high-sided roasting tray and cook in the preheated oven for 30 minutes to start the skin crisping up.

Remove the meat from the oven, turning the heat down to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.

Take the pork out of the tray and put it to one side, then spoon out half the fat and discard it. Place the tray on the hob, add the onions, whole chillies, chorizo, bay leaves and rosemary with the remaining paprika, and fry gently until the onions are soft. Add all the tomatoes, the beans, garlic, parsley and a wineglass of water to the tray, stirring and scraping up all the lovely sticky bits from the bottom. Place the pork on top, return to the oven and cook for another hour or so or until the skin is crispy and the meat is meltingly tender.

When cooked, remove the pork from the tray and allow to rest. Taste the sauce and season with salt, pepper and a few swigs of red wine vinegar to give it a twang. Then remove the chillies and control the heat by chopping up as much chilli as you like and stirring it back into the sauce. Lovely served with soured cream.

If you've got leftovers: stuff it into hot flour tortillas or pitta breads to be eaten like a kind of fajita or burrito – Superb Sunday Supper.

Perfect with our 2008 Tempranillo