Posted by Darby on September 8, 2010 under Appetisers, Fiano, Greco | 
This recipe idea is based on one from Brian St Pierre’s excellent book The Wine Lover Cooks Italian.
It uses the affinity of basil with the creaminess of the goats cheese. It makes an excellent appetiser or component of an antipasto platter.
Ingredients for 4 people
- 4 large Mushrooms
- half Cup Pesto (see recipe)
- half cup of pine nuts
- 250 g fresh goats cheese
- Olive oil
- Parsley or a few lettuce leaves to serve
Method
- Toast the pine nuts by heating them in a dry skillet for a few minutes. Don’t overcook them. You want them to be just turning brown.
- Remove the stems of the mushrooms and brush the tops with olive oil
- Grill the top of the mushrooms for 5-10 minutes until they are just beginning to brown.
- Remove the mushrooms to a workbench and place them gill side up.
- Spoon in some pesto to each and top with a slice of the goats cheese.
- Return to grill and cook until the cheese starts to brown.
- Scatter the pine nuts over the cooked mushrooms and garnish with the greens.
Wine Suggestion
Brian St Pierre suggests using either Fiona or Greco to accompany this dish. Both are crisp white wines from the South of Italy, but they are starting to appear in Australia.
Posted by Darby on April 3, 2009 under Appetisers, Arneis, Tapas |
Marinated Mushrooms Recipe
These mushrooms can be served as a first course on their own but are better as part of an antipasto platter. The drained mushrooms can also be tossed through a green salad. They need at least a few hours to marinate, but are best after a day or two in the refrigerator.
Ingredients
Serves 2 as entree, 4-6 as part of a platter
- 250g small button mushrooms
- Half cup of good olive oil
- Juice of a lemon
- 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh herbs (chives, tarragon or parsley are great)
- 2 cloves garlic
- A couple of peppercorns or other spices
Method
Heat oil gently and infuse with the garlic. Meanwhile halve or quarter the mushrooms according to size. If they are small and you are doing them a day ahead you can leave them whole.
Remove oil from heat and add the mushrooms. Mix well and allow to cool. Add lemon juice, herbs, and spices. Allow to marinate in a glass bowl, preferably for 24 hours. Bring to room temperature before serving.
You can store these for up to a week in a glass jar in the fridge. In this case don’t put the fresh herbs in until you are ready to serve the mushrooms.
Wine suggestion
I love a crisp Arneis wine with antipasto. In this food pairing the wine often has enough oomph to go with the varied flavours from the various ingredients.
Posted by Darby on under Appetisers |
A refreshing wine drink for a heatwave.
In very hot weather I prefer not to drink wine. I sometimes have a few refreshing beers, but I get off alcohol altogether if the temperature is over 40 degrees C.
But here is a nice variation if you want to have some wine on a very hot day. You need more water and less alcohol. Wine spritzers (mixed with soda water or sparkling mineral water) are what you need
What is Hock?
In the heady days of the 1970s and before we had Australian Hock. This was a dry white wine style allegedly similar to wines produced in the German town of Hochheim in the Rhine. The wine was drier than “Riesling” but sold in a long bottle. Similar wines in a burgundy-style bottle were called “Chablis” although virtually none of them contained Chardonnay. Like most Australian wine styles at the time the quality varied from fairly good to bloody awful and the name Hock became unfashionable and dropped from use even before the pesky Europeans started to reclaim their names.
But after a hot day of working or touring in the Barossa thirsts need to be quenched. I can remember trying a few of these in a pub in Tanunda served in a beer pot glass, or was it a schooner? Of course the name evolved very rapidly to “Hook Line and Sinker”
Hock Lime and Soda.
Put a few ice blocks into a large beer glass (285 ml or more)
Half fill with dry white wine.
Add a slash of lime juice cordial and top up with soda water.
If you are feeling sophisticated you could add a slice of lemon.
Wine suggestion
Any dry white would do. Don’t use expensive wine.
Food suggestion
Beer nuts
Variation
Make up a jug full. You can use sparkling mineral water and a squeeze of fresh citrus juice if you wish.
