The Awards Long Lunch at the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show is an occasion to celebrate the diversity of new Australian wines, accompanied by some fine regional food.

The 2008 Awards Long Lunch was held at Trentham Estate, a winery located on a superb site overlooking the Murray River.

As usual the wines presented at the lunch included were all Gold medalists from 2007. The food was provided by Trentham Estates restaurant and each course was carefully matched with the bracket of wines presented.

The menu is presented here to stimulate your interest and imagination

The Menu

Appetisers and Canapes

• Blackbilly Pinot Gris 2007
• Brown Brothers Vermentino 2007

First Course
Rabbit and chorizo terrine with chutney

• Robinvale Wines 2002 Kerner
• Matua 2006 Shingle Peak Reserve Pinot Gris

Second Course
Coulibac of Murray cod with sauteed leek and mushroom duxelle served with sauce creme and fish roe

• W Wines 2007 Viognier
• Yalumba 2006 The Virgilus Viognier
• Tahbilk 2005 Marsannne
• Tahbilk 2003 Marsanne

Third Course
Rosemary and Garlic marinated quail on spicy ratatouille with a drizzle of jus

• Cobaw Ridge 2006 Lagrein
• Mount Langi Ghiran 2006 Nut Tree Hill Sangiovese
• Freeman Vineyards 2003 Rondinella Corvina

Fourth Course
Duo of succulent Beef with truffle scented mash, vegetables and herb jus

• Tar and Roses 2006 Nebboilo
• Pizzini Wines 2002 Nebbiolo
• Tscharke 2006 Montepulciano

Fifth Course
Selection of cheese with garnishes and house pastes

• Casella Wines 2006 Yendah Vale Durif
• D’Arenberg 2005 The Sticks and Stones Tempranillo Grenache Souszao

A full list of the results for the 2007 AAWWS can be found here

Chicken in white wine recipe

The classic Coq-au-vin, using red wine, is a classic of French cuisine. It was probably more fashionable in the 1960s and 70s but it is well worth revisiting.

Le Coq I Elizabeth Garrett Buy From Art.com

I like this version with white wine. It is ideally paired with an aromatic medium bodied white, perhaps a Viognier, but preferably a firm Vermentino. The recipe is adapted from the “Myra Breckenridge Cookbook” a rather tongue-in-cheek collection celebrating food, sex and the films of the golden era of Hollywood through the eyes of Gore Vidal’s outrageous character.

Ingredients for 4 people

• 1 chicken, jointed
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 clove garlic crushed
• 3 rashers bacon, diced
• 12 small pickling onions
• 1 medium carrot
• 2 cups button mushrooms
• 250ml white wine
• Olive oil

Method

Use a heavy based ssaucepan or a casserole dish over medium heat. Saute the bacon and the garlic for a couple of minutes to release some of their flavours into the oil. Remove and set a side.

Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour and brown in the saucepan, adding a little more oil if necessary.

Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pan to release any bits that may have adhered. Turn heat down to low, and return the bacon and garlic to the pan. Add the mushrooms, sliced carrots and peeled onions.

Cover the saucepan and simmer for 45 minutes. You may need to add a little more wine or water.

Serve with steamed potatoes or a green vegetable in season.

Wine Suggestion

This dish is ideal for a medium bodied white wine. I would suggest a Vermentino - the wine will have enough depth of flavour not to be overwhelmed by those of the bacon and mushrooms.

Asparagus has a distinctive aroma and taste that can be hard to match with wine.

Asparagus

Fine Art Print by Peggy Turchett

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About Asparagus
Asparagus is the shoot of a perennial plant that looks like a fern, but it is unrelated to fern plants. It grows each spring from a sub-surface crown. Some cuisines use white asparagus which is produced by depriving the shoots of light. If the shoots are allowed to grow in light they turn green, or in some varieties, purple.

The plant has been used throughout recorded history in Europe and the Mediterranean lands. According to Wkipedia it is known in French and Dutch as asperge, in Italian as asparago in Portuguese as espargo hortense, in Spanish as espárrago, in German as Spargel, in Hungarian as spárga and in India as Ashadhi, Majjigegadde or Sipariberuballi.

The edible part of Asparagus is the new shoot with the buds. The stalks are picked before the leaves emerge from the buds.

Asparagus recipes

A food plant as widespread as asparagus has attracted many recipes. The basic method is to remove the tough part of the bottom of the stem, either by snapping or peeling and to plunge into boiling water for about 5 minutes. The aim is to keep the asparagus crisp. Overcooking will give you a limp grey mess.

You serve asparagus in a number of ways.

• Simply dressed with extra virgin olive oil and a splash of vinegar
• With a Hollandaise sauce
• Jamie Oliver suggests serving steamed asparagus with a lemon and anchovy butter
• Under a dressing of soy sauce with few drops of sesame oil
• In a Spanish omelet, substituting asparagusf or the potatoes
• In asparagus rolls wrapped in sliced bread with the crusts removed
• As part of an antipasta platter with smoked salmon
• Malaysian restaurants sometimes serve it with belachan sauce
• Stephanie Alexander suggests putting blanched asparagus on to the barbecue grill

Asparagus and wine

Now the tricky part. Asparagus has a strongish flavour that can overwhelm some wines. You need to take into consideration the sause as well. If you want to serve it with white, perhaps a robust Vermentino or a Viognier could be the go. Gewurztraminer wines are strongly flavoured and can be an ideal foil for asparagus. Among the red wines I would suggest a Barbera for its tartness, or perhaps a Petit Verdot

This is a splendid feast for a dozen or so people. It needs a courtyard and a long sunny afternoon with plenty of good friends. If you serve it in winter, don’t worry, the earthy flavours will enable you and your guests to dream of a sunny courtyard.

A note on the ingredients - you can scale the quantities up and down and substitute for out of season vegetables.

Seafood ingredients (about 200g per person more you use shellfish):
Salt cod, firm fleshed fish fillets, scallops, prawns, oysters, mussels, crabs, baby octopus or even lobster

Vegetables: any or all of the following
New potatoes steamed
Fresh beetroot, wrap in foil, bake in moderate oven for 1 hour, then rub off skin
Baby carrots, blanched
Small green beans, blanched
Fresh artichokes trimmed and boiled for 20 minutes
Asparagus, steamed
Cauliflower broken into florets and steamed

12 eggs, hardboiled shelled and halved
About 2 cups of aioli see recipe
Parsley or fresh herbs to garnish.
Some crusty French bread sticks.

This whole thing is a bit of a logistical nightmare, so aim to have the vegetables prepared early and kept warm rather than hot. As each is ready place it onto warm serving platter or too, gradually assembling the feast. A slotted spoon is very handy for all of this.

The seafood ingredients should be poached in water or you could use stock. Cook the salt cod separately. I retain the cooking liquor from the other seafoods to make a soup later.

When the seafood is ready arrange it on your platter(s) with the vegetables and top with the boiled eggs. Scatter over some parsley.

Serve with breadsticks and bowls of aioli so that guests can help themselves.

You need plenty of cold white wine with this dish. I would recommend a Marsanne or perhaps a Viognier. Another choice would be a Provencal style rose, perhaps made from Grenache or perhaps Mourvedre.

Garlic Showing the Purple… Buy From Art.com

Aioli is a wonderful, versatile garlic mayonnaise. It is especially suitable with poached or steamed seafoods and seems to have a natural affinity with steamed potatoes. In fact you can use it anywhere you use normal mayonnaise.

You really should try that wonderful Provencal seafood dish Le Grand Aioli.

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
• half teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Approximately 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Lemon juice, to taste
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

• Crush the garlic with the salt in a mortar and pestle, or crush it well under the side of a kitchen knife
• Place the egg yolk and mustard into the bowl and whisk well with wire whisk
• Then slowly add the olive oil little by little whisking all the while
• You can do this in a food processor or blender
• You should get a nice mayonnaise consistency
• Store in the fridge

For more garlic recipes just type ‘garlic’ into the search box.

Garlic lovers may be interested in the following books:

Food pairing with aioli

Aioli and other garlic-rich sauces require some thought when choosing an appropriate wine. You need to have sharpish wines when a dish has a dominant garlic flavour. Delicate wines can be overpowered. Vermentino or Viognier can be good choices for white, a rose made from Grenache might also suit. A rustic Italian red wine or perhaps a South Australian GSM is another option you might consider.