+/- $200 wine to drink now

Tom, Tooooooom, don't keep goading him on, he enjoys that.

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

"Swooper" wrote

Hey Swooper is your shop located in Melbourne? (seen plenty of posts for the doggies on alt.sport.aussie-rules) Cheers Andrew

I'm pretty sure its in the Dandenongs somewhere.

Olinda or somewhere like that.

I asked ages and ages ago, but don't remember exactly where. I keep meaning to go over there.

Mat.

Yeah, I know you're right - but it's like scratching when you have chicken pox. Sometimes you just can't help it, and it feels good for a little while. :^/

Tom S

Well, as I do not want to be seen as using the group for advertising, (and spam IS one of my pet hates), lets just say the area is very FERNY, and there's a CREEK nearby. These comments are GENERAL only, and should be STOREd away for future reference..... :>)

hooroo....

I c. Well I'll just have to email you about it then.

I guess ppl get sick of other ppl trying to get the tourists on the old main tourist road.

I may drop in one day in the future. No website?

Nup. No need. Well heeled area, I do the hard yards, ...the regs keep coming back,...appreciative of my efforts at shows etc, finding thm good qpr 'boutique' stock. I AM...btw...on the Tourist rd...u can't miss me...lol

hooroo...

Salut/Hi Tom S,

le/on Wed, 25 May 2005 02:30:28 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

Were you to be alone on the echo, perhaps, but the problem is that in replying, you quote, and therefore we ALL read what you're quoting. Sigh. You have to learn self discipline, young Tom.

And especially for those who like such things, here's a splendid recipe to accompany your next bottle of (Gimblett Road) Forrest Cornerstone Cabernet Sauvignon 1998 from Newton. You would want to use a lesser wine to do the cooking.

@@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format

Colonial Goose

british, lamb/mutton, main dish

5 lb lamb leg ----FOR STUFFING---- 4 oz dried apricots 4 oz fresh white breadcrumbs 1 oz butter 1 tablespoon clear honey 2 oz onion, chopped 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 pepper 1 medium egg, beaten ----FOR MARINADE---- 1/2 lb old carrots, sliced 6 oz onions, sliced 1 bayleaf 3 parsley stalks, crushed 5 fl oz red wine (cabernet sauvignon) 24 hours beforehand, make the stuffing. Chop the apricot coarsely, mix with breadcrumbs and chopped onions. Melt the butter, pour over, add honey, salt, pepper and thyme. Mix well together, then mix in beaten egg.

Make marinade by mixing all the ingredients together.

Bone or have boned the lamb. (Tunnel bone for stuffing). Stuff the cavity loosely. Sew up the opening. Put lamb in a polythene bag long enough to hold it comfortably. Add bones. Pour over the marinade, tie the top with a bag seal, sucking out excess air. Stand in a bowl (to catch leaks). Marinade overnight, turning from time to time.

Preheat oven to 350 F (Mk 4). Remove lamb from marinade and dry well. Drain marinade and fry vegetables in roasting pan very briefly. Place lamb on top and roast 25 mins/lb oven ready weight. Baste frequently with marinade while cooking. Meanwhile make a little lamb stock from bones.

When done, take out of oven, Remove strings from joint and leave to rest 15 mins while making the gravy, then carve crosswise. For the gravy, remove vegetables from roasting tin, pour off roasting juices, leaving 2 tbs fat in pan. Fry 2 tbs flour in this, return aqueous part of roasting juices and remaining marinade. Add lamb stock if needed. Season to taste. MMed. IMH c/o Gohlam BBS Fido 2:320/116.14

Yield: 8 servings

** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.66 **

Bummer, Ian. I've never been too good at that. :^((

Thanks for the lamb recipe! :^)) I'll give it a try - probably on the BBQ though, on indirect heat, rather than the oven - unless you strongly object.

Tom S

Salut/Hi Tom S,

le/on Fri, 27 May 2005 03:37:06 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

I suspect that with the stuffing, it might be better on the oven, however by all means try it on the weber, and if you like the basic idea but you find that the flavours clash, then perhaps try again as written.

As for provocative Eyeties, courage! I've got worse, a professional chef from Bologna who tears my beautiful recipe for lasagna al forno to bits because I use beef - sniff.

??? What would he _have_ you use instead, Ian? Horse? I know that's more commonly available in Italy than beef, but personally I wouldn't consider eating it.

As many Americans, I grew up with Mr. Ed on television, so I can't imagine eating his kin. Fortunately, we never had any talking steers, pigs or fish on TV in those days. Shari Lewis' Lamb Chop was a close call though. ;^)

Tom S

Exageration, horse is going out of fashion in Italy and in France...

So why the hangup about bunnies?

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Salut/Hi Tom S,

le/on Sat, 28 May 2005 01:38:47 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

Here's the recipe he sent, translated "sort-of".

Ragu Bolognese

1 lb pork; ground VERY coarsely 1 lb veal; ground VERY coarsely 7 oz pancetta or unsmoked bacon; ground VERY coarsely 1/2 lb margarine (butter IMH) 2 glasses white wine ground nutmeg 3 1/2 oz onion; chopped finely 3 1/2 oz carrot; chopped finely 3 1/2 oz celery;chopped finely 5 1/2 oz triple tomate puree; up to 1/3 more 1 cube (bouillon)

In a casserole, melt the margarine (BUTTER IMH) add the pancetta or bacon and brown it well. Then add the mirepoix (finely chopped vegetables- IMH), and continue cooking. As soon as the vegetables are well cooked, add the pork, followed immediately by some coarse salt (kosher - IMH), pepper and nutmeg, (so that the liquid will evaporate more quickly), mixing well, let the mixture cook until the ingredients start to stick to the bottom of the casserole. Now stir in the veal and continue cooking in the same way until it attaches again. Deglaze with the white wine.

Add the tomato concentrate, sprinkle in the bouillon cube and cover with cold water (use stock instead IMH). As soon as it boils, reduce the heat and allow to simmer 3-4 hours adding more water as needed.

Don't let your preconceived notions about effet European eating habits show, Tom! There's more than beef and horse in the world!

Now, I think this is a truly bizarre recipe, but Ruggero swears _blind_ that it is THE ONE true Bolognese recipe enshrined by the city fathers on tablets of stone, and that no deviation is acceptable or permitted. Actually I did rather cut the ground from under his feet by explaining that MY ragu didn't claim to be a Ragu Bolognese - because the recipe I use it in - Lasagne al Forno is essentially Roman, but he still mutters on about the international betrayal of a Bolognese tradition. Given the differences, I have some sympathy, though I suspect my recipe tastes a LOT better.

My experience in Italy was 10 years ago. I remember someone mentioning that beef was very expensive in Europe, and afterward seeing beautiful looking steaks in the window of a butcher shop in Ivrea. I commented on them and their price (which didn't seem too bad) and was informed that they were horsemeat.

No hangup, per se. I simply haven't cared for it when I've tried it a couple of times. Maybe I just don't like the taste of rodent.

Tom S

Sorry, but rabbits aren't rodents. They're lagomorphs.

Chris, One possibility is to purchase a wine released ready to drink. Certainly, the cult CalCabs and "garagistes" probably qualify, but a more traditional choice would be (as Anders said) Vega Sicilia Unico. Alternatively, you could go the auction market and buy some mid-range

1982 Bordeauxs (Lynch Bages, Gruaud Larose, Montrose) that are now drinkable.

Mark Lipton