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Friday 17 January 2014

A description given by Fernand Point regarding wine

Fernand Point was a game changer in world of food and Cuisine. For over thirty years he ran the Restaurant de la Pyramide, in Vienne, France and built it into one of the worlds greatest restaurants and trained many of the next generations top French chefs. When he died in 1955 at the age of fifty-eight he was considered the master cusinier of the twentieth century. His book Ma Gastronomie takes centre stage on many a book shelf.
His thoughts on wine are of interest and you might have a smile on your face reading it
Point: 'White wines, in my opinion, are like women - they must be caught in their youth. On the other hand, the excellent red wines are like men who will, in principle at least, find themselves maturing into subtle yet vigorous old gentlemen. Of course, the Beaujolais must always be drunk young. He's a likeable young fellow who deceives you with his long pants'

Thursday 16 January 2014

Smoked Haddock Soup, curry oil and coriander



This is an adaption of the famous Chef’s Simon Hopkinson recipe for a soup using the same ingredients. It is warm, tasty and tastes of more, which is all we wish for. You will need:

70g butter
2 leeks, white parts only, sliced finely and washed
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
Salt and pepper
600ml of good chicken stock
1 large potato, peeled and chopped
300ml of milk
450g of undyed smoked haddock skinned and without bones (use fish from a local smoke house or even better still use Sally Barnes smoked haddock it’s the best)
1 tbsps. of chopped coriander leaves
Little lemon juice to taste
150ml of cream
1 tsp. of curry powder
2 tbsps. Of sunflower oil

In a large saucepan melt the butter and cook the leeks gently until soft. Add the garlic and potato and cook for a further five minutes. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, season and liquidize and strain through a sieve.
Cook the haddock in the milk and add both to the soup base, stir in the coriander, lemon juice and cream.
In a small pot heat the oil gently and add the curry powder, let the oil cool and strain. Use this to swirl on top to the soup just before serving.