Take-Away Wine Specials from Darry Wall
Our resident Wine Sommelier, Darry Wall, will be putting together some mixed wine packs specials shortly … stay tuned.
Click here to view the specials that Darry recently prepared that were very popular with our members and sold out!
It is great to have our junior Sous Chef Amit back on board for and he has kindly provided the following recipe which some of you would have sampled on the specials menu prior to our shutdown.
Crispy Pork Belly with Romesco Sauce & Honey Glazed Baby Carrots, Fennel & Jus
Pork belly (180gm portion for a serve) – cook it in a non-stick pan until it gets a nice crispy skin and finish it in the oven 180-200 degrees for 6 to 10 minutes until it gets tender.
Romesco Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy romesco sauce. I bet you have all of the ingredients already!
- Roasted red peppers: Specifically, use high quality jarred roasted red peppers. My favourite brands are Divina and Whole Foods 365. I tried roasting my own peppers, but I couldn’t taste the difference in the finished sauce.
- Whole almonds: Choose unsalted almonds if you can. Either raw or roasted will work. If you only have salted almonds, you could omit the salt from the recipe and add salt to taste at the end. Other traditional options include hazelnuts or pine nuts.
- Sun-dried tomatoes: Traditional romesco sauces are made with roasted tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes offer a similarly rich depth of flavour, without the work.
- Raw garlic: Garlic offers some pungency and funk. The vinegar tempers its bite a bit.
- Sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar: Vinegar’s acidic flavour livens up this sauce.
- Smoked Paprika: This adds extra smoky flavour, which would traditionally be found by roasting the tomatoes.
- Cayenne pepper: Just 1/4 teaspoon adds another boost of flavour. I wouldn’t call this sauce spicy, but you can omit it if you’re very sensitive to heat.
- Extra-virgin olive oil: Olive oil makes this sauce rich and creamy. You’ll blend the other ingredients together at first, and then drizzle in the olive oil to finish it off.
Honey Glazed Carrots & Fennel
In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add salt and then carrots and cook until tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the carrots, fennel and add back to pan with butter, honey and lemon juice. Cook until a glaze coats the carrots, 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley.
2 tsp olive oil, 2 shallots finely chopped, 175ml port, 175ml red wine, 1 rosemary sprig, 1 bay leaf, 800ml beef stock, 2 tbsp butter, pinch of sugar.
Put the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and fry the shallots until golden and caramelised, about 10 mins. Add the port, wine and herbs and simmer for 10 mins, or until reduced by half.
Pour in the stock and continue to cook until reduced by half again, then strain, discarding the shallots and herbs.
Transfer the sauce into a new pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, then season to taste.
Enjoy!!!