Morton Estate 2004 White Label Sauvignon Blanc

I didn't quite know what to expect with this wine. Again, I'm not an overly big fan of Sauvignon Blanc for it's acidity. But seeing as this wine is an award winner - the label reads 'Silver Medal at the Royal Hobart International 2005 Wine Show' - it held promise.

It was not to be.

Again, as with the Montana Sauvignon Blanc there was a strong scent of lemon on the nose. The palate seemed like your average Sauvignon Blanc with it's rounded taste and crisp finish. I'm just not a fan of this grape variety and this wine didn't really impress or change my mind... a shame.

Maple, Mustard and Soy Salmon with Cauliflower Bake

Earlier tonight Steph wanted to cook dinner. So I let her :P I was mightily impressed with the finished outcome.

Here's what you need (to serve 2):
For the Salmon:

• 2 salmon steaks
• 2tbs Maple syrup
• 2tbs Dark soy sauce
• 1tbs Dijon mustard

For the Cauliflower:

• One head of cauliflower
• 1tbs Plain flour
• 50g salted butter
• 1 handful of grated cheese
  
• 3/4 cup of milk

Here's what you do:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Chop the cauliflower into bite sized pieces and drop in some boiling water for about 1-2 minutes until soft depending on size. You want the cauliflower to be cooked yet still be firm. In a saucepan melt the butter and mix in the flour until it is lump free. Pour about half the milk in and stir the mixture till smooth. Then add the grated cheese and continue stirring. Add the rest of the milk and if the sauce is still too thick then add a little more.

Pour the sauce onto the cauliflower into an oven proof dish and bake for around 10-15 minutes or until the golden brown.

For the Salmon marinade mix the maple syrup, dark soy sauce and Dijon mustard. Heat a non-stick fry pan and sear one side of the salmon. Brush the marinade on the top of the salmon steak and then turn over, brushing the seared side. Fry each side for about 2-3 minutes, the middle should be medium rare.

Serve together and enjoy :)

Editing Photos via Picasa2

Picasa2 is a very good picture edited created by Google. Though it's only in it's second edition I look forward to seeing what extra features will appear in future. Plus the program is free to download, so with that consideration it's a pretty good program!

Whilst at J&J's house warming I took a number of photos. Below (on the left) is one photo I took which I altered slightly (result on right). If you've ever wondered why some people take really good photos it's probably because they've altered the shot afterwards. It's not cheating as such - composition in the original photo is still important. But as you can see below, there is a world of difference after some tweaking ;)

Mash Potatoes

The humble mash potatoes can sound quite boring, but with a few variations it can be a stunning side dish (even DT should be able to cook this one!).

Here's what you need:
- 1 kg of Desiree potatoes
- 1 cup of thickened cream
- 125g butter
- salt and pepper to taste

Here's what you do:
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil (large enough to fit all the potatoes in and enough water to just cover them). Peel and dice the potatoes to about 2.5cm chunks/cubes.

When the water is boiling put the potatoes in. A trick to avoid splashing is to make sure that the point of entry is low. Bring the pot down to a gentle simmer and leave for approx 20 minutes or until the potatoes soft (check with a sharp knife).

Drain the potatoes and begin the mashing process. Once half mashed add the cream and butter. Continue mashing until a smooth consistency is reached. If the mash is too dry add some more cream or milk (if you're wanting it to be a bit lighter in calories!).

Suggested variations:
Now here's the fun bit! Mash potatoes now come into a world of their own once they have been varied slightly. Here are my two favourite variations.

Herbed (pictured above) - add some rosemary and dried parsley to the mix. This will give the mash a nice little boost and this is great with steaks and other red meats.

Multi-coloured mash (pictured below) - get some cherry tomatoes (the 'grape' varieties are also great for this variation) and baby spinach leaves. Prick the cherry tomatoes and drop them in boiling water for 20 seconds. Peel the tomatoes and slice them in half. Rip up the baby spinach and together with the peeled tomatoes add them to the mash to make a stunning side dish for any meal.

Have a go and let me know how it turns out!

The tomato mash served with Kangaroo steaks and salad.

Herbed Salmon with Potato Gratin and Beans

One of my favourite dishes that I've been cooking up for a while has been salmon. Steph and I visited the Sirromet Winery a few years ago and had dinner at the adjoining restaurant - Restaurant Lurleens. It's an excellent place to enjoy some fine dining. Anyway, on our first trip I tried the salmon which, whilst being slightly small in portion sizing, was the best fish I had ever tasted.

So, in my usual way, I have tried to emulate that experience.

What you need (to serve 2):
For the Salmon
- 2 Salmon steaks (it's preferable to get the steak fillet rather than the cross section as pictured - but the cross section will do) preferably with the skin on
- 2Tbsp Fresh parsley and rosemary
- 2Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
- White wine (I used a Sauvignon Blanc - see below)
- salt and pepper

Sides - Potato Gratin and Green Beans
- 4-5 medium sized white potatoes
- half cup cream
- half cup of shredded cheese (I used mozzarella because we had that in the fridge, but I'd recommend a blend of parmesan and mozzarella)
- 1 minced garlic cloves
- salt and pepper to taste

Here's what you do:
Work the parsley, rosemary, olive oil in a mortar and pestle. The idea is to bruise the herbs and help release their own flavours and oils to mix with the olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread the Salmon with the herb and oil mix. Place in a shallow dish and pour some white wine into the dish until the steaks are half covered. Refrigerate for an hour.

Whilst you're waiting for the Salmon to marinate, peel the potatoes and then put them in boiling water for about 10 minutes. This will help to soften them slightly. Rinse them out in cool water and slice into then chips about 5mm thick. Layer them in an oven proof dish and with each layer spread some garlic, add some cream, cheese and salt and pepper. Keep doing this until the spuds are used up. Then add a final layer of cream and cheese on top. Place into a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes can be pierced easily with a sharp knife.

With the green beans remove their ends and pop them into salted boiling water for 5 minutes.

In a very hot non-stick pan fry the salmon steaks skin side down first. This will give your salmon a crispy skin. I think Salmon should be best served medium rare - the middle slightly under done and still fleshy, not flaky. Note: you will not need to add oil to the pan as the Salmon is already quite fatty and will produce a fair amount of oil.

Serve together with some more white wine!

Montana 2005 Sauvignon Blanc

This wine I used in part of my marinate with the Salmon recipe above. I'm not generally a fan of Sauvignon Blanc for it's acidity, but this one was quite a treat.

On the nose I could pick up a strong scent of lemon, but it was also very fruity and full. It has been one of the more pleasing wines on my nose in quite a while.

To taste I expected a crisp clean finish with some acidic tones (kinda like biting into fresh capsicum). I tasted what I expected - since Sauvignon Blanc is renowned for these sorts of flavours. It was very fruity and had that crisp finish I was waiting for. Also very light with the aromas not lingering longer than they needed too - in this regard it had a short, but punchy finish to the taste.

The Marlborough region in New Zealand (the northern end of the South Island) is a world class area for producing Sauvignon Blanc. This Montana wine tasted like it.

Woodstock 2001 Shiraz Cabernet

I received this excellent wine as a present back in Christmas '05 and have been saving it for quite a while. A friend at work said that anything 2001 from South Australia was going to be a very good drop - the main reason: bush fires. During 2001 South Australia suffered from many bush fires, the result being that the grapes in the wine regions were going to be very sweet and the wines excellent. Lesson for today: the year of a wine will be important to some degree, and you can tell if one year is better than the other sometimes from seemingly irrelevant reasons (such as a bush fire!).

So it comes as no surprise that when I did open up the bottle, to coincide with our wedding anniversary, the wine was brilliant. I have learned that one of the best reasons for keeping wine is to allow it to mellow out. However, wine can not be kept forever. This particular wine has a cellaring potential of anywhere from 5-8 years. I've opened it at the 6 year mark.

And after 6 years this wine has matured quite well. Whist I expected it to be quite strong, I was also quite surprised at how relatively mellow flavouring was. So I referred to the notes to compare what I was tasting stacked up to the winemaker's opinion...

Herbal anise and cloves spice with pencil shavings, cedar, coconut and complex bacon aromas.

Don't know about the complex bacon aromas, but there was a hint of coconut and a hint of wood. I thought I picked up the scent of tobacco but that could also be a by product of oaking. A 'complex nose' sounds rather pompish, but it simply means that there's so much going on with the aromas that it's hard to pick - as it is with this wine.

That said, it was a very nice wine to drink from a very respectable wine maker.

My new weapon of mass production

I've been waiting for this for a long time. Ever since I purchased my little Sony DSC-W5 18-months ago I've been wanting to upgrade to a DSLR to further expand on this new hobby.

So without further ado, here is my newest camera - the Canon EOS 400D




Given that photography itself can be a relatively expensive hobby I've decided to limit myself in the add-ons that I could obtain. The primary purpose of these add-ons will be to improve the immediate photography experience - so I ask any brothers or sisters out there to keep me accountable in this regard!

The main additions I wish to include at this stage are:

• A new lens - I've been investigating the Canon EF 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens. It seems to be a relatively affordable and useful general purpose lens for my needs.
• A medium sized tripod
• A flash with diffuser

Outside of this is relatively unnecessary for my current needs. Please keep reminding me of this in case I start looking for macro lenses and what not :P