From Thistle to Table - Globe Artichoke Cooking Demonstration

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5 pm until 7 pm

Monday, 18 th October ( rain date: Wed 20th)

Marlborough Slow Food is proud to announce our monthly October Food Activity and invite all to join us in celebrating the humble yet very tasty Globe Artichoke. Available in season for about three months of the year this Cooking demo and  tasting will certainly inspire you to use the Globe Artichoke more !

Tim Newsham and Kerry Raeburn will host this feast of Artichokes at 72 Ferry Road, Spring Creek  (last driveway on the right before the Ferry Bridge).  Learn how to prepare and unlock the Globe Artichokes secrets the easy way.    Artichokes are  highly regarded in Italy, France, North Afica and California and yet are more likely to be  put in  floral displays than eaten  in NZ.  Local Chefs Piero Rocco and Chris Fortune will educate and tempt you to use the Globe Artichoke in ways that will make you come back for seconds and thirds.

Slow food members are free and $10 for all other participants.  RSVP by 13 th October to 

slowfoodmarlborough@gmail.com

NZ BBQ tradition @ Clos Henri

 

 

Any foreigner visiting NZ is gladly surprised by the NZ BBQ tradition. BBQ in Marlborough appears to be a sacred cooking pot, a moment to share with friends and family whether in the garden, in the Marlborough sounds, or on the boat. Name a place to have a BBQ, it’s probably been done already by kiwis.

At Clos Henri we decided to take that great tradition, forget about French cuisine, and get Slow Food lovers to enjoy the sun of Marlborough with some fantastic meat… on 2 BBQs … the idea was to compare gaz BBQ with vine shoots BBQ. But before eating, we had to do some exercise in the vineyard: our winemaker and viticulturist showed the purpose of vine shoots – starting with pruning process and use, then explaining how to make vine shoots bundles, and finally showing at the winery the use for them (as filters in the red tanks during the fermentations).

David Woodley, from the Village Butcher in Blenheim, gave explanations on how he ages his meat, and chooses the best pieces, as well as how he smokes his bacon. Finally he gave few tips to cook perfect steaks on the BBQ.

At the menu was an aged angus ribeye steak, some greek style sausage and New Orleans andouille.

After a difficult start of the fire on the vine shoot BBQ – which reminded us that it is most certainly the reason why gaz BBQ is commonly used – we were able to compare the flavours on the BBQ. To be precise, the tenderness of the meat was not affected, nor was the moisture, but the flavours were very distinct. The vine shoots were from a mix of pinot noir and sauvignon blanc shoots, to which we wouldn’t make any differences once burnt. These shoots had been used during harvest as filter in our tanks; therefore they had been ‘soaked’ into wine for a little while and were still carrying the flavour in their wood. The smokiness and the perfume given by the wine to the meat on the vine shoots BBQ was quite something.

The votes for better taste were unanimously for vine shoot BBQ!

Special thank you to David from The Village Butcher for his beautiful, flavoursome and tender meat!

The Best Kept secret in the Marlborough Sounds

Farmed Bluff Oysters in the Marlborough Sounds!!! These are one of the next big gourmet things to come out of Marlborough, and have been a 20 year project for Bruce Hearn, a long time mussel farmer from the region. Only just released onto the market, and in very limited numbers, we were lucky enough to try these and were not disappointed. This is a great product and deserves a place in the top five food products of the Marlborough region

Well done Bruce, you certainly give Bluff a run for its money, if you want to try they can be found at New- world Supermarket and Durville Hotel.

The hard job of being a localvore

There was a acute awareness as I walked into Raupo Café to help shuck Marlborough Tio Point oysters before our slow food group arrived in a hours time that this was going to be a good night, I mean, lets just say that this is not something that happens every day, 20 Doz oysters in the shell, fresh from the Marlborough Sounds water and just waiting to be consumed.

The very fact that our host for the night, Bruce Hearn, has spent 20 years in the farming of these delectable’s was enough to know that the taste experience was going to be well worth it. Having met producers and sampled products from all around the world there can be no price put on the experience of eating unadulterated oysters from the shell (yes grit and all).

When in France we could go to the morning markets and buy live oysters (not a pottle in sight)stacked high in wicker baskets, from a dozen different costal locations and varieties, and these did not even come close to the experience of Marlborough Tio Point Oysters this night.

The key to any product is the freshness and the right amount of social contact that you have around it – and our slow food group were certainly not shy about learning all the highs and lows of farming one NZ’s most iconic Kai Moana products.

While I may not be the fastest Oyster shucker (yes the world record is 28 per minute), I was being distracted by the mandatory sampling of product that I had to do to ensure that our group of likeminded foodies where indeed getting the quality that we promised.

I can assure Bruce that even if the economic recession continued to hit our upmarket restaurants in Wellington and Auckland and they all closed tomorrow, we could rustle up enough Localvores in Marlborough to consume them all.

If you would like to try freshly shucked Tio Point Oyster you can purchase them from Hotel Durville and New-world supermarket but just make sure that you check in advance to ensure that they have not all been snapped up by other fresh oyster lovers.

Thanks to the local wineries who supported our event with Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to enjoy with the oysters: Te Whare Ra, Clos Henri, Seresin and Grove Mill.