Announcing December... And the Rosé Revolution

We source only the freshest poultry

This evening we are not just announcing our final December cook-up, we're also getting aboard the De Bortoli Rosé Revolution. Which means the good folk at De Bortoli mailed us a Rosé Trio Trail Pack and we agreed to get on Twitter and spruik the hell out of it. We all know social networking and drinking go hand in hand. How many times have we tweeted or status-updated fascinating insights into the human condition, that in the cold sober light of the day after are, in reality, embarrassing reminders never to mix alcohol and technology. "Don't text and drive", as they say. (And if you do, quickly delete the evidence the next day).

Meanwhile, as we spend the evening drinking complimentary rosé and discussing life and love in 140 characters or less, we'd also like to announce that, just around the corner, is our final dinner party for our Cooking Your Calendar project. Yes, December will be Magic Again, as Kate Bush once said. And that "magic" will be in the guise of what promises to be a delicious dish by Tim Keenan called Quail Saltimbocca with Sicilian Eggplant Caponata. Stay tuned as we hail quail in the coming week, and meanwhile strike a rosé.

If Kate says "December will be Magic Again", you better believe it.

Cooking November

Calm before the storm

Yesterday, down in beautiful coastal Coledale, we held our second last Cooking Your Calendar event of the year with Margot De Bortoli's Salmon, Mascarpone & Dill Crepes and Spinach & Filo Tarts on the menu. To take advantage of the summer sunshine, we decided to host a classic long leisurely lunch, kicking off with the crepes and tarts as starters, then progressing into a relaxed BBQ later in the afternoon. Our guest list included graphic designer David Corbet, Art in Australia's Managing Editor Michael Fitzgerald, interior designer Sean Morris, art teacher Iain Wallace, architect Craig Casey, artist Michael Keighery and his partner Vic, Wollongong City Gallery public program coordinator Vivian Vidulich and Memphis the dog. Most of our guest list are, what Vivian describes as, "art casualties" living on the south coast, as well as a couple of Sydney friends who'd made the drive down from the city.

The wheels fall off!

Trashing the "cretattas"

With our guests arriving at 1pm, we began our preparations mid morning. All we had to do was whip up a batch of crepes, make a few filo tarts, then knock together a few salads for the barbie. How hard could it be? Well, thanks to Rachel's vagueness, very difficult as it turns out. At about 11am, Rachel started on both Margot's appetizers. Dutifully following the two separate recipes, Rachel first prepared a batter for the crepes, then set that mixture aside for the required half an hour to allow the batter to bind. In the meantime, she started on the filo tarts. After placing the filo pastry into muffin trays, she mixed the eggs, spinach and two cheeses for the tart filling. Everything was going to plan. Still an hour till our guests arrived... easy. But that's when things went very badly wrong. Instead of pouring the eggy-cheesey tart filling into the filo cases, Rachel inadvertently used the crepe batter instead. She protests it was a simple enough mistake. After all, both mixtures looked much the same, sitting there side-by-side on the kitchen bench. Happily unaware of her mistake, Rachel popped the "crepe-tarts" into the oven and watched them cook. Then she turned her attention to Step Two of the crepe recipe: frying lovely thin crepes that any French cook would be proud of. And that's when, with horror, she realised her error. No more crepe mixture, a batch of wasted filo tarts, and all she had left was a bowl full of raw egg, spinach and cheese. But, as Daniel pointed out, she had invented a totally new recipe: "cretattas". Panic set in and with only one hour to go, we had to cook another batch of tartlets, another batch of crepe mixture and still finish all our side dishes for the BBQ. Yes, Rachel does get the prize for being the biggest space cadet in Coledale, and perhaps the entire eastern seaboard of Australia.

Spinach and Filo Tarts

Salmon Mascarpone & Dill Crepes

Amazingly, everything came together quite literally at the last minute. When our guests arrived we had elegant salmon crepes and delicious warm tartlets plated-up, with chilled De Bortoli's Rococo Blanc de Blanc ready to pour. We were certainly in need of a glass of bubbles by that stage. After catching up with friends over drinks, we headed to the table for a BBQ feast where we lingered for hours. Very generously, our guests had brought with them a mouthwatering selection of cakes. So dessert was a "cake off" of a beautiful custardy fruit flan, a dense banana and mango gateaux and the most spectacular white chocolate mousse cake that looked like some sort of sculpture. Lunch turned into dinner as we kept grazing and drinking well into the evening.

Salad Days

BBQ King

"Art Casualties"

Piss-Elegant

Food's Up

Calculating the calorie damage

More Piss-Elegance

Michael contemplates cake

Walking Memphis

Announcing November

Will pumpkin be served at the next DeBo?

We can’t believe it, but on Saturday 13th November we will be hosting our penultimate Cooking Your Calendar dinner party. Is it just us, or has 2010 just evaporated before our eyes? We know that time flies when you are having fun, but this is downright spooky (or was that Halloween, which we celebrated at the end of October - see pic attached). It's officially "silly season" again. To usher in the pre-Christmas partying madness (that we all know starts on Melbourne Cup Day…) we are heading down to Daniel’s dad’s beach house on the South Coast to make the most of its beautiful beachside location.

This month we are cooking two of Margot De Bortoli's recipes, Salmon Mascarpone & Dill Crepes and Spinach and Filo Tarts which we will serve as appetizers alongside De Bortoli’s Rococo Blanc de Blanc. Both recipes look delicious and thankfully easy to prepare so we aren’t predicting any major stumbles this month. After that, we’ll be cooking a big eclectic BBQ with a variety of different side-dishes and salads. Joining us will be an equally eclectic group of friends who we'll introduce you to in the wash-up for next Saturday's big event. If the weather is sunny it might just turn into a beach party so don't forget the board shorts and bikinis. Oh, and fake tan. See you next week!

Cooking October

Ferghal the Masterchef

Little Hughie meets the meat

Well, a day ago we faced the most daunting of our Cooking Your Calendar recipes - the suckling pig. Pulling off a whole beast is something that none of us have ever done in our lives and we approached the task with justifiable trepidation. 24 hours on and we can say without hesitation that Locale's head chef Tim Keenan's suckling pig recipe served with spiced apple puree is one of the most delicious dishes on the 2010 De Bortoli calendar. And we can also say with confidence that our BBQ'ed version of this dish would rival any that Tim Keenan has done in the past. Unfortunately, none of the Cooking Your Calendar team can take any credit for last nights' runaway success. Instead we have to throw bouquets to Rachel's brother-in-law Ferghal for taking the reins.

Rachel makes a fist of seasoning the pig

Babe on the barbie

But let's just rewind a bit. This month's Cooking Your Calendar dinner party took place at Rachel's beautiful old family home in the Blue Mountains. We were joined by Rachel's sister Meg, Meg's husband Ferghal and their kids and a collection of close old school friends, most of which made the drive up from the city.

Karen balances the baby and the booze

Daniel shows Meg how much he needs botox

Nervous of the task before us, the day started early. Daniel did a phone interview about the anticipation around the night's dinner party with Melbourne radio station Joy FM on Pete Dillon's foodie segment Cravings. Meanwhile, Rachel went to the butcher to collect our pre-ordered suckling pig. When the butcher hauled the pig out of the coolroom, Rachel, her sister Meg and other fellow shoppers took a collective gasp. Here was a much bigger pig than we'd anticipated. It certainly wasn't Babe. It certainly wasn't pretty. And it most certainly wasn't going to fit in the oven. What had we been thinking? Worrying that we couldn't find Sardinian myrtle was suddenly the least of our problems.

20 year reunion for Campbell and Karen

Finnian's tango in the night

Thank god, once we got the pig home, Ferghal took over. He cranked up the BBQ, put the pig on a spitroast rack and even scored the meat for us. We helped seasoned the skin, but otherwise the suckling pig was Ferg's show.

You wouldn't think Jane just had twins a few weeks ago

Justin shows off one of the twins

Once the pig was on the BBQ, it was time to do the side dishes. And those, at least, we can take some responsibility for. Rachel got started on the apple sauce spiced with cloves, cinnamon and star anise. Drew prepared a mountain of roasted pumpkin, chickpea and cous cous salad. Meg helped out with one of life's favourite comfort foods, a sexed-up version of cauliflower au gratin. Daniel played with the kids.

A crackling success

Rip it to shreds

Get some pork on your fork

By the time our guests had arrived, things had really come together. It was time to enjoy a few glasses of wine, wander around the garden and catch-up on old times. And there was a lot of catching up to do. Jane had recently had twins, Karen and Campbell hadn't seen each other for twenty years and we'd all seen and done a lot since school. But before long conversations had to come to a pause, because it was time to take the pig off the BBQ and serve dinner. All we can say is that it's a pity Jane is vegetarian because the standout was Ferghal's succulent sweet pork. After gorging on our main meal, we still managed to demolish our dessert which was an Armenian spice cake, made by Drew and Daniel's neighbour Jennifer Cufar.

Seconds anyone?

But the night didn't end after coffee and cake. No. We all gathered around Meg's fire and spent the evening drinking more wine and talking until 3.30am in the morning. By that stage, Meg had given Campbell, Drew, Daniel and Don each a facial. Ferghal had sensibly gone to bed by that time. We hadn't planned this at all. We've all woken up feeling a little on the delicate side this morning but at least the guys have radiant complexions.

8 Little Pigs

Anouncing October

Suckling Miss Piggy fighting against the rotisserie

Well, October is suddenly upon us and, with it, brings our hardest challenge yet: cooking Tim Keenan's suckling pig served with spiced apple puree and De Bortoli's Yarra Valley Reserve Release Chardonnay. We're confident we can manage spiced apple puree (even Daniel could be trusted with that part) but cooking a whole beast? We're nervous. Really nervous. It's a first for all of us, so we're going to need a few glasses of the Chardonnay just for courage alone! The much anticipated "Day of the Piglet" is scheduled for Saturday 16 October, and preparations have already commenced. Rachel has ordered the pig which is coming from a farm in Bathurst. Sourcing the Sardinian myrtle is proving to be harder, so we are now wondering about possible alternatives? Maybe a quick email to Tim Keenan is in order?

For a change of scene, we'll be heading up to Rachel's beautiful family home in the Blue Mountains where we will be joined by Rachel's sister Meg Roberts and her young family, as well as a collection of friends, including Sydney personal trainer extraordinaire Campbell Bannerman, film and ad man Don Cameron, and old school buddy Karen Muir. We're also hoping for a special guest appearance of another of our "nearest and dearests", Jane Renneberg, who has recently just had twin boys. We'd love it if Jane dropped in for a well deserved glass of bubbles so we could all celebrate her new additions! Pity Rachel's dad Gary is away because he's a dab hand at cooking full beasts. Oh well, we're just going to have to wing it. One way or another, being surrounded by family and old friends is bound to be a good thing. If we stuff things up they're more likely to be forgive us!

Media Tarts

The Area News, Monday 20 September 2010. p.3

We're in the media again... This time for local paper for the Griffith region called The Area News. Journalist Alexis Carey interviewed Rachel about our modest project, which you can read above. (Alexis forgot to mention how much Pete has been missed from the project since he moved to Melbourne - but he's moving back to Sydney soon, so we hope to have him back as a very special guest).

Cooking September

The Divine Miss White gets the party started

So the year is steamrolling on and here we are, well into September. With 9 months of De Bortoli dinners under our belt now, we have a pretty good formula for getting each night right in terms of guests, locations and working out who will do what in and around the kitchen.

This kitchen ain't big enough for two egos

As usual it was going to be a bit of a joint effort, but Rachel had set herself a slippery and smelly individual task that no one else was keen to challenge her for. Tim Keenan is Head Chef at the De Bortoli's Yarra Valley Estate and this month he took us into our first fishy feast with his delicious recipe, Pan Fried Trout Fillets with Fennel, Potatoes, Marjoram & Capers.

Rachel toasts her creation

Alcohol may well kill brain cells, but fortunately, fish is brain food. So we figure that everyone was a winner this month as we indulged in generous helpings of both. The De Bortoli Emeri Sparkling Pinot Grigio was the weapon of choice in the assault on our grey matter, but on the defensive was a frontline of succulent Trout fillets, each one more Omega-rich and bursting with essential oils than the last. Now I'm no neurolgist, but I can still competently compose a semi-logical blog entry, so I think it's safe to say that our friend the fish was the victor on this occasion.

Diva central

With brains largely intact we enjoyed a kind of celebratory evening, toasting our guests; artist and performer Liam Benson who is currently gracing the cover of runway magazine, and social media Queen, Catherine White (aka The Divine Miss White), returning from 3 months in New York. Starting with some drinks on the roof overlooking Potts Point, we indulged in a quick photo shoot. Despite the warm Spring day, once the sun was lost behind Sydney's skyline we had to retreat to the warmth of the apartment where, conveniently, the rest of the grog was.

Daniel and Liam swap hair

(Photo: Catherine White)

But it was pretty much straight into the kitchen for trout-wrangler Rachel, who had already spent the afternoon engaging in the masochistic labour of pin-boning every fillet of fish. Tim's recipe may be to die for in the culinary sense, but certainly not literally. So with almost an obsessive-compulsive fervor Rachel delicately removed every tiny bone, brandishing only a set of tweezers and the mouth of a wharfie. Then with the choking hazards taken care of it was on to the actual cooking, a much more pleasurable part of the process. From here on in Rach was salting lemons, frying fennel and blanching potatoes to make a wonderfully tasty combination of flavours. The trout came up deliciously crispy and we all cleaned our plates feeling a little bit smarter.

Rachel pretends Heath is Leo Sayer

Armed with her fancy camera, Catherine earned honours as guest photographer when Daniel and Heath weren't snapping away. Rachel revealed her secret passion for Leo Sayer. Liam dazzled with a gift of homemade lemon butter (a family recipe). Heath did the dishes like a good boy. As the night went on, the bubbles kept doing the rounds despite the fact that it was a school night. The recycling bin was quite healthy come morning, as was the lingering scent of trout in the apartment.

Liam poses with his artwork Bleeding Glitter from Daniel & Drew's collection (Photo: Catherine White)

Announcing September

Artist Liam Benson as featured on the cover of the magazine runway

Spring has finally arrived - the kind of climate change we don't mind. Already Sydneysiders are coming out of hibernation, shaking off the winter chills and getting primed for another long Aussie summer. With the onset of longer days and warmer weather, it's the perfect time to head outdoors for drinks and dinner with friends - not that we don't spend the whole year 'round basically eating together and getting pissed! So, on Sunday night, we are hosting September's De Bortoli dinner on the roof top of Drew and Daniel's Potts Point apartment with social networking Queen, the Divine Miss White (AKA Daniel's mum Catherine, who we've been angling to invite since she returned in August from months of living in New York) and the equally divine performance/photo artist Liam Benson. Daniel, Drew and Liam go way back together; the most recent evidence of their artistic alliance is that Daniel wrote the cover feature essay on Liam's work in an art mag called runway (pictured above).

The recipe this month is Jim Keenan's elegant dish Pan Fried Trout Fillets with Fennel, Potatoes, Marjoram and Capers served with De Bortoli's Emeri Sparkling Pinot Grigio. Tim Keenan is the Executive Chef at De Bortoli's Yarra Valley restuarant Locale, so not surprisingly, the level of difficulty has just gone all Masterchef on us! There are a number of steps involved with this recipe, not least of all pin-boning six fillets of trout. Rachel and Drew are going to tackle it together so that they can blame one another if they stuff things up. In which case, it will be... um, ordering a trout pizza?

Cooking August

Drew's "Labour" pains result in a rash

"Repay the debt, turn back the boats, end the waste and stop the big new taxes. And make mine a shandy with light beer and 70% lemonade" - Tony Abbott

"Let's move this country forward. I'm for jobs. Don't risk waking up with Tony Abbott as PM. Yes we will. I'll have a schooner of stout, ta" - Julia Gillard

Last night’s Cooking Your Calendar dinner party coincided with Election Night 2010, so as we walked down to our host Christie Cooper’s beautiful Rushcutters Bay apartment, we had these catchphrases (and a jumble of other well-worn and now annoying pre-election slogans or "Tweets") ringing like bells in our heads. And even though we’re pretty cynical when it comes to politics, there’s still something exciting about a federal election. It’s a bit like watching a sporting match, and in Sydney there was definitely a buzz in the air. Like so many other Aussies around the country, it was time to get together to watch the election over dinner and a few glasses of wine.

Tiga for PM!

In our case, last night’s dinner party was also to celebrate Sydney artist Kendal Murray’s birthday. So when we arrived at Christie’s apartment, we were greeted by our bubbly host Christie, birthday girl Kendal, a bunch of friends including Julia, Ash, Juliana, Susanna, Matt, Paul, Alison and Julia’s fluffy dog Tiga.

Tiga on quality control

After wishing Kendal happy birthday and catching up over a glass of bubbles, we couldn’t resist turning the TV on. From that moment on, the conversation was dominated by politics. And we were asking the big questions too. For instance, would 20 year old parliamentarian Wyatt Roy's first post-election initiative be to install a skate park in his hometown of Coochin Creek? Why does Senator John Faulkner insist on wearing eye-glasses that make him resemble a seventies porn star? Is Bob Brown healthy enough to spend another three years in Canberra, and why doesn’t he eat a big steak now and then? Will Bronwyn Bishop go to the grave wearing that "helmet-head" hairstyle? Why wasn’t Channel Nine’s broadcast in 3D? Surely that would have given them an edge over the other networks? How does ABC election analyst Anthony Green earn a crust between federal elections? Daniel and Ash amused themselves by adding silly election commentary to Daniel's Twitter and Facebook feed. The "well hung" double entendre never got tired!

Julia with birthday girl Kendal (right)

These and more questions were relocated to the dinner table when our election feast was served. It was a truly awe-inspiring array of dishes that included Julia’s amazing baked chicken with rustic gravy (special nod to her inspired use of a tea strainer), Christie’s homemade meatballs done “two-ways”, barbequed gourmet sausages, a selection of delicious salads and a mountain of freshly baked bread from the Blue Mountains.

After our main meal, we took a break while Rachel cooked Jen De Bortoli’s Pudding Chômeur. As the recipe says, it is a very simple dessert to make. It’s just a matter of preparing the cake batter, then separately melting butter, brown sugar and vanilla in a pan. Simply pour that sweet liquid over the top of the batter in a large dish and you are ready to go. Rachel was a bit alarmed when she saw the amount of liquid that goes onto the pudding mixture but the cooking process does the trick. Forty-five minutes in the oven, and hey presto, a delicious self-sauced caramel pudding emerges. All the liquid had dropped to the bottom of the pudding, and thickened into a gorgeous sticky hot syrup. Perfect with ice cream and a glass of De Bortoli’s dessert wine, Noble One, which is a dessert in its own right.

The proof is in the pudding (to quote a fine cliché!)

But dessert didn’t stop with the Pudding Chômeur and Noble One. Like in the federal election, we had a choice of candidates with Christie putting forward an equally delightful pavlova with rose-water flavoured cream and strawberries. Paul offered a box of artisan chocolates. Every dessert received votes, including Tiga's who normally only supports meat.

No, not a hat for the Melbourne cup, but Christie's epic pavlova

Unfortunately we have to wait to find out how Australia voted, since the election was too close to call on Saturday night. In the words of Julia Gillard, we are now “moving forward” to September’s Cooking Your Calendar dinner party. See you then!

Daniel takes Julia Gillard's "moving forward" slogan literally