Chef of the Day this week was Paul Ferman who was assisted on canapés by Josef Condrau.                                        

Canapes

You can’t have Mr Ferman in the kitchen without enjoying one of his soups. Today we had a distinctive green pea soup where the shells had been pan-fried to form part of the liquid. Included were some sheep’s milk and bacon crumbs. Paul had chosen to serve this soup chilled and it was very flavoursome. Some would have preferred it to be served warm or hot.

Next up were two spreads on slices of Iggy’s bread the first being eggs, capers, anchovies and tomato paste. This is followed by a tuna butter spread with capers. Both were forthright in terms of flavour and received praise for simplicity and taste.

Main Course

Paul always sources his meat from Feather and Bone with the intention of buying organic food farmed in a sustainable manner. The main was an Italian style polpettone made with veal and pork with a layer of capsicum in the centre. This was served on a very fine processed vegetable “polenta” with some cheese added. There was also some processed carrot to add additional colour to the plate. The dish was a success with the polpettone firm to the cut with complex flavours on the palate. A commendable effort from a very experienced cook.

Cheese

Cheese today was selected by James Healey and presented by Gary Linnane. To complete the all Italian day we had a Montasio cheese from the Perenzin family in Veneto. Apparently the presentation of this cheese varies significantly depending on its age and this quite firm cheese had become a little grainy and crumbly indicating its age. This cheese had not been served at the Society before and whilst a good cheese some thought it lacked some interest in terms of flavour.

With cheese, Paul had three side dishes. Firstly, dried fruit with fantastic activated almonds, then a pretty looking salad topped with edible flowers and finally a fruit plate of strawberries, apple and pear. 

Coffee

Coffee by Spencer Ferrier was a Jamaican Blue Mountain one of the world’s best-known high-end coffees. The coffee is mild in flavour and has a softness as opposed to a bitter finish.

Wines

In keeping with today’s Italian theme the aperitif wine was a Ca dei Zeigo Pet Nat (Pétillant Naturel - naturally sparkling) from Prosecco. Coming from the Valdobbiadene region close Venice it is a wine that contains yeast and consequently is bone dry. It had a pleasant mousse but perhaps lacked sufficient flavour to carry the lack of sweetness. Curiously we opened 2 bottles of Lustau Amontillado with the canapés.

With the main course, we had two reds from the Piemonte region - both from the excellent 2015 vintage. The first, a Mario Molino Barbera d’Alba, was in the bigger style. Still with the strawberry and red cherry we expect from the variety, but with high tannin and oak. Typical of the variety, the wine finished with a fresh acidity.

This wine was paired with a Massolino Langhe Nebbiolo. Massolino is a great winery based in Serralunga d’Alba, one of the 11 villages of Barolo. In the Piemonte, Langhe Nebbiolo tends to be a more approachable style with less oak and tannin. It can come from any Nebbiolo vineyard in the Langhe region and often from younger vineyards. The Langhe region includes Barolo and Barbaresco as well as many other areas. Today’s wine was a wonderful example of the style. Aromas of black cherry, violets and tobacco carried onto the palate with an excellent fruit purity and distinctive, yet soft, Nebbiolo tannins.

With the cheese, we had a couple of 2009 reds from Valpolicella and Tuscany. The Allegrini Palazzo delle Torre is a traditional blend of Corvina and Rondinella made in a mix of Valpolicella and Ripasso methods. The first is a normal fermentation, while the second is a fermentation of semi-dried grapes. The two components are then blended together for further maturation. Unfortunately, this maturation has occurred in old and tainted oak which included Brettanomyces yeast giving a sweaty saddle aroma and a steely, metallic finish. Interestingly this wine has been included in the Wine Spectator Top 100 six times.

The pair for the Valpolicella was a Chianti Classico from Isole e Olena. A highly regarded wine company in Chianti, this is one of their entry wines. While it still showed the earthy, sour cherry characters of Sangiovese, it was starting to tire. A very soft, easy-drinking wine.