060922chef060922cana1060922cana2060922cana3060922cana4060922entree060922entrtee2060922main060922salad060922table 2060922table 3060922table1

Food review by  James Hill wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Our Foodmaster Bill Alexiou-Hucker was in the kitchen today preparing our inaugural “father and son” lunch. He was assisted by his son Sam who is the third generation of the Alexiou family to cook for our Society.

Canapés, Main and Cheese.

Today was a celebration of Greek food and we were treated to a degustation.

Our first two canapés were served on bread.

  • Melitzanosalata a traditional Greek aubergine dip cooked with garlic and lemon and topped with mint …it had a silky texture and perfectly balanced flavour.
  • Then followed taramasalata topped with bottarga. Bill’s tarama is delicious and today was another example, with only four ingredients however it is the execution that wins.

Here’s his recipe:

‘Soak 3 slices of bread in water and drain, I use a hand beater to blend with the tin of tarama, once a smooth consistency slowly add one cup of vegetable oil (don’t use olive oil as this overpowers the flavour of the tarama ). Once you have added the vegetable oil add the juice of half a lemon (or to taste).’

  • Chicken, pork and lamb souvlaki served on skewers came next cooked on the hibachi in the rex kitchen. Needing to pace myself I only had the lamb and it was perfectly cooked, pink and moist with great flavour. I’m told the chicken and pork were as good.

Once seated we were served grilled octopus on skordalia with a slice of lemon. Bill told us he cooks the octopus in a little water then it is grilled, a chef’s secret to keep them moist. Skordalia is a garlic-based dip made with bread while the garlic is the main ingredient it didn’t overwhelm the dish, a perfect marriage with the octopus.

What’s a Greek lunch without spanakopita (spinach pie)? This is a Greek savoury pie and the go-to green is usually spinach however in this case a variety of greens were used as a change to the norm.

A Greek salad came next with large chunks of feta cheese dusted with oregano with cucumbers, red onion, tomatoes, peppers and a vinaigrette. The acid and olive oil dressing prepared our palates for the next course.

Our last course was Moussaka a rich tomato lamb sauce layered with orzo pasta and topped with yoghurt. What a finish! Full of flavour with many comments. A surprisingly light dish with one member describing it as featherweight.

Thanks Bill and Sam for the huge effort and authenticity of the food. The attention to detail and presentation was widely and favourably commented on by our members in the room today.

It is said you don’t leave a Greek lunch hungry and today was no exception Bill provided us with a digestive ‘mastika’ a liqueur produced with the mastika resin from the island of Chios. The mastika tree only grows on one island in the world.

I could almost speak Greek after this wonderful feast.

We must thank our club kitchen brigade and waiters for helping to make this one of the most successful lunches in our Society we have had the pleasure to enjoy.

Our Cheesematser, James Healey, provided feta as requested by our CoTD it was ‘Aphrodite Barrel-Aged Feta’, an artisan goat’s-sheep milk cheese from Greece.

Authentic handmade Greek barrel-aged feta is rare, and it tastes very different to modern feta matured in brine in airtight tins. This cheese has been carefully ripened in small, old beechwood barrels using traditional techniques that date back to the time when nomadic shepherds roamed the hills of northern Greece.

The barrels enable small amounts of oxygen to reach the salted curds as they ferment under whey, and the natural flora in the wooden staves helps to encourage a unique yeasty aroma. After three months of maturation in the barrel, the feta develops a soft milky texture and a creamy peppery finish that is very different from modern brined feta matured in sealed tins or plastic.

Barrel-aged feta is now produced by just a handful of small dairies in Greece because of EU regulations and the skill and expense involved in the production. Each barrel of Aphrodite feta has to be filled with curd by hand and after the cheese has been removed, it must be broken down stave by stave, washed and rebuilt by a skilled cooper.

Wine

The “Father and Son“ lunch kicked off with two superb Rieslings, the Seppelt Drumborg 2019 and the Leo Buring Clare Valley 2014, both excellent. First the Drumborg. The vineyard is located in the far southwestern corner of Victoria First developed in the mid-’50s by the legendary Colin Preece and further developed by the great Ian McKenzie. It is one of the top six Rieslings of Australia in my view and now just over 3 years old, the wine has all the potential of being in 4 to 5 years a classic Great fruit/acid balance, elegant with a superb fresh aftertaste. More please.

The Leo Buring was an 8-year-old from the Clare valley. I just love aged Riesling from that region. This wine was in my view drinking at its peak, mellow with just the right amount of acid finish without overpowering the fruit. A beautifully textured wine with real character and will still be drinking well in another 5 years Both wines were excellent choices by the Winemaster

For the main course wines, we started with the 2017 Viognier by Farr. Gary Farr is responsible for some of our finest reds and whites from his vineyards in Bannockburn. Putting my cards on the table, I confess to being very lukewarm about this grape as a stand-alone drink. Too unctuous, too thick, cloying and without a parting enjoyable aftertaste. I must say however, I found this wine reasonably pleasant and went well with the first course of the octopus. Viognier when mixed in small amounts with good quality Shiraz can produce wines of exceptional flavour and texture eg, Clonakilla Shiraz, but I am inclined to the view that Viognier should be confined to that use and not drunk as a stand-alone white. We have an abundance of better-tasting white wines!

Next Cab off the rank was the Greek Alpha Estate Xinomavro, a red wine proudly proclaimed as “the Noblest grape of North Greece “.  Well, that may be so, but I think that most of the good folk at my table would have been happy to see the wine remain in Greece. Light body with a slightly sweetish taste, with 14 % alcohol it was the kind of wine which tastes great when in the thrall of an overseas holiday syndrome, when everything is exciting and wonderful, in a lake or seaside location in the company of fellow happy campers. The same wine when consumed back home after time has passed never tastes the same.

The next wine was the ever-popular Seppelt Chalambar Shiraz 2009. Another creation of Seppelt’s Colin Preece. A very easily recognised style, big ripe fruit flavour, spicy and mouth filling. A wine that has been popular for decades and drinking the wine now as a 13-year-old it was in perfect condition and should remain so for years to come.

The final wine on the list was the Hardys 08 HRB Shiraz from Clare and McLaren Vale. Sadly I am not able to review the wine as it failed to make its way around the table, the bottle hitting empty before it reached my place. All I can say is that it must have been good!

Wines Served: 2019 Seppelt Drumborg Riesling, 2012 Pewsey Vale Riesling, 2017 By Farr Viognier, 2018 Alpha Estate Hedgehog Ximomavro, 2009 Seppelt Chalambar Shiraz