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Welcome to Huber's
PROMOS
The Perfect Match
Our monthly column pairing meats, poultry, fresh produce and specific dishes with wines available from Huber’s concise range of wines, hand-selected by wine, food and travel writer-commentator Curtis Marsh, The Wandering Palate – www.thewanderingpalate.com
The quintessential summertime beef stew: White Rocks Milk-fed Veal “Blanquette de Veau” paired with 2006 Peccavi Chardonnay from Margaret River, Western Australia
Hearty meat stews in the heat of summer may seem incongruous however, being a long-time devotee of Provence based food author, restaurant critic and celebrated cook Patricia Wells, I have come to appreciate that robust flavours do co-exist with light dishes, as they do so admirably in Provençal cooking. Wells lauded cookbook “Patricia Well at Home in Provence – Recipes Inspired by Her Farmhouse in France” (published by Scribner) is full of wonderful hearty recipes that lend themselves to the warm climates, exemplified by white wine based casseroles such as her “La Broufade: Beef & White Wine Daube from Arles”, to which she recommends Rhone Valley white wines as the ideal accompaniment, dispensing with the notion that one always thinks of red wine with beef.
Indeed, the weather in Singapore has turned hot. Well, relative to the comparatively wetter, cooler and breezy months previous, it is distinctly hotter and drier, and forecast to continue so until late August. Alas, Thomas, our general manager at Huber’s, has suggested we focus on some summertime meat dishes, continuing our theme of simple to prepare recipes and the perfect wine to match.
The classic French Bistro dish Blanquette de Veau sprung to mind; rich and flavoursome yet an unpretentious, relatively light one-pot meal that is simple and economical to prepare using veal, or in this instance, milk-fed veal. That said it is surprising how difficult it is to source good veal is in Singapore, given it is such a European staple used in numerous classic dishes. Of course, this is why you shop Huber’s, a specialist butcher catering to the discerning palate!
Milk-fed veal is well, somewhat self-explanatory; a young dairy calf fed on milk only and usually male. The meat is lighter in colour, also finer in texture and has much less fat than many meats, thus one needs to be careful in the cooking process as it can easily dry out and become tough.
Huber’s source their free range and milk-fed veal from White Rocks, a 120 year-old dairy farm 160 km south of Perth in Western Australia, that has been in the Partridge family since establishment in 1887. Arguably the best milk-fed veal in the southern hemisphere it is only available a limited number of speciality butchers and the very best restaurants in Australia. It is distinctly lighter and pinker in colour and the exceptional quality comes from a combination of factors; the pristine environment of southern Western Australia; The calf is reared on warm, full-cream milk straight from their own dairy herd until a maturity of 160kgs, each animal consuming over 1000 litres of milk! And, most importantly, there is no hormones or growth promoting antibiotics used with yogurt-type AB cultured pro-biotics along with rolled barley and lupin for roughage added to the calves’ milk to aid digestion and protect against disease, something along the same (healthy) lines as the Sakura chicken featured last month.
I have taken the liberty of modifying Thomas’s “Old Fashion Blanquette de Veau” slightly, not to modernize it as such, but give it a little herbal lift by adding fresh tarragon and thyme along with some button mushrooms and baby shallots (both optional) to fill it out; all available at Huber’s of course.
Ingredients for 4 servings:
- 800g White Rocks milk-fed veal cubes, around 40g each
- 200g button mushrooms, cleaned
- 1 medium-sized onion, peeled
- 200 baby shallots, peeled
- 1 small carrot, peeled
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs fresh tarragon
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
Tie bay leaf, tarragon and thyme together to make a bouquet garni
- 1 clove, to stick into the medium-sized onion
- 2 sticks of celery, cleaned and trimmed, cut in 2cm lengths
- 150ml white wine, preferably Peccavi Chardonnay, on-hand to sample whilst you’re cooking!
- 300ml white stock (can be chicken or veal)
- Sea Salt (Maldon is excellent) & Freshly Ground Pepper
- 5g Cream
- Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
- For the white Roux (to thicken sauce) – 30g soft butter and 30g flour
- Handful of finely chopped parsley to garnish
Preparation:
Place the veal, stock and white wine in a casserole and bring slowly to the boil, skimming off the foam and scum with a large metal spoon. Lower the heat to a simmer and continue skimming frequently over the next 10 minutes until reasonably clear. Add the medium onion (clove inserted), carrot, celery and bouquet garni and gently simmer until the veal is tender, about 40 minutes. Add the shallots about 10 minutes before finished, likewise the button mushrooms cooking for about 5 minutes.
Once the veal is tender, remove along with the vegetables and set aside, discarding the bouquet garni. Strain the liquid then return it to the casserole, bringing it back to the boil for about 5 to 10 minutes, reducing by a third. Whilst this is happening, make your white roux by melting the butter over low heat and stirring in the flour, being careful not burn or have any lumps. Add the roux to thicken the liquid and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Return the meat and vegetables to the casserole reheating for a few minutes and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
Plate either individually or in one large dish, sprinkling with chopped parsley, alternatively if you have some of the fresh tarragon left over, chop finely and garnish. Serve with steamed rice, preferably organic brown basmati, or with Huber’s Spaetzle noodles.
So, there you have it, a relatively simple dish to prepare that is robust in flavour with an appetizing richness to the sauce yet not an overly heavy meal. And the wine; I would avoid aromatic whites; that is varieties like Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc or crisp dry white styles that would be too floral or have accentuated acidity, clashing with the sauce. Rather, this dish calls for a white wine of some substantial body and richness to compliment the flavoursome sauce and veal. Barrel-fermented Rhone Valley whites or blends of varietals such and Marsanne, Rousanne and Grenache Blanc with their naturally oily texture would work. However, my preference would be Chardonnay and something youthful from the New World that has a degree of upfront fruitiness. Furthermore, the natural phenolic of Chardonnay along with tannins and savoury flavours from barrel-fermentation and oak maturation impart a sufficiently chalky grip to balance the richness of the sauce.
I thought it would be appropriate to choose a Western Australian wine, given the provenance of the veal, a sort Slow Food approach where one focuses on the produce within a defined area. As it turns out, the Margaret River region is indeed a well-proven Chardonnay performer with iconic wines such as Leeuwin Estate Art Series with an impressive track record. The Mendozza clone of Chardonnay does particularly well here giving the wines a distinctive apricot and tropical lift, although most wineries have the latest Dijon clones planted as well adding an discernible degree of complexity and structure, combined with a much lighter hand of oak and improved winemaking, Australian Chardonnay has transformed itself from the fruit-bomb, flabby over-the-time wines of the past.
Peccavi Estate is equally metamorphosed: a 25 year-old vineyard known as “Walker Vineyard”, renamed ‘Peccavi’ - “I have sinned, an admission of guilt or sin” by the new owners, the Muller family who purchased the property in 2005. I would suggest the name has some reference to the old adage, “To make a small fortune out of a winery, you need to start with a large fortune!” supported by their own admission, “This is our confession, our peccavi, yes we are guilty of vinous and gastronomic endeavours, but surely not a sin.”
The Muller’s are unquestionably devoted to realising the properties full potential with an uncompromising approach to all aspects of the vineyard and vinification, employing local virtuoso Brian Fletcher to make the wines and undergoing a painstaking conversion to organic viticulture and in the transition to adopting biodynamic practices. Located in the warmer sub-region Yallingup, in the north of the Margaret River region, a known sweet spot for Chardonnay, the maritime climate has a significant influence here, with the cooling sea breezes of the Indian Ocean and the vines enjoying a pristine environment, naturally nourished by the purest of rainfall carried on the prevailing winds from Antarctica. Ideal long, dry radiant summers drive the vine roots deep, past the loamy and degraded schist top soils to a substrata of ancient granite (and I mean ancient: back to the Proterozoic era, 2500 million years ago!) in search of nutrients and water, sufficiently depriving them to concentrate structure and flavour.
My tasting note reads:
Peccavi Chardonnay 2006
Intense apricot and peach, almonds, vanilla ice-cream, custard, ripe paw-paw and mango, oily and nougat, hazelnut oil, spicy turmeric notes and a subtle herbal background of tarragon and lavender, also some toffee and dark honey nuances reminiscent of baked apples – tarte tatin. Somewhat closed on the palate initially, but breathing out to reveal vanillin, rich and oily with a soft textural feel, toasted almond mealy and oats flavour, yet becomes distinctly tighter on the mid-palate, much more restrained than the nose suggesting a combination of a cooler year and an expert hand - good lingering tangy acidity with a concentrated apricot and lemon bite and chalky grip – whilst very approachable, has plenty of years ahead of it.
Available from Huber’s concise range, and hardly a sin at S$49.95!
Cheers!
Curtis Marsh
“Curtis Marsh is a fully independent wine, food and travel writer with over 30 years experience in hospitality, wine and media industries.”
Promo
Sugarloaf Ridge Chardonnay 2007
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