Wolf Blass Ben Higgs Signature Dinner

Beijing:Wolf Blass wines
(China Daily)Updated: 2009-08-08 14:39

It was difficult to say which was better, the food or the wine, at a wine tasting held recently by ASC Fine Wines. The event had Australian chef Ben Higgs, of Wild Oak Restaurant, prepare five courses to match five Wolf Blass gold label wines.
The tasting was held to mark the 75th birthday of Wolf Blass, founder of the Wolf Blass winery. Blass arrived in Australia in 1961 and since 1966 his winery has grown from a humble tin shed in the Barossa Valley to one of the country's most successful and recognized winemakers.
Higgs matched the first wine, a Gold Label Riesling 2008, with a starter of duck liver parfait with brioche. The well-balanced, floral Riesling with a sour citrus flavor helped offset the greasy duck liver, with its pleasantly rich and smooth taste.
The second wine, a Gold Label Chardonnay 2007 from Adelaide Hills, made a much better impression, with a more complex structure, and a fuller, stronger impact on the palate. Higgs matched the wine with a rolled Atlantic salmon on round leaf mint, giving it a smoother taste than usual.
For the third course, Higgs presented a tasty spiced rubbed Australian lamb rack, put through a 48-hour marination process, which almost outdid the wine to match it, the Gold Label Carbernet Sauvignon 2006. Higgs said he gave the lamb a slight char on the surface, to match the wine. One would have expected a stronger wine to match the lamb.
This was followed by the Wolf Blass Gold Shiraz 2006, matched with a panko crumbed veal tenderloin, with its strong blackberry fruit, spice and smoky oak flavors. Lastly, came a Gold Label Botrytis Semillon 2006, which has a pleasant rose aroma. It is a wine balanced in sweetness, and not so rich. Higgs' dessert, a soft, smooth tasting coverture chocolate and wattle seed terrine, was a genuine treat.

Wild About Wine Tour

Saturday 1st August Wild about Boutique Wine
Half Day $85 per person.
This very personal tour takes you behind the scenes to three of the family run boutique wineries set away from the main tourist route. The tour includes wine tasting at all three wineries, lunch with a glass of red of white wine and a shared antipasto platter for afternoon nibbles.
Itinerary 11.30am - 12 noon pick up
Wild Oak Restaurant – lunch at the award winning Wild Oak, renowned for using only the finest local produce and native herbs and spices. Lunch is a main course and glass of red or white wine, from Elmswood Estate. Enjoy the scenic route through Monbulk and Silvan area, an area renowned for its’ cherries and berries’ hydroponics strawberries, soft fruits and apples. Elmswood Estate – this family run boutique winery offers several reds and whites to be enjoyed at your private tasting. Grape varities, methods and growing will all be explained in this very personal experience. Five Oaks – located among the lush, rolling hills on the southern side of the Yarra Valley. The vineyard slopes gently westward, overlooking cherry and stone fruit orchards, with Mt Dandenong in the background. Five Oaks specialises in Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot and Riesling wines. Seville Estate – 4pm enjoy a personal tour of this small family run vineyard. An antipasto and cheese platter to share made with the best fresh regional produce.
Be driven through the forest on the unmade road to R J Hammer Arboretum with its lovely views of the mountain to the Ranges.
Drop off to your pick up point at around 5.30pm.

Coxy's TV Gnocchi Recipe

Hi,
i have posted the recipes from my session on TV with Coxy's big break for anyone who wants to give it a go at home.

Best of luck

Traditional Italian potato gnocchi
Recipe
· 1.5 kg large floury potatoes (coliban or sebago are good)
· 2 eggs
· Flour as needed
· Sea salt flakes and cracked black pepper
· Extra virgin olive oil
· 100g finely shaved parmesan
Method
· Peel and chop potatoes, rinse well and then bring to the boil from cold salted water.
· When cooked (test they slide easily off a small vegetable knife) mash out onto floured bench, for best results use a mouli or a drum sieve
· Add all other ingredients into a well and knead together until combined. Be careful not to overwork or it becomes starchy and tough.
· Roll into a big sausage and cut about 1cm thick
· Blanch in salty water until they float then cool on an oiled tray

Basil Pesto
Recipe
· 1 bunch of basil
· 100g freshly toasted pine nuts
· 2 cloves garlic
· 200g freshly shaved Italian parmesan
· Extra virgin olive oil
· Sea salt flakes
· Cracked black pepper
Method
Combine all ingredients in a food processor or mortar and pestle and then process until smooth
Toss gnocchi through fresh pesto with lots of shaved parmesan, and torn proscuitto

AS SEEN ON TV!

Not to be missed! Ben Higgs TV Appearance

Sunday at 5.30pm Ben shall be featured on Post Cards TV program on Channel 9 Ben will take Shane Crawford and friends through two dishes in the Wild Oak Cooking School

Australian Food Delegate

Ben was chosen to be a delegate for Australia at the current ‘World Gourmet Food Summit’ held in Singapore. Ben has been well received, bringing his unique charm and extensive knowledge of Australian produce to the International market. Ben has enjoyed touring the diverse food industry in Singapore, from the hawker’s street markets to the luxurious six star hotels such as The St Regis Singapore.

Ben shall be experiencing a cooking class at the famous ‘Raffles Hotel’ on Sunday with their dim sum chef and is looking forward to bringing the skills back to Melbourne to our own cooking school http://www.wildoak.com.au/If you are interested in booking the dim sum class, or the taste of Singapore class, please e-mail expressions of interest to Cook@WildOak.com.au

Celebrity Chefs and MPs!

Celebrity Chefs Ben Higgs, Allan Campion and MP James Merlino demonstrated many fabulous dishes at The Knox Festival last weekend. The Food Editor for The Herald Sun, Kate McGhie said "Ben is one of my heroes - a quiet achiever and highly accomplished professional" Kate announced Ben to be one of the finest Chefs in Australia and praised his teaching and demonstrating ability encouraging everyone to experience one of Ben cooking classes at the Wild Oak

Ben makes headlines

Once again Ben makes headlines ! As Ben prepares for another tour of China and Honk Kong showcasing the finest Australian produce from The Dandenong Ranges and Yarra Valley The Mail newspaper has run the story this week see http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/70957

Bush Fire Fundraiser

Hi!

A HUGE THANKYOU to everyone who came along on sun for our fire relief fundraiser, ironically bookings were seriously affected at dinner time due to bushfire threatening the Dandeonongs.
However with your help we were able to raise over $2,000.00 as well as $200.00 in generous cash donations too. Would like to express our great thanks our staff for volunteering to donate their time and also to our kind suppliers who chose to donate product fot the day

Regards the Wild Oak crew.

Wild Oak Bushfire Apeal

Wild Oak is donating our entire day’s revenue this Sunday 15th to the bushfire relief fund!

We thank all our great staff for donating their valuable time.

We thank Elmswood Estate, Olinda Cellars & Sedona Estate for their great support

And we thank our valuable customers for helping us help this cause