Jeremy and Emma’s son Oliver recently celebrated his 23rd birthday – and his birthday request was to share his kitchen with Jeremy and cook up a feast for his housemates and their partners. Of course, Painted Wolf would need to feature prominently (students are well known to like a glass or two!) so Jeremy created a menu that would pair with several of Mediterranean-style wines
Jeremy gives us a rundown of a very special menu, created and executed by the Borg Boys!
“Oliver loves arancini – and I love pork belly, so these were the heart of the meal. I found some mouthwatering inspiration for a new dish – prawn arancini on a bed of steamed leeks with a prawn and pea cream sauce. We agreed to make porchetta with baby potatoes and a gratin of cannellini beans and pancetta – and some broccoli, which in the excitement of the tasting and the banter from 10 young adults I forgot to cook! Whilst shopping for pecorino cheese for the risotto, I chanced upon delicious looking burrata and knew it would elevate our salad of prosciutto and roasted baby heirloom tomatoes, served with capers, a splash of balsamic reduction and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. Of course, we needed a bread to accompany this gastronomic magnificence – a lovely lemon and olive focaccia. We paired Teardrop Viognier with this dish which was fabulous!
Next up was the arancini risotto made with prawn stock, white wine, pecorino, butter and lemon rind encasing a piece of smoked mozzarella, which was dipped into egg and panko crumbs and fried till crisp. We cooked a whole prawn for each dish, ample shelled prawns, sugar snap peas and deglazed it all with white wine, a good dollop of passata and a cup of cream. Steamed leeks were popped into the bowl, then the sauce with the prawn cream and snap peas, an arancini placed in the middle and a prawn rakishly placed on top of the arancini ball. Piping hot arancini was washed down with Solo Roussanne- a delightful pairing,
Earlier in the day we had started prepping the pork belly by seasoning it with garlic, fennel, rosemary, salt and pepper and placing it in a very slow oven. Baby potatoes were placed in a pan with olive oil, rosemary and some lemon slices and put into roast. Lastly, we sweated a mirepoix of onion, leeks, carrot and celery, added the beans, crisp pancetta and sprinkled the whole lot with ample bread crumbs and pecorino cheese and crisped the top in the oven.
The crisp well-seasoned pork, lemony potatoes and beans were a perfect match and went down a treat with Darius Carignan and our spicy and opulent Black Tip Mourvèdre.
We finished off by making a simple and delicious flan.
On 18th September I will prepare this menu and show case the same wines at a Painted Wolf food and wine pairing to be hosted at Sopra restaurant in Scarborough. Please click here for booking details.
