Gourmet cuisine in a healthy style

Press, 31 August 1989, Page 10

Gourmet cuisine in a healthy style

your food style

JANICE BREMER DIETITIAN

I am taking a diversion in this series of "Choosing Fit Food” to report on an evening which proved that gourmet cuisine and fine-wine appreciation can be achieved in healthy style. Last Wednesday evening, members of the New Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes and their guests met at the Sign of the Takahe for an occasion aptly titled “Food Flights and Fine Wines.” This was the annual dinner event of the society, a group of diet and health-conscious health professionals and scientists who work in the field of diabetes.

The organisers, the Christchurch Diabetes and Lipid Research Group (directed by Dr Russell Scott), wished to share with their colleagues an experience in tasting fine wines to complement flights of healthy appetising food. The programme included nine wines and 10 courses of food. The menu had been carefully planned with the chef, Mr Ernst Gobaid, and manager, Mr John Mclntyre, at the restaurant. All courses were planned to be very low in saturated fat with little or no sugar or salt added in preparation, and fresh ingredients were to the fore.

The wines to accompany each course were chosen with the scrutiny

and skills of a wine connoisseur, Mr Kingsley Wood, master cellarman of the Christchurch Cellarmasters’ Wine Club.

This may sound rather an indulgence of food and drink for healthy types to consume in a single evening. However, only small servings of food were served at each course and only “tastings” rather than “quaffing quantities” were poured of the specially chosen wines. The guests arrived in the lounge of the Sign of the Takahe to the music of the Hippocrates Trio, a medical trio of musicians. WHITE WINES The first wine, a 1983 Corbans Marlborough Rhine Riesling, was soon poured, and served with canapes as the hors d’oeuvres. The acid of this developed Rhine riesling with "kerosene” nose balanced well with the canapes of fruit, egg, beef, venison, ham, caviar and salad. The cellarmaster for the evening, Mr Wood, spoke about the first two

wines, and guests were poured wine number two, a French 1985 Drouhin Premier Cru Chablis. They then carried their glasses into the dining area, where the tables were already laid with the appetiser, melon and pastrami, garnished with perfectly moulded balls of avocado and courgette and a touch of vinaigrette (no vinegar to ruin the wine). Guests were compelled to take exercise between each pair of courses to return to the lounge for more wine talk from Mr Wood and to receive their next tasting. Wine number three, a 1985 Hugel Alsace Gewurztraminer, was also French. It was rich and spicy to match the strong flavours of the smoked salmon served with brown bread sandwiched with quark cheese. RED WINES

A change of glasses heralded the first red wine, a 1988 Drouhin Beaujolais Villages, which was served with chicken liver

and mushroom shishkebabs, on a bed of rice. Lightweight, aromatic and fruity, this attractive wine is made from French gamay grapes. Mr Wood then discussed the next two wines. First, an Italian 1986 Pio Cesare Barbera d’Alba, which was served with a medley of fresh vegetables and a piquant sauce. The idea of serving the vegetables before the main meat comes from classic French cuisine.

The main meat was a joint of sirloin, perfectly done to be quite pink in the centre and accompanied with an exquisite red wine sauce, half a baked potato and vegetable garnishes. A New Zealand red was the wine of choice for this course, 1987 Vidal Reserve Hawkes Bay Cabernet Merlot. This was a fullbodied wine showing excellent fruit characters. Mr Wood says, “This is a wine clearly destined to become this country’s best.” After the joint, palates were refreshed with a salad of five greens unaccompanied by wine to prepare palates for the biggest wine. This was a “gutsy” Australian red, the 1986 St Leonard’s Wahgunyah shiraz. This was the climactic wine of the evening and was served with English Cheshire and French brie cheese, with slices of

apple. It is the French who serve cheese before (or in place of) dessert. This shiraz is a heavyweight wine but still very young with a fresh berry “nose.” SWEET WINES The evening was completed with two desserts — a true dessert (pudding) first, then fresh fruit. The former, pancakes with ricotta and fruit couli, was impeccably prepared, a delightful balance of tart and sweet. It was served with a refreshing Italian muscat sparkling wine, Asti Gancia Spumante. Professor Don Beaven illuminated the qualities of this wine with enthusiastic flair.

A precisely prepared and immaculately arranged but simple selection of fresh fruits offset the finale of the evening, a 1984 De Bortoli Semillon Sauternes from Australia. Very sweet with intense lusciousness, this incomparable dessert wine will be remembered by many for a long while — Magnifique! In my opinion, the two courses which highlighted the skills of the Takahe staff most were the beef and the pancakes. The two most memorable wines for me were the gewurztraminer and the De Bortoli Sauternes, although the Rhine riesling and the shiraz were surprisingly stunning too.