Antinori Dinner @ Amber

Fine food by Richard Ekkebus & wine pairing from Marchese Antinori - can't go wrong with that. And, yes, I will always have a soft spot for Amber and Richard Ekkebus' cooking and I own up to my opinion, despite the fact that quite a few of my foodie friends disagree...
The lighting conditions were horrible (sorry for the noise on the pics folks, I swear I tried my best with the WB already...) and I had a bad cold which deprived me of the full enjoyment of the meal (but thankfully I still had a nostril and a few tastebuds in working condition...). I was lucky enough to be sitting between MM Christophe Pointaux (from Summergate Wines) and Jacopo Pandolfini (from Antinori) and did my very best not to look or sound too much like the complete wine dummy I am... oh well, to learn you have to start from somewhere...



Amuse-bouche 1: herbs (??) croquette with red bell peppers coulis and basil, cheese pastry
Wine pairing: n/v Montenisa "Brut" Franciacorta d.o.c.g.
The sparkling wine was surprisingly good for something that is not champagne (says the snob Frog...). Miles away from the ordinary tart and green prosecco taste one often associates with Italian bubbly.



Amuse-bouche 2: the famous foie gras lollipops, with their raspberry glaze and beetroot/cinnamon chips. Always goes down a treat :-)
Wine pairing: n/v Montenisa "Brut" Franciacorta d.o.c.g.

aaaah... the mini-black olive focaccias *miam* :-)

Amuse-bouche 3: Iberian pork croquette
Wine pairing: n/v Montenisa "Brut" Franciacorta d.o.c.g.
This was pretty but a bit disappointing taste-wise. I could not really taste the pork, just an overpowering (and quite greasy) flavour of caramelised shallots (could be my cold though...) . The texture was otherwise very nice, crunchy on the outside and runny on the inside.

Amuse-bouche 4: porcini mushroom consomme with Iberico ham & fat "soldier"(which turned into a veloute after stirring in the mushroom paste at the bottom of the cup)
Wine pairing: n/v Montenisa "Brut" Franciacorta d.o.c.g.

Super-delish - very flavourful mushrooms, nice creamy texture, welcome addition of some animal "collagen".

Starter: langoustine
'raw' marinated with Menton lemon & Manni olive oil, 'crémeux' of langoustine, cucumber 'tagliatelle'
Wine pairing: n/v Montenisa "Brut" Franciacorta d.o.c.g.
I am normally not a fan of raw langoustines, but I have to admit this was brilliant. The langoustines were super-fresh and sweet and melted in the mouth, and the Menton lemon glaze offered a nice contrasting tangyness. Pretty awesome combination with the refreshing cuke tagliatelle.



Main 1: line-caught seabream
cooked unilateral on the skin, ratatouille 'émulsion' with basil
Wine pairing: 2008 Castello delle Sala, 'Bramito del cervo', Chardonnay, Umbria, igt
The fish was just superb - perfectly cooked, with the slightly firm texture one would expect for that sort of fish, and the bed of slightly crunchy 'ratatouille' offered an interesting contrast of taste and texture. There was some meaty flavours in the jus (veal ?), giving another layer of complexity to the combination. Very well executed.



Main 2: girolles mushrooms
& fregola sarda, prepared like a risotto, tasmanian black truffle & stuffed chicken wing
Wine pairing: 1998 Antinori, 'Tignanello', Toscana, igt
oh boy I enjoyed this dish - the tasmanian truffles were sooo fragrant and the deboned, stuffed chicken wing melted in your mouth (lots of "collagen" here, again...). Fregola sarda are actually tiny pasta from the south of Italy, barely big...ger than a grain of Arborio when cooked. The wine was also brilliant, my favourite red of the evening. My guest and I enquired if we could buy a couple of cases and were told by the Antinori representative attending the dinner that it was no longer available (apparently Antinori do not keep "older" vintages) and that he was quite amazed the Summergate wine shop rep hosting the dinner managed to source some and he had no idea how he managed that (!!!). Booo... still feel privileged to have been able to taste it :-)

Main 3: Bresse pigeon
steamed with wild cep mushrooms, ravioli simmered with black olive & albufera emulsion
Wine pairing: 1998 Antinori, 'Tignanello', Toscana, igt
This dish was so well presented - the thin slices of wild cep mushrooms were arranged like "scales" on the Bresse pigeon breast - which by the way I am pretty sure was sous-vide not steamed... The combination of robust, almost meaty flavours from the olives and ceps with the tender, juicy and slightly gamey breast was just brilliant.



Cheese - by Bernard Antony of course!!
Wine pairing: 2001 Antinori, 'Tignanello', Toscana, igt

Comté 24 months (cow), Beaufort 18 months (cow), Tomme de l'Ariège (goat)

The wine pairing here was far from optimal in my humble opinion - sweet, mature cheeses like the 2 cow's milk here (to the left) would have been much better paired with a sweet white wine. The goat's cheese to the right would also have worked better with a much lighter and more fruity red. Oh well, what do I know anyway...



Dessert: peach
poached in champagne with lemon-verbena jelly, sorbet 'fromage blanc'
Wine pairing: 2006 Castello della salla, 'muffato della salla', Umbria, igt
A sweet and fragrant poached peach with a tiny bit of acidity from the champagne poaching, delicious lemon verbena jelly, and refreshing fromage blanc ice cream - a welcome light and fruity touch to end a solid meal :-)
The sweet wine that c...ame with it was absolutely gorgeous (and is available!! Gotta get me a case of that...). Pressed from grapes with the "noble rot", the nose was pure caramelised pears and honey - what an awesome wine (I promise I will never say "I don't like Italian wines " again...)

Petits fours
Wine pairing: peppermint tea!!
Lemon tart with candied lime peel, Calisson à l'eau de fleur d'oranger, caramel (with edible wrapper), macaron (could sadly not identify the flavour...), chocolate madeleine topped with chocolate ganache, chocolate-dipped coconut rocher