Food , Wine, Tea and Ale, 13th, 15th and 16th of MAY 2009

Having tasted a number of top 1999 Bordeaux over the past few months I decided to take one of my cases of Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 1999 out of bond and storage . Berry Brothers and Rudd promptly delivered it on Friday may 15th. I therefore bought some Black Angus Grass Fed Irish Côte de Bœuf form Jack O'Shea to have with the Pichon Lalande on Saturday.

On Friday evening we had some wonderful Scottish Sea Trout from The Chelsea Fishmonger, Rex Goldsmith which I simply roasted having covered with salt pepper and olive oil and stuffing some fresh thyme from Mrs. Gastro's allotment in the stomach of the fish. The fish was served on a bed of steamed East Sussex Asparagus sprinkled with my sauce Gastro - juice of two lemons, 1.5 tablespoons of Savora, 5 tablespoons of Seggiano Extra Virgin Oil and salt/pepper.

We drank an excellent 2006 Chassagne-Montrachet, Les Chaumées, 1er Cru, Domaine Jean-Noël Gagnard - Berry Bros & Rudd

On Saturday I let the beef reach room temperature over four hours and then first pan fried the Côtes de Bœuf for about 6 minutes each side then adding salt and pepper before finishing them off in a very hot over for 8 minutes. The beef was served with Gratin Dauphinois and par steamed French Beans finished off sautéed with butter. The Pichon Lalande complimented beautifully both the beef and the Camembert from La Fromagerie that followed.

We ended the meal with some Strawberries and a delicious bottle of Diamante d’Almerita 2005 from Tasca d’Almerita in Sicily that I picked up from Last drop Wines - not as good as the Ben Rye Passito de Pantelaria I had last week but certainly a contender for my second favorite Italian desert wine!

After smoking a Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona Mrs Gastro and I had a delicious cup of Oolong Tea from the Rare Tea Company.

I had the pleasure of meeting @raretealady aka Henrietta Lovell on Wednesday at a wonderful event held at The Westbridge, Battersea hosted by @Charlie McVeigh and and organised BY @eatkikeagirl on behalf@ Catavino those passionate evangelists on skates for Iberian Wines (#LWFB London Food and Wine Bloggers) Charlie supplied the room and an inspired selection of cheeses and charcuterie and Salumi to compliment a selection of mainly Spanish and Portuguese wines . Star of the show for me was José Maria da Fonseca's Domini 2007 from Douro and a wonderful Tête de Moine Cheese (with correct cutter sourced by Charlie).

Henrietta is the Jancis Robinson of tea and I learned enough from her in 10 minutes to realise that one of the reasons I don’t drink tea very much is that both the quality and knowledge of how to prepare it in the UK is generally very poor. This is really astounding for a country that drinks so much tea but then again in line with both food and wine consumption!

Anyway you can buy tea from the Rare Tea Company online and in selected supermarkets including Waitrose.

www.rareteacompany.com

The Westbridge is also an excellent establishment serving outstanding beers coupled with solid food and wine list. Charlie who these days is also a shareholder and executive in the excellent Le Café Anglais introduced me to a stellar beer called Wandle Ale produced a few hundred meters from both my home and The Westbridge at Samsbrook’s (micro) Brewery.

www.sambrooksbrewery.co.uk

www.thewestbridge.co.uk