#kanuwines

Eric’s Pickled fish

As I have mentioned a few times, I am blessed to be married to a fabulous chef. Not only does his cooking make food dance on my palate, but most of his friends are chefs too. One of them being chef Eric Bulpitt who currently is the chef at the Restaurant at Newton Johnson. Before that he was the head chef at the famous Roundhouse in the forest above Camps Bay, but have names like Jardine on Bree, The Ledbury (London) and Noma (Sweden) under his belt. He specialises in foraging, local “green” ingredients, but also proudly South African food.

So when I had my epiphany regarding the Sauvignon Blanc and picked fish, he was the first one I could think of to ask. It’s his favourite! This recipe was handed down from his grandmother’s mother and a definite keeper.

1tsp ground coriander 2Tbs fish masala 1tsp turmeric 2 bay leaves 4 cloves 1 cinnamon stick 4 cardamom pods 1/4 tsp white peppercorns 3Tbs apricot jam 1tbs tomato paste 2 onions, sliced 5 cloves garlic, chopped 250ml malt vinegar 500ml fish stock 500g hake, cubed Seasoned flour Oil for frying 

Toast all spices in pot. This is probably the trickiest part of the recipe, as this will burn with a wink of an eye. So don’t attempt to leave this pot alone.   

Add apricot jam and caramelise it. As the spices are dark it will be quite difficult to see when this has happened. Best advice I can give is to smell the mixture, or when the mixture starts to slightly stick at the bottom of the pot.

Add tomato paste and cook it out for a minute. Add fish stock and vinegar and bring to a simmer for 30min. Add onions and garlic and simmer for 25min.

While the mixture is on its last stretch of simmering, drench the hake in the seasoned flour. Heat your oil and fry the floured fish cubes until they are golden brown and crispy.

Add fish to hot pickling liquid and leave to cool overnight.

Harry Horn, Kanu’s National Marketing Manager whom you met in February’s newsletter had the opportunity to go to Mauritius in June to meet with Kanu’s distributor, EC Oxenham. And he was in for a big surprise…

Most international distributors around the world mostly consist out of a few warehouses and a big office, from which the produce runs. But when Harry arrived at the EC Oxenham headquarters, it was nothing like that. Once he met up with the owner Alan Oxenham, and his daughter Melissa, it took almost an hour just to go tour the premises. As nice and homely as Alan and Melissa was, this was not the reason. It was due to the fact the EC Oxenham is such a huge operation! Apart from importing and distributing wine, beer and other liquor in Mauritius, they also have a massive distillery where they make their own Gin, Rum, Vodka and Cane. Above that, they have 3 winemakers (from South Africa, France and Australia) working on the premises on a full-time basis, where they make their own branded wines. Even in this bad economic climate and hotels closing all over the island, their bottling facility runs 24 hours, 7 days a week.

But even with all of this, Alan’s passion is overflowing with Kanu-love. He is in the process of broadening his Kanu-range and together there is much to be achieved in Mauritius. After a wonderful meal of Sea-Urchin and Sword Fish, the relationship between Kanu and EC Oxenham is as strong as ever before.

When people talk about the Wade Bales Wine Society, they are talking about one of South Africa’s most sophisticated wine clubs. Founded by Wade Bales 2007, this wine club’s wines are personally selected by the big man himself. Super social, with a brain for business and an educated palate for finding the best wines out there, all makes it so much better to be in this “fraternity”. There are even Wine Advisors on stand-by, who you can talk to just in case you cannot decide which wine will go best with your new recipe of smoked pork loin wrapped in Parma ham, served with creamed potatoes and Vichy carrots  (which you plan to serve your mother in-law on Sunday) …

  Well, the Wade Bales Wine Society organise 2 wine shows annually (one in Joburg and one in the mother city), where club members are invited to try some of South Africa’s best wines. This year, the event in Johannesburg took it up an extra notch, with Kaya FM hosting the event in Rosebank and Old Mutual being one of the main sponsors. They even added different famous International Whiskeys for tasting. And what an event it was! Both the Thursday and Friday saw tons of wine lovers pouring in. A memorable event to say the least…

The "Big Man" himself, Wade Bales.