On Friday 27th January we were invited to dine and drink (our wine!) at La Cantina in Chester, a restaurant with whom we have a close collaboration, and which holds regular Gourmet Evenings, various themed food and wine events, throughout the year. Our own Juliusz introduced and talked about the different wines that were on offer for the evening.
La Cantina is an Italian restaurant run by Mark and Liz, where the emphasis is on regional Italian cuisine. The menu of the evening consisted of a 5-course dinner of dishes from the Veneto and Friuli regions of northern Italy, prepared by Mark. These were accompanied by a range of selected wines from the same regions, supplied by us and presented and explained by Juliusz.
We started with a selection of antipasti; specially prepared La Cantina baccala’ cod with crushed almond and garlic aeoli, marinated grilled vegetables, beef Carpaccio with wild rocket, parmesan shavings and balsamic vinegar dressing. Our Valpolicella Vicentini, accompanied this delightful antipasti array, as a light and delicate partner to the contrasting Mediterranean flavours of peppery rocket, sweet balsamic and the olive-oil grilled vegetables.
Our next tastebud teaser was a smooth Venetian risotto which was finished off with a glass of our Il Roncal Cabernet Franc – the risotto was of perfect consistency and of an intense red wine colour due to the chef flavouring it with Amarone di Valpolicella as it is traditionally done.
We surprisingly truly enjoyed sipping our Soave as accompaniment to the following fish course, in what could be seen as an unusual
choice of having red wines preceding a white one. Still, it worked perfectly, and the mixed plate of fresh fish, sourced in the morning from Chester fish market included Capo Sante—Venetian style line caught scallop, grilled and then roasted fresh Sea Bass seasoned with fennel seed, crushed peppercorn & sea salt, chargrilled then roasted on a bed of thinly cut fresh fennel,white onion, parsley, lemon and wine; and Tagliolini, thin strips of fresh pasta, mixed lightly with freshly dressed crab, chilli, lemon and herbs. The whole combination was absolutely delicious!
There was still more to come! Grilled medallions of leg of lamb, the meat boned and butterfly opened, marinated in lemon, oil, rosemary and served with a small selection of Veneto style sautéed and grilled vegetable of the season, which was perfectly teamed with our Barbera d’Asti In Pectore. This last offering, by Garetto, was a favourite of the evening, and it was admirably followed by La Cantina home prepared Tiramisu and a small plate of lovely cheeses & chilled fruit, with the ‘dulcis in fundo’, last but not least, Vicentini’s Recioto di Soave, a perfectly sweet ending to a lovely evening.