Free Range Chef

So since July I have been working in the executive chef capacity at Dallows restaurant at Sale St in Freemans Bay, Auckland

On the evening of the 17th August Dallows restaurant hosted a degustation evening matching tequila to food. I created a menu to food match to the four tequilas from Herradura.

Herradura was founded in 1861 by Feliciano Romo in Amatitan , a small hillside town six miles from the town of Tequila. According to the family history while Feliciano was looking for a building site for the distillery, he caught a glint of light flashing on the ground which turned out to be an old horseshoe, and so the site was selected. The brand name Herrradura means horseshoe in Spanish.

All Herradura Tequilas are made from 100% blue agave and the tequilas have no additives, sugars or colourings and have earned the right to use the legal terms 'natural' and 'estate bottled' on it's US labels.

The evening was hosted by Sale St owner Luke Dallow and Ruben Aceves the Herrdura owner, shown below discussing the finer points of a glass of tequila.

Dallows restaurant was packed with a mixture of celebs and media folk all intrigued by what was awaiting them !!

The tequila and the food:

First was the Herradura Blanco, this colourless young tequila is only aged in oak barrels for 45 days. It's a clean smooth attack with hints of citrus, vanilla and spice with a full feel on the tongue, followed by a astringent drying of the palate.

I wanted something clean and flavoursome, light and fresh to match with this tequila and thought about something south American. Ceviche was my choice, using snapper and scallops. I mixed Muscatel vinegar with the lemon and lime to add a touch of sweetness and depth, to add texture and colour I then added red corn chips, which we broken into pieces and a Avocado creme to complement the whole dish.

For the Entree was the Herradura Resposado. A light yellow coloured tequila, aged for 11 months, five times the norm, in white oak barrels. It has a pungent sharp ripe apple aroma and hints of acetone, brown spices, dried fruit and a rich earthy agave flavour, it has a long smoky finish.

For this course, I looked at a signature dish of mine, which I changed to match the tequila. I needed something to live up to the strong attack of this tequila and wanted to enhance those warming flavours. Plus this dish has an Asian theme, which would be a nice contrast from the appetizer course.

I cured pork belly for 24hrs with Asian spices, orange and cinnamon and confit the whole belly in duck fat, Pork stock, orange and more brown spices, cooked it slowly for a number of hours and then press the whole belly. For service we crisped the top of the belly pork which added texture to the melt in your mouth pork. The addition of crab is there to balance and to add a sweetness and light element to the dish, plus pork and seafood match very well together. We placed the whole dish on a marinated cucumber ribbon and finished it with a micro salad and a tart apple dressing.

The main was matched with the Herradura Anejo, which is aged for two years in white oak barrels, it has a dark copper colour, with toasted oak and caramelised aromas, it has a medium body with caramel flavours, hints of pepper and a long oaky finish, reminiscent of a good bourbon whisky.

When I read the tasting notes and tasted this tequila I immediately thought of coffee, and how well the two would go. I have cooked meats with coffee before and thought this would be a rich complement to a fine tequila. I decided to use ox cheek, as it would take on the flavour well with the marinating and slow cooking. The addition of veal was a contrast, (the sugar lumps to your coffee!) a lighter meat to change the colour of the over all dish. I just poached the loin in a light flavorful stock. Parsnip puree is one of my favorites and just works so well with the rest of the flavours.

The dessert course was matched with the Herrdura Seleccion Suprema. This tequila is aged for over 4 years and is the pride of Casa Herradura. It has a very dark gold colour with a definite wow!

Cream soda and oaky aromas, hints of white pepper and citrus, with sweet oak, caramel and a long rich finish.

The Deconstructed Passion fruit brulee on the menu of Dallows restaurant was a perfect match for this tequila, served with compote of berries and a marscapone cream, it was held up to the fine tequila well.

Below Hollie smith and friends enjoying the evening.

'Thank you so much, it was absolutely amazing!! The food was fantastic and so was the tequila, a really nice night, thank you so much for thinking of me' - Hollie Smith

Below (left) Kelly Gibney (Sale St events manager) with partner Luke and Dish editor Victoria Wells.

On the 4th and 5th of August Rick Stein visited New Zealand doing two shows at the Aotea center Auckland. This was to be his first ever theater audiences.

Head Chef Paul Sellars joined Rick and Mark on stage. Paul worked with Rick for seven years in Padstow, and has owned his own restaurants, going back to working with Rick again in the cooking school in Padstow.

Below the Balinese seafood curry, the smells coming from stage were making us hungry!

Filleting fish, a Treacle tart, a show piece on Chalky (his dog that past a few years ago), a video of him visiting the Sea Mart in Auckland early that morning, tips and tricks in the kitchen, lots of joking about and a cook off between Rick and Paul with 2 people on stage to judge the final dishes(it was a draw!) were all part of a great evening.

It was a lot of fun to watch and be part of and if he comes back I highly recommend it!

For more information on Rick Stein visit www.rickstein.com