Recipe for showcasing the best New Zealand fare to savvy New Yorkers:
Find a great Kiwi chef – Matt Lambert certainly fits the bill.
Location – well it would have to be Matt’s outstanding Michelin star restaurant, The Musket Room in Nolita.
Who to invite – hmm… influential New York City food and wine professionals – chefs and sommeliers from some of the City’s finest restaurants would be great…
OK so we better get the menu right. Lets start with canapés – playful miso “waffle cones” with Ora King and bonito, and a cilantro cone with Cervena venison, sesame and pig’s blood. And wine – a Villa Maria 2012 Cellar Selection Sauvignon Blanc is the perfect start.
Now we are warming up – next course, Ora King salmon – a cured preparation with freeze dried satsumas, vanilla and sunflower seeds, served with a 2011 Villa Maria Taylors Pass Chardonnay. And follow this up with a spectacularly beautiful preparation of seared Ora King with carrot, leeks and roe, accompanied by both a 2012 Villa Maria Wairau Sauvignon Blanc and a 2010 Cellar Selection Riesling (spoilt for choice!).
Next up – how about venison two-ways – first up, a venison leg served with “gin botanicals” along with a 2008 Villa Maria Reserve Pinot Noir. Then, a venison loin served with date, apple and wild garlic, paired with a 2008 Gimblett Gravels Cabernet-Merlot from Hawkes Bay.
And how to finish this most excellent lunch? Well if we are going to stay with the theme (and we are) – there is only one choice – Pavlova – but you can trust Matt to come up with a fabulous interpretation of the “classic” Pavlova.
Result: a winning formula! Just a shame that the invite list was SO exclusive.
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