Treat your loved one to a special Valentine's Day meal created by the chefs at Mont Rochelle. Bring a taste of Franschhoek, considered to be the foodie capital of South Africa, to your home with a refreshing and tempting cocktail, The Mont Rochelle W&T, followed by a mouthwatering garlic and parsley salmon, poached egg and warm vegetable salad main course.

The Mont Rochelle W&T

Ingredients:
Makes one cocktail

• 100ml Mont Rochelle Sauvignon Blanc (any Sauvignon Blanc will work for this cocktail)
• 50 ml Raspberry puree
• 200ml Soda water (we used Schweppes here)
• 3 Lemon slices
• Fresh lavender for garnish
• Ice

Method:

1. Pour 100ml of Mont Rochelle Sauvignon Blanc 2019 into your glass
2. Pour 50ml of Raspberry puree into your glass and swirl together
3. Add ice to your glass – add enough to fill your glass
4. Top this up with soda water and give it a good stir
5. Add three slices of lemon to your glass and a stem of lavender for garnish
6. Bottoms up and enjoy!

Garlic and Parsley Fish with Poached Eggs and a Warm Vegetable Salad

This is one of the easiest and most rewarding dishes to make and will look stunning on your Valentine's table!

The key is to prepare all the ingredients in advance as it will take the same time to cook the fish as it will to warm up the ingredients.

Ingredients:
Serves four

• 4 180g Portions of salmon
  This recipe works particularly well with Norwegian salmon and trout, but most line fish can be used.

• 16 Fine beans, tops cut off, leaving the tail for presentation

• 12 Red baby tomatoes, cut in half

• 12 Boiled baby potatoes, cooled and sliced into 4 discs

• ¼ Red onion, thinly sliced

• 4 Soft poached eggs - once cooked, keep these warm in an oven on low heat or in a bain marie while you complete the other steps of the recipe

• 2tbs Basil pesto

• 2tbs Italian parsley, finely chopped

• 1tbs Fresh garlic, thinly sliced

• Juice of half a lemon

• 2tbs Extra virgin olive oil

• Salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Begin by mixing the parsley, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper. Mix well and set aside
2. Pat the fish portions dry with paper towel and set aside
3. Add a splash of olive oil into a frying pan on medium high heat, when the pans start to smoke lightly, add the sliced pre-boiled baby potatoes and fine beans to one pan and season lightly
4. When the potatoes are golden, flip the slices and shake the pan to turn the beans. When the other side of the potatoes are golden brown, add the red onion and baby tomatoes to the pan and gently toss. Set this pan aside
5. For the fish: make sure you use a pan that is large enough to hold the 4 portions of fish at once.
6. Generously coat the base of the fish pan with oil and heat to lightly smoking point.
7. Lie the 4 portions of salmon gently in the pan, skin side down. Season the flesh side with salt.
8. Pan fry for 4 minutes until the skin is crispy, then flip the fish away from you to prevent hot oil from splashing
9. Generously coat the fish portions with the garlic and parsley oil and pan fry the fish for a further 3 minutes for perfect medium cooked salmon
10. Just before serving, fold the pesto through the warm vegetable salad and serve evenly on 4 main course plates of your choice.
11. To finish, place the salmon on top of the warm vegetable salad and place the soft poached eggs alongisde the fish. Season the eggs with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

We recommend pairing the dish with the MIKO Chardonnay 2016.

Lekker eet!

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