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With winter knocking on our door and chilly weather, what better way to spend Father's Day cosied up with your family with a movie, popcorn, macaroni and cheese with truffle oil, mushrooms and toasted breadcrumbs and a bottle of De Grendel MCC Brut?

Below find the recipe for the perfect stylish evening.

Shocked that we recommend De Grendel MCC Brut and popcorn? They are the perfect partners because the yeasty, toasty bready flavours of our MCC crave the fat and salt of a perfectly popped and dressed bowl of popcorn. And then there’s all that texture: the crunch of the popped corn loves the fizziness of bubbles. A real taste and texture explosion in your mouth.

It is well known that our MCC loves luxury food items especially when flavoured with truffle try our favourite recipe below from www.mygourmetconnection.com click on the link below.

Canapes

1 x bottle of De Grendel MCC Brut

1 x bag of your favourite buttered popcorn

1 x new release movie

+ Macaroni and cheese with truffle, mushrooms and breadcrumbs:

http://www.mygourmetconnection.com/recipes/main-courses/pasta-pizza/baked-truffle-macaroni-cheese.php

Serves 6 as a starter

Round 2 - Saturday 26^th September

As the rising sun is now setting after the last game we can now focus all our energy on getting #behindtheboks for their must win clash against Western Samoa. Continuing in the spirit of De Grendel’s inaugural pairing world cup we are focusing on a recipe for you to try at home from Western Samoa paired with two of our truly South African wines.

Sapa Sui

For this classic Samoan chop suey style dish the perfect South African pairing  would be our Chardonnay 2014 or our Pinot Noir 2012 both wines are extremely good pairings with food with soy sauce in them. Soy sauce is always a problem child when it comes to food and wine pairing. On its own, too much salt increases the perception of tannins in a wine. The umami in soy sauce intensifies that tannic effect. Any bitter notes or off flavours in wine - especially red wine - also come to the front, while the wine's fruitiness is muted. But soy sauce is not eaten as a stand-alone ingredient. It's used in a multitude of ways, including seasoning sushi; stir-fry’s, marinades and dipping sauces, so pair the wine with the overall flavours of the dish.

Click here for the recipe

The Chardonnay due to the beautiful citrus flavours of grapefruit and marmalade with soft vanilla undertones will support the depth and saltiness of this classic dish while the oak will be lifted to give the wine a lovely toasty finish.

The Pinot Noir due to softer tannins present in this wine and the lovely ripe and fresh red and black berries in abundance with the soft velvety finish will help to soften the soy in this dish and lift up the fresher flavours present in the dish.

The Restaurant team is back in full swing after our annual winter break. We have had a complete make over in the kitchen and increased the size of the kitchen so that we can better service our customers - that's you. We have also addressed the issue of the air-conditioning in the main restaurant so that you will have a much more consistent ambient temperature in the dining room, and made one or two little aesthetic changes in the dining room.

With a new kitchen comes an updated menu featuring some exciting new dishes. Below are some examples of what to expect when you next dine at De Grendel, followed by a recipe for you to try at home of one of the components of the new winter dessert.

Scallop, crab, confit jalapeno, watercress, celeriac, tom yum

Duck leg confit, duck breast, crispy onion, sous vide quail egg, potato, grilled quince

Apple, cranberry, cinnamon, salted almond caramel, ginger bread ice cream

Apple and Pear Crumble Recipe:

150 grams flour

100 grams rolled oats

125 grams butter

50 grams brown sugar

4 apples

2 pears

1 cinnamon stick

50 grams of honey

10 grams of white sugar

Method

1. Peel and dice the apples and pears
2. Place the honey and sugar in saucepan with cinnamon stick and dissolve the sugar.
3. On a low heat add the apples and pears and cook for 10 mins until apples and pears are soft yet still have a bite to them.
4. For the crumble rub in the cold butter with the flour, oats and brown sugar to get a coarse bread crumb consistency
5. Place your apple and pear mixture into a baking dish and then top with the crumble and bake at 180oc for about 20mins or until golden brown (You can use as much or as little of the crumble as you like and freeze any remaining mixture for next time)
6. Serve with vanilla ice cream or some freshly whipped cream

Chef Ian and his team are currently working on creating a tasting menu that will be available to diners in the evenings and will offer a 5 course menu paired with De Grendel's beautiful wines. Details to be announced soon.

Here's a great recipe for the perfect Shiraz pairing at home. Although this dish takes a long time to prepare it is definitely worth waiting for. It is a very simple recipe that gives you layers of depth and flavour and is the perfect winter dish. If you have left over brisket it is great in a sandwich the next day. Just thinly slice and add your favourite bbq sauce and some lettuce.

De Grendel Beef Brisket Recipe

1.8-2kg Brisket

2 tbls chilli powder

2 tbls salt

1 Tbls ground Cumin

1.5 tbls garlic powder

1.5 tbls black pepper

1 tbls brown sugar

2 tsp English mustard powder

1 bay leaf crushed

1 cup beef stock

1 cup De Grendel Shiraz

1 onion

1 Carrot

1 Stick of celery

3tsp Horseradish cream

Cooking Instructions:

Pre Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius .

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and then rub all over the beef brisket. Place in a deep roasting pan and roast in the oven for one hour.

Roughly chop the onion, carrot and celery and place around the brisket along with the wine and the beef stock. Then cover the pan tightly in tin foil and lower the oven to 150 degrees Celcius and continue to roast for 3 hours.

Once cooked allow the brisket to rest for 5 mins and reduce the juice from the roasting pan and add the horseradish cream.

Slice the brisket and pour over the horseradish jus and serve with mashed potato and some bbq glazed carrots, tangy red cabbage and a glass of De Grendel Shiraz.

Shop De Grendel Shiraz online now >>

The Pick 'n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival is in full swing and De Grendel is attending! Join us at 18:00 today, Wednesday 8 July 2015, at the Flavours of Knysna served with Tabasco event. This is the night when some of the best restaurants in Knysna,  Sedgefield and surrounds compete for the titles for the ‘Best Dressed Oyster’ and ‘Best Dressed Stand’ with a tantalizing show of oyster preparations and stands,  judged by a prestigious panel of South African and International Judges. 

Get shucking and try our perfect oyster recipe!

Tempura oyster recipe

12 oysters

50 grams cornflour

Tempura batter

100 g rice flour or cornflower

½ teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

75ml De Grendel MCC

25ml sparkling water

Apricot chilli purée

8 dried apricots

1 red chilli deseeded (less if you don’t want to much heat)

50g sugar

Pinch salt

60 ml De Grendel MCC

40 ml orange juice

To make the apricot purée

Roughly chop the dried apricots and chilli and place in a saucepan with the sugar and mcc and orange juice. Cook until the dried apricots are soft and then blend into a thick smooth purée. Allow to cool

To make the batter

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk. Do not over whisk as this will knock out too much of the bubbles from the MCC. Look at the consistency and adjust accordingly. If it is too thick add more water and if to thin add more flour.

Open the oysters and dredge the oysters in the 50grams of cornflour and then dip into the batter and fry for around 2-3 mins or until crispy. Drain on paper towel

To Plate

Spoon some of the apricot purée into the oyster shell and place the hot tempura fried oyster on top garnish with coriander micro herb and serve with a glass of De Grendel MCC.

ENJOY!