A spring evening at Denise's

On a warm spring evening, Denise Weibel invited Stefanie Feuz, Christopher Eckstein, Thomas Müller, Marco Pero, and me to a formidable dinner. While we sipped glasses of 2018 «La Escribana», Spanish white wine on the balcony, the sun was setting on the horizon. Denise served us small pastries filled with delicately marinated and diced mushrooms. Together with the wine, a perfect match.

Once sat at the beautifully laid table, we had a glance at the menu, written on dry sheets of lasagne pasta – a fun idea. First on the menu was a Vitello Tonnato, thin slices of veal generously covered with creamy tuna sauce. Denise added a hint of lemon zest to the sauce, which made it taste extra fresh.

The second plate was a tuna fillet wrapped in wine leaves and served with a creamy lemon and date relish. The wine leaf added a delicate flavour to the tuna and kept it nice and pink in the centre while it was seared in «Oro del Camello» olive oil. The combination of the sweet-sour relish with the seared tuna was wonderful.

Could these two dishes be topped? Well, the «Pata Negra» fillet – from Spanish acorn-fed pigs – certainly was the culmination of this evening menu. It was perfectly roasted, still juicy pink inside accompanied with oven-roasted onions, filled with bone marrow and crusty breadcrumbs, served with potato gratin. Denise executed this dish in a way many professional chefs could learn from.
We had 2018 Sor Ugo, Bolgheri Superiore, Italian red wine – a full-bodied wine, yet with a fruity structure – with the third course. A perfect choice with the Pata Negra.

To round off the evening, Denise surprised us with a coconut Panna Cotta and rhubarb jelly. Again, the sweet flavour of coconut is nicely balanced with the slightly sour taste of the rhubarb.

Needless to say, Denise is a perfect host, and foremost a generous and dear friend. The evening amongst friends was relaxing and the talks fun as well as interesting – and as Denise likes to say, «it was a blast».