wine matching & recipe ideas

WHY NOT TRY...

Arbroath Smokie (PGI) with shallots, potatoes and chives

by Lawrence Keogh, head cook, Roast, Borough Market

Mortadella Bologna (Italy, PGI)

❝I ate a lot of Mortadella Bologna in panino when I was a boy and I really got to like the taste. It’s a product that is accessible, not too expensive and flavoursome. I don’t want to suggest it’s dubious but it’s certainly not made from the prime cuts of meat. It’s best sliced paper thin and eaten in a bread roll with a nice white wine such as a Chardonnay, Verdicchio or Cinque Terre.❞

Giancarlo Caldesi, Italian food writer, TV chef and owner of Caldesi Italian Restaurants, Café, Bar and Cookery School

Serves 4

2 smokies, skinned and flaked (no bones)

12 pink fir apple potatoes cooked in their skins

28g butter

Pinch of mace

Juice and zest of ½ lemon

½ bunch of chive batons

Salt and pepper

Method:

Bring the potatoes to the boil in their skins and let them simmer for approximately 8-10 minutes until cooked. Take out and allow to cool.

Place the butter in a small pan then add the flaked smokie and warm through for approximately 4-5 minutes.

When hot, add the mace, lemon juice and zest and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Take a small slice of each end of the potatoes, like when eating a boiled egg, cut through the middle at an angle and place three potatoes in a small bowl standing up in a ‘Stonehenge’ circle.

Lastly, add the chive batons to the smokie mixture and spoon into the centre of each potato circle and serve. Great with warm crusty bread.

Wine recommendation:

Chapel Down Bacchus Reserve 2005: beautifully scented with rose petal and ripe gooseberry on the nose.

Reblochon (France, PDO)

❝There are several famous recipes with Reblochon such as tartiflette (pictured), which is layers of cooked sliced potatoes, onions and lardons with Reblochon and crème fraiche. We also use Reblochon in fondue; just at the point when all the cheese and wine has melded into a thick mass we stir in Reblochon to give that extra rich, silky finish to the dish. Savoie wines are the best matches, such as Chignin Marechale, Chignin Bergeron, or a slightly chilled Pinot Noir from Savoie.❞

Patricia Michelson, founder, La Fromagerie

Scottish Farmed Salmon (UK, PGI)

❝Marinade half of each salmon fillet in beetroot and sugar, and the other half in soy sauce and honey and leave for three days. Finish the honey and soy salmon with some fresh coriander and serve both together on a plate with some Cornish crab meat mixed with crème fraiche. Wash down with a Pinot Grigio or Chablis.❞

Gary Klaner, executive chef, The Landmark Hotel

Kentish Ales (UK, PGI)

❝I think the hoppiness of our Bishops Finger and Spitfire ales cuts right through the richness of lamb and beef. They also go well with sausages, and I enjoy nothing better than fish and chips and a bottle of Spitfire. The ales should be served slightly on the chilly side of room temperature in a tulip shaped goblet to allow the foam to concentrate in the upper portion of the glass – you get this wonderful contrast between the whiteness of the foam and the richness of the beer colour.❞

Ian Dixon, production director, Shepherd Neame

WHY NOT TRY...

Whitstable Oysters (PGI) poached in Herefordshire Perry (PGI), with pollock and Jersey Royal potatoes (PDO)

A well-chilled clear perry serves as a fantastic substitute for a dry white Entredeux-Mer with shellfish. The very particular fumy sweetness and crisp, dry finish of the perry partners the fresh sea spray flavour of our native oysters particularly well.

If you’re feeling adventurous and fancy creating a dish brimming with PFNs, then the following, provided you cook it in April, unites the last of the season’s Whitstable Oysters, the best of the season’s Jersey Royals (hand-planted in January), Herefordshire Perry and a rediscovered favourite, pollock.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 dozen Whitstable Oysters

2 6oz fillets of pollock

1 pint of Herefordshire Perry Jersey Royal potatoes

3 cloves of garlic

Butter

Clean the oyster shells under a running tap. Bring the perry, crushed garlic cloves and a generous knob of butter to the boil in a saucepan.

Add the oysters, cover and simmer for 2 minutes until they start to open. Remove the oyster shells from the pan retaining the liquid. Carefully remove the whole oysters from their shells.

Fry the pollock fillets in a little melted butter for 2 minutes, then add enough of the liquid to cover and poach for 1 minute.

Transfer the cooked fillets to serving plates, pour the remaining liquid into the pan and boil vigorously, stirring until reduced to a few tablespoons of delicious fish and perry sauce.

Place 6 of the oysters on top of the pollock and pour over the perry sauce.

Serve with freshly boiled Jersey Royals tossed in a little melted butter.

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