Articles

What to drink with peashoots?

Peashoots exemplify the delicate flavours of spring as Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall persuasively argues in the Guardian today. How do you find a wine that won’t overwhelm them?

Well for a start I’d avoid oak-aged wines or ones with a significant level of residual sugar - white or red. What you need is a clean, crisp, minerally white or a no- or low-dosage sparkling wine. Here are my suggestions for his recipes:

Peashoot, lemon and ricotta salad
The wedges of lemon make this a tricky - if delicious - dish - as much a fruit salad as a vegetable one. The effect is going to make any accompanying wine taste sweeter than it normally would - and strip any citrus flavour it might have (so not a Sauvignon Blanc, I suggest) I’d go for something very clean and neutral like a not-too-leesy Muscadet, a Picpoul de Pinet or an Albariño. The wine needs to be young and quite sharp.

(Pasta with) pea shoot pesto
An interesting variant on the standard pesto which will turn out slightly milder and sweeter, I imagine. Here I think Sauvignon Blanc would be great: not too full-on or fruity a one - a Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé, I suggest.

Broad bean and pea top tart
Thanks to the pastry and creamy, cheesy filling a wider range of wines come into play. I’d be thinking in terms of an unoaked Chardonnay - maybe a Chablis - or an Alsace Pinot Blanc. Or maybe a glass of bubbly. Cava or blanc de blancs champagne if you feel like splashing out.

Comments: 0 (Add)

Your name:

Your email address:

Message: Enter the code shown in the image below:?Enter the code shown in the image below. This is to prevent spammers from using this form. You can use upper or lower case.