What to drink with Heston’s Diamond Jubilee picnic

Heston Blumenthal’s Jubilee picnic hamper was unveiled yesterday - to be served at Buckingham Palace before an open-air concert on June 4th. The picnic is being funded by Waitrose who must be pleased as punch to have the Palace’s endorsement in this video. The guests will also apparently be given vouchers for a glass of Moët or a bottle of Cobra beer (the other sponsors of the event).

Given the various elements of the picnic come in neat little plastic containers it does make you wonder if Waitrose will be rolling out this - or something similar - for the rest of us to buy from their branches but we could at least could drink English wine with it. (I suspect none of the UK wine producers has deep enough pockets to provide wine for the 10,000 guests that will attend the function.)

You can bet your bottom dollar that all supermarkets will have special offers on English sparkling wines in the run-up to the Jubilee or try these other suggestions if you want to do some more precise food and wine matching:

The picnic kicks off with some chilled British baby plum tomato soup with red peppers and cucumber finished with garden mint-infused oil. I’d be inclined to go for the Sauvignon Blanc-like Bacchus with this or other dry-ish English white which would also go with the spicy main courses: fragrant Lapsang Souchong tea-smoked salmon and Diamond Jubilee Chicken (Heston’s new spin on Coronation Chicken). If you were just matching the salmon and chicken I'd probably go for a crisp dry Riesling - maybe an Aussie one, keeping the Commonwealth in the loop - a Pinot Gris, a Viognier or a fruity rosé.

If you wanted a red I’d go for a Beaujolais (the 2009s would be ideal) or a New Zealand Pinot Noir which would pair particularly well with the veggie option - a mushroom parfait.

With the dessert - a Sandringham strawberry crumble crunch - a concoction of yoghurt, strawberries and cream with a meringue and oat topping - and with the cakes - I'd revert to bubbly, preferably one with a touch of sweetness or a gently sparkling Moscato d’Asti.

Finally there’s cheese and chutney which would probably kill off any of the preceeding wines and would be best matched with a proper English ale. (Not Cobra, please!)

A winelover's New Year's Eve dinner

After the tradition-bound cooking of the Christmas period (from which the family will never let you deviate . . .) it’s good to branch out a bit with your New Year’s Eve meal and also pick some dishes that will allow you to drink some serious wines. Note you need to start the beef two days in advance.

Warm scallop salad with crispy pancetta and parsnip crisps

An extravagantly indulgent starter from my book Cooking with Wine which can be rustled up just before you sit down at table.
serves 6

2 tbsp olive oil + a little extra for dressing the salad
150g diced pancetta
18 large fresh scallops, preferably diver caught
100ml full bodied dry white wine such as a Chardonnay or Viognier
3 tablespoons fish stock or water
2 tbsp double cream or crème fraîche
A small bag of mixed leaf salad
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the parsnip crisps
1 medium parsnip (about 200g)
Vegetable oil

To make the parsnip chips, peel the parsnip and cut off the root end to leave you with a piece about 10cm (4 inches) long and 3-4 cm (1 1/2 inches) wide at its narrowest point. Shave off fine slices with a mandolin or vegetable peeler. Fill a wok about one quarter full with vegetable oil and heat until very hot (about 190°C/375°F or until a cube of bread turns golden in 40 seconds). Fry the parsnip slices in batches, a few at a time, removing them as they brown with a slotted spoon and drain them on kitchen towel. Sprinkle them lightly with salt.

Season the scallops on both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat a separate frying pan and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Fry the pancetta until crisp then remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

Pour off the fat from the pan, return it to the hob, reheat for a minute until almost smoking then lay the scallops in the pan. Cook them for 1 - 1 1/2 minutes depending how thick they are then turn them over and cook for the same amount of time the other side. Set aside and keep warm. Pour the white wine into the pan, let it bubble up and reduce it by half. Add a splash (about 3 tbsp) of fish stock or water and keep bubbling away until you have about 3-4 tablespoons of juice. Return any juices that have accumulated under the scallops to the pan and stir in the cream. Check the seasoning, adding pepper to taste and a little more salt if you think it needs it, warm through for a few seconds then turn off the heat.

Divide the salad leaves between six plates and scatter over the pancetta. Drizzle the leaves with a little olive oil and season lightly with salt and black pepper. Lay 3 scallops on each plate and spoon the pan juices over them. Arrange the parsnip crisps over the top.

Wine suggestion: a good Chardonnay would be perfect with this dish. Other smooth, lush whites like white Graves, other blends of Sauvignon and Semillon or southern French blends of Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier would also be good.

South African sugar-cured chateaubriand

This unlikely-sounding recipe comes from one of my latest books, Steak. It’s a version of one I tried in a stunning restaurant called Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek and is one of the most successful ways I’ve found of cooking beef fillet. A perfect dinner party dish - everyone will ask you for the recipe! Note that you have to start the preparation two days ahead though.

Serves 6

1 kg châteaubriand, cut in one piece from the centre of the fillet
For the cure
30g coarse sea salt
4g each of black peppercorns, Sichuan peppercorns and coriander seeds
1 1/2 tsp herbes de Provence
1 clove of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
50g light muscovado sugar
50g dark muscovado sugar
To finish
2 tbsp light olive oil
15g butter

Put the salt, both lots of peppercorns and the coriander seeds in a mortar and pound with a pestle until coarsely ground. Add the garlic and pound again. (Or you can do this in a food processor but don’t reduce it to a powder.) Tip into a shallow dish and mix in both sugars. Trim any external fat off the châteaubriand and pat it dry. Place it in the dish and rub thoroughly with the sugar mixture. Cover with a double layer of cling film and put in the fridge for 48 hours, turning the meat occasionally. (The moisture in the meat will dissolve the sugar, creating a rich marinade).

When you come to cook the meat, heat the oven to 225°C/425°F/Gas 7. Rinse off the marinade and pat the joint dry with kitchen paper. Heat a cast iron oven-proof frying pan or dish, add the oil, then, when that has heated, the butter. Once the butter has melted place the meat in the pan and brown well on all sides (about 5 minutes in total). Transfer the dish to the oven and roast for 12-15 minutes for a rare joint and up to 20 minutes for a slightly better done one (you don’t want to overcook it). Set aside on a warm plate to rest for 5-10 minutes.

Carve the meat into medium-thick slices, arrange 2 or 3 slices on each plate and serve with a spoonful of Essential steak sauce (below) to which you can add any juices that have run off the meat. A smooth French-style potato pure and lightly steamed vegetables like asparagus or green beans go well with this.

Wine suggestion:
Because of the spicing, this is the perfect dish to partner a vibrant young, new world red. As it’s South African inspired, I suggest a Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon or other classy Cabernet or Cabernet blend from e.g. Western Australia, Coonawarra or the Napa Valley.

Essential steak sauce

A simple way of making the rich ‘demi-glace’ that forms the basis of many professional kitchen sauces

1 tbsp olive oil
10g butter
110g shallots, peeled and roughly sliced
125ml red wine
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
150ml fresh beef stock
1 tsp butter paste*
Salt, pepper and a little Worcestershire sauce

Heat the oil in a pan then add the butter. Once it has melted add the shallots, stir and cook for about 10 minutes until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Add the red wine and balsamic vinegar, bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the liquid has reduced by about three-quarters. Add the stock and simmer for another 5 minutes. Strain, return to the pan and whisk in the butter paste with a wire whisk. Bring back to the boil and simmer until thickened. Season to taste with salt, pepper and a few drops of Worcestershire sauce.
* to make butter paste mash together equal quantities of soft butter and plain flour until you have a smooth paste.

Eton Mess with Chestnuts (aka Vacherin)

I’m having one of my period infatuations with an ingredient. Currently it’s chestnuts, not least because I’ve discovered that creamy, chestnut-based puddings are the most brilliant foil for certain styles of sweet wine (see below)This is a really easy recipe you can put together from store cupboard ingredients.
Serves 6

1 medium-sized (about 435g) tin of sweetened chestnut puree (or unsweetened puree and 2-3 tbsp sugar syrup)
2 tbsp Frangelico (hazelnut flavoured liqueur) or rum (optional)
150ml single cream
284 ml double cream
1 tbsp vanilla sugar or caster sugar and 1/2 tsp of vanilla
6 medium-sized meringues or meringue nests
6-8 marrons glaces (candied chestnuts), roughly chopped

You will need 6 sundae dishes or other dessert glasses
Tip the contents of the tin of chestnuts into a food processor. Add the Frangelico and rum, if using, and the single cream and whizz together, adding a little extra sugar if you think it needs it. Add the vanilla sugar (or sugar and vanilla essence) to the double cream and whip lightly until it holds a soft peak (just holds its shape). Just before serving, break up the meringues roughly by hand. Put a little of the meringue in the bottom of each glass, cover with a layer of the chestnut cream then spoon over a layer of whipped cream. Repeat twice, finishing with cream then scatter a few chopped pieces of marrons glaces over each glass. Voila!

Wine suggestion:
I drank a glass of Vin Santo with a similar dish in Paris recently (see The Best Food and Wine Matching on the Planet) so can strongly recommend that. Good alternatives would be a Hungarian Tokaji, a Passito di Pantelleria or Samos Muscat from Greece.)

Photograph by: William Lingwood

A perfect vineyard lunch

As I mentioned in my last post our last lunch of the Oregon trip was at Cristom where sales director (no less!) John D'Anna cooked us a great meal. Here's how he did it and - where I have a link to them - the recipes he used. Try it!

Panzanella
The perfect recipe to make at this time of year, especially if you have access - as John did - to heirloom tomatoes. I don't think any of Cristom's wines were perfectly suited to it - the Pinot Gris fared best - but I'd have gone for a Sauvignon Blanc, dry Italian white or a rosé. John got his recipe from the Saveur Italian cookbook. I would guess it's probably this one. The toasting of the bread definitely added to the texture.

Hot smoked salmon salad with corncakes
A star recipe originally from Alfred Portale's Gotham Bar and Grill Cookbook. Basically an assembly of warm hot smoked salmon, spring (green onion), finely sliced peppers, chives and sour cream on a corncake made with fresh wine corn I would guess. Just delicious and the perfect foil for both the 2008 Cristom Pinot Gris and ’08 Germaine Vineyard Chardonnay. (Chardonnay loves corn!)

Spoon lamb with pomegranate and white beans
At first sight this looks like more of a winter dish but lamb is lighter than beef, especially when sauced this exotic way. (The recipe comes from Anna Sorton of Oleana restaurant in Boston) The touch of pomegranate provided the ideal bridging ingredient to winemaker Steve Doerner’s glorious 2007 Sommers Reserve Pinot Noir and white beans are always a great textural foil for a medium or full-bodied red.

Oregon - and British - cheeseboard
I love the presentation of this cheeseboard with its casually scattered cherries. The local cheeses were Adelle (bottom left) a rich bloomy rinded cow and sheeps' cheese from Ancient Heritage Dairy, Sunset Bay (bottom right) a goats cheese with a line of smoked pimenton from Rivers Edge Farm, Boerenkaas, a hard Dutch-style cheese from the Willamette Valley dairy (top left) and - rather improbably - Cornish Yarg (top right). A well chosen selection to show off the older Pinot Noirs.

Raspberry buttermilk cake
I have to confess I didn't get round to tasting this as we had to shoot off for our next appointment but it looked lovely and was perfectly in balance with the rest of this delectably summery meal. It would be a good foil for a light lemony dessert wine too. Here's the recipe which comes from the late lamented Gourmet magazine.

Five easy ways to impress your family and friends this New Year's Eve

The problem with this time of year is that it leaves little scope for creativity. The mistress (or possibly master) of the house is in charge of the kitchen. The family want the same recipes they always have. You, the humble male have little else to do but choose the wine, pull the cork and make sure it’s served at the right temperature.

But what if there was an easy but impressive dish that you could sneak into the kitchen and whip up to dazzle your guests? A little bit of oneupmanship over ‘er indoors? Well, we have just the thing thanks to Dermot and Christine Gannon, the young Irish-American proprietors of the most original restaurant I’ve been to this year, The Old Convent in Co. Tipperary.

Dermot a self-taught chef, met Christine when he was working in a restaurant in her home state of Colorado. She was about to travel to south-east Asia, discovered he’d recently been there and asked to pick his brains. She made such an impression that he ended up going with her. They went round the world together then came back to Ireland where they opened their own restaurant, Gannons above The Bell in Cahir. Its successor, The Old Convent, or TOC, as it’s known in Irish food circles, opened in 2006 and has been dubbed the ‘hottest address in Ireland’ by John and Sally McKenna of the Bridgestone guides

What makes Dermot’s cooking stand out from the crowd is its no-choice tasting menu full of clever, original dishes that are based on local organic and artisanal produce. Not the molecular gastronomy favoured by so many chefs (“no foams and froths” as Christine puts it), but a whimsical, playful cuisine delivered with great accuracy and stunning flavour combinations. “We’re not going for a Michelin star” says Dermot. “We just want to enjoy what we’re doing which is elegant comfort food.”

Here are five of their top ideas for seasonal entertaining.

3 Soup Shots: Sweet Potato, Parsnip and Pea
This master recipe can be played three different ways or you could make just the one shot. To make the sweet potato velout preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F . Roast 2 large sweet potatoes for approximately 40 - 45 minutes until soft. Remove from the oven and cool. Peel and chop the potatoes and place in a blender with 950ml chicken stock and blend until smooth. Pass the mixture through a sieve into a saucepan and heat over a medium high heat. Stir in 40g of cubed butter and stir until melted and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Remove from the heat, stir in a tablespoon of crme fraiche and a little grated parmesan then return the soup to the blender and whizz again until smooth. Serve in shot glasses or espresso cups, topped with 3 drops of hazelnut oil

To make a parsnip velout roast 4 parsnips (about 400g) the same way as the sweet potatoes then follow the recipe above, finishing it with 3 drops of truffle oil instead of the hazelnut oil.

To make the pea velout, put the chicken stock in a pan with a vanilla pod and 40g of cubed butter and slowly bring to the boil. Add 2 cups of frozen peas then when the soup comes back to the boil, remove from the heat and put into the blender. Follow the recipe above adding 3 drops of mint oil (olive oil infused with mint leaves) to finish.

Irish Artisan Sushi Rolls
“Sushi is becoming quite a dinner party favourite” says Christine. “Don’t be intimidated by the impressive knife wielding skills of professional sushi chefs – try it at home and make it your own unique flavour combinations. Here are some of our favourites”:

You will need a bamboo rolling mat and some nori (dried seaweed), 3 cups of Japanese Sushi Rice and some sushi rice vinegar. (Dissolve 2 tablespoons of white sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of mirin in 75ml rice wine vinegar over a low heat and set aside to cool).

Three popular fillings we use are Connemara oak smoked salmon, mascarpone cheese and avocado; McCarthys air dried beef, Ardsallagh goats cheese and rocket and Dunmore East crab mixed with a little mayonnaise & freshly chopped chives with pineapple, cucumber and apple strips and fresh coriander

Cook the rice following the instructions on the pack and spread it out on a baking tray. Sprinkle the sushi vinegar over the rice and gently fork through. Allow the rice to cool to room temperature.

To make the rolls put a sheet of nori on the bamboo rolling mat. Spread an even layer of rice over 2/3 of the nori sheet. Place strips of filling ingredients in a row lengthways down the centre of the rice. Start to roll from the edge nearest to you, using the the mat to help form the roll. Once the roll is complete, take a sharp knife and slice into eight even pieces.

Ice Cream Martinis
Ice cream martinis make a quick and impressive dessert - or even pre-dessert. As with the soups you can make them in three contrasting colours or flavours - or just one. You will need some martini glasses and a blender. Start with top quality vanilla ice cream and blend to taste with Baileys and crme de menthe for an Irish Mint, brandy and crme de cacao (Brandy Bean) or crme de banane and coconut rum (Banana Nut). To decorate sprinkle the surface with a little cinnamon or cocoa powder, coat the rim of the glass with flavoured sugar or add sliced fruit such as banana, cherry, strawberry, pineapple and apple to the rim of the glass.

Flamed Cashel Blue with poached pears and pistachios
A dramatic alternative to the traditional cheeseboard or Stilton. Peel some pears and poach in a 50/50 mixture of port and water with some added spices such as cinnamon and cloves. Carefully cut each pear in half lengthways and scoop out the centre. Briefly reheat the pear halves in the poaching liquid then put each one on a small plate and fill with a scoop of Cashel Blue or other soft blue cheese. Sprinkle with roasted pistachios. Heat a ladleful of Irish whisky, set it alight and carefully pour a little over the top of each cheese-filled pear. Take to the table while still flaming and serve with home made crackers.

Breakfast fruit martinis
The highlight of the breakfasts that have won the Gannons this year’s Irish breakfast award from Georgina Campbell’s Ireland are the fruit ‘martinis’ which are brough to the table as you sit down. A martini glass filled a third of the way up with yoghurt and piled with chunkily diced fresh fruits such as pineapple, melon, pears, apples and grapes topped with candied pecan nuts or roasted pistachios as the mood takes them. So easy to do and a perfect start to a Boxing Day brunch.

The Old Convent, Mount Anglesby, Clogheen, County Tipperary, Ireland.
Tel: +353 (0) 52 65565. www.theoldconvent.ie

This article first appeared in the December 2008 issue of Decanter