Cucumber fritters and Sancerre

I think I’ve found the perfect match for Sancerre - and the perfect Sancerre to drink with them!

It’s cucumber fritters, a summer speciality of my good friend Stephen Markwick of Culinaria in Bristol. They’re served in a light, salty batter with dill-flavoured cream and some lightly dressed salad leaves and flowers including peashoots and nasturtiums which Stephen gets from Arne Herbs. I’d give you the recipe but it’s part of the collection that is going into the next cookbook I’m collaborating on with Stephen which will be out this autumn. (The first being A Very Honest Cook)

The Sancerre was great too: a 2008 from Pierre Riffault of Domaine du Carroir-Perrin which was wonderfully pure and mineral with just a hint of gooseberry fruit, elegant and restrained. It came from a local Bristol wine merchant, Vine Trail and you can read the full description here on their site.

Other Sauvignon Blancs would do but the more overt styles I think would overwhelm the delicacy of this quintessentially summery dish.

Gazpacho and Rueda

Just squeaking in in time for this week’s match of the week is a great gazpacho and Rueda combo I had at lunch today at a new London winebar 28-50.

I’ll be reviewing it in a few days time but this was really a stand-out combination. The chef Paul Walsh, who used to be no. 2 at Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road, has created a spicy twist on the Spanish classic with a crostino rather than a crouton, topped with a coarsely chopped fresh tomato purée and with some basil, chilli and olives in the soup. It wasn’t hot but it had quite a kick.

I picked one of the least expensive wines on the list, a crisp minerally 2009 Rueda called Herbis - a blend of Verdejo and Viura from ex-sommelier Franck Massard of Epicure Wines. I’ve had Sauvignon Blanc before with tomato-based soups so I thought it would work but the combination was actually quite perfect.

28-50 which refers to the latitudes between which wine can be successfully grown is the latest enterprise from Xavier Rousset and Agnar Sverrisson of Texture. Cleverly they’re selling wines by the 75ml measure as well as the standard glass and carafe sizes so you can easily try more than one.

Image © Francesco83 - Fotolia.com

Fresh crab salad and 17 year old Muscadet (and yes, you did read that right!)

Apologies for returning once again to the subject of crab but it is one of my favourite summer foods and this was the outstanding match of last week.

The occasion was a lunch at The Seahorse in Devon to celebrate the launch of a campaign to promote South Devon crab which I’ve written about on my blog Food and Wine Finds but I didn’t touch on the very interesting wine pairings with which we experimented.

The most fascinating one was a 17 year old Muscadet Sevre et Maine called Le L d’Or from Pierre Luneau-Papin from the 1993 vintage. The idea of Muscadet lasting that long is almost inconceivable but it was still astonishingly fresh - piercingly intense and mineral and a perfect wine for the simply prepared crab salad we were served. You can read more about his domaine Pierre de la Grange here on winedoctor.

We also had a couple of other bottles open, a Costa di Giula 2008, a lush Vermentino-Sauvignon bland from Michele Satta Bolgheri which was particularly good with a dish of spiced brown crab and an exotically scented Traminer Aromatico from Conte Brandolini d’Adda which would have been better with a spicier preparation still such as spicy crab linguine or a south Indian crab curry.

I realise from my previous posts that I’ve found a fair number of good matches for fresh crab which does underline that it is one of the best types of seafood with which to enjoy an elegant, crisp dry white whether it’s a Muscadet, Sauvignon, Chablis or Albarino. Or a fine Chenin Blanc as I suggested the other week.

Chocolate and roasted Oolong tea

The most interesting meal I had last week was undoubtedly at Viajante, an innovative new restaurant in what used to be Bethnal Green town hall. You can see my full review on decanter.com but I just wanted to write a bit more about the pairings.

Chocolate is always a bit of a minefield with wine and I can’t honestly think of one that would have dealt with all the different textures and temperatures of what was a really stellar dessert: a sorbet, a granita a jelly and some dense crumbs of chocolate sponge. But the richly nutty, almost malty Wuyi Dark Rock tea which was served warm rather than hot was wonderfully refreshing, adding flavour without richness or sweetness of its own. It was apparently supplied by Teasmith in nearby Spitalfields market.

The menu offers an accompanying selection of ‘beverage’ rather than wine pairings which resulted in a beer - albeit a vinous Rodenbach Grand Cru - with the starter of beetroot, crisp apple and goats curd. (I actually thought it went better with a couple of the umami-rich ‘amuses’ which included a crostino of romesco [sauce], almonds, olives and dehydrated sherry and a soy milk jelly with smoked aubergine.

A main course of sole coated in roasted yeast with mustard gnocchi and a cauliflower purée was intriguingly matched with a light, lush 2007 Szepsy Furmint which added a contrasting note of gentle sweetness.

This is definitely a place to go to explore - drink as well as food - and to keep an open mind. Nuno Mendes is obviously as interested in what his team pours in your glass as what he puts on the plate - and that’s quite rare for a chef. I’m already looking forward to my next visit.