Cecina, potato and kale soup and Chateau Montus Madiran

The idea of matching a soup with a full-bodied south-western French red wine might seem bizarre but it proved a surprisingly good pairing.

Admittedly it was a freezing cold, snowy day which put one in mind for both. I was already drinking the wine - Alain Brumont’s wonderfully dark rich damsony Château Montus 2004 at our local wine bar Flinty Red and couldn’t resist the idea of the soup of the day, which was cecina, potato and kale - a creative trans-Iberian spin on the Portuguese Caldo Verde. Cecina is a Spanish air-dried beef which has a savoury, salty tang which balanced out the soft potatoes, bitter greens and grassy olive oil.

It was more a stew than a soup which is why it worked with such a full-bodied wine. The Montus would also have been very good with cheese (especially sheeps' cheese) if I’d ordered some with it as you can see from my recent report from its stablemate Château Bouscassé.

Braised ox cheek and Lalande de Pomerol

As is often the way Christmas wasn’t a time for any startling food and wine discoveries, rather for celebrating favourite combinations but I realise I forgot to mention one pairing just before Christmas at Angelus restaurant in Lancaster Gate.

Angelus is one of the only restaurants I can think of which showcases a sommelier rather than a chef - in this case Thierry Thomasin who used to work at Le Gavroche and then at Aubergine with William Drabble. A while ago he set up his own place, a typically French neighbourhood restaurant with a strong wine list which recently won an award at the first London Restaurant Festival awards for its ‘warmth and welcome’.

The food, which is cooked by Martin Nisbet is Michelin one star in style but it’s the wine list that’s the main attraction, not least for the chance to drink affordable claret like the beautifully balanced 2005 Château Sergant Lalande de Pomerol which was available in half bottles. (I wasn’t being mean - I was dining with a non-drinker!) It proved the perfect match with a dish of ultra-tender Glenbervie beef cheek and creamy mash. I normally look to the Rhône for dishes like this but this was a timely reminder that a modest claret from a good vintage can work every bit as well.

Incidentally Angelus (like Thierry’s alma mater Le Gavroche) offers a great lunch deal for £36 which includes 3 courses, half a bottle of wine, mineral water, coffee and petits fours. It’s also open 7 days a week which is useful on a Sunday night.

Image © Igor Klimov - Fotolia.com

Roast goose with Nebbiolo

As a chef friend who recently took over a farm had some geese to get rid of we had goose for our main Christmas meal this year - stuffed somewhat improbably with hay (long story. Not such a good idea!)

We picked out a bottle we’d recently bought from another friend Marc Millon who runs a small wine business called Vino importing Italian wines from small growers. It was a 2005 Langhe Nebbiolo from Cascina Fontana, a Barolo producer with whom they’ve been dealing for years. You can read more about them here
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It was just perfect with the goose, having the acidity to cut through the fat and a lovely dark, damsony flavour - still fruity enough at 4 years old to take on the accompanying red cabbage but not so intense as to overwhelm an already full-flavoured plateful. It also went very well with the pork and fennel rillettes for which I posted a recipe the other day.

I don’t know how Vino’s stocks of the 2005 stand but the 2007 vintage is currently selling in Berry Bros & Rudd for £20, quite a bit cheaper than the £33.50 you would pay for the Fontana's Barolo.

Game terrine and London dry gin

I’ve already written about how well game terrine pairs with oloroso sherry. Now I’ve discovered an equally good, if not better pairing: London Dry Gin.

The pâté I tried the other day - again from Stephen Markwick of Culinaria - was a hare one which was stronger than the previous guineafowl and pheasant version. It worked with a rare dry oloroso but I suddenly thought it would be interesting to see if I could pick out the juniper notes with a gin. The one I had to hand was Beefeater but any traditional London dry gin would do. (I say traditional because some newer gins like Whitley Neill accentuate other aromatic notes such as citrus.) Mine was at room temperature but I think it would be even better served cold like a frozen vodka shot. You could try the same pairing with a cold game pie.

If you want to make your own terrine - and I predict we're all going to be getting into home-made charcuterie next year - there’s a great master recipe (see right) in the book I’ve written with Stephen called A Very Honest Cook. You can still get it in time for Christmas if you ring the restaurant in time for them to catch the post today (0117 973 7999). Otherwise there’s always after Christmas . . .