English sparkling wine and fresh crab sandwiches

Looking out of the window this wet bank holiday morning it’s hard to credit that we produce wine successfully in this country but we most certainly do. Especially sparkling wine which many pundits reckon is beginning to rival Champagne in quality.

This week - English Wine Week - is a good opportunity to get up to speed on what England has to offer. Many vineyards are holding tastings and other events - I particularly like the sound of the ‘Fizz and Fish’ evening which will be held in conjunction with Rick Stein’s Fish and Chip Café at Camel Valley Vineyard near Bodmin in Cornwall this Thursday. And Denbies Wine Estate near Dorking in Surrey is holding a fascinating Cheese and Wine Making Event the same evening.

However I’m going for another very British treat - fresh crab sandwiches, made with lightly buttered fresh brown bread and stuffed with sweet, flaky crabmeat simply seasoned with a little salt and pepper. Truly if the crab is fresh you don’t need anything else. Bread always picks up beautifully on the yeastiness of sparkling wine and shellfish is a sure-fire match with fizz. Sometimes the simplest things are the best.

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Gnocchi with fresh tomato sauce and Barbera d'Asti

A surprisingly good pairing I came across in a local Italian restaurant on Saturday night. The (admirably light) home-made gnocchi were dressed with a fresh tomato sauce with basil which I would have thought would have been overwhelmed by the firm, well-structured 13.5% Barbera the boys had ordered with it - a Ca’ del Matt 2002. (For preference I’d have drunk a dry Italian white such as a Soave.) But it was spot on - even better than it was with my main course of slow roast pork belly.

It could be that the primary fruit flavours, which had faded, were lifted by the acidity of the tomatoes. Or it could be yet another demonstration of just how food-friendly Italian wines are. Or rather New Zealand ones. On digging a bit further I discovered that the winemaker, Matt Thompson was a Kiwi! Suppose the name was a giveaway . . .

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Mushroom 'caviar' and Californian sparkling wine

Every so often you come across a great little recipe than does wonders for almost any wine you pair with it. And so it is with mushroom ‘caviar’, a regular offering from the takeaway section of my favourite local restaurant Culinaria. Basically it’s a mushroom pâté but so reduced and wickedly intense it’s like pure essence of mushroom. Except for the perfect counterpoint - a tiny touch of tarragon.

I asked the chef, Stephen Markwick, how he made it and he said (airily, as chefs do) - “Oh, you just chop up mushrooms in a robot-coupe and cook them with butter, tarragon, crème fraîche and a squeeze of lemon” Nothing else? Well, yes, onion it transpired. And I suspect, having attempted to follow his instructions, a fair amount of olive oil which accounts for the silky spreadable texture. I’ve sent my version of the recipe off to Stephen to check against his version and as soon as I have his comments back I’ll post it on the site.

But in the meantime I can tell you that it - or any similarly mushroomy spread - is a cracking match for a quality sparkling wine like the Roederer Quartet* from the Anderson Valley in California we were drinking over the weekend which is currently on sale at Majestic for £13.33 if you buy 2 or more bottles. Or for a ripe, forward Pinot Noir. Or for a subtly oaked Chardonnay. Or a French Syrah. Or a Languedoc red. I can see I’m going to be making a lot of it this summer. If I can get the recipe . . .

* On sale in the US as Roederer Estate brut.

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Chicken salad and real apple juice

Yesterday finally felt as if spring had come. After weeks of unsettled and unseasonably cool weather it was warm and balmy, rich with the scent of blossom. We went out with friends to the village of Wrington just outside Bristol to follow an ‘art trail’ of exhibitions by local artists. (Yes, I bought something - a delightful picture of radishes by a talented collage artist called Anne Carpenter)

We had lunch in a cafe in Barley Wood walled garden which wasn’t amazing apart from the heavenly setting but they did serve a really fabulous artisanal apple juice made from their own fruit (a mixture of Bramleys, Blenheim Gold and one other variety I can’t remember). It was perfect with a chicken salad - fresh tasting and tart.

Afterwards we wandered through the apple orchards which were full of pink and white blossom, the ground studded with clumps of bluebells. After a sad week last week attending a memorial for a very good friend it felt great to be alive.