Simnel cake and Orange Pekoe tea

Simnel cake, for those of you who are not familiar with it, is the traditional British Easter cake (although at one time it was baked to celebrate Mother’s Day).

It’s a fruit cake, sandwiched and covered with marzipan and decorated with little marzipan balls though these days you’ll often find them adorned with sugared easter eggs and yellow fluffy chicks as well. If you’re anywhere near a Betty’s Tea Room which has branches in York, Harrogate, Ilkley and Northallerton, if I remember right, that’s the sort of place to buy one though traditional bakers and large department stores like Fortnum & Mason in London will sell them too.

It’s the kind of cake with which you could perfectly well drink a glass of sweet sherry or Madeira but I’m going for a regular - or perhaps not-so-regular tea - Orange Pekoe. It’s not, as the name suggests, infused with orange, but describes a premium grade of tea which tends to have particularly large fragrant leaves. Of course, any good quality black tea such as a Ceylon tea would be enjoyable too.

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Boiled bacon and cabbage with Irish stout

With St Patrick’s Day falling on a Monday this year - and in Easter week into the bargain - many are expected to be celebrating this coming Saturday so here’s a reminder of just how great an Irish stout (Guinness or otherwise) is with that classic dish of boiled bacon and cabbage.

Salty foods in general work well with beer - salt takes the edge off its bitterness and together with cabbage, which also has its bitter notes, seems to transform a stout into a gorgeous, mellow, velvety partner for the dish. The stout also gives character to the pairing providing a tasty edge to what for some can be quite a bland combination.

Subscribers who fancy hosting a St Patrick’s Day supper may also like to be reminded that there’s a menu and recipes here.

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Salmon with leeks and Chardonnay

In the general flurry of celebrations last week I missed out on St David’s Day (the patron saint of Wales) and the opportunity to write about leeks. Leeks tend to excite a certain amount of derision but I think they’re a fabulous vegetable, much milder, subtler and sweeter than onion and much more sympathetic to a fine white wine (for I think they go much better with a white wine than a red one).

They have a particular affinity with eggs and cheese - and with salmon, as I re-discovered the other day. I simply trimmed and cleaned the leeks thoroughly, sliced them finely, rinsed them again in a colander (all this necessary because leeks can be gritty) then sauteed them over a low heat in a mixture of light olive oil and butter for about 5 minutes until soft. Then I added a couple of tablespoons of crème fraîche and warmed them through to accompany two simply cooked fillets of salmon and a few new potatoes.

With it we drank a glass of the extraordinarily inexpensive Chardonnay we picked up from the co-op at Florensac the other day which made a very decent pairing with both the salmon and the creamy leeks but it would certainly have supported a much better bottle. Any cool climate Chardonnay with good acidity rather than tropical fruit or buttery oak would do.

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Wines - and other drinks - to match Delia's new 'cheat' recipes

The papers are full of her. Despite her six year absence from our screens and and the rise of TV rivals such as Gordon, Jamie and Nigella, Delia (that’s veteran cookery writer Delia Smith for those of you who live on another planet) shows she can still bewitch the media.

As someone who taught myself to cook from Delia’s books I say ‘Good for her’! For her new book 'How to Cheat at Cooking' is bang up to date with clever and time-saving tips for harassed cooks. Her recipes are always reassuringly reliable but don’t run away with the idea that they’re run-of-the-mill or bland. They’re full of sizzling flavours that will challenge any accompanying wine.Here are my suggested pairings for the seven ‘taster’ recipes she is currently giving on her website www.deliaonline.com

Caribbean chicken with salsa
The punchy combination of flavours in this recipe - the chicken is smothered in a paste made with lime, garlic, ginger and muscovado sugar and the accompanying salsa contains mango, jalapeno pepper, red and yellow pepper and red onion - makes me think that a cocktail might be a better match than a glass of wine - a rum punch or, more simply still, a shot of rum topped up with tropical fruit juice with a dash of grenadine. A light lager would also work. But if you want to stick to wine I’d go for a fruity Australian Semillon-Chardonnay or Colombard-Chardonnay blend.

Spinach tortelloni with leeks and Gorgonzola
Not an easy dish to pair with wine because of the Gorgonzola piccante (more powerful than Gorgonzola dolce or Dolcelatte). Delia offsets this herself with her serving suggestion of a raw fennel salad with a lemony dressing so I’m not sure you want to mimic those lemon flavours in your wine (which rules out a Sauvignon Blanc) I’d go for a good quality Pinot Grigio or other neutral Italian white such as a Verdicchio.

Creole prawns with red pepper and chilli
As Delia has used a glass of dry white wine in this spicy dish it would seem a touch extravagant to drink anything else. A crisp white such as a Picpoul de Pinet - would suit the hot spicy flavours well or try a fashionable Spanish Albarino. Or, if you’re using leftover wine for the recipe, you could drink a lager.

Good old Shepherd’s Pie
Despite its unconventional topping of leeks and grated cheese this remains a straightforward dish with which you could match almost any medium- to full-bodied red. My own choice would be a gutsy southern French red such as a Cotes du Rhone or a young ‘crianza’ Rioja. A good British bitter or pale ale would work really well too.

Portuguese custard tarts
I suspect these will be one of the hit recipes in Delia’s new book - I certainly can’t wait to try them! I’d pair them with a sweet wine such as a Moscatel de Valencia or, as the Portuguese would enjoy them, with a strong black coffee. You could also successfully match them with a 10 year old tawny port or Australian liqueur muscat.

Calamares fritos
On their own or with a milder accompaniment these would be pretty easy (I’d recommend an inexpensive sparkling wine) but the accompanying chilli jam is a bit more demanding. My pick would be a Chilean or South African Sauvignon Blanc or a Clare Valley Riesling from South Australia. Or, if you serve them as part of a selection of fishy tapas, a well chilled glass of manzanilla or fino sherry from a freshly-opened bottle.

Greek lamb with lemon and garlic
Cooked like this, with lemon rind and garlic and accompanied by a Greek salad you could just as easily drink a zesty white as a red: a Greek Assyrtiko would be perfect. A red will also work but I’d pick a traditional rustic Mediterranean red rather than a very fruity wine from the New World as the lemon will have the effect of making the wine taste even sweeter. Again a Greek variety, Agiorgitiko, would hit the spot or pick a bottle from the southern Rhone or Languedoc.