Godello and seafood

I’m increasingly impressed by the new generation of Spanish wines that are arriving on the shelves. The other day I had a fabulously crisp, zesty white called Godello from the up and coming region of Bierzo, in the region of Castilla y Leon in the north-west of Spain, not far from Galicia.

You won’t of course find it on every restaurant list - I found it at a pub just outside Cambridge called The Three Horseshoes at Madingley (+44 (0)1954 210221) that has always been noted for its excellent by-the-glass list.

The particular bottle we ordered, a 2006 Vega Montan Godello from Bodegas Adria, is similar in style to the fashionable seafood white Albariño though with a fruity character (starfruit) you don’t typically find in that wine. It was really wonderful with a starter of white and brown crab crostini served with samphire and shaved fennel - the white meat served plain, the brown, spiced with chilli and dill - one of a number of enticing-sounding dishes from an Italian-inspired, Jamie Oliver-esque menu that I’d certainly be inclined to go back and explore when we're next in the area. Like Jamie, the chef/owner Richard Stokes worked for the River Café in London.

At the moment Godello is sufficiently obscure to be a bargain so I’d snap up a few bottles if you can lay your hands on some. In the UK it’s imported by Alliance Wine. Like Albariño it would be a versatile and stylish seafood white to have in your cellar.

Mackerel en escabeche with manzanilla sherry

No apologies for returning to one of my favourite drinks, manzanilla sherry, as it’s such a versatile food wine. This time I found a felicitous match with a dish of mackerel en escabeche which was served at one of my regular hangouts in Bristol, Quartier Vert.

Mackerel, as I’m sure you know, is an oily, rich-tasting fish which needs robust treatment in the kitchen and an accompanying drink with real bite and attack. The escabeche treatment (sousing the cooked - usually fried - fish and any accompanying vegetables in spiced vinegar then leaving it to marinate for several hours) suits it perfectly and also creates a useful, inexpensive starter that you can make well ahead. They have a similar preparation in the Caribbean where it is called escovitch.

Needless to say your manzanilla, like other fino sherries, should be served chilled from a freshly opened bottle. If you don’t drink it regularly, it’s best to buy it in halves.

Jerk chicken and rum punch

Despite the beautiful weather we’ve had over the past couple of days there’s a distinct late summer feel to the air which combined with the fact that the nights are drawing in reminds one - sadly - there aren’t that many evenings left for barbecuing this year. (Unless you’re one of those die-hards who grills all year round . . . )

It’s also carnival-time in London this holiday weekend so what better combination to celebrate than the perfect pairing of Jerk Chicken and rum punch?

Like all spicy foods Jerk Chicken (which is chicken rubbed with a dry spice mix that includes chillies and allspice) tastes best with something cold and slightly sweet and rum punch ticks both boxes. The classic Caribbean formula I was given was I (measure) of sour, 2 of sweet, 3 of strong (rum, of course) and 4 of weak (some kind of fruit juice). Personally I find that a bit sweet so tend to make it 1 measure rather than 2 of sweet.

I don’t know how authentic this is but for me the sour should be freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice, the sweet, sugar syrup or grenadine which will give the punch a fabulous colour, the rum golden or spiced (something like Appleton V/X, Cockspur or Morgan’s Spiced) and the juice a good quality tropical fruit juice that includes mango. (Sometimes I add some fresh mango pure as well). Simply pour into a large jug of ice cubes, stir and decorate with mint.

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Chicken pot pie and perry

In the wake of the great cider boom that has gripped the UK over the past year or so perry - which is cider made from pears - is also undergoing a renaissance. Typically drier than cider it goes well with the sort of dishes with which you’d drink a light dry white wine like a Chenin Blanc or a Chardonnay.

The other night I enjoyed a half pint of draught Weston’s Herefordshire Country Perry with an absolutely exemplary organic chicken, leek and mushroom pot pie at my new local The Kensington Arms in Bristol which turns out to be a real gem. The sauce was creamy with just a hint of mustard, a bitter note which stopped the dish being over-rich and brought out all the flavour in the perry. It also took a side dish of strong, irony fresh spinach in its stride.

Other dishes - a chunky terrine of chicken and veal with pistachios and onion chutney, a very crabby crab linguine, some rich, gamey faggots (meatballs made with offal) served with cauliflower cheese and Guinness gravy, and an intensely blackcurranty summer pudding were first rate. And we’ll certainly be back for the fish and hand-cut chips which we eyed covetously on the next door table.

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