Normandy cider and creamy sauces

Our final port of call on our recent French trip was a modest family run restaurant at Bourneville called Risle-Seine, a few minutes off the autoroute between Le Havre and Rouen (and therefore ideally placed for a last minute lunch before catching the ferry). It has no great pretensions but does what it does really well: simple classic country food served with decent, well-priced wines - and cider, we discovered this time.

As an aperitif I had a glass of gentle semi-sparkling cidre fermier from a local producer M. Lambert of St Thurien. French farmhouse cider has that classic cider apple flavour but tends to be rounder, sweeter and slightly less bitter than English cider and it was really delicious served with a feuilleté of asparagus with a rich cream and chive sauce.

We tend to be so paranoid about cream these days that one forgets just how delicious unpasteurised cream and a good creamy sauce can be. As with other sauces it becomes the most important part of the dish so far as choosing an accompanying drink is concerned, leading you towards a cider or a full-bodied white such as Chardonnay rather than a more aromatic white or a red. The combination would work equally well whether the sauce accompanies asparagus, chicken or salmon or indeed contains cider as an ingredient as in a creamy chicken and cider casserole or pie.

And for value for money you just can’t beat cider: my glass cost an extraordinary 2.10€ - just £1.42 ($2.79)!

Calves' liver and Marcillac

One of the pleasures of the huge clearing and putting away operation at our new French home is the discovery of forgotten bottles. The other day it was a Marcillac from Domaine Laurens which went incredibly well with that night’s supper of seared calves’ liver.

We visited Marcillac, a small region near Rodez in the south-west of France, about three years ago. The wines, which you can buy in the UK from Caves de Pyrène and other independents are charmingly rustic - a bit like a cross between a Loire red and a Côtes du Rhône Villages. The predominant grape is Fer, more commonly referred to locally as Mansois, and not totally dissimilar in character to Cabernet Franc.

Our 2002 Domaine Laurens, their Cuvée de Flars, had survived surprisingly well for a modestly priced wine and still had plenty of aromatic, smoky fruit which played well with the smoky flavours of the seared meat and even sailed through the accompanying spinach which can be a bit of a wine-killer.

It’s one of those useful mid-week wines which isn’t too strong (12.5%) but has enough intensity to handle robust foods. Marcillac also makes a very good cooking wine for long slow braises and stews.

Bacchus and cucumber

Hot on the heels of its best ever medal tally in the International Wine Challenge, English wine is under the spotlight again this week which has been designated English Wine Week. It was sparkling wines that did particularly well in the Challenge but I have a soft spot for a variety called Bacchus, a white wine with a refreshing, sappy hedgerow freshness, not unlike a Sauvignon Blanc. Camel Valley in Cornwall makes a particularly good version.

I've suggested cucumber as a match not because I imagine you'll eat cucumber on its own with it but because I think cucumber-based dishes are a great match for its delicate flavours. You could serve cold poached salmon, for instance with a cucumber salad with a light dressing made with tarragon vinegar which would work really well or an old-fashioned cucumber and cream cheese mousse, an unjustly forgotten recipe from the '70's which makes a light and refreshing starter for this time of year.

Bacchus will also pair well with the kind of dishes that work with a light, minerally Sauvignon Blanc - fresh goats cheese or crumbly white British regional cheeses such as Wensleydale, fresh crab or a lightly dressed seafood salad. It also makes a delicious aperitif.

Image © Natika - Fotolia.com

Greco di Tufo with grilled seabass

I was reminded just how spectacularly, unexpectedly good southern Italian whites can be by a Slow Food wine dinner the other night at Flâneur to celebrate the publication of the English edition of their restaurant guide Osterie & Locande d’Italia. It was hosted by Feudi di San Gregorio, the iconic winery from Campania whose wines I haven’t tried for a while.

The winery is situated 40 minutes from Naples in the sub-region of Irpinia. It’s not at all what you imagine from Southern Italy: lushly vegetated and hilly - the vineyards are planted 500-700 metres above sea level - it suffers very cold winters and hot summers. The soils are partly volcanic.

The highlight of the evening for me was the recently released 2000 vintage of Feudi's Greco di Tufo which was paired with some little deep fried pastries called panzerotti. Quite delicious but I longed to try it with a simple piece of grilled fish such as seabass which I think would have been its best pairing. It was rich, dry and full but with a pure, crisp acidity that made it a fantastic partner for food.

I also loved the basic wine in their range, the Albente Irpinia Bianco, a blend of local grape varieties including Falanghina, Coda di Volpe and Fiano which makes a fine aperitif.

Incidentally the Osterie guide is a must-buy if you’re visiting Italy with details of all the restaurants that still serve distinctive, regional food.