Panettone with chocolate, zabaglione and mascarpone cream and ‘semi-secco’ marsala

With the traditional emphasis on port and, to a lesser extent, sherry at Christmas, it’s easy to forget the virtues of marsala, an equally festive drink. Especially as I discovered last week at my friend cookery writer Thane Prince’s with a rich, boozy panettone.

It was made by Francesco Mazzei’s team at L’Anima and was filled with a wickedly rich chocolate mascarpone cream and zabaglione and mascarpone cheese cream. You can find the recipe - should you care to have a crack at it - on the Guardian website

As the zabaglione included marsala it made sense to drink the same drink with it. Thane had a ‘semi-secco’ (medium dry) marsala fine I.P. from Cantine Pellegrino in her drinks cupboard which worked well given the richness of the dessert but you could go for broke and try a sweeter, ‘dolce’ version. Or even a sweet sherry if you don’t have marsala to hand. It should be served lightly chilled.

Smoking Goat ‘fish sauce wings’ and Peter Lauer 'Fass 16' Saar riesling

It’s well established that riesling is a good match for spicy food but you don’t often get as good a pairing as the new Soho bar Smoking Goat’s already fabled ‘fish sauce wings’ and Peter Lauer’s 2013 ‘Fass 16’ Saar riesling..

If it’s not on your radar, Smoking Goat is one of London’s hottest restaurants right now serving ‘Thai barbecue’, cocktails and some surprisingly good wines thanks to the restaurant’s wine consultant (and occasional contributor to matchingfoodandwine.com), Zeren Wilson (aka @bittenwritten).

Although the riesling was light (only 11.5%) and comparatively (for German wine) dry it took the sticky, chilli-spiked wings totally in its stride, providing the perfect refreshing contrast to the crunchy, sticky meat.

We’d managed to polish it off by the time we got to the equally fêted duck legs which were slow-roasted, confit-style with galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime and went surprisingly well with a 2012 Cote de Puy Morgon from Jean Foillard. (You’d expect duck to work but not duck that spicy). And with an elegant Vespaiolo (yes, it was *quite* a boozy evening.)

It underlines how one shouldn’t be too timid about hot food or feel it’s only suitable for cheap wines. A well-chosen wine can take it to another level.

Picture courtesy and copyright of the lovely Paul Winch-Furness who was in the bar when we arrived and still partying when we left ;-)

Wagyu beef sliders and Lanson Extra Age champagne

Steak isn’t the first ingredient you might think of pairing with champagne but if it’s ground wagyu beef, served in a bun with a quality glass of fizz in a glitzy Park Lane restaurant you might just have to force yourself.

Of course it may just have been the feelgood factor that made the marriage work. The restaurant was Wolfgang Puck’s Cut and the sliders one of his signature dishes (served as an amuse rather than a starter or main).

The champagne was also a bit out of the ordinary - an extra-rich bottling Lanson created for the restaurant trade which is blended from older vintages from grand-cru and premier cru vineyards - so in effect a vintage champagne but not from a specific year. There was definitely an umami thing going on with the beef, the cheese and the fizz.

It also went really well with a warm lobster club sandwich reinforcing my conviction which I wrote about a couple of months ago that you should drink great wines with fun food.

Although the Extra Age is mainly focussed at the trade it’s currently on offer in a gift box at Ocado for £44.99, £44.49 if you buy 2 bottles from drinksdirect.co.uk or £51.95 from champagnedirect.co.uk - not at all a bad price for a wine of this quality.

I ate (and obviously drank) at the restaurant as a guest of Lanson

Grey mullet, fennel and muscadet

This isn’t the first time I’ve made muscadet my match of the week but it’s a wine that’s great value, constantly improving in quality and unbelievably versatile with food.

This time it was a sure fire hit at a restaurant called Le Servan I’ll be reviewing shortly with a lovely dish of raw grey mullet with sorrel cream. fennel and a touch of fresh coriander. The dryness of the wine chimed in perfectly with the raw fish and slight sourness of the sorrel, not detracting in any way from the clean, sharp flavours.

The wine was a Clos les Montys 2013 from Domaine de la Chauvinière which was only 11%, I seem to remember, and selling for just 4€ a glass. It proves yet again you don’t have to have a wine with a high level of alcohol to carry flavour.

Interestingly the producer’s website suggests that it’s a good wine for laying down but then I have had interesting encounters with aged muscadet before (see here and here).

I reckon we’ll be seeing more of Muscadet on wine lists in 2015.