Red mullet and saffron risotto with Valtellina

You might instinctively think of pairing a fish-based risotto with white wine but there are two factors that make this one, which I had at a lunch to celebrate the 15th anniversary of The Seahorse restaurant in Dartmouth, a good match for a red.

One is that the fish in question was red mullet which has quite a rich earthy flavour and the other that the wine that was served with it was a light, ethereal red from Valtellina (made from Nebbiolo the grape that is used to make Barolo and Barbaresco in Piedmont but called Chiavennasca here.)

Valtellina is a mountainous region in the north-west of Italy and the wines have a particular delicacy and purity. Although this one - the Ca Morei Valtellina Superiore Valgella by Sandro Fay was a 2017 it still tasted very fresh and bright which suited the dish perfectly.

Importer Luca Dusi of Passione Vino, who sells it for £44, describes is as a ‘pinot noir in nebbiolo clothing”. I don’t find is as sweetly fruited as most pinots but with the same seductively silky texture.

The risotto which was made by Seahorse founder chef Mitch Tonks’ son Ben was absolutely perfect by the way. Just the right soupy texture with the rice still with a little bite to it and a marvellous depth of flavour. I’m not sure I’ve had a better risotto outside Italy - certainly not one served at the same time to 60-odd people!

I ate at the Seahorse as a guest.

Pasta with pork, peas and lemon and bardolino

So often a wine takes us through several courses these days (which, of course, is a virtue) but I’m rather arbitrarily spotlighting just one dish on the menu we had at Sonny Stores in Bristol the other night as the ideal match for the Bardolino we were drinking.

It was a pasta called paccheri served with a sauce of pork shoulder (cooked in milk, I would guess), with peas and lemon zest, a light summery combination that went perfectly with the wine

Bardolino is a light fruity red from north-east Italy, made from the same grapes as Valpolicella. (There’s a fuller description of it here)

To be honest it wasn’t the best example - sorry, Sonny’s*, you can do better - but there are more attractive ones out there including this one from Majestic which is very reasonably priced at £7.99 if you buy any six bottles. Which you always should at Majestic as their single bottle prices are generally a bit toppy. Oh, and chill it lightly too

* Their pasta is amazing though which is why I go there so often.

Polenta with roasted courgettes, tomatoes and basil and Bardolino

After months of lockdown it’s been such a pleasure to return to favourite restaurants like Elliott and Tessa Lidstone’s Box-E and I couldn’t have had a more perfect day to enjoy it. The food too - especially this quintessentially summery dish of courgettes, tomatoes and basil with the lightest, fluffiest polenta - was just perfect for sitting outside on a hot day.

We’d had a glass of orange wine (not on the list) with our starters so fancied moving onto a light red rather than back to a white and picked on the Raval Bardolino Classico, an Italian red that tends to get overlooked but actually hits the spot perfectly at this time of year. It was full of lovely fresh cherry fruit - we asked for it to be lightly chilled - and really matched our mood as much as the food. I’d also love it with cold meats and cheeses or with smoked duck

It’s not that easy to track down in the UK but you can buy it from a London deli and wineshop called 8 rocks for £13.75 (and, I've now discovered, from Box E themselves who have acquired an off-licence for £15).

The Raval family also has a rather glorious agriturismo if you fancy a trip to Lake Garda. Who wouldn't?

See also The best wines to pair with courgettes

Cacio e pepe and Frappato

I’ve never known quite what wine to pair with cacio e pepe, the fashionable pasta dish that’s just based on cheese (usually pecorino) and cracked pepper.

It’s not creamy like a carbonara but it is very (deliciously) cheesy and the pepper adds a spicy hit that would fight with anything tannic.

I’ve drunk English sparkling wine with it when it was paired with fried chicken but I think that was more about the chicken than the pasta and could have gone down the white wine route. The dish originally comes from Rome so I could have drunk a Frascati if I’d been able to get hold of decent one.

I was thinking along the lines of a light red like a Valpolicella but Francesco at my local Italian deli, Divino in Bristol, where I buy my pici (the thick spaghetti-like pasta you need for cacio e pepe) suggested a light juicy Sicilian Frappato (the Sibiliana Roceno 2018) which went perfectly. You seem to be able to buy it online from Alivini (for £9.19 a bottle plus delivery) though they’re normally a trade supplier, I believe.

By the way cacio e pepe is really easy to make if you want to try it at home - Felicity Cloake gives a recipe in her excellent The Perfect series. Be warned though: it is addictive!