Ceviche and Friulano

My visit to Santo Remedio whose third branch recently opened in Marylebone reminded me how much I’ve missed Mexican food since I got back from CDMX and Oaxaca in November.

Of course you can find ceviche all over the place - it’s Peruvian rather than Mexican but it’s popular in Mexico too.

This was a dish of seabass with guanoabana juice and habanero - not as hot as it sounds from the description but still with a bit of a kick. Guanabana is the Latin American name for soursop, a fruit with - as the name suggests - a slightly sour citrussy flavour.

For that reason I generally steer clear of similarly sharp wines with ceviche and go instead for an aromatic white - in this case a fragrant Antonutti Friulano from north-east Italy which actually went extraordinarily well though not quite as well with the fish tacos that followed it.

Still, in a Mexican meal like this which involves a succession of different small plates you can’t be constantly chopping and changing. I’d move on to a red with dishes like birria and pork pibil though.

You can buy the Friulano from Albion Wine Shippers for £13.96. Their website doesn’t specify the vintage but the label is a different colour which suggests it’s not the same one I had in the restaurant. Check if you’re interested in following up.

I ate at the restaurant as a guest of Santo Remedio

Parmesan custard and Soave

Parmesan or parmigiano reggiano is one of the most wine-friendly of cheeses but on its own normally pairs best with an Italian red. But in this fabled incarnation of an unctuously rich creamy custard by chef Rowley Leigh, white wine makes the better pairing

I discovered this at his pop-up Chez Rowley at Laylow in Golborne Road last week when I had it with the 2022 Pieropan Soave he had recommended which is also creamy but with a crisp refreshing edge that cuts through the richness of the dish and also goes brilliantly with the anchovy toasts you dunk in it. At around £16 (£15.81 in Lay & Wheeler) it’s not quite the bargain it was but it’s a really good wine

It would also be great with a top-notch white burgundy or other cool climate chardonnay or - if you're feeling extremely decadent - a blanc de blancs champagne.

Chez Rowley is taking bookings until Christmas and is a great chance to enjoy Rowley’s food if you’re a fan from his days at Kensington Place and Le Cafe Anglais.

I ate at the restaurant as a guest.

Tagliatelle of raw cuttlefish and passerina

Having spent most of our week in Abruzzo inland we seized the opportunity to have a meal at La Barcaccia a fish restaurant on the seafront at Pescara before flying back and this clever dish of cuttlefish ‘tagliatelle’ was one of the crudi (raw dishes) on the menu.

It was served with little finely sliced sweet onion then simply dressed with olive oil and lemon juice and garnished with fresh green chillies which gave it quite a kick (The abruzzesi like their chillies though they’re usually dried)

We opted for an inexpensive white passerina which worked brilliantly with the dish and also with the very gorgeous pasta dish of scampi, clams and bottarga we had afterwards. Passerina is one of the local grape varieties, the others being pecorino and trebbiano though this particular bottle from Pasetti is not available in the UK.

Vignole and Friulano

As those of you who follow me on instagram (@food_writer) will know I’ve been in Venice for the past few days - and if I could would still be there!

We stayed in a wonderful Airbnb and made quite a lot of our own meals including this lovely spring vegetable stew called vignole from Russell Norman’s new book Venice: Four Seasons of Home Cooking.

In theory it should have been difficult to match as it included artichokes which are considered a wine-killer but as I’ve stated before I think the problem with wine and artichokes is overstated, particularly when they’re combined, as here, with more wine-friendly broad beans, peas and pancetta.

Matching wine and artichokes

Dry Italian white wines certainly work especially this appealing Isola Augusta Friulano* from Friuli Latisana - a sub-region of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region to the north-east of Venice.

Friulano, formerly known as Tokai Friulano, is a fresh, dry white, also known as sauvignonasse but it has a more floral, less citrussy character than sauvignon blanc. The kind of relatively neutral white wine that Italians do so well.

You can find the recipe for the vignole in the Guardian online but do buy the book which is charming.

* Not available in the UK or US, unfortunately.