Match of the week
Braised ox cheek and Lalande de Pomerol
As is often the way Christmas wasn’t a time for any startling food and wine discoveries, rather for celebrating favourite combinations but I realise I forgot to mention one pairing just before Christmas at Angelus restaurant in Lancaster Gate.
Angelus is one of the only restaurants I can think of which showcases a sommelier rather than a chef - in this case Thierry Thomasin who used to work at Le Gavroche and then at Aubergine with William Drabble. A while ago he set up his own place, a typically French neighbourhood restaurant with a strong wine list which recently won an award at the first London Restaurant Festival awards for its ‘warmth and welcome’.
The food, which is cooked by Martin Nisbet is Michelin one star in style but it’s the wine list that’s the main attraction, not least for the chance to drink affordable claret like the beautifully balanced 2005 Château Sergant Lalande de Pomerol which was available in half bottles. (I wasn’t being mean - I was dining with a non-drinker!) It proved the perfect match with a dish of ultra-tender Glenbervie beef cheek and creamy mash. I normally look to the Rhône for dishes like this but this was a timely reminder that a modest claret from a good vintage can work every bit as well.
Incidentally Angelus (like Thierry’s alma mater Le Gavroche) offers a great lunch deal for £36 which includes 3 courses, half a bottle of wine, mineral water, coffee and petits fours. It’s also open 7 days a week which is useful on a Sunday night.
Image © Igor Klimov - Fotolia.com
Kylie Kwong's roasted beef fillet with Cape Mentelle Cabernet Merlot
Celebrations come thick and fast at this time of the year - first Burns' Night, and now Chinese New Year and Australia Day. Since both fall on the same day this year I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone (terrible expression but you know what I mean) and mark the Year of the Ox with a beef recipe matched with an Australian wine.
Appropriately enough the recipe - a barely seared beef fillet dressed with a punchy sweet and sour dressing - comes from Australia-based chef Kylie Kwong whose family originally came from China.
This is the kind of dish you could serve with either a red or white wine so I'd go for a (relatively) cool climate red with sweet fruit and supple tannins, a description that perfectly fits the Cape Mentelle Cabernet Merlot available from Waitrose and independent wine merchants for £11-£12.50 a bottle.
Image © Igor Klimov - Fotolia
Macaroni cheese and Montagne-St-Emilion
This week is British Cheese Week - and, by the looks of it, the start of autumn proper - so what better time to rustle up a macaroni cheese (or mac and cheese as they call it in the US)?
I made one for the first time for a while the other day for a new book on cheese I’m writing and reminded myself just what perfect comfort food it was.
I matched it - with some trepidation - with a red Bordeaux, a 2005 Château Gachon Cuvée St Georges Montagne-St-Emilion (£11.99 from Laithwaites) I’d been tasting but it hit the spot perfectly.
That doesn’t follow that any Bordeaux would work - some would be too tannic, others too lightweight but this was an exceptionally supple, typically ‘Right Bank’ blend of Merlot (70%), Cabernet Franc (20%) and Cabernet Sauvignon, (10%) with very well integrated tannins. It picked up beautifully on the creamy sauce and crispy topping - but then it would have worked with a lot of things, including turkey if you’re starting to think about Thanksgiving or Christmas.
A real crowd pleaser - and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way!
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