Leeks and Skyborry perry

One of the many appealing things about Birch in Bristol is that they have an extensive list of artisanal ciders. Which is maybe not so surprising given that they are intending to sell the restaurant and concentrate on making cider themselves.

I always feel I should reward the effort that goes into this list by ordering at least a glass when I go there and in fact it does go brilliantly well with their largely vegetarian menu which is based on produce that is grown on their allotment.

The dish that particularly stood out this time was a beautifully presented plate of baked leeks with hazelnut mayo and the perkiest, freshest chervil I’ve ever tasted but it was the sweet oniony taste of the leeks themselves that was the key to the match with a zanily labelled sparkling perry called Waiting for the Miracle (after the Leonard Cohen song). It's made by a Welsh producer called Skyborry out of Brandy and Winnals Langdon pears

The best wine - and other - pairings for leeks

Although perry is made from pears it doesn’t taste quite so obviously of the fruit as cider does of apples but is more like a light dry or off-dry white wine. This one was only 5%. It’s a really versatile partner for summer food so well worth looking out for when you’re in a good local restaurant or pub.

Some top food pairings for perry

Leeks vinaigrette and Vermentino

There were leeks everywhere you looked in the Languedoc last week so I decided to make a classic dish of leeks vinaigrette (and finely sliced serrano ham) as a starter for Sunday lunch with friends. Despite the vinegar and mustard in the dressing it’s not a sharp dish - the dominant note is the delicate, sweet, oniony taste of the leeks so I was looking for a light, unoaked white which wouldn’t mask that flavour.

I found it in a bottle of Domaine de Coujan’s Rolle - the Languedoc’s name for Vermentino. It’s a wine we loved when we first visited the region 20 odd years ago and has had its ups and downs but is emphatically on form at the moment judging by this bottle.

I discovered to my surprise that the 2009 vintage is stocked by Great Western Wine (and others - see wine-searcher.com) at what appears to be the reduced price of £7.50 though I’d be looking to find the fresher 2010 if I could. In the Languedoc it’s available at Intermarch.

You could obviously substitute an Italian Vermentino (some good ones come from Sardinia) or one from Provence or Corsica where it is also known as Rolle. It would be good with other cold vegetable dishes, salads and seafood too.

Salmon with leeks and Chardonnay

In the general flurry of celebrations last week I missed out on St David’s Day (the patron saint of Wales) and the opportunity to write about leeks. Leeks tend to excite a certain amount of derision but I think they’re a fabulous vegetable, much milder, subtler and sweeter than onion and much more sympathetic to a fine white wine (for I think they go much better with a white wine than a red one).

They have a particular affinity with eggs and cheese - and with salmon, as I re-discovered the other day. I simply trimmed and cleaned the leeks thoroughly, sliced them finely, rinsed them again in a colander (all this necessary because leeks can be gritty) then sauteed them over a low heat in a mixture of light olive oil and butter for about 5 minutes until soft. Then I added a couple of tablespoons of crème fraîche and warmed them through to accompany two simply cooked fillets of salmon and a few new potatoes.

With it we drank a glass of the extraordinarily inexpensive Chardonnay we picked up from the co-op at Florensac the other day which made a very decent pairing with both the salmon and the creamy leeks but it would certainly have supported a much better bottle. Any cool climate Chardonnay with good acidity rather than tropical fruit or buttery oak would do.

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