Match of the week
Mushroom risotto with spatburgunder
OK, this pairing is not rocket science - I’m sure you know that pinot noir is a great match with mushrooms and so obviously with mushroom risotto too. But you may not have totally taken on board just how good German pinot - or spätburgunder, as they call it in Germany - is nowadays.
The bottle was a half bottle of Mimus Ihringer Winklerberg spätburgunder I was sent by Iris Ellmann of The Wine Barn and was just fabulous with the most gorgeous pure, ripe but not remotely jammy fruit - quite beautifully in balance and amazingly vibrant considering it was from the 2015 vintage. (Under screwcap which was interesting). Sadly it’s not cheap at £33.65 a bottle but pinotphiles will be used to that. And it does fall into the Erste Lage classification - which is equivalent to a premier, if not a grand cru.
The risotto was one that came as part of the excellent takeaway menu I had ordered from Root in Bristol and came with a punchy chive purée which you can see I somewhat clumsily swirled into it. (Interestingly the tasting note on the wine suggests that it’s good with herbs)
I have to confess that I drank a glass of grüner veltliner I had open with a couple of the other dishes which included fried celeriac with Korean Barbecue sauce and hispi cabbage with cheese and crispy onion crumb but the spätburgunder and risotto match was definitely the highlight
You’ll be pleased to hear we’re doing a competition with Iris next month.
See also Which wines and beers pair best with mushrooms.
The wine was a sample from The Wine Barn. I paid for the takeaway.
Mushroom 'caviar' and Californian sparkling wine
Every so often you come across a great little recipe than does wonders for almost any wine you pair with it. And so it is with mushroom ‘caviar’, a regular offering from the takeaway section of my favourite local restaurant Culinaria. Basically it’s a mushroom pâté but so reduced and wickedly intense it’s like pure essence of mushroom. Except for the perfect counterpoint - a tiny touch of tarragon.
I asked the chef, Stephen Markwick, how he made it and he said (airily, as chefs do) - “Oh, you just chop up mushrooms in a robot-coupe and cook them with butter, tarragon, crème fraîche and a squeeze of lemon” Nothing else? Well, yes, onion it transpired. And I suspect, having attempted to follow his instructions, a fair amount of olive oil which accounts for the silky spreadable texture. I’ve sent my version of the recipe off to Stephen to check against his version and as soon as I have his comments back I’ll post it on the site.
But in the meantime I can tell you that it - or any similarly mushroomy spread - is a cracking match for a quality sparkling wine like the Roederer Quartet* from the Anderson Valley in California we were drinking over the weekend which is currently on sale at Majestic for £13.33 if you buy 2 or more bottles. Or for a ripe, forward Pinot Noir. Or for a subtly oaked Chardonnay. Or a French Syrah. Or a Languedoc red. I can see I’m going to be making a lot of it this summer. If I can get the recipe . . .
* On sale in the US as Roederer Estate brut.
Image © kazoka303030 - Fotolia
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