Cracked olives with fennel and Noilly Prat

At this time of year in the Languedoc the markets are full of bowls of every conceivable type of marinated olives - so hard to resist with an ‘aperitif’.

Yesterday at Saint Chinian the queues were so dense we could hardly get near them then spotted a gap in the crowds and took our turn. We went for some cracked olives with fennel, fierce and bitter yet strangely good with local wines such as Picpoul, dry rosé and aperitifs like the famous Noilly Prat which is made just down on the coast at Marseillan.

We had the slightly sweeter ambré in the fridge which was delicious (over ice, with a dash of Fernet Branca, in my husband's case!) but I think the original drier, herbier version would have been even better. Or even a martini had we been so minded.

We'd also bought some msemen, a wonderful flaky bread that a Moroccan woman was making by hand in the market to tear and wrap each olive in which seemed to add to the experience.

I suppose it’s the hot sunny weather but vermouth seems such a good drink at this time of year. And now we’re off back to cool, cloudy England :(

See also how pastis and olives make an excellent pairing.

Grilled tuna tart and Camus Ile de Ré Double Matured Cognac

The idea of matching Cognac with any food other than chocolate is still regarded as unconventional - even more so in the case of fish - but I promise you this pairing, the first course at a lunch at Camus, would have blown you away.

The cognac was an unusual one to start with - the Camus Ile de Ré Double Matured Cognac which is produced from grapes grown on this fashionable small island just off France’s western coast, the most westerly region of the Cognac appellation.

Apparently the grapes have a higher than usual iodine content which accounts for the slighty salty, maritime character of the cognac, which was accentuated by being served frozen. (Which sounds like sacrilege but is très à la mode in the region.)

The dish was also unusual: a crisp pastry base topped with (I think) an anchovy paste, braised fennel, crushed olives and seared tuna with a sea urchin dressing and a cascade of beautifully fresh peppery leaves. Hard to describe but absolutely delicious and the most perfect match with the fragrant iced spirit.

If I come across a more clever or imaginative pairing this year I’ll be lucky.

To find out more about the Cognac pairing event I went to read my blog post.

Peter Gordon's beef pesto and Pencarrow pinot noir

I found myself back in an old haunt last week - Peter Gordon’s The Providores in London’s Marylebone High Street. As the bar was crowded we went up to the restaurant and treated ourselves to the à la carte*

This was a classic from Peter’s Sugar Club days - a dish of incredibly tender beef fillet with a warm chard, courgette and beetroot salad with a garlic dressing, green pesto and kalamata olives. It was great with the wine I was drinking, a bright, fruity 2011 Pencarrow Pinot Noir from Martinborough that I’d chosen as a versatile option with the myriad flavours that Peter puts on the plate but I suspect those ingredients, especially the garlic, pesto and olives would have made almost any red wine sing.

Pencarrow turns out to be an introductory range from the prestigious Palliser estate which accounts for the quality. You can currently buy it as a bin end from loveyourwine.co.uk for £10.99, on special offer from the New Zealand House of Wine if you buy two bottles, and £12.79 from Noel Young wines. (Check wine-searcher.com for other stockists.)

*Great food but not a cheap option. We spent £130 for 2 for 3 courses, 1 side and 2 glasses of wine. If you're looking for a casual supper I'd stick to the Tapa Room downstairs. The winelist in both is excellent though.

Chicken, lemon and olive tagine with Rioja reserva

Friends came round the other night and I cooked one of my favourite new recipes - a chicken, lemon and olive tagine (which appears in my forthcoming book Food, Wine and Friends, she adds, unable to resist a cheap plug!). One of the reasons it’s slightly different from the authentic Moroccan version is that I remove the chicken skin which makes the dish a lot lighter.

You might be surprised at the idea of pairing it with a Rioja but I’ve found in the past that red wines are better than white with this dish. Whites tend to be too similar, too lemony. Reds offer a pleasing contrast of colour and flavour.

A chicken tagine contains two bitter ingredients, preserved lemons and green olives that bring out the sweet fruit in a red wine so I wouldn’t choose a wine that was very ripe and sweet-tasting already like a new world Cabernet, Merlot or Shiraz. An aged Rioja, with its soft, mellow cooked-strawberry fruit fits the bill perfectly. Ours was a Contino Rioja Reserva 2002, which came, surprisingly, from Marks and Spencer. Or not so surprisingly. M & S has some decent wines these days.

Image © stockcreations - Fotolia.com

For wine matches for other types of tagine check out Which wine to pair with a Moroccan tagine