Kedgeree and a crisp Portuguese white

Do you eat kedgeree - if at all - for brunch or supper? That's probably going to affect whether you have a glass of wine with it.

I must confess I hadn’t made it for a while but was sent some smoked haddock and kedgeree butter as part of a sample Rockfish fish box (the type we’re offering in our prize this month) and had forgotten how delicious it was.

I based it broadly on Delia’s recipe which is the one I used to make using the kedgeree butter rather the added curry powder to spice it up and adding a bit of fresh coriander at the end rather than parsley.

We had it for brunch so I just tried it with the wine we’d had open the night before which was a bottle of Quinta da Pedra Alta’s 2019 Branco. Although it’s made from local grape varieties (rabigato and gouveio since you’re asking) it’s unusually fresh and zippy for a Douro white and worked perfectly. Any fresh tasting crisp white wine like albarino (or Portugal’s alvarinho), picpoul or even a dry riesling would work equally well. And given we’re talking brunch, champagne or, more reasonably, cava too.

You can buy the Quinta da Pedra Alta online currently for £66.30 a case

Smoked haddock and leek risotto and Albarino

If you were thinking of a wine pairing for risotto you’d probably reach for an Italian white such as a Pinot Grigio but Spain’s famous Galician white Albarino works equally well as I discovered the other day.

Mind you it wasn’t a conventional risotto, more like a creamy risotto-like kedgeree with smoked haddock - and fish is almost always a good pairing for Albarino. The saltiness of the fish in this case hit it off perfectly with the bright crisp wine - a 2012 Condes de Albaret. Although you might have thought that the deep fried egg (see the crisp little ball in the centre of the dish) might have affected the wine choice it was the haddock that was the key to the match.

It was a while since I’d been to the restaurant, Les Deux Salons, a modern brasserie just off Trafalgar Square and forgotten what a useful place it is for a quick lunch in that part of town. (They do a very reasonably priced two course prix fixe menu from 12 noon to 6.30pm) I also like the way they serve almost all their wines by the 250ml carafe as they do in their two other restaurants Arbutus and Wild Honey.

Smoked haddock and apple salad with New Zealand Riesling

I was overwhelmed with good wine pairings last week but given that quite a few were similar to ones I’ve written about before I’m making this my star match.

It was the starter at the Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival supper - a terrific event laid on by the organisers of the event for the sponsors and speakers. I liked the fact that it was billed as a ‘supper’ rather than a ‘dinner’. Apart from the starter, which was plated up beforehand, the food was served family style down a huge long table (right). It made for a particularly relaxed and convivial evening.

East Anglia is known for its smoked fish so the starter was based on Pinney’s smoked haddock which was served raw like a carpaccio with local salad leaves, a julienne of apple and sour cream.

It was partnered with a crisp, dry Riesling from Forrest Wines which had a note of apple and citrus itself which matched the dish quite beautifully. (Riesling is generally good with smoked fish too). You can buy it from Adnams for £9.99 a bottle or £8.99 by the case.

The main course pairing was excellent too: an almost gamey beef and oyster pie with mash and braised red cabbage with elderberries, matched with a Domaine St Anne 2007 St Gervais, Cotes du Rhone Villages (also from Adnams at £15.99 a bottle.) Another good match to add to the Grenache list.

Kedgeree and Western Australia Semillon

I realised the other day that there’s a marked French bias to this site. Partly because I spend a fair bit of time in France but also, I have to admit, because I do enjoy drinking French wine. So here, in an attempt to redress the balance and to celebrate Australia Day is an unusual but highly successful Aussie pairing.

Kedgeree, for those of you who are not familiar with it, is an Anglo-Indian dish that dates from the Raj. Originally based on lentils and rice it is generally made with smoked haddock or other smoked fish and hard boiled eggs. It’s very mildly spiced - not hot at all - and is a popular, brunch dish in the UK.

That, you might think, would make it a good partner for a sparkling wine which is what I would generally advise as a match but the other day we tried it with a 2006 Brookland Valley Semillon from Margaret River which had that characteristic gooseberry herbaceousness that characterises that region. It was a lovely wine: crisp, refreshing and almost spring-like, despite being fermented in oak, and a very good match for the smoked fish. You can find it - the wine not the fish - in Oddbins for £12.99.

Image © Martin Turzak - Fotolia.com