Italian spinach and ricotta pie with Soave (or Vermentino)

To tell you the truth this is as much about the story behind the pie as the wine match but that was good too so let’s kick off with that.

The pie was a Torta Pasqualina a traditional Easter pie from Liguria which is filled with ricotta, spinach and whole eggs. As often these days it was a question of trying to find the most suitable match which turned out to be a rather elderly 2015 Bertani Soave which had seen better days but which still had enough character to show off the pie rather nicely.

Vermentino which is local to the region (as you can see from this article) would have been better still but I didn’t have any. Gavi di Gavi or any of those interesting neutral Italian whites, preferably from a more recent vintage, would have done too. As would a glass of Franciacorta.

What was particularly nice about the construction of this pie was that a group of us made it together on Zoom from this recipe by Rachel Roddy. We’d collaborated on the sourcing of the ingredients getting our spinach from a local greengrocer (Hugo’s in Bedminster, Bristol) who also supplied the locally made ricotta from Westcombe Dairy. And it fortunately didn’t require too much flour.

We cooked together, companionably chatting and comparing notes for about an hour then broke off to clear up while the pies were cooking and reconvened (with Rachel, who is a colleague on the Guardian) to have a drink an hour later. A nice thing to do with friends who like to cook - whether you have Soave or not!

Truffled egg toast and Bianco di Custoza

I was sure I was going to be featuring the splendidly retro Brown Windsor Soup and Madeira as my match of the week this week - a combination suggested by Ben Austin of number1wino for the underground supper club I went to on Friday - but sadly I left the Madeira at home by mistake. (Ben, who went the following night, said it was a treat.)

So it's the truffled egg toast and the Monte del Fra Bianco di Custoza I had at Spuntino earlier in the week which is probably much more to your taste.

Bianco di Custoza, like Soave, comes from the Veneto and shares many of the same characteristics - fresh, smooth, slightly almondy, infinitely versatile. This particular one is a blend of Garganega (which accounts for half the blend), Trebbiano Toscano, Tocai, Cortese, Chardonnay, Riesling and Sauvignon. You can read all about it on the Slurp website from which you can buy it for a very reasonable £8.95

The truffled egg toast was a bit like a Buck Rarebit (a Welsh rarebit topped with an egg) only more subtle and delicate (I'd guess the cheese was Fontina) and, of course, truffled. A brilliant bar snack in a very cool bar. And a dark one as you can see from the quality of the photo.

A glass of Champagne, I must admit, would also have worked very well.

Ceviche and pisco sour

I’ve been in Chile for the past week at the World’s Best Sommelier competition and have plenty to report about that but here’s a great non-wine match in the meantime - and a couple of tips about how to make an authentic Pisco Sour.

Ceviche, as I’m sure you know, is raw fish marinated in citrus and you find it everywhere in Santiago, especially in the Chilean and Peruvian restaurants. I’ve found in the past it works well with Soave and Torrontes (see below) and it’s fantastic with Chile’s Sauvignon Blancs as I’ll be explaining later this week but it’s also really enjoyable with Pisco Sour which is Chile’s - and Peru's - national cocktail.

The classic formula, according to the barman at a Peruvian restaurant I went to called Puerto Peru, is 3 shots of pisco. 1 of lemon or lime juice, 1 of sugar syrup and half an egg white. The restaurant infused their sugar syrup with orange and lemon peel and cinnamon which made it more aromatic and slightly less tart.

Sadly pisco sours are pretty difficult to reproduce outside of Latin America as the flavour depends on the local limon de Pica which are are actually rather more like small lemons than limes (for a more detailed explanation check out this useful article on a website called Rick Cooks. My hunch is that you’d get nearest to it by blending grapefruit, lime and lemon juice together.

You also, of course, need a bottle of Pisco, the Chilean/Peruvian grape-based spirit or brandy but that’s reasonably easy to get hold of.

It's an absolutely delicious drink but as you can see from the quantities above pretty lethal so take care!

Braised brill with truffles and La Rocca Soave

I’ve already mentioned this wine pairing as part of my write-up of the Action Against Hunger pop-up with Rick Stein but it was the outstanding match of last week.

It was an unusual dish which you can just about see from the rather blurry picture to the right. The brill - which was fabulously fresh - was braised rather than grilled and adorned with mushrooms and truffles which gave it a powerful umami hit.

Old white burgundy would have been the obvious choice but they had already run out of the Meursault on the wine list so we opted instead for the 2007 vintage of this highly unusual single vineyard Soave from Pieropan which we were lucky enough to get at the normal retail price.

It was an incredibly lush, voluptuous wine - just perfect with such a rich fish dish. A real treat.