Fish tacos and Clare Valley riesling

Last week I pushed the envelope a bit further with wine and spice pairing with a Wine and Chilli dinner at The Spicery in Bristol

This is a really great little company which sells spices tailor-made to a specific recipe so you don’t have to buy more than you need and don’t get left with musty spices that have no taste (mea culpa). You can set up a monthly subscription which would make a great Christmas present for a keen cook.

Their development chef Matt Williamson (ex Flinty Red for the benefit of fellow Bristolians) devised a brilliant menu which took us through a whole variety of chillies (including some ancho chilli-spiked chocolate brownies) which I matched with a range of different wines.

The most popular pairing was a zingy 2015 Baily & Baily Clare Valley riesling (which is currently selling for a bargainous £6.49 at Waitrose) with a fish taco with a fruity aji amarillo sauce. It was just like having an extra squeeze of lime with the dish - a style of wine well worth thinking about for other fresh-tasting Mexican dishes.

Incidentally The Spicery is having an open day on Saturday December 10th if you’re in or around Bristol and want to go along and see what they do.

If you’d be interested in having me host an event for you do get in touch at fiona@matchingfoodandwine.com.

Tacos and tamarind agua fresca

It’s always good to come across a soft drink that pairs as well with food as an alcoholic one and the Mexicans have a particularly refreshing one in agua fresca.

It can come in different flavours - hibiscus is a common one - but I particularly liked the tamarind flavoured one they served at the newly opened Santo Remedio the other day. It might not have been the most prepossessing of colours (a muddy brown) but its sour, faintly citrussy flavour was the perfect match for the punchily flavoured tacos and flautas we were eating.

It’s not the first time I’ve enjoyed this combination as you can see from this old post on margaritas, tacos and tostadas but it’s good to be reminded what a good combination it is.

You could of course serve agua frescas with other styles of food, not just Mexican. I think I’m going to be experimenting with them over the summer. There’s a really good selection of ideas for different flavoured agua frescas on The Kitchn website.

Margaritas, tacos and tostadas

There are few instances where a national drink goes so well with a national cuisine as tequila and Mexican as I was reminded at the weekend when I tried out London’s latest opening Wahaca. (A deliberately easy-to-pronounce play on Mexico’s foodie mecca Oaxaca)

The restaurant has been opened by one of Britain’s brightest young chefs Thomasina Miers who won Masterchef a couple of years ago and who co-stars in her own series The Wild Gourmets on Channel 4 this autumn. It’s a bright, stylish place, rather like an upmarket Mexican version of Wagamama or Masala Zone, based on street food with some healthy salads and more substantial mains thrown in.

My daughter Kate and I shared a commendably uncheesy burrito (which Thomasina confessed she’d only added to the menu with the utmost reluctance after urgings from a Californian friend), some chicken tostadas, a huge healthy salad and some delicious charred corn on the cob with chilli, lime and crème fraïche which made a very good side. Oh, and a lovely fresh lemon margarita sorbet. I had a house margarita (an excellent match for this style of food) while Kate had an Agua Fresca, a long, refreshing hibiscus-flavoured soft drink.

If you want to eat Mexican in London I also feel bound to mention my son Will’s restaurant Green and Red in Shoreditch which, along with Dodi Miller’s Taqueria, has paved the way for the long overdue arrival in Britain of authentic Mexican food.