Lamb, courgettes, fennel and cider

If you’re wondering what to drink with lamb you’re most probably thinking in terms of red wine but as yesterday’s feast at Burrow Hill Cider, part of the Somerset Food Trail proved cider can be a surprisingly good pairing

Actually it wasn’t just the lamb, which was simply cooked (barbecued but without a strong marinade) but the accompanying vegetables chef Lucas Hollweg of the caterers On the Spoon had cooked with it that were the key to the pairing.

Drawing on local ingredients, as he did for the whole meal, he made a base of courgette & fennel agrodolce - a sweet-sour dish of slowly cooked vegetables to which he’d added Burrow Hill’s cider vinegar, cider and honey.

It chimed in perfectly with the medium sweet ‘cider bus sparkling cider’ that they sell at Glastonbury* and other events. (There was also some local Westcombe ricotta scattered over the top of the veg - rather like feta in a Greek lamb dish)

It proves yet again that it’s no so much the basic ingredient that determines a match but the way you cook it and the flavours you put with it.

For other lamb pairings see Top wine pairings for lamb 

For other cider pairings see Top food pairings for cider 

*Unsurprisingly sold out though you can find other ciders along with their marvellous Somerset Cider Brandy in their online shop

A full English breakfast with Lambrusco

It’s not often you go somewhere for breakfast and they hand you a comprehensive wine list. Let alone a wine list tempting enough to make you drink at that time of day.

But a full English isn’t far short of a main meal anyway so the opportunity to order a glass of Lambrusco with it - yes, Lambrusco - was too good to resist.

This may come as less of a surprise when you discover the establishment is owned by Heath Ball of the award winning Red Lion and Sun. This is his newly opened pub The Angel in Highgate Village which in addition to offering all day breakfasts has an equally interesting wine list which includes, at the time of writing, three different lambruscos.

Real lambrusco, for those of you who have not come across it, is a dry, semi-sparkling wine from Emilia Romagna in Italy. Mainly red and dry with a taste of bitter cherries.

I ordered the Tenuta Pederzana ‘Spiriti Folleti’ Lambrusco Grasparossa di Casteleviro from the list which was a modest breakfast friendly 11%. It went incredibly well with the meatier elements of the dish including the (absolutely excellent) bacon, sausage and Conakilty black pudding. (I’d discovered on a previous occasion how well lambrusco goes with pork.)

If you fancy giving it a go the Angel is open from 8am though you can’t order alcohol until 10am. Which might be a little early for Lambrusco even for me. (We didn’t eat until 12.30.)

For other thoughts on wine with breakfast see What Wine to Drink with a Scottish (or English) breakfast 

And for other Lambrusco matches The best food pairings for Lambrusco 

What wines pair best with pork 

Languedoc rosé and Rick Stein’s chicken burrito

I generally go for a crisp, citrussy white wine with light Mexican dishes like this one - but I happened to have a bottle of chilled rosé in the fridge and it proved the perfect pairing.

The recipe, from Rick Stein’s excellent book The Road to Mexico is probably not what you would think of as a classic burrito - for which read more Mexican than Tex Mex.

It was much lighter, based on chicken in a limey marinade and topped with pico de gallo (fresh tomato) salsa, guacamole, chipotle crema and soured cream. 

What made it go so well with the rosé - the 2024 Alaina rosé from Laurent Miquel - was the lime juice in the salsa. Lime is great with rosé

You can buy the Alaina from Waitrose - it’s currently £13.50 but quite often on offer. (His cheaper rosé, Vendanges Nocturnes, which is also good, is down from £10 to £8 at the time of writing though quite possibly not by the time you read this.

But that would work too as would the typical Provence rosé though that would most likely be more expensive.

For other rosé pairings see the best food pairings for rosé.

And for other Mexican food matches see Wine, Beer and Other Pairings with Mexican Food

Fried oysters with harissa and a Virgin Mary

There were some good, if familiar, wine pairings last week - including Muscadet with moules and clams marinières at The Pony at Chew Valley in Somerset (good to be reminded how reliable a match that is). But the one I’m going for is this combination of crispy fried oysters with harissa and coriander and a Virgin Mary which, as I’m sure you know, is an alcohol-free version of a Bloody Mary which I had at brunch at No. 1 York Place in Clifton, Bristol.

Spicy harissa with spicy tomato juice - is that too much? Turns out not. The tomato juice was really well spiced so echoed rather than being overwhelmed by the harissa. It just seemed like an extra dimension of chilli rather than being overwhelmingly hot.

If you want to try this for yourself there’s a recipe for fried oysters on the Great British Chefs website and a recipe for a Virgin Mary here.

You could obviously sneak in a shot of vodka!

PS I reckon the pairing would also work with freshly shucked oysters served with Tabasco.

For other oyster matches see The best wine (and other) pairings with oysters