Pasta with pesto and Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi

This past week has reminded me yet again what a great match Italian whites are for food. Their lack of obvious character means they tend not to stand out in a tasting but they explode into life with a dish.

The first pairing, I’ve already mentioned in my review of the River Café - Poggio al Tesoro Vermentino Solosole 2007 was just the perfect fresh foil for a salad of Castelluccio lentils , ricotta di Bufala and chilli but I equally enjoyed a pairing I tried at home of a 2007 Loretello Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi from Cantine Politi (from Vino in Topsham) with a plate of spaghetti with fresh home-made pesto (the classic kind with basil rather than one of the more inventive new variations).

I personally find pesto goes much better with whites than with reds which it seems to coarsen. Gavi di Gavi is another good match.

Steak and Stilton pie with London Porter

The other day I won a selection of Pieminister pies in a raffle and as my husband was away rather sneakily found myself scoffing them for supper (until guilt set in and I put the rest in the freezer). As I also had some beers to taste from a new Marks and Spencer range I decided to pick one to partner with each pie and the combination that really impressed me was their London Porter with the Pieminister ‘Moo and Blue’ (aka steak and Stilton).

The beer is made for M & S by the excellent Meantime Brewery in Greenwich and contains a range of seven different malts which creates a really rich chocolatey flavour. I think the combination would have been pretty good with a steak pie on its own but the Stilton added an extra slightly bitter edge which made this a perfect combination.

I hope M & S manage to keep this ambitious range which includes beers from all over the UK, in stock. The London Porter is a bargain, for a fine beer, at £1.99.

Haggis and Westmalle Dubbel

If you’re going to or hosting a Burns’ Night dinner tonight and want to create a bit of a stir, crack open a bottle of Westmalle Dubbel, a classic Belgian Trappist ale that is still made by monks at the monastery of Westmalle. You could of course drink a Scottish beer - there are plenty of good ones - but haggis to my mind needs a bit of roundness, sweetness and strength, qualities you find more often in Belgian than British beers.

Haggis is quite gamey and also tends to be accompanied with a rich gravy that can knock lighter bitters and hoppy IPAs off their stride. The Westmalle Dubbel is a powerful 7%, rich and sweet. It would also be great with a beef stew or steak and onions and with cheese. (The monks make their own at the monastery but it also works well with those strong, stinky, difficult-to-match cheeses that are popular in Belgium and Northern France.)

Sashimi and Koshu

This week’s match had to involve the extraordinary Kaiseki meal I had at Umu. I wrote it up extensively a few days ago so I won’t dwell on it again but rather focus on the pairing that I think would work best in a less rarified contest. And that’s sashimi and unoaked koshu.

Koshu, as those of you who’ve read the piece will know is a Japanese white wine made from a grape variety of the same name. It’s not particularly characterful but that’s a virtue when it comes to sashimi where you want a wine that’s absolutely clean and without obvious fruit or oak character. Unwooded versions also have a crisp acidity that contrasts well with the slightly oily, soft texture of raw fish. (It was particularly good with the creamy raw cuttlefish)

I appreciate it’s currently hard to get hold of outside Japan but I’m sure that will change over the coming months. Look out for it in Japanese shops and supermarkets.