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

Duck and rum

OK, this sounds like THE most unlikely pairing but bear with, as they say …

For a start the occasion was a spirits and cocktail lunch hosted by The Whisky Exchange where we were drinking their spirits of the year which included Four Square’s sumptuously rich Doorley’s 14 year old rum from Barbados. The kind of drink, you’d think, that you’d pair with chocolate or a dessert like the Dulce de Leche fondant pudding they were also serving at Sucre (which is where the lunch took place)

But TWE’s Dawn Davies who was sitting next to me reckoned it went really well with the duck and because she used to be a somm I had to try the two. And indeed it did, not least because it was accompanied by two sweet elements, chestnuts and roast pumpkin. You’d need to be a bit measured about it as it’s a hefty 48% but it wears its alcohol lightly

It made me think that if it dark rum worked with that dish it would also go brilliantly with a glazed Christmas ham. Worth a try anyway!

See also:

9 fine wine matches for duck

The best pairings for rum and rum-based cocktails

I attended the lunch as a guest of The Whisky Exchange.

Radicchio, pickled pear and blue cheese salad and Le Bistro Montmija white

This crisp white wasn’t chosen as an exact match more like a wine I thought would run along with everyone’s starters when we went out to lunch at The Bull in Totnes last week

But I chose it as match of the week to illustrate that you don’t necessarily need to drink port or a sweet wine with blue cheese. The dish was a fresh-tasting salad of radicchio, pickled pears, walnuts and Beenleigh Blue (a local sheep cheese) in which the cheese was offset by the slight bitterness of the radicchio and sharpness of the pickled pears.

It needed an equally fresh fruity white and it got it in this inexpensive organic Languedoc wine which is a blend of grenache blanc, marsanne and sauvignon blanc.

You can buy it online from Vintage Roots for £8.99 and it would make a great party wine. (I like the red, which is a little soft, slightly less)

Tarte Tatin and Pineau des Charentes

I had some great food and wine matches in Dublin last week but most were predictably good (albarino and seafood, Ribera del Duero and lamb …) so I’m going for this combination from the menu at a brilliant little restaurant called Mae.

The list is drawn from the wine shop below, The French Paradox, which as the name suggests, specialises in French wines. They work closely with the restaurant on the pairings and this was the unexpected finale to the meal.

The tarte tatin was in fact cooked with Calvados which would have been a logical match but the slightly lighter (17%) Merlet Pineau des Charentes from Chateau Chevessac added a contrasting almost vanilla-y sweetness and richness that worked really well. (Pineau des Charentes is a blend of grape juice and cognac which is aged in oak.)

The Good Wine Shop normally seems to have the Merlet though it’s currently out of stock. I reckon a Pommeau from Normandy would work pretty well too.

For other pairings with apples see The best pairings for apple desserts