Brasato al Barolo (braised beef in Barolo)

Marc Millon is a polymath. A food writer, a wine importer and a web designer. He patiently steered me into getting my first website www.foodandwinematching.co.uk up and running 5 years ago and has no less than four himself including www.vino.co.uk the wine side of his activities.

It includes some splendid recipes from his winemaker friends including this fabulous slow cooked stew from the mother of Mario Fontana of Cascina Fontana which he recommends making with good Barolo. Here's how Marc justifies the extravagance!

"I have long maintained that, yes, it really is worthwhile using good - and even great - wine to cook with. The same elements that make a wine great to drink - concentration, complexity, structure - most definitely can come through in the finished dish. And of course, drinking the same wine alongside that dish inevitably results in the best food and wine match you can produce (provided that you start out with good or great wine in the first place).

When our Club Vino group visited Barolo, we had the rare treat to enjoy Mario's mother Elda's classic Brasato al Barolo, beef braised in Barolo. This is something that you usually only sample in a winemaker's home, where the 'vino della casa' just happens to be that king of wines.

Would I open a bottle of Barolo to cook with? Yes, I would, and I have. Given that many keen home cooks go to great effort to source the finest and best ingredients to cook with, there is really no reason why not. And as we know from Mario's meal, the result really is superlative.

Brasato al Barolo

2 kg piece of best topside beef
1 bottle of Barolo
4 carrots, sliced
2 onions, chopped
3 legs of celery, chopped
2 bay leaves
Small bunch of fresh rosemary
1 red pepper, cored and cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
Meat broth
Olive oil
Butter
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Put the meat in a large bowl with half bottle Barolo wine, garlic, bay leaf, rosemary, a splash of good olive oil, and salt and pepper. Allow to marinate overnight. *see note below

Remove the meat, and pat dry with kitchen towel. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat olive oil and butter in a large casserole, and brown the meat all over. Add the chopped vegetables and cook until soft. Add the Barolo wine marinade, bring to the boil, then reduce flame to very low, cover and gently braise for around 2 hours. Check from time to time, and add the remaining Barolo wine (less the obligatory glass or two that is the cook's perk), topping up with a little meat broth if necessary.

Once cooked - the meat should be tender, but not falling apart- remove the meat and allow to cool. Defat the cooking liquid, and liquidize to incorporate the vegetables. Reduce to a sauce consistency and adjust seasoning. Meanwhile, cut the beef into thickish slices. Before serving, add the sliced meat into the casserole, cover with wine cooking sauce, and gently reheat. Serve a slice of meat, bathed in the delicious Barolo sauce.

Brasato al Barolo should be accompanied by carrots cooked in butter, mashed potato, or polenta.

Wine suggestion: what else but Barolo? Nothing else will do.

* My friend Nello's trick, when cooking Brasato al Barolo, was to insert a long carving knife all the way through the middle of the joint of beef. Into this slot, he'd push a carrot or two and possibly a leg of celery. The vegetables not only flavour the meat from inside, but the slot also allows the wine marinade to penetrate more fully. When you serve the beef, the vegetables are in the middle of each slice.

Essence: recipes from Le Champignon Sauvage by David Everitt-Mathias

If you haven't heard of David Everitt-Mathias I wouldn't be surprised. But ask any leading chef in Britain - including Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal, who have both paid tribute to him in this book - and they certainly will.

Everitt-Mathias is not one to seek the limelight, although with two Michelin stars he has plenty to boast about. He doesn't do telly. He doesn't pop up in all the food mags. He doesn't in fact leave his kitchen unless he absolutely has to. If he isn't there the restaurant closes. He sets impossibly high standards of himself and his staff - and of his customers too. Don't wander in off the street expecting a table even if there's one free or turn up late for your booking. He feels he deserves the respect of being allowed to show what he and his kitchen can do - and fair enough.

He cooks some of the best food in Britain and this book tells you how to do so too should you be ambitious enough to attempt it. It's not for beginners - it's for experienced home cooks and fellow chefs. That's not to say there aren't recipes you can do quite easily like this simple and delicious soup - or take an element out of one of the more complicated recipes and tackle that. There's a fabulous-looking pistachio cake, for example, that I can't wait to try. But if you really want to rachet your cooking up a notch or two this is the book to buy.

Jerusalem Artichoke and Almond Soup

This is a very simple and satisfying soup. Jerusalem artichokes have a
natural affinity with nuts. If you wanted to add another dimension, you
could toast a few almonds, infuse them in some seasoned boiling milk, then
strain the milk and froth them up for a topping on the soup. You could even
use the soup as a base for seared scallops, tiger prawns or langoustines.
Small Jerusalem artichokes can just be scrubbed but larger ones will need
peeling.

Serves 4–6

600g Jerusalem artichokes
juice of 1/2 lemon
125g unsalted butter
100g onions, roughly chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
750g chicken stock (pages 23–24)
250ml milk
50g toasted almonds
100ml double cream

Peel the Jerusalem artichokes and put them in a bowl of cold water
acidulated with the lemon juice (this will prevent them discolouring).

Melt 75g of the butter in a thick-bottomed saucepan, add the onions and
celery and sweat for 5 minutes, until softened but not coloured. Drain and
slice the artichokes, add them to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, then add
the stock, milk and toasted almonds. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30
minutes, until the artichokes are soft. Pure in a blender and pour through
a fine sieve into another pan. Bring to the boil, then whisk in the cream
and the remaining butter a little at a time. Season to taste and serve.

What to drink:
David and his wife Helen, who puts together the winelist recommend a modest white burgundy like a Macon-Uchizy from Telmond with this soup or, alternatively a really dry nutty sherry

Slow baked plums with shiraz and star anise

Plums and red wine are as good if not better than pears and red wine. Slow cooked like this they taste just like the mulled wine you have at Christmas.

Serves 4
500g (1lb 2 oz) red plums
100g (3 1/2 oz) soft brown sugar
2 star anise
4 cloves
300ml (10 fl oz) shiraz or other intensely fruity red wine
Vanilla ice cream to serve

Run a knife round each plum and twist to pull each half apart. Pull out the stone or work a knife round it and cut it out. Arrange the plum halves in a single layer in a large ovenproof dish. Tuck the star anise and cloves round the dish then sprinkle the sugar over the plums.

Pour over the wine over the dish evenly then bake in a moderate oven (180°C/350°F/Gas 4) for about 50 minutes until the plums have turned jewel-red and the wine has turned thick and syrupy. (Spoon over the juices a couple of times during the cooking time). Remove the spices and serve hot with good vanilla ice cream.

To drink
With the rich mulled wine flavour of the sauce I really don't think you need anything

Porc à la moutarde

This typically Burgundian dish of pork with a wine, cream and mustard-based sauce is quick, easy and versatile. You could equally well use it for chicken.

Serves 2
1 tbsp olive oil
15g butter
2 boneless pork loin steaks (about 300g), preferably organic
125g chestnut mushrooms, rinsed, trimmed and thickly sliced
1 level tsp flour
100ml white burgundy or other dry white wine
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 tbsp creme fraiche
2 rounded tsp Dijon grain mustard or other grain mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Some scissor snipped chives

Heat a medium sized frying pan and add the oil. When it's hot add the butter, then lay the pork steaks in the pan. Brown for about 3 minutes on each side, then turn the heat down and cook for a further 2-3 minutes on each side depending on the thickness of the steaks.

Remove the steaks from the pan and keep warm. Cook the mushrooms in the remaining oil and butter until lightly browned. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon and add to the pork.

Stir the flour into the pan then add the white wine and thyme and bubble up until reduced by about two thirds. Turn the heat right down and stir in the creme fraiche then add the mustard and warm through taking care not to boil the sauce which will make the mustard taste bitter.

Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper then return the pork, the mushrooms and any juices to the pan. Heat through very gently. Put a pork steak on each plate, spoon over the mushrooms and sauce and snip a few chives over the top. Serve with new potatoes and a green salad

Wine match
A young Chablis or Maçon-Villages would be ideal with this dish or any cool climate, unoaked Chardonnay. A modest red burgundy would also work well.