Menestra

I first had this wonderful vegetable stew - a northern Spanish equivalent of a spring vegetable minestrone - in a restaurant in Pamplona and dreamed about it for several years before managing to recreate it.

This version comes from winemaker Maria Martinez of Bodegas Montecillo in Rioja who I was interviewing for a feature in Decanter. We bought the ingredients together from the market in Logrono.

Like cassoulet and bouillabaisse, menestra is one of those dishes about which huge arguments rage. Basically it can be made from any seasonal green vegetables, “from two up to twenty” as Maria puts it, but the ideal time of year to prepare it is in the spring when artichokes and spring vegetables such as peas and beans are in season.

There are apparently certain ground rules though. You mustn’t use dried beans or other pulses or peppers (too slimey). Jars of vegetables are permissible but should not be mixed with fresh ones. Spinach is fine if added at the end. Opinions differ as to whether you should use onions, garlic and herbs, whether the vegetables should be cooked separately or together and whether or not hard boiled egg should be added. The consistency should be more that of a stew than a soup though some cooks like to make it more liquid.

Serves 6-8

10-12 baby artichokes
2 heads of borraja* (borage)
1/2 a large head of chard
250g asparagus, trimmed
250g green beans
3-4 potatoes cut into small dice
125g thickly cut panceta (streaky bacon), diced
A thick slice of dry cured Spanish ham (about 100g)
About 75g chorizo, diced
4-5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Olive or corn oil
Salt and pepper

Trim the artichoke bottoms and strip off the outer leaves until you are down to the yellow leaves at the heart. (Handling artichokes can stain your hands black so you may want to use plastic or rubber gloves for this). Trim off the very top of the remaining leaves and cut the artichoke hearts in half and drop them into a pan of acidulated water. (Water with lemon juice added to stop them discolouring).

Cut the top and bottom off each stalk of borraja then peel away the fibrous strips (rather as you would the edge of a runner bean). Remove the green part of the chard leaves saving them for another recipe and chop the white stalks. Trim and chop the asparagus and roughly slice the beans.

Tip all the vegetables into a large pan of boiling, lightly salted water and cook until tender - about 30-40 minutes (Some cooks cook each vegetable separately) Meanwhile fry the cubed potato and cook until tender, then add the panceta. Once the fat starts to run add the diced ham and chorizo and finely chopped garlic. Drain the vegetables and tip the fried potatoes and ham into the pan. Mix well, adjust the seasoning and serve.

What to drink:
Breaking one of the cardinal rules of food and wine matching that red wine and artichokes simply don't go, we drank a 1975 magnum of Montecillo Gran Reserva Especial throughout this meal, including the menestra. As you’d expect for a wine of that age it was quite delicate but still full of seductive damson fruit which we were surprised to find worked perfectly well with the soup. Whether that was due to the long cooking time, the smokey notes provided by the chorizo or the age of the wine we weren't sure but the experiment would be hard to repeat successfully. A more conventional pairing would have been a white Rioja or Rioja rosado.

Rigatoni with aubergine (eggplant), sausage and Zinfandel sauce

A really robust pasta dish from my book Cooking with Wine - perfect for cold weather eating. The wine gives a richer, more warming flavour than the usual tomato-based sauce.

Serves 4

350g Italian sausages or other coarsely ground 100% pork sausages
4 tbsp olive oil
1 medium aubergine (about 250-300g) cut into cubes
1 medium onion (about 150g), peeled and finely chopped
1 medium red pepper (about 150g), de-seeded and cut into roughly 2 cm squares
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 rounded tbsp tomato puree
1 level tsp dried oregano
175ml zinfandel or other full bodied fruity red wine
175ml fresh chicken or light vegetable stock made with a teaspoon of vegetable bouillon powder
350g dried rigatoni or penne pasta
4 heaped tbsp freshly chopped parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Slit the sausage skins with a sharp knife, peel off the skin and chop the sausage meat roughly. In a large frying pan or wok heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil and brown the sausagemeat breaking it up with a spatula or wooden spoon. Remove the meat from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add another 2 tbsp of oil to the pan and stir fry the aubergine for 3-4 minutes till it starts to brown. Add the remaining oil and chopped onion and fry for a couple of minutes then add the red pepper and fry for another minute or two.

Return the sausagemeat to the pan, stir in the tomato puree and cook for a minute then add the garlic, oregano and red wine. Simmer until the wine has reduced by half then add the stock, stir, and leave over a low heat to simmer while you cook the pasta following the instructions on the pack.

When the pasta is just cooked spoon off a couple of tablespoons of the cooking water into the sauce then drain it thoroughly and tip it into the sauce along with 3 tablespoons of the parsley.

Mix well together and leave off the heat for 2-3 minutes for the flavours to amalgamate. Check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the pasta and sauce into warm bowls and sprinkle with a little of the remaining parsley. You could also sprinkle over some grated parmesan if you like though I’m not sure that it needs it.

Recommended wine match:
Given you've got a bottle of Zinfandel open that would be the obvious match but you could also drink a southern Italian red like a Primitivo or a Syrah.

Gennaro Contaldo's porchetta

If you're looking for new ideas for a Sunday roast try TV chef Gennaro Contaldo's fantastic porchetta (stuffed rolled pork belly) from his lovely book Gennaro: Let's Cook Italian which is all about the dishes he makes at home for his family and friends.

Gennaro says "Porchetta to me means a party and I make it during special occasions, when I know hordes of people will drop by. It feeds lots, can be eaten cold and can be stored in the fridge for up to a week. Traditionally in Italy, porchetta is a whole piglet filled with lots of fresh herbs and slow-roasted either in a wood oven or even outdoors on a spit. It is made at home, as well as sold ready-made as a takeaway. Since whole piglets are not that easily obtainable, I use pork belly and the result is similar."

Serves 10–12

5kg/11lb pork belly (ask your butcher to remove the ribs and trim the excess fat)

25g/1oz coarse sea salt

freshly ground coarse black pepper

small green leaves from a large handful
of fresh thyme

leaves from a large handful of fresh rosemary, roughly chopped

a large handful of fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped

1 tbsp fennel seeds (if you are lucky enough to find wild fennel use it)

8 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

small carrots, cut into chunks

6 tbsp runny honey

Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas 7. Lay the pork belly flat, skin side down. Sprinkle with half the salt and lots of black pepper, rubbing it well into the meat with your fingers. Leave to rest for 10 minutes so that the seasoning settles well into the meat. Sprinkle the herbs, fennel seeds and garlic evenly all over.

You will need 10 pieces of string, each about 30cm/12 inches long. Carefully roll the meat up widthways and tie it very tightly with string in the middle of the joint. Then tie at either end about 1cm/1/2 inch from the edge and keep tying along the joint until you have used up all the string. The filling should be well wrapped – if any escapes from the sides, push it in. Using your hands, massage 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil over the joint, then rub in the remaining salt and some more black pepper.

Grease a large roasting pan with the remaining olive oil and place the pork in it. Roast for 10 minutes, then turn it over. After 15 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2 and cover the pork with foil (if you like the crackling to be very crispy, don’t bother with the foil, but remember the porchetta needs to be thinly sliced and crispy crackling will make that difficult). Roast for 3 hours.

If cooking the potatoes and carrots, add them to the roasting dish for the final 11/2 hours of cooking.

Remove the joint from the oven and coat with the honey, drizzling some of the juices from the roasting tin over it too. Insert a fork at either side of the joint and lift onto a wooden board. Leave to rest for 5 minutes, then slice and serve hot or cold.

Recipe from Gennaro: Let’s Cook Italian, published by Pavilion. Recipe photography by David Loftus.

Wine pairing: I personally would fancy a crisp dry Italian white wine like a Vermentino with this but think most people would prefer a red. Chianto Classico would be a good match or try a simple supple Italian red like a Rosso di Montalcino.

Pork loin with rhubarb and balsamic vinegar

An elegant, quick roast from Fran Warde's New Bistro that makes the best of in-season rhubarb. You could even serve it on Valentine's night.

Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 40–45 minutes
Serves: 4

1 tbsp olive oil
25g (1oz) butter
600g (1lb 5oz) pork loin
200g (7oz) rhubarb
100ml (3.5 fl oz) chicken stock
50g (2oz) sugar
1 tsp mustard
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5. Heat the oil and butter in an ovenproof pan and, when foaming, add the pork and brown on all sides. Place in the oven and roast for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, trim the ends of the rhubarb and cut the stems on a diagonal into 4cm (1.5-inch) lengths.

Remove the pork from the oven and lift out of the pan. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan, stir, then place the pork on top and return to the oven for a further 15–20 minutes, or until cooked through.

To serve, slice the pork and serve with the rhubarb sauce.

Wine suggestion: Sweet and sour flavours always cause a bit of a problem for wine but I quite like the idea of partnering this dish with a fruity rosé. A dry Alsace Riesling or Pinot Gris might also work but could be a little more hit and miss.

From New Bistro by Fran Warde, published by Mitchell Beazley. Photograph © Jason Lowe