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The best food pairings for rosé
Rosé was once considered a summer wine but increasingly more people are drinking it year round with almost every type of food and on any and every occasion. But what food goes with rosé?
Which wine to pair with a Moroccan tagine? (updated)
Exotic and aromatic, Moroccan tagines somehow manage to suit all types of weather and not being particularly spicy are relatively simple to pair with wine.
The best food pairings for Pinot Noir
Pinot noir is one of the most versatile red wines to match with food and a great option in a restaurant when one of you is eating meat and the other fish.
Honey pastries with baked figs
I love this Spanish twist on baklava from José Pizarro's gorgeous book Andalucia - it would make the perfect end to a summer meal.
Parma ham and figs with Malvasia
I’ve always tended to go for Prosecco with Parma ham but last week I found an even better wine pairing - Malvasia.
Figs, blue cheese and Maury
We’ve been feasting on figs from our neighbours' fig tree in Grau d’Agde down in the Languedoc this weekend - all the more satisfying as I gather that back home Waitrose is currently selling them at 99p each.
Duck with figs and Kooyong Ferrous Pinot Noir
I know duck and Pinot is a bit of a no-brainer but this was such a great dish and such a stellar wine that it's worth revisiting. (Coupled with the fact that some of you may be having duck for Christmas.)
A vegetarian harvest supper
Before we finally plunge into winter here's a late autumn supper menu from my book Food, Wine and Friends that combines the best of autumn’s produce with a couple of convenience products.
A Greek-inspired summer supper
With this unseasonably hot weather why not look to Greece for inspiration when you're entertaining. Here's a simple meal for 4 that was inspired by a trip to Greece a few years ago.
An alternative Burns Night supper for six
Haggis may be traditional fare for Burns' Night but let's face it, it's not everyone's cup of tea. So here's a Scottish inspired menu that I suspect you'll probably enjoy rather more (unless you're born and bred Scots, of course...)
Dry wines with fresh fruit
One of the welcome reminders of this long hot summer (in the Languedoc at least) is just how well dry wines go with fresh fruit. I’ve been happily drinking whites, ross and even reds with fruit such as peaches, apricots, melons and figs. Sweet wines, of course, go well with all of these but sometimes sweet wines seem too intense, particularly if, like me, you don’t have a very sweet tooth.
Warm fig and almond pudding with Château Coutet Barsac 1996
I think I’m a bit fixated with figs at the moment. Last week’s match of the week involved them and so does this week’s but it’s a totally different affair.
La Chassagnette: so pretty but more misses than hits
Given that I plastered photographs of La Chassagnette all over my instagram feed the other day you might think a review was superfluous but the truth is that pretty plates do not necessarily a great restaurant make.
Claire Clark's Austrian Coffee Cake
The cover recipe from pastry chef Claire Clark's gorgeous new book 80 Cakes from around the World, photographed by the equally talented Jean Cazals.
A Hallowe’en supper for 4-6
With Hallowe’en coming up the track here’s a sophisticated supper for those of you who don’t have to go out trick or treating . . .
Which foods pair best with tawny port?
We rarely think of tawny port as a flexible pairing for food. We serve it with stilton, obviously and with hard cheeses like cheddar, with nuts and dried fruits and over Christmas with fruit cake and mince pies but that’s usually as far as it goes.
The best food pairings for Grenache
Although grenache is a grape variety that is not often celebrated, it’s one that deserves a closer look. As usual it’s hard to pin down a definitive style but it’s fair to say grenache is usually full-bodied, soft and low in acidity. Some grenaches are pretty powerful - usually due to natural bedfellows like syrah and mourvèdre being blended in - others, like Côtes du Rhône, are easy-drinking.
Kohlrabi with fig leaf oil and English sparkling wine
A really fascinating pairing from a wine dinner at Skye Gyngell’s restaurant, Spring in collaboration with Domaine Hugo (and their vegetable supplier Fern Verrow)
12 great South African food and wine pairings
I actually experienced so many great wine and food matches last week in South Africa - some accidental, some intended - that it would be invidious to pick out just one as my match of the week so here are a dozen that really stood out for me. (See also my match of the week last week of Semillon and seafood)
Tea & Tapas: does it work?
As a massive sherry fan I confess that I find it hard to envisage any other drink with tapas but when you’re invited to experience an off-the-wall pairing you go - or at least I do.
Using ‘bridge’ ingredients to create a perfect match
One of the most useful tricks to master, especially when you’re dealing with a tricky-to-match ingredient, is to introduce a ‘bridge’ ingredient - in other words an element in the dish that makes it easier to pair with the wine you want to drink.
Two classic meals in Chablis
I came across this article the other day which I wrote 4 years ago after a visit to Chablis. We attended two great dinners organised by Daniel Defaix and Herv Tucki of La Chablisienne which were an object lesson in how to pair Chablis with food. I thought it deserved a re-run.
Mission, Bethnal Green
What is a large palm tree doing growing in the heart of Hackney? Let alone INSIDE a building (a converted warehouse set in a railway arch). Well, it’s the latest outpost of hipster winebar Sager & Wilde, now with a fully-fledged restaurant, Mission.
How to build a wine cellar from scratch
As I'm in the process of helping my son create a wine cellar I asked my Twitter followers if they had any tips to share. This incredibly helpful and detailed response came back from Mike of the wine blog Please Bring Me My Wine and he gave me permission to share it with you.
Food pairings for Apothic and other sweet red wines
Heavily promoted Apothic is just one of a range of sweeter red wines that have been launched on the market recently. Not having much of a sweet tooth, I must confess it’s not particularly to my taste but I can see that it would greatly appeal to wine drinkers who find drier reds unappealing.
3 things you need to think about when pairing wine with chocolate
Chocolate is supposed to be impossible to match with wine but like any other ingredient it depends on the chocolate and how it’s used.
Wine with cheese: Gorgonzola and Vin Santo
You know that port goes with Stilton, right? Well, here’s another good variation on the pair-sweet-wines-with-blue-cheese rule: a glass of Vin Santo and a creamy Gorgonzola.
Turron and sweet sherry
One of the nicest Christmas traditions I've picked up along the years is the Spanish habit of serving a platter of sweetmeats at the end of the meal or on other occasions when you want something sweet. It usually includes different kinds of turron, the Spanish version of nougat which comes in soft and hard versions, some with whole almonds, some without. To that you could add some polvorones (delicious almond cookies) large Moscatel raisins, figs and dates and even a few chocolate truffles if you like.
Lamb with coriander and the Garage Wine Company's Cabernet/Carignan
This is possibly the most off-the-wall pairing I encountered on my recent Chilean trip and for that reason the most exciting - both on account of the food and the wine.
How to create a great Christmas cheeseboard
The question I’m often asked at this time of year is what makes the perfect Christmas cheeseboard. It’s as difficult a question as what makes the perfect Christmas lunch.
The best crackers for cheese (and wines to drink with them)
Cheese and crackers. Simple, right? Maybe—but the right combination can make all the difference. The best crackers for cheese don’t just hold things together; they add texture, contrast, and a little magic to each bite. Some pairings are obvious, others surprising. Let’s explore.
Il Passo Segreto Appassimento Sangiovese
Confession time. Off-dry reds like this 2017 Il Passo Segreto Appassimento Sangiovese are not really my thing but it’s hard to think of a more romantic looking bottle and if you’ve got a sweeter tooth than I have (not hard) you’ll love it.
Bistro d'Alex, Florensac - a real find in an unlikely location
On a return visit this week to Bistro d'Alex in Florensac I found it just as good as it was when the review below was written five years ago - and the set menu, now 18€ (£15.50) for two courses, only 3€ more expensive.
So, what makes a great cheddar?
An archived article, first published in 2008, about how great cheddar is made and the difference between Keen's and Montgomery
Pairing Errazuriz wines at Pollen Street Social
New world wines are sometimes criticised (usually by the French!) for overwhelming subtle Michelin-starred food but award-winning blogger Jeanne Horak-Druiff of Cooksister found much to admire when she attended an Errazuriz food, wine and photography evening at Pollen Street Social.
Matching cold cuts, cheese and chutney
A couple of years ago I went to a chutney-making demonstration and tasting. No, not at the WI - it was held by the family owned company Tracklements at leading London cheesemonger La Fromagerie which has recently expanded its empire into the neighbouring shop and now has a fancy new tasting room.
Will and I win an award for our beer and food book Appetite for Ale!
It's an odd feeling going up to the podium with your son to pick up an award for beer writing. It’s not exactly the scene you envisage when you’re wheeling him around in his push chair. But there we were last night to pick up the oddly named Bishop’s Finger Beer With Food Award at the British Guild of Beer Writers Annual Dinner for our book Appetite for Ale (Phew - that was a mouthful!)
Fine dining in Colmar
Stuart Walton checks out the restaurant scene in Colmar.
Last minute tips for Hallowe'en
There are already some useful tips for Hallowe'en on the site but as the word Hallowe'en fails to come up with anything in the search engine for some unfathomable reason I thought I would draw your attention to them plus some fun ideas for a Hallowe'en cheeseboard I've posted on my blog The Cheeselover today.
An interview with Enrico Bernardo
If any sommelier looks set for Gordon Ramsay-style super-stardom it has to be Enrico Bernado.
How to eat like the Veronese
As you walk through the door of Al Pompiere in Verona you could easily be back in the '70s. A timbered ceiling, checked table cloths, walls lined with pictures of guests through the ages, it’s every inch the traditional trat. In one corner where hams line the shelves and hang from the ceiling an elderly chef in a toque is slicing ham and other salumi to order with a large, impressively flashy machine. If you think it’s old-fashioned though take a look at their website - the retro feel is deliberate but they’re linked to all the social media.
St Leonards: very cool, very Shoreditch
One of the problems about being a food writer - though I’m not expecting much sympathy from you - is that you’re always chasing the latest new opening. Which means that restaurants you make the effect to go back you feel pretty special about.
Rovi - Ottolenghi’s latest restaurant is perfect for flexitarians
I’m writing about Rovi in almost ideal circumstances. After two visits - one very shortly after opening, the other last week, two and a half months later. I could, of course, have reviewed it after the first visit. It was fully open not a discounted ‘soft’ opening yet there isn’t a restaurant that gets into its stride in the first month. American publications insist that their critics go three times before their review is published I believe. In an ideal world you would.
Doughnuts and hot chocolate sauce
If you like churros you're going to LOVE this recipe for doughnuts with chocolate sauce from chef Nieves Barragan's new book Sabor*: Flavours from a Spanish Kitchen.
Cavatelli with sausage, mint and tomato
This is one of the deceptively simple recipes in Rachel Roddy’s wonderful A-Z of Pasta.
Food and Bordeaux: What they served at the gala dinner at Mouton Rothschild
I make a point of not going to Vinexpo, the biennial wine fair in Bordeaux (too hectic, too noisy) but it does mean you miss out on the occasional treat like the gala dinner that was held at Château Mouton Rothschild to celebrate the opening of their new chai.
The best wine matches for luxury foods
It's party time and with any luck you'll be indulging in more than your fair share of luxury foods. But what to drink with them? The easy answer for most is champagne and that often works because it's as much a mood match as a food one. But if you're not content with the obvious so I've also come up with a few intriguing and stimulating alternatives:
What type of wine goes with blue cheese?
There are two wine pairings for blue cheese that are so famous that you may not think beyond them: port and stilton and roquefort and Sauternes. But does that mean that you have to drink sweet wine with blue cheese?
Grilled lamb with mustard glaze and a 25 year old Xinomavro
I’m conscious I don’t post as many red wine pairings as I should partly because I tend to drink white wine more often, particularly at this time of year but this was a really spectacular match at a Visit Greece lunch at Above at Hide last week held to promote the Greek wine trails.
10 top food pairings for South African wines
If you’ve visited the Cape Winelands you’ll know what an amazing food and drink scene it has but you may still wonder what sort of dishes to order in a restaurant or to pair with South African wines at home.
Win a terrific Tracklements food box!
We’re spreading the love this February with a chance for three of you to win one of these fabulous food boxes from the family owned Tracklements which we hope will provide much needed cheer and pzazz to your food during lockdown.
Win a new luxury hamper from Belazu!
We’re thrilled to have our old friends Belazu back with a gorgeous hamper for one of you to win this month.
Win a fantastic Spanish food and wine hamper from Mercado 44
We all need to escape in January, if not in person then at least through food and drink and I can think of no better people to make that happen than Owen and Tom Morgan of Bar 44 who have the most brilliant restaurants and tapas bars in Bristol and Cardiff.
My top 20 books to give your friends for Christmas 2017
You might think the last thing you need is another list of this year’s cookery books. but indulge me in this slightly different take - who would you give them to and why would you find them useful.
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