Match of the week

Pot-roast pigeon and Sangre de Toro

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on February 23 2009 at 12:16

As the weather is finally turning warmer we thought we had better clear the freezer of winter ingredients so last night my husband pot-roasted a couple of pigeons we’d picked up on the cheap. Unusually we didn’t have any red wine left over so we cracked open a bottle of Torres Sangre de Toro, a sound but not overly exciting Garnacha and Cariñena-based Spanish red.

We chose it because we thought it would give the sauce body (it did) and were intending to open something more serious with the finished dish but when we tasted it we found it went really well - not overwhelming the quite complex sauce but having enough power and character (it’s 13.5%) to hold its own.

Although it’s a commercial brand (and has a rather cheesy label) it’s an easy-drinking companion to all sorts of dishes: as the back label suggests - game, stews, meat paella and traditional mountain cuisine. (Though not Alpine cheese-based dishes like cheese fondue and tartiflette which would be better with a white. More like bean- or chickpea-based Spanish dishes with ham or chorizo)

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