Match of the week

Quenelle de brochet, sauce Nantua and Mondeuse blanche

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on April 17 2024 at 08:12

Quenelle de brochet is one of the classic dishes of French haute cuisine so it was amazing to find it the other day on the set lunch menu at Joséphine, an excellent new bistro on the Fulham Road

It has been opened by Michelin-starred chef Claude Bosi and his wife Lucy in homage to the ‘bouchons’ (homely restaurants) of his home city of Lyons

Technique apart it’s a relatively straightforward dish. - a hot fish (pike) mousse with a shellfish - in this case langoustine - sauce but the mousse is so airy and the sauce so rich that it’s hard to find a wine that will flatter both.

Chablis would have probably done the trick but tends to be overpriced on restaurant wine lists so I settled for a glass of Domaine les Bruyères Mondeuse blanche, Cuvée L’Avarice. (Mondeuse blanche is a rare grape variety from Savoie though this was classified as a Vin de France.) It was a delicately creamy white which was surprisingly intense for its 11% ABV and was perfect with the dish. It’s imported into the UK by Dynamic Vines who are selling it for £26 a bottle.

I suspect a blanc de blancs champagne would also work.

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