Pairings | Casserole

How Thanksgiving sides can inspire your wine pairing

How Thanksgiving sides can inspire your wine pairing

Although we all talk turkey at Thanksgiving, in fact it’s the sides that tend to steal the show. Finding a wine that can cope with them all is never easy but you may just find your favourite side or dressing can inspire your choice.

The best food pairings for Pinotage

The best food pairings for Pinotage

Like any other red South Africa's Pinotage comes in different styles - some lighter and fruitier than others. When you're matching it with food you take a cue from the sort of ingredients and dishes that go with its two ancestors - Pinot Noir and Cinsault.

Duck casserole with Vilarnau Els Capricis Cava

Duck casserole with Vilarnau Els Capricis Cava

There’s a certain repertoire of ingredients and dishes that are regularly paired with vintage champagnes and other sparkling wines - luxury foods like lobster, turbot, sweetbreads and even roast chicken but until last week’s trip to the Cava region I would never have thought of pairing them with a casserole

West country chicken casserole with cider, apple and celery

West country chicken casserole with cider, apple and celery

Now we're firmly into autumn why not try this homely, comforting, very English-tasting casserole from my book Meat & Two Veg? Do try and find some proper ‘dirty celery’ with some soil still clinging to the stalks, if you can. It has so much more flavour

Sierra Nevada chicken

Sierra Nevada chicken

A bit of a blast from the past, this. It comes from An Appetite for Ale, the beer and food book I wrote with my son Will at the time he owned a pub, the Marquess Tavern back in 2007.

Chicken with sweet peppers and Tempranillo

Chicken with sweet peppers and Tempranillo

I’m constantly amazed at the stream of good value reds that is coming out of Spain these days. Here’s another - La Copa Tempranillo 2005 from the up and coming Campo de Borja wine region which is situated in Aragon to the north west of Zaragoza. It appears to be made by a co-operative, the Cooperative de Santo Cristo de Magallon but is none the worse for that.

Tom Kerridge's sausage, tomato and butterbean stew

Tom Kerridge's sausage, tomato and butterbean stew

You might associate Tom Kerridge with fancy cooking but his time with footballer Marcus Rashford has found its way into his latest book Real Life Recipes which are, as the tiitle suggests, basic easy recipes to cook for the family. This hearty sausage dish is perfect for the chilly weather we're having now

Balthazar's Coq au Vin

Balthazar's Coq au Vin

It might seem bizarre turning to an American cookbook for a classic French recipe but this version from the Balthazar Cookbook is hard to beat.

Beef stew and Bordeaux

Beef stew and Bordeaux

Coming home to the UK after 10 days in the Caribbean was a bit of a shock to the system especially when we were snowed in on Friday so I leapt at a neighbour’s invitation to come round for a hearty beef stew.

Luigi Bosca Malbec 2011 Vistalba

Luigi Bosca Malbec 2011 Vistalba

After the wild winds and lashing rain we’ve endured in the UK this week my drink of the week really had to be a full-bodied red and what better choice than a Malbec?

Braised short ribs in red wine with Les Clos Perdus Corbières

Braised short ribs in red wine with Les Clos Perdus Corbières

The weather has been so absurdly autumnal this week that I cooked a substantial stew for friends on Saturday night, an intensely flavoured braise of beef short ribs (or pot au feu as our local butcher describes them) with plenty of lush, red wine (a Valdivieso Cabernet Sauvignon from the Maipo Valley in Chile which is part of the Waitrose own label range).

Braised Manx Loaghtan mutton and Crozes-Hermitage

Braised Manx Loaghtan mutton and Crozes-Hermitage

Last Friday I attended the Soil Association annual Organic Awards lunch at Bordeaux Quay in Bristol. The menu was based on the winning ingredients which in the case of the main course was Langley Chase organic mutton served with chard and spelt risotto.

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