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What Food What Wine

by Andrew on January 28, 2013 in In the Press with No comments

what food what wine Take the guesswork out of serving the perfect romantic meal this year by following the choices of the UK’s leading wine experts.

Finding the perfect wine match this Valentine’s Day has never been easier thanks to What Food What Wine? the UK’s first wine and food pairing competition.

A panel of judges, including married Masters of Wine Susie Barrie and Peter Richards from BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen, tasted wines from around the world to find the best matches for the UK’s favourite meals, including the ultimate Valentine’s Day dinner.

They discovered a £4.50 Sauvignon Blanc from supermarket Asda, that was a wow with smoked salmon; a Waitrose Shiraz dubbed ‘fantastic’ with steak and chips; as well as a popular budget Mosato called ‘heavenly’ with strawberries and cream.

A Chilean Sauvignon Blanc (Luis Felipe Edward Reserva, 2011, £4.50, Asda) beat competition from around the world to be crowned the ‘best match with smoked salmon’.
Judges praised the wine’s: “Fresh zippy flavour, with a tang of citrus, that dances with the rich oiliness of the salmon. The sweetness of the fish highlights deeper flavours in the wine, creating the perfect mouthful.”

When it came to the main meal of rump steak and fries a robust Australian Shiraz from Waitrose (Reserve Shiraz St Hallett, 2010, £9.99) came out on top.

Judge Ewan Lacey, from Channel 4’s Cookery School, said: “The black pepper and sweet black fruit, with a decent pull of alcohol, stood up to the steak. Huge flavours vied for attention with bursts of vanilla and sweet meat. This is a fantastic steak wine at a good price.”

And an American Moscato, from the popular vineyard Barefoot, scooped the crown as the ultimate match with strawberries and cream. Judges called the Barefoot Moscato NV, £4.99: “Heavenly! A really fruity, creamy match, the sweetness is delicate and enriching without cloying.”

The competition, launched last year, aims to find the best wine matches for the UK’s favourite dishes including fish and chips, chicken tikka masala, roast lamb, lasagne, mushroom risotto and apple crumble and custard.

Judges include the Guardian’s wine writer Fiona Beckett and BBC Good Food’s Sarah Jane Evans, MW, as well as delicious wine critic Susy Atkins.

The competition boasts a true ‘blind’ tasting, with judges only knowing if the wine costs more or less than £10. For the full results visit www.whatfoodwhatwine.com.


Sud De France: The Food and Cooking of the Languedoc

by Andrew on October 16, 2012 in Books For Cooks with No comments

Sud De France: The Food and Cooking of the LanguedocIn Sud de France, Caroline Conran explores the food and cookery of the Languedoc, that province bounded by the Rhone, the Massif Central, the Pyrenees and the Garonne. The food is as rich and variegated as the history, the architecture, the landscape and the climate.

“There are warm, sustaining dishes to fuel a strenuous day in the winter’s cold, the dishes that reflect the influence of the Arabs, the Catalans, the French and later the Italian immigrants to the ports of Sete or Agde, the dishes that are as Mediterranean as can be or which look over the mountains north and south to other countries and other cultures”.

A book packed with recipes and background details. Few illustrations, no glossy full coloured food-porn here, but easy to follow, relativly simple recipes each accompanied by a little anecdote or two. Poulet aux Pyrenees (Chicken with Almonds and Pine Nuts) is a simple dish, cooked in one pot that returns a tasty, winter-warming dish expecially when accompanied with Pommes paillasson a l’ail (Doormat Potatoes with Garlic). Follow this perhaps with a Tarte au Chocolate, rich, lightly baked chocolate on a puff pastry base… delicious.

Next up to try from Sud De France: The Food and Cooking of the Languedoc is Magrets de Canard Aux Pommes (Duck Breasts with Fried Apples) and a Tarte aux Chataignes (Chestnut Tart) for a true taste of autumnal France.

“This is not polite France, this is ‘in your face’ France; it’s history buried amidst the Crusades and Cathars, its towns and cities – Nimes, Toulouse, Carcassonne, Narbonne, Perpignan, Montpellier, Beziers – making up a fiecely independent region. Its people are passionate about rugby, about hunting and foraging, with a cuisine of their own, more Southern, simpler, more earthy, and less influence by the Michelin style of cooking than the rest of France. There will be information on the particular specialities such as chestnuts, sweet onions, Bouzigues mussels and oysters, salt cod, poufres (baby octopus), charcuterie, salades sauvages (salads of wild plants), the rose-coloured garlic of Lautrec, wild asparagus and local mushrooms. There are descriptions of places where oysters, truffles chestnuts or calcots – a giant spring onion, eaten roasted on a fire of vine-prunings – are the obsession of everyone in the community.”

Sud De France: The Food and Cooking of the Languedoc is currently available from Amazon for £19.

The Cloudy Bay Forager Weekend

by Andrew on August 7, 2012 in Eating Out with No comments

The Cloudy Bay Forager WeekendCloudy Bay wine is delighted to announce the launch of the Cloudy Bay Forage weekend – a luxury escape to Cornwall incorporating foraging, fishing and fine dining.

Experience Cornwall fishing at its best, learning about the variety of local fish and the different techniques to reel them in. Then forage for local ingredients including wild mushrooms, berries, nettles, sea beet, sorrell and marsh samphire before enjoying a cooking Masterclass with a Michelin star chef.

Partnering with the stunning boutique Driftwood Hotel in Portscatho, the adventurous weekend package is only available for four weekends across August and September.

The Cloudy Bay forager weekend includes a morning of foraging with a local expert where guests can expect to find wild ingredients, followed by a woodland picnic of Cloudy Bay and a selection of food from the Driftwood Hotel menu, guests then take a trip out to sea with local fishermen to net the catch of the day. Guests will then be taken back to the Driftwood Hotel to enjoy a cooking Masterclass experience with the hotel’s Michelin starred chef Chris Eden, who will use guests’ foraged ingredients to create a natural and delicious meal that can be enjoyed with Cloudy Bay wine. The day of adventure ends with a four-course dinner in the Driftwood Restaurant, where each dish is paired with a different wine from the Cloudy Bay portfolio to ensure guests experience the full variety of the wines and their famed foodpairing abilities.

This unique luxury experience is designed to introduce wine lovers and beginners alike to the concept of foraging, food and wine pairings, and exploration. The rugged beauty of Cornwall is the perfect backdrop for this adventure filled experience. Cornwall’s abundance of locally sourced produce is a perfect match for Cloudy Bay’s tradition of foraging for edible ingredients the local environment, which was begun at the New Zealand Maison and continues each year in new and fascinating areas.

Guests are able to book this weekend package through Driftwood hotel, contact details are 01872 580644.

The Cloudy Bay Forager Weekend is £870 if booking as a couple and £700 if booking individually:

2 nights at Driftwood
Breakfast both days
Transfers from station to hotel and back
3 course Friday dinner with wine
Saturday picnic with wine
3 course Saturday dinner with wine
Foraging (half day)
Fishing (half day)
Masterclass with Michelin starred chef

COOKS&CO Launches New Look Website

by Andrew on July 23, 2012 in On The Web with No comments

COOKSCO Guide to OilsCooks & Co Launches New Look Website and a Free 24-Page ‘Guide to Speciality Oils’ Recipe Book

Cooks & Co, the must-have fine food range for the discerning home cook, is celebrating the launch of its new look website with a special hamper competition and a free, downloadable, 24-page ‘Guide to Speciality Oils’ Ebook for everyone who visits www.cooksandco.co.uk.

The special Guide – Cooks & Co’s first – can be downloaded as an interactive Ebook from the homepage of the new website. It features key tips on how to get the most out of speciality oils in the kitchen, and uses a host of delicious recipes to explain how different oils can be used for cooking and baking with great results.

To further mark the launch of the new look website, Cooks & Co is running a new competition, offering visitors the chance to win one of five hampers packed full of its comprehensive range of fine foods and ingredients – from the highest quality olives and antipasti to speciality vegetables, wild mushrooms, chillies and jalapeños, speciality oils and vinegars.

Everyone who joins the brand’s Cooks Club, an established online community for food enthusiasts, will be automatically entered into the competition. The Cooks Club area of the site also offers up cooking tips, the latest calendar of foodie events, and easy to follow, delicious recipes, along with guidance on seasonal produce.

Meanwhile, Cooks & Co’s first Guide to Speciality Oils explains the key characteristics of the different oils in the Cooks & Co range – made up of Virgin Sesame, Walnut, Hazelnut, Roast Peanut, Grapeseed, Olive Oil with Chilli, and Rapeseed.

Special ‘Tasting Notes’ and a table of key health properties and nutrient contents also help readers build up a better understanding of different oils and how to use them, while a host of easy to follow and delicious recipes, including how to make five different types of mayonnaise, offer the opportunity to put new found knowledge to use straight away.

Author Sara Walsh explains:

“We hope our new Cooks & Co Guide to Speciality Oils will take some of the fear out of how to use different oils, and inspire readers to try out new dishes featuring their favourite oils, and oils they may not be so familiar with, in different ways.

“For example, Sesame Oil may be great in stir fries, but in our guide we show how it can also be used to create wonderful vegetable and fish dishes, while there are delicious sweet and savoury recipes to follow and enjoy for the other oils in our range.”

Cooks & Co oils are available from Ocado and fine food and specialist retailers nationwide.

Sainsbury’s New Frozen ‘Ingredients For Cooks’

by Andrew on April 16, 2012 in food with No comments

sainsburys frozen ingredientsSainsbury’s new frozen ‘ingredients for cooks’ is a convenient range of chopped herbs and spices, bags of chopped vegetables and ready to bake pastry dishes, available now priced from £1. Great for having in the freezer for quick and cost effective ways of adding a little something to a simple meal, rustling up a freshly baked breakfast or creating a tasty side dish.

Available in frozen cubes of chopped herbs and spices, including chilli, garlic, ginger, coriander and pesto – they are perfect for storing away for those impressive recipes or simply for sprucing up a everyday meals. Without the need to measure and chop, add chilli, garlic, ginger and coriander to chicken to make a spicy Thai style dish.

For batch cooks or those faced with preparing a large meal for the family, Sainsbury’s frozen prepped vegetables, such as chopped onions, chopped plum tomatoes, sliced mushrooms and mixed sliced peppers are a great base to ratatouille or chilli con carne.

For unexpected guests or an impromptu treat, keep the freezer stocked with Sainsbury’s new range of frozen pastries. Top Sainsbury’s Ready to Roll Shortcrust Pastry with ricotta and Sainsbury’s Chargrilled Mediterranean Vegetables for a delicious veggie dish. Wake to the smell of freshly-baked pastries with Sainsbury’s Frozen ready to bake Croissants and Pain au chocolate, both ready in 20 minutes.

Sainsbury’s Ingredients for Cooks range is available in store and online now, priced from £1.

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