Posted by susie | March 30th, 2010 (by susie)
While the rest of the UK wine trade is in Bordeaux slurping and spitting the much-touted 2009 vintage, I’m currently roaming around Ribera del Duero in north central Spain – as you will know from Peter’s recent posts on the site.
And very happy I am to be here too, though I’m not sure my teeth are any less black for it – wow these are seriously big wines.
For those who don’t know the region, Ribera lies in north central Spain and straddles the banks of the River Duero
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Posted by peter | March 29th, 2010 (by peter)
I always know it’s going to be a good meal when Susie starts prepping at least half a week beforehand.
This time, it was the slow-cooked duck, orange and cinnamon pappardelle that was on her mind.
After much mental limbering up, the duck was duly purchased, cooked in slow fashion, then shredded, blended with the rest of the sauce and left to develop rich and unctuous flavours over time in cold storage.
This gave us proper breathing space to deliberate over the wines.
As it turned
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Posted by peter | March 29th, 2010 (by peter)
Susie had to rush off to Spain (Ribera del Duero, darling) shortly after Saturday Kitchen went out this last weekend, hence my post on her show.
Susie was in a bright and spring-like Amersham to find wines to go with dishes prepared by Nick Nairns and Donna Hay.
You can find all the recipes, as well as the entire show, on iplayer (available for one week only following broadcast) on the bbc website. (Wine bits at 16:45 and 54:25).
You can also read Susie’s blog on how she went
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Posted by peter | March 26th, 2010 (by peter)
Our first encounter with Le Café Anglais, chef Rowley Leigh’s latest culinary adventure, was a short while ago, not long after it opened.
It was a birthday dinner (mine, I think), the kind of occasion we tend to savour because it’s a brilliant excuse for a great night out.
Only problem was, we left distinctly under-whelmed. The food was good – but not really good enough. The ingredients were simple and very tasty, but it just seemed to lack the wow factor that the reviews,
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Posted by peter | March 25th, 2010 (by peter)
Wine of the Week: Penfolds Koonunga Hill Autumn Riesling 2008
This rakish white really impressed when we opened it, along with a few other samples, in a food-matching frenzy inspired by Susie’s Saturday Kitchen dishes for this weekend.
As it happened, it didn’t quite go with the dish that we had in mind – Nick Nairn’s gorgeous monkfish with curried lentils. The flavours were just too earthy and subtle and were overpowered by the structure and scent of this characterful
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Posted by peter | March 24th, 2010 (Author: Peter)
I have received many messages from Chile in the wake of the massive earthquake that stunned the country before dawn on Saturday 27th February 2010. (Click here for my earlier report.)
Of all of them, one stood out for its vivid, intensely personal, very moving and ultimately thought-provoking nature.
It was from Andrés Sánchez. Andrés is a respected winemaker in Chile, albeit still young and also something of an outspoken maverick. He married Daniela Gillmore, daughter of
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Posted by peter | March 24th, 2010 (by peter)
Before heading into the Marks & Spencer press tasting yesterday (top tips to follow on Saturday Kitchen, our newsletter and in these virtual pages), I tweeted the following:
“Off to M&S press tasting. Expectations high. Cricket nets this evening. Expectations lower.”
As it happens, I was right on both counts.
The M&S showing was strong, as usual, with highlights being white Loire, red Italy, some Antipodean beauties of all hues, the Chilean range, Champagne, top
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Posted by susie | March 23rd, 2010 (by susie)
This week I’m off to Amersham on my SK wine hunt and I’ve got a couple of terrific dishes to match.
The recipes arrived from Andy (our highly organised director) last week, which gave me plenty of time to shop, cook, and try out several wine and food combos with Pete over the weekend. And the first thing to say is that these are not only delicious dishes, they’re also not too tricky to cook – so I urge everyone to give them a go!
So, what are they? Well, on Saturday
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Posted by peter | March 22nd, 2010 (Author: Peter)
Since we arrived back from New Zealand a week ago, I’ve finally managed to get in touch with many of my friends and colleagues in the Chilean wine industry.
The responses that have flooded in are very telling, mainly as a result of their striking similarities.
There’s not a trace of self-pity. Just sadness for those who perished. And a profound sense of gratitude for having survived, along with loved ones. (As far as I can make out, very few connected with the wine
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Posted by susie | March 22nd, 2010 The following is a recipe by the wonderful Jo Pratt: mother, author and all-round brilliant celebrity chef.
We adore her recipes and Susie contributed the wine matches for her latest book, In the Mood for Entertaining, from which this recipe is taken.
We’re very proud indeed to have Jo contributing her delicious seasonal recipes to our free monthly newsletter. If you want to receive the newsletters and recipes direct to your inbox without having to wait, please subscribe to the newsletter
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