Soups, salads and appetizers
Red chicory, roquefort and hazelnut salad with moscatel dressing
It might not occur to you to use wine in a salad dressing but in fact it saves you from having to buy a lot of expensive flavoured wine vinegar. For this recipe you want a light Moscatel not a dark sticky one.
50 g/? cup roasted, skinned hazelnuts*
2 heads of red or green chicory
2 Comice or Conference pears, peeled and cut into 8 segments
100 g/¾ cup Roquefort, roughly crumbled
FOR THE DRESSING
2 tablespoons light sweet Moscatel or southern French Muscat, such as Muscat de St Jean de Minervois
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons mild olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
Serves 4
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.
Freshen up the hazelnuts by roasting them in the oven or toasting them in a dry frying pan/skillet. Set aside to cool and chop roughly.
Separate out the chicory leaves and place in a bowl of iced water for 15-20 minutes. Drain and pat the leaves dry with a kitchen towel.
Make the dressing. Measure out the sweet wine, white wine vinegar and the olive oil into a jam jar and give it a good shake. Alternatively put the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Adjust the amount of wine, vinegar or oil to taste - add a dash more wine if it needs the sweetness or vinegar if it needs the acidity. Season with sea salt and freshly ground white pepper, to taste.
Arrange the salad on individual plates starting with a pile of chicory leaves, then the pear segments and Roquefort. Re-whisk or shake the dressing, check the seasoning and spoon over the salad. Top with the chopped hazelnuts.
*If you can't find skinned hazelnuts roast them with their skins on until dark brown then rub off the skins with a kitchen towel.
What to drink
A lush white wine such as an oak-aged Sauvignon or Sauvignon-Semillon blend.
Smoked duck, mandarin and pecan salad with pinot noir and pomegranate dressing
Red wine can be used in place of wine vinegar to make a deliciously fruity dressing. Making a red wine reduction like this is a thrifty way to use up leftover wine, and it will keep in the refrigerator for several days.
3 mandarin oranges or other small sweet oranges
100 g/3½ oz. lamb's lettuce/mâche or watercress
225 g/8 oz. smoked duck breast, sliced
100 g/¾ cup candied pecans* or walnuts
FOR THE DRESSING
225 ml/scant 1 cup Chilean or other inexpensive Pinot Noir, or another fruity red wine
1½ tablespoons light muscovado sugar
100 ml/? cup plus 1 tablespoon light olive oil
1 medium pomegranate
½-1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses or balsamic vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Serves 6
Peel and slice the oranges horizontally, reserving any juice. Cut the larger slices in half to make half-moon shapes.
To make the dressing, put the wine in a small saucepan, bring to the boil, then lower the heat. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the wine has reduced by two-thirds (leaving about 5 tablespoons). Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the muscovado sugar and let cool.
Once cool, whisk in the olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cut the pomegranate in half and scoop the seeds into a bowl, catching any juice. Discard the pith and tip the seeds and juice, along with any juice from the oranges, into the dressing. Add the pomegranate molasses or balsamic vinegar to taste. Stir well.
Divide the lamb's lettuce/mâche or watercress between six plates and arrange the duck breast and orange slices on top. Scatter over the candied pecans or walnuts. Give the dressing a quick whisk, then spoon it over the salad. Serve immediately.
* If you can't find candied pecans, put 100 g/¾ cup pecans in a dry, non-stick frying pan/skillet and sprinkle over 1 teaspoon caster/granulated sugar. Toast gently over medium heat for a couple of minutes, shaking the pan frequently, until the nuts are crisp and the sugar has caramelized.
What to drink
The dressing is quite intense, so choose an equally powerful New World Pinot Noir from, for example, California, Oregon, Chile or Central Otago in New Zealand to stand up to it.
White onion and bay leaf soup with raclette and toasted hazelnuts
I tasted this soup at one of my favourite Bristol restaurants, Wallfish, and begged the chef, Seldon Curry, for the recipe. It sounds like a lot of onions and butter - it is - but trust me it works. He used a local Somerset cheese called Ogleshield but I'm suggesting the more widely available Raclette here.
125 g/1? sticks butter
1.25 kg/44 oz. white onions, finely sliced
1 teaspoon salt
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons dry white wine
25 g/3 tablespoons plain/all-purpose flour
600 ml/2½ cups whole/full-fat milk, plus extra if you need it
175 g/2 cups plus 1 teaspoon grated Raclette or Ogleshield cheese
FOR THE GARNISH
3 tablespoons rapeseed oil
75 g/½ cup roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
Serves 4-6
Melt the butter in a large pan and tip in the onions. Stir thoroughly then add the salt, bay leaves and wine. Put a lid on the pan and cook over a low heat for about 45 minutes until deliciously soft and sweet.
Sprinkle over the flour, stir and cook for 5 minutes then gradually add the milk, stirring until smooth, and continue to cook over a low heat for about 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaves, add the Raclette then take off the heat, cool and pass in batches through a blender until smooth*. You can sieve/ strain it for extra smoothness if you want. Return to the pan, check the seasoning, adding a touch more milk if you need to thin it down.
To serve, ladle into warm bowls, drizzle the rapeseed oil over the soup and sprinkle over the chopped hazelnuts and parsley.
* If you only have a food processor rather than a blender I'd suggest straining the onions after you have cooked them then processing them into a purée, adding about half the reserved liquid. Sprinkle the flour into the remainder of the liquid then cook it out and add the milk as described above. Add this mixture back to the purée along with the cheese and whizz again.
What to drink
A smooth, dry white wine such as a Soave or Roero Arneis.
Summer pea and asparagus velouté
A velouté is a silky-smooth soup made with good stock and cream and a perfect vehicle for the new season's peas and asparagus. A splash of white wine makes it even more luxurious. You could make it with frozen peas but it wouldn't taste as good as they're grown for sweetness these days. Similarly it tastes much better if you use homemade stock and I'm afraid chicken is better than veggie stock in this recipe.
250-g/9-oz. bunch of asparagus
30 g/¼ stick butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons smooth dry white wine, such as white Burgundy or other subtly oaked Chardonnay
600 ml/2½ cups light chicken stock, preferably homemade
200 g/1? cups fresh peas, podded
double/heavy cream, to serve
sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
Makes 4 small bowls
Rinse the asparagus. Break off the tough woody ends about one-third of the way up each spear and discard. Slice off the tips about half way down what remains of the spear and set aside. Finely slice the middle section of the spears and cut the tips in half or quarters depending on how thick they are. Set the tips aside.
Heat the butter in a lidded pan and tip in the onion and sliced asparagus. Season with salt, put a lid on the pan and cook over a low to medium heat for about 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
Add 300 ml/1¼ cups of the stock to the pan and bring to the boil. Add the peas and cover and simmer for about 3-4 minutes until tender. You want to cook them for the shortest possible time to preserve their colour.
Strain the vegetables, keeping the cooking liquid. Put the vegetables in a blender and whizz until smooth, adding back the liquid you cooked them in and the remaining stock. Pass the soup through a sieve/strainer back into the pan. Cook the asparagus tips briefly in a steamer or microwave. Quickly heat through the soup.
Divide the asparagus spears between four warm bowls and ladle the soup on top. Add a swirl of cream to each bowl and serve immediately.
What to drink
A crisp dry white wine such as a Chablis or other white Burgundy. Other crisp dry whites such as Albariño or Greco di Tufo would also work well.
Warm scallop salad with crispy pancetta and parsnip chips
Cooking scallops is a bit like cooking a steak. You can sear them, then make a delicious dressing with a dash of wine mingled with the pan juices.
12 medium-sized fresh scallops, removed from their shells
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for dressing the salad
100 g/3½ oz. pancetta cubes
4 tablespoons Chardonnay, Viognier or other full-bodied white wine
2 tablespoons fish stock or water
1 tablespoon double/heavy cream or crème fraîche
about 80 g/3 oz. mixed salad leaves
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
FOR THE PARSNIP CRISPS
1 medium...
