Capers are used a lot in Italian cuisine. You’ll often see them on pizzas, pasta salads and added to tomato based sauces. It’s also one of the main ingredients in tartar sauce. No matter how or where they are used, they always give a nice distinctive, pickley flavour.

In this pasta dish, they combine well with the fresh parsley to make for a very fragrant, healthy meal - which of course, I’ve thought of a wine match for.

Sauvignon Blanc will handle this recipe beautifully. Pretty much any Sauvignon would do, but if you want to be fussy, go for Loire Valley for that drier, more herbaceous style. The Domaine de Pre Baron Sauvignon Blanc is a very affordable wine that ticks all the right boxes. Despite being from the Languedoc, Domaine de Vedilhan Sauvignon Blanc is quite Pouilly Fumé in style, so that would also be ideal.

If you can’t look beyond New Zealand, check out Fairhall Cliffs and Mount Cass for wines that would be more in the mould of a Sancerre or a Pouilly Fumé Sauvignon.

Video courtesy of Look and Taste.

Originating in Mexico, papaya is now grown pretty much wherever the climate allows. I started to like it when I was in Thailand, where I was fortunate to enjoy the sweetest, most beautifully ripe fruit. It’s got quite a unique flavour. Another memorable fruit in South East Asia was mango. Mango and sweet rice is a Thai speciality and I’ll post the recipe for it in the coming weeks.

Like tomatoes, Papaya has a touch of the super-food thing going on, as it contains lycopene, which is thought to help prevent cancer cells from forming. So you don’t have to feel so bad when you’re wolfing down the parma ham and mozzarella in this fancy starter.

There are loads of white wines that would work very well with this salad, provided they’re food friendly (of good quality) and not too prominent or robust in terms of flavour and sweetness. The highly versatile Mirabello Pinot Grigio, or for a little step-up, the delicate and floral Tabali Viognier are great matches.

A light red may strike the right cord for some. If so, I think a young Beaujolais might just be the ticket. OK, so we need to re-shoot the bottle on this one, but the Domaine de la Roche looks perfect in real life and tastes even better when you get stuck in.

Video courtesy of Look and Taste.

Better than any burger from the chippy or the frozen food aisle of a supermarket, the ultimate burger is the perfect home made treat for the weekend. Sure, it’s not the most healthy thing you could eat, but it’s not the worst by far, and much more wholesome than anything from a fast food restaurant.

I get my hands on the freshest burger buns possible (there’s a lot of horrible ones on the supermarket shelves) and add some crisp lettuce leaves, gherkins and a spread of Dijon Mustard. But then that’s just me.

It has to be red, doesn’t it? A big bold Barossan red, such as the Heartland Shiraz, is just the ticket here for the complete and truly satisfying food and drink experience.

Video courtesy of Look and Taste.

The way to my heart is through my stomach. My girlfriend became aware of this very early in our relationship, and over five years later we’re still together.

OK, so it’s more than just food you need to make a relationship work, but if your partner is ‘good food’ on the brain, then Niall’s fancy cheese selection and a nice bottle of wine or sparkling wine will surely be enough to seduce.

Ginette Mathiot (I Know How To Cook) suggests:

Red wine is usually served with cheese. But the wine should be chosen to suit the cheese. So, for example, Gruyere and Brie require a less full-bodied wine than Roquefort. Goats milk cheese goes well with a dry white wine such as Sancerre.

Many wines are matched with the locally produced cheeses of that region, but you don’t have to be that fussy. Why not treat your loved one to a Ruby Port with cheddar, a Late Harvest Riesling with Brie or a Bordeaux Pomerol with Camembert? You can look up the I Love Cheese website for more inspiration.

Video courtesy of Look and Taste.

I’ve been getting terribly bored of lunch recently. It’s difficult to be inventive all the time, especially when you’re preparing food to bring to work, so I tried out Niall’s carrot and leek soup last week (I used real chicken stock for my attempt), not only because I wanted something a bit different, or because I can hardly feel my face these days it’s so cold, but I hadn’t made an authentic home-made soup before so I was keen to give it a go.

Me mammy always made the best soup, so I was perhaps somewhat lazy in the past. Unfortunately, I’m about 250 miles from where she is, so I have to make my own now. Although I must say, it turned out really well, so good job again, Niall

There’s no harm in opening a bottle of wine if this is part of your evening meal. With the sweetness of the carrots, I’m looking at a medium-dry German Riesling. Please don’t be put off by the Blue Nuns of this world. Germany is arguably the world’s best white wine producing nation, and that includes Rieslings in the ‘not so sickly sweet’ bracket.

I love the Lingenfelder Bird Label Riesling from Pfalz. It’s heightened acidity makes it very versatile with an array of foods, including this lovely carrot and leek soup.

Video courtesy of Look and Taste.

Did you know that the oldest living animal ever discovered was a clam? So claim researchers of Bangor University. The clam, nicknamed Ming, was caught off the coast of Iceland in 2007 and was believed to be over 400 years old. Mind you, they maybe should have left it where they found it, as it died not long afterwards.

So that’s your random trivia for the day, and here’s our favourite, seafood-mad chef, Niall, to give us the low-down on how to get the best out of clams in the kitchen.

When matching wine and shell fish, I tend to keep it as simple as possible, using an elegant wine that won’t overpower. Personally for me, the Erbeldinger Burgunder Pinot Blanc is perfect. With no oak contact, there’s real purity in this wine, with very delicate fruit flavours on show and a touch of minerality.

If you prefer your clams raw, Chenin Blanc works well, or my favourite match for oysters will also work a charm - Les Grands Presbyteres Muscadet.

Video courtesy of Look and Taste.

Originating in Peru, Ceviche is a citrus-marinated seafood dish. It reminds me of my first night in Fiji when I was there in 2008. After spending 6 weeks in New Zealand I was ready for a new culinary experience, so we went out for a meal and I did my usual trick of pointing to the thing on the menu I knew least about - Kakoda.

As it turns out, Kakoda is one of the national dishes of Fiji and it’s very like Ceviche, in that it also consists of fresh raw fish and crunchy vegetables, the main difference with the Fijian version being the addition of coconut milk. A good Kakoda recipe can be found here.

Don’t be put off by raw fish - it’s delicious and healthy. Just make sure it’s fresh!

Imagine yourself in a few months time sitting outside on a warm summers evening with a bowl of Ceviche and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Sounds like bliss, eh? Especially after the weather we’ve been getting recently.

Ceviche cries out for a good white wine to partner it. It’s all about those fresh, zesty, almost Caribbean flavours, and a Sauvignon Blanc with that racy acidity is an excellent choice. If you’re not too heavy handed with the chilli and the citrus fruits (just as in the video), then Chablis would be the perfect choice.

Domaine du Chateau d’Eau Sauvignon Blanc (€9.99 for the month of January)

Jean-Marc Brocard Petit Chablis (€15.99)

Video courtesy of Look and Taste.

Sure enough, quick pasta dishes came to the rescue last month. As the wine trade went into overdrive, time was at a premium so penne pasta with prawns and feta made it onto the menu a few times. With minimal preparation and cooking time, it doesn’t get much easier than this.

Prawns, garlic, fresh parsley, pasta and feta cheese. There’s nothing complex here, so a reasonably delicate white wine will do. An unoaked Chardonnay or a restrained Sauvignon Blanc would go well with the prawns, but one that is slightly more difficult to get hold of is the Argentine Torrontés, which would be a great match for the feta.

The obvious choice for me is the utterly delicious white blend of Torrontés and Chardonnay from Mendoza’s Tesoro de los Andes. Light, refreshing and very elegant, you can’t miss that touch of spice, which would also make it a good partner for a mild curry, and the salivating flavours of orange blossom and elderflower.

Video courtesy of Look and Taste.

The ultimate breakfast treat, or for something a little different on the dessert front this Christmas, pancakes with caramelised fruit is something that you’ll practice once and always keep in your armoury. And let’s face it, those are always the best ones.

While I say festive, there is of course no reason why you can’t try this at any other time of the year. Just omit the Santa hat.

I always see dessert wines as the ultimate indulgence when it comes to wine, and there’s never a better time to indulge than at Christmas. Although it must be said, despite what some may believe, alcoholic beverages are not on the breakfast menu in the Kane household.

So if you fancy trying this one for supper, then check out our new award winning Sauternes. It really is fabulous drinking at the price. You’ll find many of the sweet flavours from the caramelised fruit in this botrytised Semillon, and if you have a little left over at the end, indulge yourself further with some blue cheese. It’s very versatile with a variety of desserts and cheeses.

Ooooh, I’m getting excited already at the thought of it…

Video courtesy of Look and Taste.

You can pick up a jar of pesto in the supermarket, but of course Niall would say (and rightly so) that you’ll never beat one that you can make yourself at home. If you have a good food processor, you’re landed. It can be prepared when you have time and frozen in batches if that makes it easier. This link will take you to the Look and Taste pesto video, which is well worth a watch if you do intend making it yourself.

A strong red may not be best suited to pesto and chicken, so a Rioja on the slightly lighter side of the scale should bring out the best in this dish. The Valliciergo Tempranillo is a youthful, easy drinking red with a hint of spice. Stainless steel tanks were used during the wine making process to ensure those red fruit flavours came to the fore.

For a good white wine match, I would tend to edge towards New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc to compliment the herbal flavours of the dish. Check out the Tussock and The Ned Sauvignon Blanc, still with 15% off indicated prices until the New Year.