Who ever said Turkey was just for Christmas? I tried this recipe out at the start of the week but I couldn’t get my hands on Turkey breast so I used chicken instead. It turned out really well, but there is definitely a distinctive difference in taste between the two, so I’d be eager to try out the old Christmas bird for something a little different - even if it is only the start of Spring.

You’ll probably agree this is quite a versatile dish in terms of wine matching. There are no really big flavours there that will stick out like a sore thumb, so my advice would be to pick a wine that doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb either. A delicate white or a light red.

The Ortonese Malvasia is an ideal partner to poultry and mild cheese. Pinot Noir would be my red choice. Domaine Chateau d’Eau Pinot Noir is a lovely food partner, but lets not forget the amazing quality coming out of New Zealand as well. The Waipara Springs Pinot Noir 2008 is in that more youthful, lighter style that I’m after for this dish, and will more than hold its own when it comes to that rich tomato sauce, as well as everything else.

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.

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.

One of the greatest gifts in life is food and wine - separately, but even more so, together. And it doesn’t have to be posh food. Fish and chips, beans and spam or a Big Mac - there’s a ton of inexpensive food friendly wines out there that will go with almost anything. I have a glass of wine with my meal every night, and believe me, it’s never caviar or lobster on the menu.

And so, a Cajun chicken burger, the food of a common man such as myself… who says I can’t enjoy a glass of wine with it?

If you want to be a tad more attentive to your choice of wine, by all means, consider mine.

An off-dry white wine that can handle some Cajun seasoning is on the cards for me. The best off-dry wines are those that possess a good acidic backbone, so as not to taste sickly sweet, and it’s the acidity that makes wine such a good partner to food.

Viognier is a great match as it has those restrained fruit flavours and the ability to cope with spice, but Vouvray is the one that came to my mind when I first watched this video. Vouvray, in the French Loire Valley, is well known for its age worthy whites made from the Chenin Blanc variety. And what a fantastic varietal it is.

The Vouvray Les Coteaux Demi-Sec has an ageing potential of 2016, but don’t expect it to last if you’re going to start making Cajun chicken burgers any time soon. For a drier style, the sister wine, Vouvray Les Coteaux Sec, or Paarl Heights Chenin Blanc, are just the ticket.

Video courtesy of Look and Taste.

A great alternative to meat and two veg, these tasty fish skewers will help brighten up any mid-week menu. Whatever day the fish monger comes to town, you’ll be prepared. It’s fresh, vibrant and packed with omega three oils and all the goodness of the crunchy vegetables. Once you have your ingredients, it shouldn’t take you any longer than 30 minutes to prepare and cook.

I must admit, I’ve come across easier dishes to match wine with. We have two very different types of fish here. Salmon and monkfish. In addition, there will be some spice from the chillies and the cajun pepper, combined with a bit of zest from the lime and a touch of acidity from the pepper and the onions. Notice, though, how Niall isn’t too heavy handed with one ingredient over another. This should lead to a good balance of flavours.

Despite the great complexity, there is much delicacy here. One ingredient will not shroud the characteristics of another. That should also be the case for the wine, so I would be inclined to avoid full-bodied reds. A light-ish Syrah from the Rhône or New Zealand might not be too out of place, particularly if it has a little spice in itself.

I also think a light, elegant white may struggle to cope with the flavours, so for me, Gewurztraminer is the best bet. Cooked red peppers and Gewurztraminer are a marriage made in heaven, and its generally got the fullness in its body and the well structured citrus flavours to match an array of ingredients. It also tends to be spicy, so I reckon the lime and chilli from this dish will not dominate the wine.

For the Old World drinkers, from Domaine Paul Blanck, a lively Alsatian Gewurztraminer, and perhaps a more pronounced option, the Greenhough, from Nelson in New Zealand, was made for this kind of food.

There is 15% off all indicated prices in our New Zealand range for November and December.

Video courtesy of Look and Taste.

So there I was browsing through the Look and Taste videos at midnight last night and I stumbled across one of Niall’s most recent cookery master strokes. This video had me salivating severely, and a bowl of cornflakes just didn’t satisfy the craving. It’s definitely one I’ll be trying out myself very soon. A must watch video.

I’m sticking with Burgundy on this one, where Pinot Noir is the grape of choice for reds. Duck has quite strong, earthy flavours and it would certainly be more robust than Chicken, so for me, Red Burgundy nails it with those mushroomy, barn-yard, plummy characteristics. The Moillard Bourgogne Rouge would be an ideal partner to this dish.

However, there is also a case for a more fruit-forward Pinot Noir, considering the sweetness of the potatoes and the honey and orange sauce. Pinot Noir from the warmer climate Languedoc region would possess more ripe, sweet fruit and a slightly fuller body. If this is more your gig, I would point you to the qualities of the award winning Madman Pinot Noir (Le Fou).

Back to Burgundy, you still won’t be far off the beat if it’s got to be white. In fact, many prefer white to red when eating duck. A weighty, and well concentrated Chardonnay may just do the trick.

Video courtesy of Look and Taste.

After the success of matching wine with food for Daily Spud, we thought we’d set ourselves up for a new challenge with another shining star on the Irish foodie scene - everyone’s favourite English Mum!

So she sent us a cracking recipe for Butternut Squash Risotto and in return we sent her two bottles of New Zealand’s finest, in the form of a dry Waipara Riesling and a top-notch Nelson Pinot Gris. I gather that she was surprised at how good the Riesling was. Here’s her full review, and below is the scrumptious recipe we just had to snatch.

You will need:

1 butternut squash

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

7 or 8 sage leaves, finely chopped

Butter

1 onion, finely chopped

350g risotto rice (arborio or carnaroli)

2 litres chicken stock

Parmesan, grated, and some for serving

So preheat the oven to 200/gas 6. Peel and deseed the squash and cut into cubes. Spread the pieces out on a baking tray and drizzle with a little olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over about half of the finely chopped sage leaves:

Roast for about 30 mins or until soft and slightly caramelised. You can do this in advance and allow the squash to cool, if you like:

For the risotto: allow the stock to come to a simmer in a saucepan, then keep warm on a low heat on the hob:

Grab a heavy based pan, put it on a low heat and melt a tablespoon of butter. Glug in some olive oil (about 2 tbsp should do it), then gently fry the onion until it’s translucent (try my trick of adding a pinch of caster sugar to stop it browning too quickly). Then add in the rice, stirring around until it’s all glossy.

Add half the squash and the finely chopped sage. Now just keep adding ladlefuls of stock, one at a time, stirring constantly and making sure all the liquid is absorbed before adding another. When all the stock is gone – this might take half an hour or so – the risotto should be nice and creamy, still with a teeny bit of bite to it.

Now add in the rest of the squash and stir in the rest of the sage (the smell is amazing). Turn the heat off, have a quick taste and season generously, then stir in another knob of butter, and a handful of grated parmesan, put the lid on and leave it to sit until you’re ready to serve. Finally, ladle the risotto into warm bowls, topping with some grated parmesan, and serve with a wine of your choice, or the above suggestions. *Drooling*

Recipe originally posted by English Mum on englishmum.com on June 18th.

I’m not the most technically minded person myself, but everyone in the blogosphere seems to think very highly of mobile technology, especially in the form of the iPhone and the Blackberry.

We’ve come across an application called Nat Decants Food & Drink Matcher, which can be bought for these mobile gadgets, and allows the user to access a huge range of food and wine matches. Pretty cool I thought. I’ll admit, it was the cheese matchings that caught my eye - drink matches for 219 cheeses!

*salivating*

Which pairs best with soft cheeses like brie and camembert: red or white wine? What about harder, more mature cheeses such as cheddar and parmesan? Which cheeses will please those who prefer a beer or cocktail to wine? Here’s the Top 10 Cheese & Drink Matches from the Nat Decants Drinks Matcher:

1. Camembert or brie with Champagne
2. Gouda with Spanish Rioja
3. Cheddar with Bordeaux or Cabernet Sauvignon
4. Manchego with Amontillado Sherry
5. Mozzarella with German Late Harvest Riesling
6. Feta with Oregonian Pinot Noir
7. Goat cheese with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc
8. Stilton blue cheese with Port or Sauternes
9. Parmigiano with Italian Amarone
10. Macaroni and cheese with Californian Chardonnay

As well as cheese, there are thousands of pairings for appetizers, main courses and dessert. There are 292 grapes, wines and blends to choose from, as well as 61 pasta dishes, 118 vegetarian & salads, 57 chicken, 59 beef, 41 pork, 112 seafood dishes (and the list goes on) with new ones added frequently.

These applications might take a little while to catch on with technophobic people such as myself, but for those who have a taste for good food and wine, and are already living on the Starship Enterprise or Planet Falcon, this might just be your cup of 21st century tea.

The Nat Decants Drinks Matcher is US$2.99 and you can download it from the online stores for iPhone or BlackBerry.

For Apple’s iPhone App Store, visit:
www.nataliemaclean.com/iphone

For the BlackBerry App World, visit:
www.nataliemaclean.com/blackberry

Following last week’s post on spicy wines, I thought it appropriate to delve a little deeper into one of the world’s most identifiable, if difficult to pronounce, grape varieties.

First things first: correct pronunciation. Guh-voorts-tra-meen-er. (I suspect part of Gewürztraminer’s appeal is just conquering this!)

Around the world, like it’s Alsace soul-mate Riesling, Gewurz is not an easy grape to grow. Apart from Alsace, Germany and Austria are the only places in Europe you’ll find it grown with any real success. Elsewhere, once again for a challenging grape variety, it’s New Zealand that leads the way in the New World, although Chile, South Africa, the USA, and even Australia and Canada all produce competent examples.

Gewürztraminer produces profoundly aromatic wines, making it, along with Sauvignon Blanc, one of the first grapes budding wine experts learn to identify from scent alone. At it’s most pungent, you can expect a hedonistic bomb of nectar-laden summer flowers, luscious tropical fruit, head-lifting spice and a big waft of talcum powder.

The palate can be no less of an assault on the senses. Rose petals, lychees, passion-fruit, pot-pourri, and spices ranging from cinnamon and cloves to ginger and black pepper are but a few of the associations by writers and enthusiasts.

To the uninitiated, a wine of so much complexity and character can be overwhelming. True, it’s not for the faint-hearted, but Gewürztraminer’s eminence is revealed alongside equally rich and powerful food.

In it’s traditional home in Alsace, rich duck or chicken liver pâté, roast goose or onion tart all make wonderful accompaniments, but it’s further afield that Gewürz has found a new and loyal following. The spices in Indian, Thai and Chinese food often make spectacular catalysts for the spice in the wine to really show off, and the underlying fruit sweetness and relatively low acidity works to soften any heat.

If you haven’t tried it yet, put Gewürztraminer ahead of a beer or fire extinguisher next time you order a curry. And if you’re still stuck with the pronunciation, just point to it on the menu - I do it all the time for Kaeng Khiao Wan Kai.

Check out our range of Gewürztraminer’s here.

If you’re a big fan of spicy food you could be forgiven for thinking that your choice of wines to dine with is limited. Go into any Indian restaurant and chances are the people around you are drinking either a Gewurtztraminer or the safe bet of the house beer. If you’re into Mexican or Thai, you’re probably along the same lines of thought, albeit with an even greater lean to the beer.

As with anything to do with food or wine however, things needn’t be so black and white.

Firstly, there are different characteristics of spices, such as sweet (ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon for example), savoury (pepper, cumin and cardamom) or hot (chilli peppers, mustard seed and harissa). It is true that super-hot and spicy dishes can be very difficult to match wine with, so often you’re best with a palate cleanser such as an Italian Spumante or Moscato d’Asti. They’ll work better at beer in cooling down particularly hot spices, as capsaicin, the hot element in chillies, dissolves more effectively in higher alcohol. (Please note this is NOT an excuse to drink vodka with your Rogan Josh.)

Secondly, in pairing a wine with a complex dish with a variety of flavours, its the most dominant flavours that you’re looking to identify. So, a lightly spiced dish may have more dominant herbs or other flavours, where the herbs significantly broaden your opportunities for wine matching. Herby wines include Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah/Shiraz, so if your food is as much about the herbs as the spice you can afford to be a lot more adventurous with your choice of wine.

Finally, whilst some wines like Gewurtztraminer (literally “spiced” traminer, and pronounced “guh-verts-tra-meen-er”) are spicy by nature, more important in food-matching terms is the acidity and other factors such as alcohol and tannin levels. Many low tannin reds will work very well with lightly spiced food, such as Beaujolais, Valpolicella and Spanish Tempranillo (especially “Joven” meaning “young”).

Viognier, Austrian Gruner-Veltliner or German Riesling all possess spicy characteristics as well as the other components such as acidity and fruit sweetness to match spicy food. Similarly, red Shiraz, Grenache or Sangiovese, or the wines of the Rhône (Côtes du Rhône, Gigondas, Vacqueyras) have spicy attributes should your dish require something rich and full-flavoured.

So next time you’re popping your poppadoms, instead of opting for the Crouching Cobra, Big Brewery, take another look at that wine-list.