The Spirit World

Nigel Slater came up with some cracking recipes in last months edition of Observer Food Monthly. As is his style, the recipes are just the sort of food I adore cooking - highly flavoursome dishes benefiting from long slow cooking times. Uncomplicated but all the better for it. Look at that picture of the Pork Ribs, mouth-watering, and the Braised Oxtail, a dish I have just the wine for, too.

In fact, I have two. The dish, with its red meat component, immediately calls for a red wine, but it would also handle a full-flavoured white, complimenting the white wine used in the sauce and the cream. New to Waitrose is a rather stunning South African Chenin Blanc the Bellingham Maverick Chenin Blanc 2007. While still a tad young, it is still a wonderfully intense wine with great balance and a forceful lemony note that will also go with the mustard.

I’ve written up the tasting note on Spittoon and can confirm it was rather stunning with a pork chop and a bean salad (recipe from this months Delicious magazine).

Many reds would go with the Oxtail dish, but head on down to Cooden Cellars for a bottle of the PinPin Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 from the Margaret River region of Western Australia. Again, great balance and wonderful intensity but at the same time not too overpowering; a great match with the Oxtail. Cooden Cellars are currently offering 2 bottles of the PinPin Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 for just £15.00.  The normal price is £11.99 each.  This equates to a saving of £8.98 when buying 2 bottles.

The Pork Ribs though need a different style for a perfect wine match. The sweetness imparted by the honey, resulting in a finger-licking sticky, delicious, mess needs a corresponding powerful, slightly sweet wine. Still talking red here and Australian. How about one of the wines from the Mollydooker Estate? These are cult wines, wonderfully packaged, and in short supply generally. Many of the wines have a waiting list and are snapped up before they appear on retailers shelves or websites.

They all exhibit a distinctive house-style. Rather highly extracted, powerful, alcoholic and big. Very big some of them. They don’t come cheap mind, with the top of the range Enchanted Path retailing for a touch under £50 but I would go with the Mollydooker Two Left Feet (great names, great packaging) which you can pick up for around £15.

I note though that Andrew Chapman Fine Wines aka Surf4Wine is running a special at the moment with the Two Left Feet down to £13.78. All the range are on offer, so time to pick up a few bottles!

Incidentally, the name Two Left Feet stems from the dancing abilities of the winemaker!

Nigel’s Chickpea and Spinach gratin is more of a weekday supper dish. Simple, quick, and, as he states, cheap. You certainly don’t want to be splashing out on a top quality wine for a mid-week slurp. Well I don’t anyway. You could just pick up a bottle of plonk from the supermarket. At least you know it will be passably drinkable if bland and uninteresting. But for a little more pleasure can I recommend to you a wine from the Vin de Pays region of France that comes in at just £4.75 - the Montagnac Sauvignon Blanc 2006 available from Bordeaux Undiscovered . It is one of several in a range from this producer with either the Chardonnay or the Sauvignon being suitable to accompany Nigel’s gratin. I’d pick the Sauvignon myself. It is deliciously drinkable with not a gooseberry in sight. It is crisp with elements of smoke, flint and grassy herbs that will meld nicely with the spinach.

Three recipes from the inspired pen and kitchen of Mr. Slater and four wines, personally sipped, slurped and drunk, to accompany. Enjoy.