Drinkies

Here are some off-beat Christmas wine suggestions.

The Times is running a '100 Winter Wines' series at the moment and rather than try to kill my liver matching that before Christmas, I thought I'd point you in the direction of some of my current favourites. A 'favourite' may, of course, be enjoyed no matter what the season. Or it wouldn't qualify as being a favourite now, would it?

First there are three kinds of wine without details of maker or vintage; go with what you can find. Then I've listed two specific wines that I'll be opening this Christmas. Here we go:

Tokaji Azsú - Hungary - White

Tokaji comes from Hungary and has a long and distinguished history. It's a sweet, golden wine, refreshingly sharp, too, made with Hárslevelu and Furmint grapes some of which been affected by noble rot, caused by a fungus called botryitis cinerea. This reduces the water content of the grape and concentrates its flavour. It also means that it takes considerably more grapes to make a given quantity of wine. The measure of sweetness is given as a number of 'puttonyos'; which will be between 3 and 6. The larger the number, the sweeter the wine. There is a category beyond 6 puttonyos called Aszú-Eszencia, but that's rare stuff indeed.

It is usually sold in 50cl bottles rather than 75cl ones. Expect to pay between ten and twenty quid (or more) per bottle. It's really good with nice cheese, but do put it in the fridge for a couple of hours before you serve it.

Madeira - Portugal - Brown

Hailing from the island of Madeira, surprise, surprise. Almost always a blend of different vintages (vintage Madeira is very unusual and somewhat costly). Originally used as tradeable ships ballast, madeira was transported around the world in the hot holds of ships in days gone by. This caused it to oxidize as completely as a wine can, which is why it is the way it is. These days the same effect is reproduced by storing the wine in heated cellars to mature. A bottle of Blandy's 10 year old Malmsey has always been a popular tipple here at Chateau Wright. We also once had a bottle of Henriques' Malmsey which was pretty good, too.

Drier madeira may be labelled 'Sercial' or 'Verdelho' and the sweeter ones 'Bual' or 'Malmsey'—the classic four varieties of madeira.

Recioto della Valpolicella - Italy - Red

Once upon a time, if you suggested to your friends that a bottle with the word 'Valpolicella' on the label was worth coughing up more than a fiver for, you'd be taken away for a well-earned rest somewhere. Let's get this straight. This is not the same beast at all. It's a rich red wine made from partially dried grapes, so the flavour is quite concentrated. This is not something you're ever likely to find in the bargain bucket - expect to pay around twenty quid or so for a good one.

Masi make a good one (try Oddbins - it'll be around £22 for a 75cl bottle), but the best one I tasted was from a 50cl bottle (at a fairly stiff seventeen quid from a now-defunct wine shop in Lechlade, if I recall correctly) and tasted like liquid blackberries. Gorgeous, and well worth the asking price. I think it was "Recioto della Valpolicella 'Le Arele'" from producer Giuseppe Lonardi - the label, description, bottle size and price are hauntingly familiar on the winedrop.co.uk site, but I'm not 100% sure - it was a few years ago and, like an idiot, I didn't make a note. If they would be so kind as to send me a free bottle - or, preferably, a free case, just to be sure, I'd be delighted to confirm it.

Cune Rioja Reserva 2001 - Red - Spain

I'd been itching to try this. Anne (my wife) worked for a short while in Spain a few years ago and Cune was one of the vineyards we had seen on our travels. I've always wanted to try this one because it has a good reputation, and I finally got the chance to do so last week in Majestic's in Salisbury. I did try an approximately equivalent claret but because I was driving, I couldn't go overboard with the comparisons. The Cune wine beat that particular claret hands down. Eleven quid a bottle and six quid off the pair if you buy two.

At Majestic you buy your wines by the case, i.e. 12 or more bottles at a time. Don't be shy - it's perfectly OK to go in with or without an idea of wines you like, and if the range of the wines gets your head buzzing, then get the chaps there to help you make up a case. It's quite fun from time to time to ask a wine merchant to make up a case for you. You can end up trying and liking wines you had no idea existed.

Villa Maria Reserve, Wairau Valley, Sauvignon Blanc 2006 - White - New Zealand

Anne and I took a friend out to dinner in the truly excellent Green Island Restaurant in Jersey - the most southerly restaurant in the British Isles. The meal was wonderful and we drank this. This is the only time I've ever ordered another bottle of the same wine during a meal. My tastes usually run to big red wines redolent of prunes and toadskin, but this is a gorgeous floral and very tasty white. Chill it well, like the Tokay I mentioned above. For goodness sake don't use it to wash your curry down!

Again, eleven quid a bottle from Majestic, and they drop the price to £8.79 for two or more. I bought four bottles this time because I know I like it a lot and it's a damned sight cheaper than restaurant prices! There are other Villa Maria wines available at Tesco, and they're worth a go. But, if you can run to it, the Wairau Valley is particularly good.

In Conclusion

None of these wine are cheap, but in my opinion they're pretty good and worth your attention. Enjoy, and do let me know what you think.

One thing I've learned over the years is not to combine good port (which I haven't covered this time) and good stilton. I think it's a waste of both. I love both port and stilton, but not at the same time. They're both highly aromatic and very tasty, and I think each destroys the other's strengths.

Perhaps I'll have a crack at some good wines under six quid soon. I can think of a couple that need to be tested again...

Have a good Christmas!

Pete Wright
Portsmouth

Oriental Pork

Feeds two. My mum has been cooking this for almost as long as I can remember. There has never been any left over.

Don't go overboard getting rid of the fat - the acidic marinade likes to have something to work on. And yes, the marinade should smell as though it could dissolve the mixing bowl, teaspoon, your nostril hairs and anything else it comes into contact with. It's worth experimenting with different mustards, vinegars, sugars and quantities of chili powder and pepper to get the pungency and heat level you like.

Ingredients
500g shoulder or spare rib pork chops, excess fat removed and cut into 1” chunks ('Value' diced pork is ideal for this recipe)
2 level tsp mustard powder
1 level tsp soft brown sugar
1 tbsp white vinegar (or balsamic etc.)
1 level tsp salt
half a level tsp ground black pepper
half a level tsp ground ginger
quarter level tsp chili powder
3 tablespoons Worcester or soy sauce

Preparation
Put pork into shallow ovenproof dish in one layer. In a small bowl, blend mustard and ginger with the water then stir in the sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper, ground ginger, cayenne pepper and soy or Worcester sauce. Pour the sauce over the pork, making sure the meat is well coated, cover and leave in a cool place overnight.

Next day remove cover and bake in the centre of a fairly hot oven, 400ºF or gas mark 6, for twenty minutes, then lower the heat to 350ºF or gas mark 4 for about one hour.

If you increase the quantity of meat, double the amount of marinade. You might want to do this anyway to give a little more sauce.

Pete Wright
Portsmouth

Chicken with Tomatoes and Fresh Basil

Here's my reinvention of this particular wheel.

Ingredients

• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• 5 shallots coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp demerara sugar
• 6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
• 1 tin of tomatoes
• 3 generous heaped tbsp fresh basil
• 3 chicken breasts
• 5 tbsp plain flour
• salt
• black pepper

Preparation
Chop the shallots and the garlic, heat the olive oil and fry in a saute pan until translucent. Stir in the demerara sugar, salt and black pepper and continue to fry gently for five minutes or so. Add the tin of tomatoes and keep the mixture simmering gently.

Shred three of the six rashers of bacon fairly finely and fry them in a large pan with a lid until you have nearly-crispy bacon bits. Remove from the heat and move the bacon bits to one side of the pan, tilt it and allow the oil to drain off to the other side of the pan. After a couple of minutes, remove the drained bacon bits and add them all to the saute pan with the shallots and tomatoes.

Mix 5 tbsp plain flour, 1 tsp salt and a good twist or three of black pepper together and coat the chicken breasts with it. Fry them until golden brown in the large pan with the now bacon-flavoured olive oil. This may take ten to fifteen minutes.

Once the chicken breasts are nicely browned, lay a rasher of bacon on each one, transfer the sauce from the saute pan to the large pan and cover the chicken breasts with it. Put the lid on the pan.

After twenty minutes or so, shred the basil (tear it, don't cut it - I have no idea why) and add it to the pan for the final ten minutes of cooking. Serve and enjoy. It goes pretty well with peas and a spot of plain basmati rice.

Pete Wright
Portsmouth

French Onion Soup

After my last unhealthy cooking recipe, here's one to balance the cosmic scales, French Onions Soup. I mean, Onions are a member of the same family as garlic, and garlic is brimful of goodness. And it keeps vampires away too.

Once again I've delved into Lloyd Grossman's The 125 Best Recipes Ever this time a contribution from Patience Gray and Primrose Boyd's cookery book Plats Du Jour.

Ingredients

About 50g/2oz butter or beef dripping

450g/1lb sliced Spanish Onions

1 small Bay Leaf

1 clove

Salt, Pepper and Brown Sugar

2 Pints of Beef Stock (I tend to use shop bought boullion for convenience)

Some dried slices of Bread

Grated cheese (if possible Gruyere)

Preparation

Melt most of the butter with a little oil in a pan and fry gently until golden

Add the bay leaf, salt pepper and brown sugar then crumble in the knob of the clove.

Heat the Beef Stock and add it to the onions. Simmer for at least half an hour and enjoy the oniony smell wafting through your house.

About 10 minutes before you plan to eat, fry the dry bread slices in another pan. When golden sprinkle the grated cheese on top and put in the bottom of your soup bowls. Pour in the soup and serve more grated chees on the side (there goes the healthy part of the dish). Alternatively, float your bread bits on the soup while still in the pan, sprinkle on the cheese and let it bubble. The heat will slowly melt the cheese. When it has melted, remove carefully to your bowls and again ladle over the soup.

The steriotypical frenchman, as seen on Alo Alo, is normally portrayed with a string of onions around there neck. Having eaten this soup I can understand why.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Arguably two of the finest contributions to the art of the sweet snack from America are the Cookie and the Brownie. The best brownie recipe I've come across is in a Sue Lawrence cookbook and I'll blog that later. The finest chocolate chip cookie recipe I've come across is in Lloyd Grossman's The 125 Best Recipes Ever, which in turn is taken from The Wolfgang Puck Cookbook by, surprisingly enough, Wolfgang Puck.

Ingredients

100g (4oz) Unsalted Butter

75g/3 oz Sugar

75g/3 oz Brown Sugar

1 tsp good quality Vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

275g/100 oz Plain Flour sifted

1/4 tsp baking soda disolved in 2 tsp of warm water

100g/4 oz Chopped Nuts - Optional - being a purist I tend to leave out the nuts.

175g/6oz Chocolate chips - I think if you leave out the nuts you are honour bound to increase this to 200g. Better still buy 200g of good quality chocolate and chop it into largeish chunks.

Use dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocoalte or a mixture.

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.

First off bring the butter to room temperature in a mixing bowl. Then cream it with a mixture until light. With the mixer on a low setting slowly add the sugars, vanilla, salt, egg, flour and disolved baking soda. Mix until just blended. Stir in the chocolate and, if used, the nuts.

If the dough is too soft put it in the fridge till it stiffens a bit (something I've never needed to do).

Divide the dough up into equally sized portions. The original recipe says that the above quantities make about 36 cookies, but being a big cookie fan I tend to make between 9 and 12.

Form the portions into balls with your hands and place on a baking sheet leaving roughly 2 inches between each (the cookies grow considerably during cooking so need th space).

Bake in the oven for 15 to 17 minutes. Let them cool in the pan then transfer to a rack. The optimum time for eating is 15 minutes after they came out of the oven when they are still a little warm. Lacking preservatives the cookies wont last more than a couple of days, but hey I don't think that's going to be a problem, you'll be lucky if they last longer than a couple of minutes. Store in an airtight container.

Freshly baked Puck cookies a warm September evening with a glass of cold milk. Mmmm could be a midsummer nights dream....

Itihaas Birmingham

Itihaas won the award for Best Restaurant in the Midlands and the top award of Best in the UK in the 2007 Good Curry Guide. The visit of the Red Dwarf and family to the UK was therefore a good excuse to give it a try. Dosas, Indian Lamb Chops and Carrot Cake were all excellent as was the smoked aubergine veggy option.

Service was a little slow but the Indian music piped through the sound system was very good for once.

Curry Fever Leicester

Another visit to Leicester, another trip to Curry Fever.

As usual the Fever's signature dishes of Jeera Chicken, Pili Pili Chicken Masala and Kenyan chicken waranted their normal 11 out of 10 ratings on the taste front. Unfortunately though the Flute Cafe is now sourced from a dfferent supplier in Italy and is now a pale shadow of its former glory. Still an excellent meal though, in the best Indian restaurant in Leicester and one of the finest in the Midlands.