Saturday Kitchen 13.4

(by susie)

Misty Marlborough was the location for my latest Saturday Kitchen wine shoot – and a delightful venue it was too.

Everyone was very nice. So nice that they even ran a few news stories on my visit – one from the Gazette & Herald, (whose fine picture we reproduce here on the right) another by marlboroughnewsonline. Thanks guys!

We’d also been hard at work in the kitchen prior to the shoot, cooking up some fabulous recipes by Clare Smyth and Paul Ainsworth and road-testing them against many wines.

Although we’ve had some fabulous Saturday Kitchen dishes to test over the years, Paul’s smoked haddock scotch egg with black pudding, pickled onion salad and curried mayonnaise was one of the very best.

It took a bit of matching, mind – good fizz certainly being up there – but what triumphed in the end was the delightful Laurent Miquel Vendanges Nocturnes Viognier 2012 (£8.49, Waitrose).

It went down very well in studio. ‘Absolutely right,’ commented Paul. ‘I love Viognier, this is a perfect match – it suits the black pudding and curry, lovely wine.’

Clare also liked it, terming it, ‘great, perfect,’ while studio guest Nico Mirallegro described it as, ‘lovely.’

And, as the ultimate compliment, Paul’s restaurant No 6 in Padstow subsequently put Viognier on the menu to match with this same dish.

Clare was cooking a beautiful piece of monkfish with iberico ham, peas, broad beans, morels and English asparagus.

This called for Sauvignon Blanc. Had I had an unlimited budget I would have gone for a mineral, punchy Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé – but my ultimate choice, and fantastic value option, was the Ara Pathway Sauvignon Blanc 2012 (£6.49, Tesco).

‘Beautiful, really citrusy,’ commented Clare, noting how it had ‘loads of flavour and depth,’ despite a very pale colour.

Paul added how it had, ‘a nice lemon note to it,’ and was, ‘really lovely with the iberico ham: beautiful.’ He also later tweeted, very kindly, ‘those wines were incredible and price point was brilliant!’

You can catch the show on iplayer until 20.4.13 – my wine clips are also below this piece. The recipes can be found on the BBC Food site and also feature James Martin’s deep-fried soft shell crab with aioli and watercress salad, griddled sirloin steak with salsa verde and butterfly buns with lemon, raspberry and passion fruit icing.

My thanks to James Martin and all the crew at Cactus for another fabulous show. Kudos to Paul and Clare for their delicious dishes. And thanks to my mum for helping out with the kids while I was out filming!