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Saturday Kitchen 12.12

(by Susie Barrie MW)

Rick-Stein's-John-Dory-alla-carlinaA beautifully crisp and blue-skied Windsor was our hunting ground for this week’s Saturday Kitchen wines. And a delicious show it proved to be, too!

Wine for Rick Stein’s John Dory alla carlina:

  • Finest Albariño, Spain (£7, Tesco)

Susie’s comments: what worked brilliantly with this dish was a really good Muscadet – a wine that’s fallen out of fashion a bit but is worth re-visiting these days. Rick likes a good crisp Italian white with this dish, understandably, but this great value, light and fresh Albariño also works a treat. ‘Absolutely right,’ enthused Rick, while John liked the little ‘sherbet’ kick on the finish.

Wine for Five-hour roast pork belly by John Torode:

  • Côté Mas Vermentino, France (£8.49, Waitrose)

Susie’s comments: white vs red was the initial dilemma here – the heart yearns for the latter while the head (thinking of the creamy parsnip and punchy salsa verde) opts for a white. This is a great value, really foodie wine – succulent, with a touch of spice. It smells like a French summer; the ripe fruit works well with the pork skin and salsa verde, while the crisp acidity cuts through the fattiness of the pork. John said, ‘Absolutely delicious: what I really like about it is the fruity, apple flavours – and apple and pork work really well. Not bad for £8.50!’ ‘I was thinking it would be really nice with a glass of red,’ commented Rick, ‘but this just really cuts through it and you get that balance.’

Five-hour-pork-by-John-TorodeRecipes, links and details

My wines for Bear Grylls’ heaven and hell dishes, as cooked by James Martin, were as follows:

Salmon with a quinoa salad and ginger sauce – Taste the Difference Awatere Valley Riesling, New Zealand (£8, Sainsbury’s)

White chocolate bread and butter pudding with whisky ice cream – Hermit’s Hill Botrytis Semillon, Australia (£8.50, Marks & Spencer)

Thanks to James, Rick, John and Bear. Huge gratitude also to the fabulous team behind the cameras at Cactus TV, especially our hard-working wine VT crew Laura, Alec and Naomi. You can find recipes from the show on the BBC Food site and the show is available for the next few weeks via iplayer (wine bits around 16 and 55 mins). Thank you also to everyone in Windsor, plus Waitrose and Tesco – and thanks to you for reading!