Saturday Kitchen 19.12.09

(by susie)

For last week’s filming of Saturday Kitchen I spent three and a half hours getting to (and then back from) a very, very chilly Ashford – but at least I got to meet Santa and his reindeer and I didn’t get stuck in any tunnels…

The show featured the legendary Michel Roux – giving a sauce master-class – and Galton Blackistone of the fabulous Morston Hall in Norfolk (if you haven’t been, put it at the top of your ‘to do’ list immediately).

Michel went for pan-fried veal with Buccaneer’s sauce.  Given neither Pete or I had even heard of Buccaneer’s sauce, let alone tasted it, we decided we’d better cook it and open up a few bottles to see which worked best.   The sauce ingredients include bananas, raspberry vinegar, veal stock and ginger, so we started with a soft and earthy Pinot Noir from Burgundy.  It worked, but we both felt the dish needed something a little brighter and fruitier – cue Beaujolais.  The vibrant, black cherry fruit and soft tannins of Gamay were perfect and, as we were filming in M&S, I went for Domaine du Petit Chêne, Moulin-à-Vent at £8.99.

I was a little apprehensive about how it might be received – good Beaujolais is about lightness of touch and has a subtlety that can sometimes be missed, especially in the aritificial atmosphere and bright lights of a studio – but I needn’t have worried.  Michel felt the Gamay did ‘a fantastic job’ and described it as ‘the perfect compliment’ – and James went on to say ‘thumbs up to Susie’.

Although Galton’s dish of Roast Cod with Lemon Beurre Blanc and Winter Ratatouille was less of a challenge to match, it looked so good on paper that we couldn’t resist cooking that one too.  It’s one of those fabulous dishes that will go with all sorts of different white wines but in the end I plumped for Tahbilk Marsanne, £9.99, Sainsburys.  I could have chosen something more classic or well known such as a Chablis or a New World Sauvignon Blanc (both of which we tried with it and both of which were good), but the tangy lemon kick and the concentration of the Marsanne just had the edge.

Again it was a hit, with Galton stating ‘it really works with the fish’ and James saying ‘just delicious, I’m diving into it’.

Since this was the last show before Christmas we also featured some inexpensive festive fizz and some gorgeous 10-year old tawny port – both which the studio guests loved and I’m sure Santa and his reindeer would also have approved!

You can find the recipes (and wine details) on the BBC website, as well as the entire show on iplayer (wine bits at 0:16:50 and 0:57:05).