Saturday Kitchen 4.7

(by Susie Barrie MW)

Leamington Spa lawn tennis club Wimbledon fortnight is here – so what better for me to do than get togged up in a tennis skirt and head to the world’s first lawn tennis club? In Leamington Spa, of course.

Wine for caramelized scallops, shrimps and grits with pork jowl bacon by Fernando Stovell:

LFE Selección de Familia Sauvignon Blanc 2014, Leyda, from Chile (£5.75, Asda)

Susie’s comments: sensational value wine just bursting with freshness and zingy flavour. This is a very white-wine friendly dish. Sauvignon Blanc suits the flavours well and the dish works fine with a more restrained style – like Pouilly-Fumé – but a punchier style like this just makes a fabulous combination and contrast with the salty pork. ‘Really like it, very crisp and well balanced with the dish,’ was Fernando’s comment. ‘Great combination – bargain’, said James, while Adam noted its ‘great value’ and also how appropriate a wine it is for this nice weather. Thanks, guys!

Wine for Adam Byatt’s barbecued lamb, salsa verde, tomato salad, toasted couscous and fromage frais:

Porta 6 2012, Lisboa, from Portugal (from £7.49, Majestic)

Susie’s comments: summer on a plate, just delicious. You could go for a white but this fragrant, ripe, juicy red just works brilliantly. Cool label, too! It’s supple enough to work with the tomatoes, the succulent fruit is perfect with the lamb and there are herbal hints to pick up on the salsa verde. Adam loved it and made some really insightful comments in studio, Fernando was a fan – and James said it was one of the best reds he’s had in 10 years on the show and had already bought 3 cases. It certainly seemed to be selling out but hopefully there was enough around (and will be more coming).

BBC1 Saturday Kitchen Recipes, links and details

My wines for Melanie Hill’s heaven and hell dishes, as cooked by James, were as follows:

Homemade garlic butter chicken with asparagus, peas, broad beans and dauphinoise potatoes: Charles Back Stonedance Roussanne 2014, South Africa (£10, Marks & Spencer)

Roast river trout with toasted almonds, French beans and beurre noisette: Macon-Villages 2014, France (£10, Marks & Spencer)

Thanks to James, Fernando, Adam and Melanie. High fives to our wondrous wine VT crew and the top team at Cactus TV. You can find the show via iplayer and all the recipes on the BBC Food site. My thanks to Asda and Majestic – and to you for popping in here. Cheers!