Saturday Kitchen 6.4

(by peter)

The Saturday Kitchen wine team were on the decks of HMS Belfast then speeding at 30 knots on a RIB into a bitter east wind on the River Thames last week.

No wonder I subsequently had a slight mishap when trying to juggle those wine bottles on camera…

But I had some fabulous, heart-warming dishes to look forward to, with top talent Jason Atherton and Daniel Clifford in the studio.

Jason was cooking turbot with cauliflower cheese purée and a seaweed twist – beautiful, classic stuff, which I matched with the great value Montagny Vieilles Vignes 2009 (from £7.99, Majestic).

‘It’s great,’ commented Jason, who takes a commendable interest in his wine. ‘It’s really citrusy and works really well with the cauliflower cheese, because it takes a lot to stand up that.’

Daniel termed it, ‘beautiful’, while James quite rightly pointed out that, ‘normally with white Burgundy you’d have to pay a lot more for something as good as this.’ Spot on – this is a great value drop. And, as studio guest Julian Clary pointed out, it’s ‘very complementary’.

Daniel was making an intricate quail salad with celery, grapes and shallot purée. This was a stunning medley of flavours, which I paired with the fabulous value, very grown up Palataia Pinot Noir 2011 (£8.99, M&S). Great to get a German Pinot on the programme, which is such an exciting style.

Daniel certainly enjoyed it, saying how he was, ‘really starting to get into Pinot Noir at the moment, and this goes beautifully.’

Jason added that the lightness of style paired perfectly with the dish, which James seconded.

All in all another delicious show. Click on the following link to find the show recipes. You can view the clips below. Thanks to James, Daniel, Jason and Julian – and also to all the Cactus team…producer Andy Clarke, cameraman Mike Maddams and runner Hannah Wilson deserve particular credit this time round for clinging onto the RIB for dear life and still managing to put together yet another fine VT. Cheers!