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| GOOD FOOD WITH GREAT WINE | |||
Think lamb shanks and mashed potatoes on a cold winter night; now think of a great wine that will compliment both you and the dish. Here are tips... |
Lamb shanks are wonderful cooked really slowly and for a long time in good stock, creating warm comfort food of the grandmother variety. It calls for a really flavoursome beef stock and loads of aromatic vegetables such as carrots, turnips, celery, onions and whole cloves of garlic. Gently brown it well in a heavy-bottomed casserole dish in olive oil. Remove, add the veg and slow-cook till they're well browned.
Return the shanks to the casserole, pour over some brandy and set alight to burn off extra fat. Season well with sea salt and freshly milled black pepper, tuck in a faggot of herbs and pour over stock and some really hearty red wine. Bring to the boil and put into a 160°C oven; give it a go for at least three hours. Peep occasionally, adding more stock if necessary and bringing down the temperature if you feel the need.
At the end, remove the shanks and keep them hot, skim off as much fat as you can and then blitz about half of the casserole contents with a hand-held blender so that you still have some chunk in the sauce. Put back the shanks, reheat and serve with creamy mashed potatoes and a salad with crispy bread to mop up the sauce. Delicious with a garnish of slow-cooked onion – slice and fry slowly in butter till very soft and golden brown, pour off excess oil, add a bit of balsamic vinegar and reduce for maximum flavour.
I have discovered a wine that will match the smooth gelatinous unctuousness of the lamb shanks sauce: Springfield Whole Berry Cabernet Sauvignon. Low yield per hectare and perfectly ripe bunches – ripe right down to the pip – are picked in the cool of the night from three adjacent vineyards and then destalked.
The whole berries are macerated in their own juice for 10 days, allowing for a fuller flavour and using the natural wild yeasts present on the skin. A second fermentation – called malolactic – is allowed in French oak barrels, followed by a year's maturation. The wine is then bottled without filtration or fining. The result: a more rounded wine with its soft tannin structure and resultant velvety texture yet giving up none of the typical Cabernet Sauvignon characteristics.
Springfield Sauvignon Blanc Special Cuvée is another product of the seemingly whimsical winemaking techniques of Abrie Bruwer. It's a rich, almost creamy wine combining tropical fruits and flint in the smells and flavours. Abrie's sister Jeannette calls it Springfield's first lady, and says of it, 'In her youth, in the tank, she holds nicely together and early signs of beauty are already showing, but once bottled she sulks a bit. If drunk too soon she might behave like a highly strung teenager, but treated well, at her coming-of-age party she will reveal the full bloom of womanhood. But our fine young maiden, given a healthy dose of tender loving care, will become even more delicate and beautiful as she develops maturity and finesse'.
Recently had a roasted butternut and Gorgonzola cheese salad. Squares of butternut roasted in the oven with olive oil, and well seasoned with sea salt and freshly milled pepper – don't fall into the trap of putting 'sweet' spices on it; makes it puddingy. Allow to cool, mix with crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (I love the local Crémalat), lots of watercress, roasted sesame and sunflower seeds, little tomatoes and strips of celery. Toss with a yummy dressing and serve it with Iona Sauvignon Blanc.
Iona is on a mountain plateau above the Atlantic near Elgin where the cool climate ensures long, slow ripening of the grapes to produce a wine of great uniqueness and distinction. Complex smells and flavours of pear, green figs, gooseberries and freshly mown lawn, with a crisp, lively acidity, a long delicate finish and an overwhelming feature of balance and elegance. A good mix of classic Cape, full frontal Oz and racy, pungent Sancerre.
| story by Michael Olivier from FAIRLADY | |
| image by with great wines | |
