Waitrose Cellar launch- a very wine-y evening

                                                                                                      (Photography by Emma Gutteridge)

I am ridiculously late in posting this, but as they say, better late than never right?

Well, about a month back I was invited to the launch of the Waitrose Cellar, and the invite said- with a twist. They had me at wine and I rsvp-ed immediately. I then went back and reread the mail and it said the wine tasting would take place on a canal boat in Regents Canal. Now that was really exciting and i waited patiently for the day. Laura, who was part of the PR team did a fab job reminding us of things like not to wear heels if possible, and directions to the place etc.

                                                                                                         (Photography by Emma Gutteridge)

The weather Gods seemed to like the idea of the whole wine tasting thing on a canal boat and so blessed us with some fabulous sunshine and warm weather in the middle of May, when it was technically still spring. We got together at the London Canal Museum and after a bit of catching up with fellow food bloggers (of course with some bubbly in hand), our wine experts for the evening Xenia and Stephane, took us through the journey of wines and how the Waitrose Cellar came into being. We were then segregated into two groups and asked to head on over to the two canal barges that were ready for us. Once we all got cosy inside the boats, Xenia, who was our group head, went on to explain the different ways to identify the personality of different wines, while opening bottle after bottle of delicious wines for us to taste.

The canal ride was really beautiful, and with wine as companion you'd never want it to end. We tasted quite a few wines, but I must say my favourite was the Cae de Lugny Sparkling Burgundy Blan de Blancs NV which just hit the spot the moment i took a sip. Its perfect for those summery afternoon parties and at GBP 13.99 its a steal. I'm a Chardonnay lover, and so it wasn't too difficult to please me with this anyway! I usually go for whites and Rose's over Summer and switch to the dry reds in colder months, and i'm really really getting used to the sparkling wines this year. I am not too familiar with pairing wine and food, but I'm definitely getting the hang of it. 

Once the canal ride was over, we were all ushered back into the museum to do a round of 'speed wine-ing.' the idea being, we'd by then have learnt a skill or two about wine's in general and a one on one session with a fellow wine enthusiast would help us pick a wine for them based on their character traits and tastes. This was indeed a fun session and we all managed to get whatever we can out of the other in that one minute span. I am yet to go through my entire case of wine that was picked out for me, but from the few opened, I've loved them all, with the Cantena Malbec, picked out for me by Fiona of London Unattached, being my absolute favourite. I am not a sweet wine person, but the Seriously peachy dessert wine from Waitrose, picked out for me by Katja of ifhipscouldlie, was also a pleasant surprise. I recently paired it with a chocolate and coffee panna cotta and it really, really matched well. The bitterness from the dark chocolate nicely complimented the peachy flavours of the wine. 

Urvashi (Botanical Baker) insisted I try out the Marquesa de la Crus Garnache Rose, and that's the first bottle I opened from my case. It was indeed delicious, not too sweet, and perfect paired with spicy food. We had it with some chicken curry and stir fried vegetables. I keep tweeting and instagramming the wines as and when I open them, so follow me on there to be up to date with my wine saga.

The Waitrose Cellar website gives in-depth information on all wines and they also have how to guides that help you learn a few things; and if that's not enough, the wine experts are available on @waitrosewine to answer all your wine queries and food matches.

(Photography by Emma Gutteridge)

With thanks to Waitrose Cellar for inviting me to the event and for the case of wine. All views expressed are my own

Food and wine pairing {Loire blogger competition}

First of all, a huge thanks to all of you who wrote in congratulating me on the ad appearance. I am overwhelmed and loving my lil blog family even more. I will definitely post the ad on the blog and make sure none of you miss it :)

I was sent two bottles of Loire wines- the Muscadet and Rose d'Anjou- for a blogger challenge wherein I had to match the wines with food of choice. I only recently started this whole pairing business and even though I'm not an expert, I kind of have a few favourites I'd like to pair with the food we have. Now that summer is in full swing, the white and rose wines were gladly accepted and we put them to good use.

Before we go into my food selection, here is a bit about Loire Valley wines. The region, mostly central France, is situated along the Loire river and is home to some great wines. There are 65 appellations that include all types of wine- red, white, rose, sparkling, still, dry, sweet and so on. As opposed to other wine growing regions in France, the wines here are thoroughly affected by the Loire river and are lucky enough to benefit from the minerals matured by the clay minerals in the river. This results in wine that is truly distinct with a lot of intensity and variety.

I love a good white once in a while. From preferring the really sweet ones to the dryer ones, I think my taste in wines have kinda improved with time. The cool thing about Muscadet wine is that it is left to age all winter to bring out as much flavour from them as possible and it sure didn't disappoint us. The wine is very light in colour and I was sure it was gonna be dry, but then one sip you take and its one of the sweeter wines...something I wasn't too thrilled about, but then I decided to pair it with some spicy chicken malai tikka kebab and I thought we had a winner. You smell the wine and its like summer in a glass. Crisp and delicious with some fruity flavours (I definitely got citrus, but I cant really pin point the other flavours present). The husband thought it was more floral and agreed that the spring-like tones of the white wine was definitely brought out by the strong masala's used in the chicken. Contrary to usual pairings of the Muscadet with seafood, I picked chicken tikka because it is something we regularly have at home and to find wine that would match food that you are so used to is the winner for me.

The Rose d'Anjou with its pretty pink colour was too good to resist and so that's the bottle we devoured first. I preferred the medium sweet flavours of rose with the spicy chicken malai tikka. It completely broke down the oiliness of the tikka and replaced it with sweet fragrant taste of berries. After a few sips we realised it would have been great with dessert as well. So after glugging down half a bottle we kept the remaining to test with dessert. I made some cherry clafoutis tarts and decided to serve with the wine. It wasn't too bad, especially because the tarts were not cloyingly sweet and so didn't over power the subtle sweetness from the Rose d'Anjou. More than anything, I'm a sucker for rose wines as its the first type of wine I got familiarised with. Sweet memories (no pun intended) ;)

Both the wines were thoroughly enjoyed and they are perfect for the summer days, especially for those barbecue parties where you have a lot of grilled meat and vegetables. More than anything, its a pleasure to know that fabulous wines like these are not exorbitantly priced, and at 8.99 (Muscadet) and 7.99 (Rose d"anjou) a bottle, they make a bloody good deal. I served the light meal of chicken malai kebabs with cous cous salad (thanks to Nupur for the fabulous recipe) and washed it down with the wine. The white would be a good after meal aperitif as well, the husband says as an after thought. But I'm absolutely happy with the pairings I figured out :)

Recipe for the chicken malai tikka kebabs were adapted from Soma's eCurry- a recipe I've tried so many times and has never failed me. I followed it to the dot, except for the red food colouring which I didn't add. The cherry clafoutis tart recipe can be found here. I made it for the Great British Chefs website to celebrate National cherry week :)

With thanks to Loir wines for the sample bottles.

Chorizo al Vino

Don't get carried away by the name..its just chorizo in red wine and a very very easy dish to make. We discovered this at a Spanish tapas joint called La Tasca and fell in love with it. I was on the look out for chorizo and couldn't find fresh ones at the supermarket, so on one of our regular trips to Borough market we picked up a few at the Spanish stall. Here is the recipe:

Chorizo- 3, cut in small

Garlic pods- 3, thinly sliced

Dry red wine- 1 cup or even more depending on your taste

Olive oil- 1tbs

Parsley- a handful

Sizzle the olive oil in a hot pan. Once it starts to smoke, throw in the garlic and chorizo and sautee till they are slightly done. Pour the wine and mix well on low heat. The mixture should be semi gravy-like and the chorizo should take in the colour of the wine. Take it off the heat and garnish with parsley.

It can be served on its own or with small cubes of bread to dip in.

Note: Oil oozes out of the chorizo as well, so don't overdo the olive oil.

Be careful when you pour in the wine, it can flame up.