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Ed Hutchings, late chef-sommelier of Lindsay House, and now at the Crown at Whitebrook, near Monmouth, returns to tell us about Iberia’s wines.

Many centuries before Rioja surprised the world with delicate Bordeaux-style wines, and many centuries before La Mancha became an immense vineyard, the kingdoms of Castile and León were covered with vines as the Christian kings started reconquering the Iberian peninsula, almost entirely occupied by Arab and Berber invaders since the early eighth century. Planting vines and raising hogs were two hallmarks of advancing Christendom, and the fortress monasteries which dotted the severe Castilian landscape in the mid-twelfth century, often run by French monastic orders, were responsible for both activities.

Good strong wines from Peñafiel, Toro or Medina del Campo became famous and were an enduring source of wealth. But the Mediterranean regions, followed by Jerez, by La Mancha, and finally by Rioja, progressively took over the markets. The nineteenth-century nationalization of the Catholic Church’s assets was as much of a death blow as phylloxera was. After the louse struck, thousands of acres were replanted with the hardy but mediocre Palomino and Garnacha Tintorera grapes, and quality native varieties became almost extinct. Nothing but the supplying of cheap bulk wines seemed to remain on the horizon for Castilla y León, and the vines were pulled up by the million.

As recently as 1980 beetroot was the main crop in Ribera del Duero, and no wine book in the world mentioned the two old kingdoms (now part of the modern Castilla y León autonomous region) as anything like a quality wine region. Yet an old isolated estate and some enterprising people from Rioja were getting ready to rekindle the flame. The Vega Sicilia estate had steadfastly proven, since the 1860s, that Ribera grapes could produce an astonishing wine if properly vinified, and by the 1970s some neighbours, led by toolmaker Alejandro Fernandez, who makes the now world-famous Pesquera, had taken their cue and were following Vega’s lead, making deep, dense, powerful wines from these high-altitude vineyards. Read more »

Posted By: ed | Filed under: Guest Bloggers, Wine | Leave a comment » | Bookmark on del.icio.us | digg it

It’s such a fantastic time of the year for food. At foodfullstop, we all get very excited in the Autumn. You’ll have gathered from our newsletters and Recipe of the Week the kinds of thing we’re buying, cooking and eating at the moment. But just to recap; some of the highlights are:

Field & Fowl: Grouse | Autumn Lamb | Venison | Rabbit & Hare | Partridge | Pigeon | Duck
Fish: Crab | Mussels | Mackerel | Oysters | Turbot
Vegetables: Mushrooms | Aubergine | Beetroot | Marrow | Potatoes | Artichokes | Tomatoes | Squashes | Carrots | Peppers
Fruit: Autumn Raspberries | Blackberries | Apples | Pears | Figs | Elderberries | Chestnuts | Plums

After the glut of fresh beans, salads, summer fruits and outdoor eating, it’s a wonderful change to move with the seasons into warming roast game, hearty veg, stewed fruits and delicious pies that are ideally suited to the cooler weather. (see the foodfullstop recipe section for ideas on what to do with this Autumn bounty)

When a restaurant menu reflects this change in produce and style, we pay attention. Here we have collected together a few of our favourites that are right up to date with what they’re serving. Can you think of a more apt supper menu than fried girolles with a bit of garlic, roast grouse with bread sauce, and stewed plums for pudding? If you can’t, then hurry along to the list below.

• Quo Vadis

• Hix Oyster & Chop House

• Le Café Anglais

• The Gurnard’s Head

• St John Bread & Wine

• L’Autre Pied

• Clarke’s

• Alastair Little, 49 Frith Street, London W1D 4SG

• River Café - reopens 6th October

• Skipper’s

As the funny, little greengrocer on Masterchef says: all these places are ‘right on the money!’

Posted By: charlie | Filed under: Restaurants | 1 Comment » | Bookmark on del.icio.us | digg it

I am quite often asked what my ‘Last Supper’ would be. For the record, it would probably involve some langoustines, turbot, raspberries, clotted cream, Waterloo cheese, foie gras (no apology), burrata, ceps and beef. (Apologies for my greed, but I wouldn’t really bother worrying if it were indeed my last supper). So it was with distinct pleasure, that I discovered the fairly new Fifteen Cornwall, part of Jamie Oliver’s expanding empire, had most of the above on its menu, which we enjoyed in the late autumn. Admittedly, the powers that be at Fifteen (who do not include Oliver himself – who I hear has only been there twice) are somewhat more politically correct than we are at foodfullstop, and foie gras did not feature on the menu. We think foie gras is perfectly acceptable, from a compassionate point of view, and hugely delicious. This is based on having watched le gavage and being satisfied that it is far from cruel. But let’s leave that for another day…

Fifteen came up with something of a triumph. Despite Oliver’s infrequent visits, I suspect he has had some considerable involvement in planning the style of menu on offer – one can see the River Café influence. And they did not make a hash of offering a River Café style lunch. The antipasti which we very nearly didn’t order, being somewhat tired of the weak plates of tasteless ham, sausage, cheese and olives so often disguised thus, was excellent and imaginative. It was also superb value: £7.50 per person. For which very un-London price you got: good gorgonzola with wet walnuts, spiced chunks of squash, romanesco pre-drenched in delicious bagna caoda, some fennel salami (particularly good), divine burrata, melon, fried aubergine, cep frittata, duck liver paté and some grissini. Had I ordered enough for two it would have been ample for my whole lunch and it was some of the most inspiring food I’ve eaten in Cornwall, ever. Read more »

Posted By: charlie | Filed under: Restaurants | 1 Comment » | Bookmark on del.icio.us | digg it

Tamasin Day-Lewis’s new book, Where Shall We Go For Dinner?, is delightful. It would make a very good Christmas present. It’s not a cookbook, but more of a journal with interesting commentary on all manner of subjects, though she does include the best of the recipes mentioned, at the end of each chapter. The layout is similar to Matthew Fort’s Eating Up Italy, mentioned here before.

There are some laugh-out-loud moments, some moving passages and the odd cringe-inducing passage, where, for example, a sexual allegory becomes rather obvious… Anyway, we love it. Some splendid (and correct) use of salt rather than salty and tunny fish rather than tuna makes it all the more commendable.

Available from foodfullstop.com and all good bookshops.

Posted By: charlie | Filed under: News | Leave a comment » | Bookmark on del.icio.us | digg it

Make sure you’re all watching Market Kitchen on UKTV Food this evening (13th November) at 8pm to catch Matthew Fort and Tom Parker-Bowles interviewing Blanche and me about the online food retail environment. Blanche had some intelligent points to make, as you’ll see; the less said about my contribution, the better… But then I’ve never been very good on TV. Anyway, watch it and see. We’ll post the clip of the interview here shortly after it’s been broadcast.

8pm on Channel 259 on Sky, UKTV Food. Or catch it an hour later on Channel 260, UKTV Food + 1.

Posted By: charlie | Filed under: News | Leave a comment » | Bookmark on del.icio.us | digg it

The quiz is now closed. Congratulations to the winners: Jill Chapman, Dave Caras & Annemarie Cancienne. Each will receive a signed copy of Bill’s new book.

The answers are:

1. Flour and butter paste used to thicken sauces
2. Molluscs (but as one well-informed winner told us, there are also Echinoderms, like sea urchins)
3. Tarragon
4. Pheasant
5. Anchovy
6. 00/durum wheat/semolina
7. Brassica/Cabbage
8. Western Australia
9. Turkey
10. Pear

Bonus: Monkfish

This is only open to subscribers to Recipe of the Day. Please email your answers to the questions below to quiz@foodfullstop.com and three lucky people will be chosen at random to win signed copies of Bill Granger’s exciting new book, Holiday. Closing date for entries: 1st November.

1. What is beurre manié? And what is it used for?
2. Shellfish can be divided into two categories; the first is Crustacea, what is the second?
3. Which herb is responsible for flavouring Béarnaise Sauce?
4. Which game bird’s season runs from October 1st to February 1st yet shooting only starts in earnest on November 1st?
5. What fish is used in Bagna Càuda?
6. Which flour is classically used to make fresh pasta?
7. Kohlrabi is a type of what vegetable?
8. Margaret River is a wine producing region in which state of which country?
9. Norfolk Black is a breed of what?
10. Pierre Corneille is a variety of what?

Bonus Question: what fish is this?

Posted By: charlie | Filed under: News | Leave a comment » | Bookmark on del.icio.us | digg it

We’ve gathered together our five favourite Autumn eateries. All these places are cooking the very best of what’s delicious at this time of year.

• St John, Smithfield, London

As English as you can get. Where better to try British game? This is the only place to go for the more unusual game birds, cooked to perfection: woodcock, snipe, teal and mallard feature often on the menu.

Try: English Partridge, a far cry from the French version. Start with a bowl of fresh (wet) walnuts.

• Fox and Hounds, Goldsborough, Yorkshire. Tel: 01947 893372

On the wild Yorkshire moors, close to the idyllic beaches of Whitby. This is one of the best pubs to be found in Yorkshire. Opened by ex-Ivy chef Jason Davies. Specialises in simply cooked, locally sourced meat and fish.

Try: Pumpkin risotto or Roast Whitby Cod.

• Felin Fach Griffin, Felin Fach, Wales

Just outside the beautiful bookish town of Hay-on-wye, looking out to Hay Bluff and the Brecon beacons. An exceptional Welsh pub and a destination eatery. You can stay in the rooms upstairs too. Ideal for a weekend of Autumn walks.

Try: Local Welsh venison, Autumn fruits and Huchiki squash mash with thyme jus.

• Hereford Road, Westbourne Grove, London

London’s newest nose-to-tail restaurant. Opened last week by ex-St John Food & Wine head chef Tom Pemberton. You can tell, but that’s a good thing. Refreshingly good value with, of course, a frequently changing menu.

Try: Cockles with Cider and the delicious Blackberry & Apple Crumble.

• Petersham Nurseries, Richmond, London

Our old favourite: a famously beautiful setting by the river meadows of the Thames in Richmond. There are flowers and shrubs everywhere and the restaurant has its own walled kitchen garden. You can also go there for tea and take a walk along the river meadows.

Try: the porcini with white polenta, you can be sure it’s the finest porcini you’ll taste outside Italy.

Posted By: blanche | Filed under: News, Restaurants | 1 Comment » | Bookmark on del.icio.us | digg it

No, of course it’s not. Cipriani’s much worse. But The Boisdale (Eccleston Street, Belgravia) is certainly wallowing around in the depths of lazy, careless, tasteless cooking that still represents so much of what mainstream eating out in Britain is all about. While it may be a little unfair to judge a restaurant on its set ‘party’ menu rather than its full à la carte offering, why should it be thus? A group booking for 13 (plus Polar Bear for the triskaidekaphobians amongst us) should be easier to feed well than dribs and drabs of walk-ins and bookings that turn up late. The 3 choice menu that was offered was depressing; not through lack of choice - I like small menus - but because of the total lack of inspiration it embodied. I had a woeful salad of ‘Quails’ Eggs & Pancetta’ which should have read Quail’s Egg & Pancetta. There was certainly no plurality about one egg and, by definition therefore, no chance that said egg could have come from more than one quail, hence the apostrophe’s repositioning.

After the non-entity of a first course came some passable haggis - the first time for me that it has been the highlight of my dinner. The main course was painful (you can probably tell I’m running out of adjectives): fish pie and beans. Eight fine beans in one dish does not constitute vegetables and the offering in the other dish (microwaveable - how useful) did not constitute fish pie. In my book fish pie has potato on top, preferably a good floury variety, mashed with cream and butter. Not par-cooked puff pastry. It was horrible and I couldn’t distinguish the fish inside from some other stuff. I’m not going again. Tempt you?

Posted By: charlie | Filed under: Restaurants | 2 Comments » | Bookmark on del.icio.us | digg it

Once in a while kind people who want our cash take us out for drinks, dinner, lunch, that kind of thing. One such lunch was held recently when two exceptionally nice guys from the excellent Email Vision took me to lunch at Texture, London’s hottest new opening (they’d let me choose!). It was a hugely impressive lunch, not just because we had some serious wines - a comparison of New World Pinot Noir with Burgundian - but because the food, service and room were spot on. Having always fancied myself as a restaurateur in the making, I enjoy seeing places shortly after they’ve opened as you see them ‘raw’. But I’m putting those aspirations on hold for a bit; my heart was wrenched on the owners’ behalves as the place was almost empty. I couldn’t understand it - the restaurant has been done up with no expense spared, it’s in an elegant high-ceilinged room with magnificent plasterwork. And the food and service were some of the best I’ve had for a while. The founders (pictured), Agnar Sverrisson and Xavier Rousset (ex-Ruinart Sommelier of the Year), are both protégés of the saintly Raymond Blanc of Le Manoir. All the ingredients were right, including the first-class lamb and cod that I ate. Whilst the cooking verges on poncy, with foams and gels and the like, it was clearly exceptionally talented. I enjoyed being told the name of the Breton who made the butter by the knowledgeable waiters. And at lunchtime extremely good value.

What are these poor people doing wrong? Pretty much nothing as far as I could see. Go and support them. It’s hardly a charitable hardship when the food is so good.

Postscript: I think the only restaurant that can guarantee massive custom every evening of the year must be the superb Nayaab in Parson’s Green, which I’m ashamed to say I’ve only just discovered. It’s staggeringly good so deserves its reputation and custom. They deliver so try it too.

Posted By: charlie | Filed under: Restaurants | Leave a comment » | Bookmark on del.icio.us | digg it

Blanche summers in Italy usually, before returning for the London season in the autumn. Here she imparts some of her local know-how on how the Sicilians do cheese.

One lunchtime we were presented with the regional Ragusan cheese plate which, somewhat surprisingly, consisted of slices of fried cheese served with honey. The outside of the cheese was golden and crisp, the centre smooth and melting. The flavour was slightly salt, in a deliciously savoury way, which was perfect with the sweet honey.

Determined to discover more about these different cheeses, we set off into Ragusa town to visit what was thought of as the finest cheese shop in the area. It’s called Casa di Formaggio and sells mainly cheese, along with various regional produce like wild fennel salami. Behind the shop are rooms full of cheeses in the process of being finished, so as well as selling them, it participates in the production by helping the various smaller local farms to finish their cheeses. Not dissimilar to how Neal’s Yard operates in London.

Tomasso is charming and quite round, no doubt due to his massive cheese enthusiasm. Once he realised how interested we were he kept darting around the shop, slicing off various samples of different varieties and ages for us to try. Read more »

Posted By: blanche | Filed under: News | Leave a comment » | Bookmark on del.icio.us | digg it