Archive for March, 2010
Picpoul de Pinet 2007
Posted: 30 March '10 by Niall
Picpoul-de-pinet 2007
Just before our long weekend in Paris, Kelly and I thought that we should immerse ourselves in a little French culture and try the Picpoul de Pinet 2007.
The Picpoul de Pinet 2007 is a lively young white wine from the Languedoc-Rousillon region of South-West France. Although not renowned for it’s outstanding wines in the past, the area has reduced the amount of wine it produces in favour of concentrating more upon quality in recent years. While there is still a lot of variation, Languedoc produces good, reliable wines at a pocket-pleasing price (by and large).
The Details
- The Wine: Picpoul de Pinet 2007
- Producer: Domaine des Lauriers
- Region: Languedoc-Roussillon, France
- Appellation: Coteaux du Languedoc
- Grape: Picpoul Blanc
- Colour: White
- Alcohol: 12.5%
- Cost: £7.99
- We bought it in: Direct Wine Shipments (and is available online)
Tasting Notes
The Picpoul de Pinet has a pale-straw colour and a slightly honeyed aroma with some grass and citrus thrown in for good measure.
As you’d expect from a region that has a lot of limestone in the soil the taste has a mineral edge, and has delicate lemon and pear tones. The wine is light-bodied with a little acidity which makes it feel clean and crisp on the palate.
The finish is a pleasing medium-length one – just enough to leave you with a fond memory of the wine rather than a cloying aftertaste.
Our Verdict
On tasting the wine we both thought that this would be a perfect buy for the summer – it’s refreshingly light and crisp with subtle green-fruit flavours.
Although the wine is very pleasant to sip on it’s own, the Picpoul would go extremely well with fish, shellfish or chicken.
Ideally serve chilled but not too cold, otherwise you’ll mask the finer points of the wine.
Similar to a good Muscadet or even a Sancerre, but without the price-tag.
Summer BBQ, anyone?
Our rating: 3 out of 5.
Where can you buy it?
You can find the Picpoul at:
Direct Wine Shipments
5-7 Corporation Square,
Belfast
BT1 3AJ
T: 028 9050 8000
E: shop@directwine.co.uk
W: www.directwine.co.uk
You can also find DWS on Google Maps.
You can also buy the Picpoul de Pinet 2007 online.
Other information
This particular wine won the Silver Medal at the International Exhibition of Agriculture, which aims to select and reward the best traditional French products.
The French can talk at length about “terroir” – the environmental factors that influence the quality and complexity of a wine. Although this wine is from Languedoc-Rousillon, an area with a wide variety of micro-climates and landscapes, the appellation for this wine is the sought-after “Coteaux du Languedoc”. A “coteaux” is a hill covered in vines.
Categories: White Wine > Wine Reviews
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Pappardelle with Chestnut Mushrooms
Posted: 25 March '10 by Niall
Pappardelle with chestnut mushrooms
Here’s another quick and tasty recipe that’s a mid-week favourite of ours: Pappardelle with chestnut mushrooms.
Admittedly, it doesn’t sound that exciting – but you’ll be surprised just how tasty and filling the dish it. While you can substitute other types of pasta (tagliatelle would also be good), I really wouldn’t try using white/button mushrooms in place of the chestnut mushrooms – they just don’t have the earthy flavour that the recipe needs to make it worthwhile.
You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
- 200g of chestnut mushrooms, finely sliced
- 500g of fresh Pappardelle
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 50g of butter
- A good glug of olive oil
- Parmesan (to grate over the finished dish)
Method
- Heat a saucepan of water to boiling point and add the fresh Pappardelle.
- In a separate saucepan melt the butter over a low heat, adding the olive oil to prevent burning.
- When the butter has melted add the garlic and allow to soften.
- When the pasta has cooked, drain and return to the same saucepan.
- Add the sliced mushrooms and mix through the pasta.
- Add the garlic butter and mix through the pasta.
- Allow to stand for 5 minutes, so the mushrooms “cook” in the residual heat.
- Serve the pasta with a good grating of parmesan and season to taste.
Enjoy!
Categories: Featured Post > Italian Food > Pasta > Recipes > Vegetables
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Broccoli & Pasta Bake
Posted: 23 March '10 by Ciara
Broccoli and Pasta Bake
This is a great crowd-pleasing dish in our house. You can make it as a vegetarian dish or alternatively add bacon, pancetta or chicken.
It’s also quite quick and easy to make.
Ingredients
- 400g Penne Pasta
- 1 red onion
- 250g Broccoli florets
- 2 chicken/vegetable stock cubes
- 1 tablespoon of french mustard
- 200g creme fraiche
- 100g gruyere cheese
- 1 tablespoon of parsley
- 2 handfuls of breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon of mixed herbs
- 50g parmesan cheese
Method
- Heat the grill.
- Boil pasta and chopped onion in salted boiling water for 7 minutes then add florets and boil for a further 3 minutes.
- Reserve 400mls of water, then drain pasta and vegetables.
- Return reserved water to the pan and dissolve vegetable/chicken stock cubes. Whisk in mustard and creme fraiche and season to taste.
- Add pasta, vegetables, gruyere cheese and parsley to the stock, mustard and creme fraiche mixture. Stir until melted.
- Tip pasta and vegetables into ovenproof dish.
- Mix the parmesan cheese, bread crumbs and mixed herbs together, then scatter on top of the pasta and vegetables.
- Place under the grill for 3 minutes.
Serve and enjoy!
Categories: Featured Post > Main Course > Pasta > Recipes
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Matthew Fort Northern Bank Lecture
Posted: 22 March '10 by Niall
Matthew Fort
Award-winning food writer and critic, Matthew Fort, will be speaking at the Ulster Museum on Monday 29th March, 7.30pm as part of the Northern Bank Ulster Museum Lecture Series. His talk is entitled “Food isn’t a matter of life and death – it’s more important than that.”
Matthew Fort has written about food for the Guardian since 1989. He has been Glenfiddich Food Writer of the Year, Restaurant Writer of the Year and Cookery Writer of the Year – although he might be more familiar to most people for his role as judge on television programmes such as “The Great British Menu” and “The Greatest Dishes in the World”.
Always insightful and entertaining, Matthew Fort’s lecture is bound to be one not-to-be-missed – and it’ll give us a reason to have a look around the new Ulster Museum (as if one were needed!).
The details
The Matthew Fort lecture will be held on Monday 29 March at 7.30pm in the Ulster Museum Lecture Theatre and will be followed with a Q&A session.
Tickets cost £7.50 (£4.50 for students and groups of 6 people or more) and can be booked by calling the Ulster Museum ticket line or in person at the Ulster Museum Welcome desk. Alternatively a cheque or postal order can be sent to the Ulster Museum made out to National Museums Northern Ireland.
T: 028 9044 0051 (Tues–Sun 10am–5pm)
E: info@nmni.com
You can find more information here.
Categories: Things to do
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We Want You!
Posted: 19 March '10 by Niall
WE WANT YOU
James from BrewDog Brewery has kindly given us a couple of mixed cases of their beer to sample and review. Unfortunately, we just can’t seem to agree on our favourites. What to do, what to do..
Do you think that you can help?
If you think that you can get a few friends together to form a Tasting Panel and give us your views you can find out how to get your own mixed case of BrewDogs in the Member’s Section.
Thanks again to James and BrewDog Brewery!
Other information
You can read more about BrewDog Brewery here.
Categories: Competitions > Promotions
