Around the World - Italy

Our Around the World in lockdown Food and Wine Tour continued with Italy as Country No. 3.  

2019 Collezione di Paolo Chianti (Italy, Tuscany, Chianti)

Chianti has fallen out of fashion, at least in our house, and I don’t know why. We used to drink a lot of (what I expect was cheap cash & carry ones) in Italian restaurants when we were younger.
This was delicious, 95% Sangiovese and so drinkable, as claret lovers this was like a ripe claret.

With it we had

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Pollo alla Pizzaiola.

This was a dish I frequently ordered in l'Italia the small family run and award winning Italian restaurant in St Albans then one day I thought “I can make this at home”.

I put a layer of tomato sauce in a baking tray, lay the chicken breasts on top - these are breast strips - sprinkle with capers and halved stoned olives, cover with another layer of tomato sauce, then bake in fan oven for 30 mins at 180C.

Served with steamed sugar snap peas and olive oil sautéed halved new potatoes and baby sweetcorn (the sweetcorn and peas were ordered by mistake from Waitrose so I thought I’d better use them).

Thanks to Toby for the Chianti.

Country 2 was South Africa

Around the World - South Africa

 

Tuesday we continued  our world travel theme, going to South Africa’s Western Cape for Cape Malay curry and this beauty-

2014 Beeslaar Pinotage (South Africa, Stellenbosch)
This is Abrie Beeslaar’s personal venture. I bought this in the Cape, but if you were looking to buy a Beeslaar now expect to pay £45-55 a bottle.

And the food was a Cape Malay curry of Butternut Squash, Chickpeas and Lentils

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Just ladled onto the plate: no artful presentation in an individual potjie, no banana slices rolled in desiccated coconut and no Mrs Balls Chutney (!) so authenticity only went so far…

I was in Durban on business the first time I ever saw butternut. I got a small pot of boiled golden cubes to accompany the meal (can’t remember what that was) and I had to ask the waitron what the golden cubes were. Six months later butternut was stocked by Waitrose back home and it's now a permanent feature. 

Country 1 was England

Snow and First Travel the World During Lockdown

It began snowing on Sunday at about 10:15, then warmed up to the giddy heights of 4C in the afternoon and started melting. 

A light snowfall overnight filled the bare patches where snow had been removed for making snowmen.

Sunday was busy, making four Hovis Granary loaves 

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Around the World - England

Joan read in The Sunday Telegraph an article about how the 1% are spending their time in Lockdown. This caught her eye

 

Martin Reith, chairman of luxury PR firm Luchford, who is locked down at Essenden, his country estate has been steadily working his way through the wine list from Hedonism, a fine wine boutique. “What an amazing way to travel the world in lockdown,” he says.

This enthused Joan who wanted to know how many countries are represented in my cellar. I reckon 20 including 5 US States, or 21 if you count Madeira as a separate country.

She wants to go a step further with matching dishes and national flags on the table. She wanted me to make a Bobotie for South Africa. I replied that it was a stupid idea, which did not amuse her at all, so – not wishing to go to all the hard work involved with making Bobotie – I countered with Nando’s, and I think I’ve got away with it.

Tonight, already planned, is roast beef. Well, that’s English, so I have had to ‘un-drink’ the Cava I’d already selected to replace it with an SEW* as aperitif. I don’t have an English red wine, and the last one we had was so execrable we poured it down the sink, so we’ll have claret since Aquitaine was ruled by the English kings for over 300 years until the perfidious French king expanded his kingdom. And I have an English flag somewhere…

We’ll carry on 'till she has forgotten the idea.

In the meantime, I need an Indian wine for an upcoming curry.

*Sparkling English Wine 

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N.V. Chapel Down Brut (England, Kent)

and with Ye Roaste Beef of Olde England

we had Ye Olde Claret

2012 Château Batailley (Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac)

Many thanks to Toby who gave me the Chapel Down for my 2019 birthday.