Around the World - China

 Country 12 on our Lockdown World Travel was China. I had difficulty in sourcing a Chinese wine, even though China is now one the world’s major producers. I dismissed suggestions for rice-wine used in cooking. At last I found a decent Cabernet Sauvignon listed by Ocado, and I fired up the wok for a stir-fry.

Chicken stir-fried with cashew nuts and red pepper and a black bean sauce, accompanied by boiled rice and stir-fried pak choi in oyster sauce

I can’t remember if I had this exact dish in Hong Kong or while on business in Beijing, or was it in Chinese restaurants elsewhere? I know I’ve had stir-fry chicken with cashew nuts, and this my version. Raw cashew nuts are dry roasted until they turn colour, then added to stir-fried chicken and red pepper strips, and all coated in black bean sauce.

Pak choi is simply stir-fried until it wilts and starts to colour then oyster sauce is added to the wok and heated with the greens.

The wine was

2017 Château Changyu Moser XV Cabernet Sauvignon Helan Mountain (China, Ningxia)

This was a classy, assured and delicious Cab, costing £13.59 from Ocado

Country 11 was Australia

Batchwood Hall Clock Tower

 

Last chance to walk over Batchwood Golf Course before lockdown laws ease to allow golfers back. Batchwood was built as his home by Lord Grimthorpe (born Edward Becket Denison).

Among other things Becket (the family dropped Denison from the family name) did, was design clock mechanisms. He designed Big Ben and at his home he built a one-fifth size clock face and timing mechanism of the same design.

He also funded and (controversially) repaired St Albans Abbey, which is clearly visible across the valley form Batchwood Hall. It is said he used a telescope to ensure restoration workers weren't slacking.

The Alban Bun

 Had our first taste of The Alban Bun today. These must be pre-ordered from St Albans Abbey-Cathedral.

From the Cathedral website:

It is said that the Alban Bun, the precursor to the famous Hot Cross Bun, originates in St Albans where Brother Thomas Rocliffe, a 14th Century Monk at St Albans Abbey, developed an original recipe. From 1361, Brother Thomas would distribute these buns to feed the poor on Good Friday.

The original recipe remains a closely guarded secret, but ingredients include flour, eggs, fresh yeast, currants and grains of paradise or cardamom. The baker today stays faithful to the original 14th century recipe with only a slight addition of some extra fruit. The buns are distinctive in their appearance due to their lack of a piped cross. Instead, the baker cuts the cross into the top of the bun with a knife.

Around the World - Australia

 

Country 11 on our Lockdown World Travel was Australia. I had some suggestions, but I couldn’t source Barramundi; Kangaroo fillets were possible but postage was mega expensive, and I refused to serve Vegemite on Toast as dinner, so I am indebted to Joy (JayKay) on the Wine Society forum for suggesting Pie Floater and 'Winechief' for suggesting exactly what it turned out that I had.

I did not encounter Pie Floaters in the brief times I was on Oz and recipes on the web didn’t agree, except that a Pie Floater was a individual pie surrounded by green so it looks like it is floating.

Some turned the pie upside down, some crowned the pie with peas and/or gravy and/or barbecue sauce, and apart from having peas in common to supply the green colour, the ‘sea’ could be pea soup, ham and pea soup, crushed garden peas, mushy peas or a combination.

This is my Pie Floater

 

Steak and ale pie on a sea of mushy peas.

and to accompany it 

2019 Grant Burge Shiraz Benchmark (Australia, South Australia)

I had this in stock, it came in a Wine Society ‘Mystery Case’. Pleasant quaffer, and it cost just £6.

An easy meal, just requiring warming up, pie was MOO from Pieminister and the mushy peas were from a tin. But I also served some new potatoes, steamed carrot batons and pointed cabbage.

Joan loved it. I thought it a bit stodgy with mushy peas. Baked beans on the other hand … but that wouldn’t be authentic…

Country 10 was Spain

Daffs in the back

 

Daffs in the back are open. There is a separate clump of miniature daffs we are pretty certain we didn't plant - was it that pesky squirrel? 

Around the World - Spain

We reached Country 10 on our Lockdown Tour of The World. Last night was the turn of Spain with Pollo al Ajillo (Garlic Chicken) a Diana Henry recipe* from the Telegraph’s Stella magazine.

This seemed right up our street as it involves the chicken being cooked in sherry and sherry vinegar. How much more Spanish could it be?

 Sherry Vinegar and Sherry for cooking and wine for drinking

and this was the dish, two whole chicken thighs, with skin on, served with sautéed potatoes, broccoli and cabbage.

 The wine was 

2015 Torres Catalunya Gran Sangre de Toro Reserva (Spain, Catalunya)

Delicious and subtle.

*Recipe is here. Note the recipe photo doesn’t match instructions. Photo shows skin on, recipe says skin off, photo shows garlic cloves, recipe discards these at step 5.

Country 9 was India

Around the World - India

Our Lockdown Tour of The World continues with Country 9 being India. It's a huge country with many cuisines, but the dish I chose was curry and rice - in particular a mixed vegetable curry in a sauce combining Jalfrezi heat and the tomato richness of Rogan Josh.

The curry had a base of sautéed onions and spices, with cubed sweet potato and butternut providing the bulk, accompanied with quartered button mushrooms, halved baby sweetcorn, cauliflower florets, French beans and peas.

With it, we had an Indian wine

2018 Sula Vineyards Shiraz Dindori Reserve (India, Nashik)

Estate bottled, from grapes grown in the Dindori Vineyard in  Nashik, Maharashtra State and aged in French and American oak barrels for more than a year.

The wine was excellent, with a deep colour, smooth taste, and soft tannins.

(Note: The stick on seal boasting of 92 points from Wine Enthusiast was unlikely to be for this particular wine unless Wine Enthusiast has a time machine, as it dated December 2015 and this wine is the 2018 vintage)

Country 8 was France