Mostly Drinking American Wine

I have been shopping in my local (NYC) wine shop, Vintners on 9th Ave & 46th St. I am most impressed that they don't have any beer, cider etc and that it has just a very good and large range of wine.

Trying to stick to American (and South American) wines for my entertaining and to keep away from anything I might see on a shelf in UK. Quite easy too as most of it I don't recognise, except for some from the other parts of the world, France and Australia. Being a fan of most grape verities I am working my way through and have a little line up on my kitchen worktop, empty of course!
I shared a bottle of Pinot Noir from Oregon, with JK that I’d bought because of the blue label, and the fact the wine sales guy said it was good easy drinking; JK also commented on the blue label, boys always like blue eh!
Such a weird and, frankly, brave colour for food/wine labelling, I wanted to see if it worked. We'll it disappeared quite quickly so I think the fresh berry nose with good acidity and soft tannins was a winner.

Sussex Food Awards

I was lucky enough to be at the Sussex Food Awards with a bunch of great friends. It was to be our Christmas party (as all good retailers know Christmas parties are always in Jan). We had an ok sparkling (not quite the fantastic "Champagne quality" Nyetimber from West Sussex) reception then on to dinner. 5 courses so thankfully I was very hungry. The most memorable part of the food for me was the main, we had beef steak (fell apart - very good) and then in its own suet pudding was the kidney. I thought this was done very sympathetically for the non-kidney-eaters amongst us. The suet was a little thick but boy did I enjoy that kidney....even ate my neighbours!

Our parents and grandparents ate far more offal than we do today. It was cheap then, like the great cuts of meat that used to be cheap but then Fergus Henderson and (more high profile but less interesting) Jamie Oliver came along and promoted these cuts, now they're a little pricier. I really enjoy a devilled kidney (especially St.John's devilled rabbit kidney) starter or ox-heart main. P loves bone marrow (another Henderson delight) and thought my haggis pie was a goer. So this year I'm going to invite more and more interesting meats/offal (or dodgy meat as an old friend would have said) onto my table.

A (Yorkshire)Lancashire Hotpot

Coming from a Yorkshire girl a Lancashire hotpot may seem wrong, but I wanted to be part of the pre-dinner conversation therefore needed a leave-in-the-oven meal.

We had friends over who love food and will try anything (I love entertaining for people like that). They were fans of my oxtail last winter and have even tried out something they ate at my table for their friends, which I think is the greatest compliment.

Lancashire Hotpot is so simply delicious that adding little extras is NOT the way to go. It doesn't have a lot of ingredients, P was a little worried and said "it'd better be good" when I refused his idea of adding rosemary or "at least some other veg...or something".

I would usually use neck but we were late to the butcher so I had to go for a lovely fatty shoulder. Four hours later, and after our starter of seared scallops with minted pea puree, we were in for a treat. I think this is one of those dishes you should serve at the table. My pub book tells me to split into 4 smaller dishes before cooking the last part, I think it's a sharing dish and should be presented this way.

Accompanied by (too much) good aussie shiraz which cut through the fattiness of the meat, it was superb. We were all full and ready for a light cheese board (but I don't do them light, so we had to find room in our tummies.....shame!)

The Great Wine Debate

Involved in yet another wine debate at the weekend. I was torn though. I don't really believe old world is better than new world or that any particular grape variety is the best.

I think every wine has it's place, well nearly every, surely no one was really meant to enjoy Black Tower. Blue Nun on the other hand did have a purpose, but that time is now gone, and so should the wine be.

But this debate was old against new. I live with a new world fanatic, I also have one as a Dad. I don't control the wine cellar in my house, I am too busy in the kitchen. I am always asked though, 'what would you like?', 'I'd like you to decide' is my usual reply. This way I don't need to go into the whole Cab goes better with lamb and Shiraz with beef, and this rose will be perfect for Thai, when are you next doing Thai? Or what about the sparkling shiraz, shall we have that with turkey on Christmas day? Or the semillon, when did you say you'd do that scallop dish.

I usually have to find the recipe to match P's chosen wine (not the 'normal' other way round). He does have an excellent cellar (and palate for that matter) so I won't complain, I suppose it makes an excellent cooking challenge for me, something I can't help but enjoy.