This month’s newsletter includes:
• Food & Wine Matching Simplified
• What’s in season?
• Kitchen Tool of the month: Silicone Bakeware
• How to: Which sauce with which pasta?
• Recipe: Blue Cheese Shortbread

Happy cooking, eating and entertaining!

Gail

One of the wonderful aspects of dining at home is that everyone is eating the same food, which means you only have to pick one wine to complement one set of flavours. These simple guidelines will help with the selection process:

Firstly, there is no right and wrong. It’s better to drink a wine that you enjoy. Remember, you will probably drink most of it without food (either before or after the meal).

Don’t get hung up on colour. The old notion of “red wine with meat and white wine with fish” does not make sense with the diverse array of wine on offer these days. A wooded chardonnay is generally heavier and more full-bodied than a Pinot Noir. However, do drink dry wines before sweet wines and lighter wines before full-bodied ones.

Pairing food and wine is about balance and harmony - neither one should overpower the other. Serve light wines with light dishes and robust wines with richly flavoured dishes. You don’t want what you drink to overwhelm the food, or be swamped by it.

Take into account the sauce or marinade of a dish when choosing a matching wine.
For example, there’s a huge difference between a green chicken curry and chicken with a delicate creamy sauce.

Try these simple wine-pairing pointers for your next dinner party:

• Sparkling wine or champagne is a fabulous aperitif and can also suit most delicate fish dishes too.
• Light to middleweight white wines (such as Riesling, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc) suit light foods such as oysters and shellfish.
• Medium to full-bodies white wines (such as oak-aged chardonnay) and light to medium-bodies reds (such as pinot noir and a lighter Grenache) are a good match for poultry and stronger flavoured fish such as salmon or ocean trout.
• Full bodied red (such as Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon) match well with the stronger flavours of lamb and beef.
• Sweet dessert wines should be served with desserts that are not too sweet (otherwise the wine may taste sharp). For very sweet or rich desserts, sweet fortified wines (such as liqueur Muscat or vintage port) are a better match.

Grapefruit are currently in season

Although silicone has been around since the 1940’s, it is a fairly recent addition to the domestic kitchen. Traditionally, metals such as tin and aluminium were the materials of choice for bakeware, but home cooks are now discovering the benefits of silicone.

Silicon bakeware is made from food-grade silicon, which makes it 100% safe for use in the kitchen. Unlike metal bakeware which is susceptible to oven “hot spots” which can result in overcooked areas of a cake or biscuits, with silicon heat is evenly distributed, resulting in uniformly cooked foods.

Due to its non-stick finish and unlike metal bakeware, food won’t stick; in most cases, it doesn’t even need to be greased. It’s also a lot easier to clean than its metal counterparts, as well as being dishwasher safe.

As a result of its flexibility, food is easily removed, even without greasing. An added benefit is that silicon bakeware can be folded for easy storage.

Silicon bakeware can be used in the oven, microwave and freezer, making it extremely versatile.

My recommended brand for silicon bakeware is The Chefs Toolbox. Having used an inferior brand of silicone bakeware previously, I can honestly say that all silicone is not equal. The Chefs Toolbox silicone products are of excellent quality and durability, and they provide an excellent range including (but not limited to):

- 12-cup muffin
- 24-cup mini-muffin
- 12-cup friand
- 9 inch round cake
- Loaf
- Tartlets x 12
- Slice pan
- Kugelhopf
- Heart

These products, not available from retail stores, can be purchased from The Chefs Toolbox website.

Happy baking!

Pasta comes in a huge variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from tagliatelle and tortellini to penne and pappardelle. Matching pasta with a compatible sauce is instinctive for someone that has grown up eating pasta as a staple, but for the rest of us some guidelines are necessary to attain the best complement of flavour and texture.

Despite the dizzying array of pastas available, there are two main ingredient categories – flour-and-water, and egg-and-flour. Understanding the characteristics of each will help you choose a compatible sauce.

Flour-and-water pastas mainly include dried packeted varieties such as spaghetti and macaroni. These are sturdy pastas and are best suited to highly flavoured olive oil-based sauces.

Egg-and-flour pastas generally refer to the fresh or homemade types. Because egg pasta is more easily able to absorb sauces than flour-and-water pastas, it is better suited to cream and butter sauces with a milder flavour. Egg pasta absorbs oil, so serving it with a sauce with a high oil content would result in a sticky, tacky pasta.

Try these suggested combinations:

Spaghetti (dried)
One of the most versatile pastas, spaghetti pairs with most sauces. Try Aglio e Olio (garlic and olive oil), Pesto (basil and garlic), Carbonara (eggs and pancetta) or vongole (clams).

Fettuccine (fresh)
As stated above, fresh egg pasta works really well with cream-based sauces, so try Alfredo (butter and cream) or Primavera (spring vegetables and cream).

Tagliatelle (fresh or dried)
Slightly wider than fettuccine, the classic match with this pasta is Ragu (meat Bolognese)

Penne (dried)
This tubular pasta is available smooth or with ridges. Good with chunky or heavy sauces, such as chicken or sausage.

Orecchiette (fresh or dried)
Meaning “little ears” and a specialty of south-eastern Italy, a popular match for this pasta is a broccoli and anchovy sauce.

Conchiglie (dried)
This shell-shaped pasta is available in a variety of sizes and can hold a chunky sauce of either meat or vegetables.

Ravioli (fresh)
The sauce should complement the filling of the Ravioli, but as is an egg-based pasta, butter and cream sauces work best. Try a burnt sage butter or a simple cream sauce.

These moreish little biscuits are wonderful served as a welcome nibble with pre-dinner drinks. Be warned: you won’t be able to stop at one!

Ingredients (makes about 35):
100g sharp blue cheese (such as Danish Blue), at room temperature
50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup plain flour
¼ cup cornflour
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Equipment:
Food processor
Rolling pin
4 cm cookie cutter (or you could use the top of a liqueur glass)
Baking sheet lined with baking paper

Method:
1. Place the blue cheese and butter in a food processor and process until creamy.
2. Add the flours, pepper and salt, and process until combined.
3. Remove the blue cheese mixture from the food processor, shape into a flattish disc and cover with plastic food wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
5. Place the chilled dough on a piece of plastic food wrap on a work surface and cover with another piece of plastic wrap. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to 3-4mm thick.
6. Remove the top sheet of plastic wrap, scatter the dough with the poppy seeds and gently press in with the rolling pin. Cut into 4 cm circles using a cutter or the top of a small glass. Place the shortbread on the lined baking sheet.
7. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until light brown. Allow to cool.
8. Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.