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Although the heat has been a little much at times these past few days, it has been perfect eating and drinking outside weather if nothing else....
My Wine Utopia Wine club pick last week was a really drinkable Tierra Alta Merlot full of fresh plum flavour (which we also received a bottle of as part of our welcome gift)... I don't always like white wine or rose on a warm summer's evening, so this went perfectly with the food pairing (the suggestion was vegetarian food or salad), so I opted for both with this German Onion Tart (zwiebelkuchen).
Zwibelkuchen is traditionally served in the early Autumn just after the harvest has been gathered in, and usually served with the local drink of the season - federweisser which is basically alcoholic grape juice made with just fermented grape juice. Sold in the supermarkets in suspiciously pop-like bottles, it catches many a new expat out as the lid features teeny tiny holes which ensure that the bottle doesn't actually explode... I found this out the first time I bought and arrived home with two very empty bottles and one newly stinking car... I digress. This tart is delicious and as it's slightly sweet from the caraway seeds, goes really nicely with a salad and a good red wine, which is what the Tierra Alta is...
Shop-bought pastry is perfectly fine for this by the way, especially if the weather is as hot as it is now, as nobody wants to spend that much time in a kitchen in a heatwave -
Ingredients:
1 packet of ready made shortcrust pastry
6 large onions,
250g bacon finely chopped;
2tbsp unsalted butter
200g sour cream
200g double cream
3 large eggs
1tbsp cornstarch
1tsp caraway seeds
half tsp salt
Blind bake the pastry as per the packet instructions. Get started on the onions in the meantime... Peel and cut into thin rings, melt the butter in a large pan, add the bacon and onions and cook over moderate heat until the onions are soft.
Preheat the oven to 190C Stir together the creams, the eggs, cornstarch, carraway and salt. Add the cooled onions and bacon, stir and spread evenly on the pastry case. Cook for 40 minutes on the middle rack of the oven. Serve lukewarm with salad and a decent wine...
Which brings us to this week's Wine Club pick and pairing...
Not so much a recipe - more of chucking lots of things together and letting people help themselves... The wine this week - a light and citrussy Mirabello Pinot Grigio served extra chilled...
As this is the last bottle of this particular case, I hope it's been a good insight into how affordable (and incredibly good value) the Wineutopia Wine Club is. We have several new easily drinkable favourites (that Percheron is still one of them), and have recommended it to many people (it would make a great wedding present too I think!)... I have really enjoyed featuring a recipe each week but as the Summer Holidays are now upon us, I probably won't be allowed all that much "screen time" in the coming weeks...
The Wineclub details can be found here, and if you would like to speak to one of their team to find out a little more call in o, give them a call, they are a friendly bunch...
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