Match of the week

Stuffed piquillo peppers with brandade and Hunter Valley Semillon

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on April 20 2020 at 08:22

Like many of you, I suspect, I’ve been working my way through the older bottles in my cellar* and unearthed a 2014 vintage of Brokenwood Semillon the other day which I visited on my last wine visit to the Hunter Valley.

In fact that’s quite young in Hunter semillon terms - it could really have done with another 2-3 years at least as evidenced by the fact that it tasted even better two days after opening which was when I accidentally paired it with some brandade (salt cod purée) stuffed red piquillo peppers during a Zoom cook-in with a couple of my pals.

We were cooking from Ben Tish’s Moorish from which my friend Fiona Sims (the other half of the 2 fionas!) chose this recipe. It would actually have worked well with many other crisp fruity white wines including sauvignon blanc but the element that really made the semillon sing was the accompanying orange oil which you drizzle over the peppers. (Basically olive oil infused with pared orange peel and thyme.) Often it’s these little touches that really make a match.

You can buy the latest vintage of the Brokenwood Semillon - the 2019 - from Vinvm for £17.30 a bottle - but try not to drink it all straight away! Or, if you want a more mature vintage, Street Wines of Colchester has the 2015 for £20.

For other semillon pairings see The best food matches for semillon and semillon-sauvignon blends

*well, not actually a cellar - the cupboard under the stairs!

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