Match of the week

Shellfish, citrus and tequila

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on February 26 2024 at 09:34

I went to an absolutely brilliant citrus dinner last week at Toklas in London, at which almost any one of the pairings could have been my match of the week.

The meal was cooked by Elena Reygadas of Rosetta in Mexico City who was voted World's Best Female Chef at the 50 Best awards last year using citrus from the Todoli Foundation just outside Valencia.

However I’m going for the first course of langoustine and scallop aguachile with Rangpur lime and Spanish sweet limetta and paired with a shot of Casa Dragones Joven tequila with clam lime.

Aguachile is a similar preparation to ceviche as explained here though made with chile-infused water but it was almost as if the shellfish has been lightly cooked in its own juices. It certainly wasn’t overly spicy in this case, more sweet and slightly smokey which really picked out the agave and other herbal flavours of the tequila.

It's not an easy pairing to replicate at home especially without access to specialist citrus though you do seem to be able to buy rangpur lime - a cross between a mandarin and a lime - online at a site called myexoticfruit.com. Sweet limetta is a cross between citron and bitter orange, according to Wikipedia.

The Casa Dragones Joven which was the most delicious, fragrant tequila I’ve ever tasted unfortunately turns out to be around £300 a bottle so I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to try it.

It's definitely an incentive to experiment more with tequila and seafood.

Another match I’d single out was a red pepper tamal with tarragon buttermilk and kumquat which was sensationally good with the ‘Cool Moon’ IGP Côtes Catalanes Les Enfants Sauvages - a blend of grenache gris, grenache blanc and macabeu which you can buy from Dynamic Vines in the UK for £42.

Again extrapolate from this that sweet red pepper and kumquat - or orange - is a flavour combination that works with white grenache or a white Grenache blend.

For other tequila pairings see Some Great Food Pairings for Tequila

I ate at Toklas as a guest of the restaurant

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