Obviously...The Chicken - Recipe #1
The niggled has naggled for a very long time, having decided to tackle the vast beast that is food and wine where does one start? What comes first? A bolt as shrill as every early morning wake up call from the neighbour's rooster - Coq au vin!
According to Hugh, a dish with its roots in a healthy poultry industry where, as the nights draw in those would be roosters that don't cut the mustard are themselves dispatched. Visions of a full night's sleep vied with musings on how to keep the bairns from spilling the beans in the barns. I couldn't do it, but a seed was sown - The Sunday roast would be chicken until that seed had blossomed.
Next problem, what's to explain about roasting a chicken? For the chicken read Simon Hopkinson's and other stories, save the chicken until last just so you can savour every tasty morsel he squeezes into each recipe. For the roasties Delia can't be cheated out of her glory. That still didn't really add much to the wine challenge - a big white or anything but the lightest reds depending on your gravy. Food Matching Rule No. 1 - everything changes with the gravy. Its the sweetness that really changes things and can turn a fine Burgundy into an astringent monstrosity not fit for wilted leaves, a Bordeaux into a tanners bucket water. Watch the sweetness and a roast chicken is a good friend to wine.
But we needed more challenge! Turkey was the answer. Well actually Morocco in Claudia Roden's fantastic Arabesque which looks at dishes from Turkey, Lebanon and Morocco. Her Roast Chicken with Couscous, Raisin and Almond Stuffing is much more exciting than it sounds and threw spices and honey into our pot. Cinnamon and Ginger spiced the dish beyond many wines but the master ingredient is the honey. Tempering the spices and as the key to a delicious sauce - Houston we offically have a wine challenge!
Short work was made of some dubious Burgundy and Claret that would never have made the Monkeyshed grade and almost ruined a very fine meal - we do make sacrifices to bring you only the best! Balance was restored with Masolino's Barolo. The weight great depth and typical Italian acidity made a very fine foil - problem solved and meal rescued. But we refused to rest on our laurels! A further run out topped the Barolo pairing with a guest wine - Amarone della Valpolicella '03 from Montecariano. Perfect. The rich, full, sweet volatility just sang with the spices and honey. Our work is done.
More for the cooler months but we might just have to sneak an Amarone on for any game enough to try this spin on the ubiquitous chicken.
The Great Recipe Test Experiment
According to Hugh, a dish with its roots in a healthy poultry industry where, as the nights draw in those would be roosters that don't cut the mustard are themselves dispatched. Visions of a full night's sleep vied with musings on how to keep the bairns from spilling the beans in the barns. I couldn't do it, but a seed was sown - The Sunday roast would be chicken until that seed had blossomed.
Next problem, what's to explain about roasting a chicken? For the chicken read Simon Hopkinson's and other stories, save the chicken until last just so you can savour every tasty morsel he squeezes into each recipe. For the roasties Delia can't be cheated out of her glory. That still didn't really add much to the wine challenge - a big white or anything but the lightest reds depending on your gravy. Food Matching Rule No. 1 - everything changes with the gravy. Its the sweetness that really changes things and can turn a fine Burgundy into an astringent monstrosity not fit for wilted leaves, a Bordeaux into a tanners bucket water. Watch the sweetness and a roast chicken is a good friend to wine.
But we needed more challenge! Turkey was the answer. Well actually Morocco in Claudia Roden's fantastic Arabesque which looks at dishes from Turkey, Lebanon and Morocco. Her Roast Chicken with Couscous, Raisin and Almond Stuffing is much more exciting than it sounds and threw spices and honey into our pot. Cinnamon and Ginger spiced the dish beyond many wines but the master ingredient is the honey. Tempering the spices and as the key to a delicious sauce - Houston we offically have a wine challenge!
Short work was made of some dubious Burgundy and Claret that would never have made the Monkeyshed grade and almost ruined a very fine meal - we do make sacrifices to bring you only the best! Balance was restored with Masolino's Barolo. The weight great depth and typical Italian acidity made a very fine foil - problem solved and meal rescued. But we refused to rest on our laurels! A further run out topped the Barolo pairing with a guest wine - Amarone della Valpolicella '03 from Montecariano. Perfect. The rich, full, sweet volatility just sang with the spices and honey. Our work is done.
More for the cooler months but we might just have to sneak an Amarone on for any game enough to try this spin on the ubiquitous chicken.
The Great Recipe Test Experiment
Newsletter - April '08
Sign up for our monthly update of treats, tricks and triffles! Sign up now.
Welcome to the launch of Monkeyshed Wines, in earnest. As the pound slides out of sight and our little Darling heaps even more duty on the “evil drink” launching seemed the obvious thing to do! To keep you abreast of just how you might drown your sorrows, we’ll be updating you with a monthly page of news, bargains, little gems you can’t possible live without and general waffle. All this to supplement our core list and the full, expanded, in depth, incisive, penetrating examination of the World of Wine, all viewable on line at www.monkeyshed.com.
Below are the core elements of Monkeyshed. Each pairs highlights a white and red, very pc!
Welcome to the launch of Monkeyshed Wines, in earnest. As the pound slides out of sight and our little Darling heaps even more duty on the “evil drink” launching seemed the obvious thing to do! To keep you abreast of just how you might drown your sorrows, we’ll be updating you with a monthly page of news, bargains, little gems you can’t possible live without and general waffle. All this to supplement our core list and the full, expanded, in depth, incisive, penetrating examination of the World of Wine, all viewable on line at www.monkeyshed.com.
Below are the core elements of Monkeyshed. Each pairs highlights a white and red, very pc!
The List
You can get a full dissection of the philosophy here (That Bijou Selection Explained) but to the crux!
It’s a mini selection of tasty treats spread across both New and Old world styles. It will always include a few Quaffers that we drink at home every day and want to share with you. There’ll be a core of what we humbly reckon are really good examples of familiar names and finally a few for treats for those that want to Boldly Go……
Remember this core will always be a focused selection BUT PLEASE ask if there is a specific wine, style or grape you need us to find. If there were offices on Wine’s Saville Row we’d be there!
Quaffers for April
This month’s a pair of fancy ticklers!
► Domaine de la Cessane, Marsanne Viognier ’06
► Alpha Zeta, Corvina ’06
The Cessane has been a home staple for ages and why change a thing! It also has a cheeky red to pair. What I like is the combination of vibrant substantial fruit and zippy acid, rare with southern French Viognier and rarer at this price. By the Bottle £6.50, By the Dozen £74.10 (£6.18 each)
The Corvina is elegant and sprightly, a wine of impressive balance and surprising length. Enough waffle? I think this is going to feature as a favourite on the beach this summer – enough weight to see off any less than welcome cold snaps too. By the Bottle £5.50, By the Dozen £61.80 (£5.15 each)
Stars for April
Something you really shouldn’t miss out on.
► Jules Taylor, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ’07
► La Grola, Allegrini ’04
Jules’ Sauvignon has just been judged the best wine ever in the history of wine! Well it won the Trophy at the Air New Zealand Awards which is pretty close. By the Bottle £12.00, By the Dozen £135 (£11.25 each)
Allegrini put all the ‘A’s in ItAliAn wine! This comes from a lovingly recovered ancient and magnificent vineyard site. Elegance, length and pure class in every mouthful. By the Bottle £14.50, By the Dozen £162 (£13.50 each)
Classic Corner
Here the plan is to highlight a classic star or two. Usually they will be in short supply and priced to move!
► Meursault L’Ormeau, Boyer-Martenot ’05
► Gevrey-Chambertin, Humbert Freres ’01
Boyer-Martenot has an unctuous juicy generosity that for shows Chardonnay at it’s best. It’s also from that stunning ’05 vintage, can you go wrong? By the Bottle £22.50, By the Dozen £250 (£20.83 each)
The Humbert Freres Gevrey is power in a velvet glove. Complexity, length and subtlety. Tick three boxes and add some aging, very fine indeed. By the Bottle £27.50, By the Dozen £300 (£25.00 each)
The Box Scheme
Let us do the work and send you a special selection every two months. Although we are happy to tailor a selection for any day of the week, this is a selection that aims to expand your horizons. We’ll tackle a vinous subject with ever box. On top of a solid safe core we’ll add in some treats we hope you might never have heard of, let alone considered. Sign up now for The All Singing All Dancing Introductory Box.
Monkey Food and Monkey Toys
So wine alone can be exciting, but add some food and you’re well on your way to a feast! Coming from a Restaurant background I’ve always been amazed at how food seems to slip by the wine trade – it cuts the other way too, but don’t get me started! Every month we’ll be tackling the thorny subject of food and wine matching by cooking up a feast and drinking too much in The Great Recipe Test Experiment! – notes to follow. We’ll also be opening the Monkeyshed Larder to offer treats, ingredients and frivolities – we started with two fine olive oils - but stay tuned. The right glass really does make a bottle taste better. Watch this space……….
Onwards and Upwards!
Sign up for the monthly newsletter here (newsletter@monkeyshed.com)
This month’s a pair of fancy ticklers!
► Domaine de la Cessane, Marsanne Viognier ’06
► Alpha Zeta, Corvina ’06
The Cessane has been a home staple for ages and why change a thing! It also has a cheeky red to pair. What I like is the combination of vibrant substantial fruit and zippy acid, rare with southern French Viognier and rarer at this price. By the Bottle £6.50, By the Dozen £74.10 (£6.18 each)
The Corvina is elegant and sprightly, a wine of impressive balance and surprising length. Enough waffle? I think this is going to feature as a favourite on the beach this summer – enough weight to see off any less than welcome cold snaps too. By the Bottle £5.50, By the Dozen £61.80 (£5.15 each)
Stars for April
Something you really shouldn’t miss out on.
► Jules Taylor, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ’07
► La Grola, Allegrini ’04
Jules’ Sauvignon has just been judged the best wine ever in the history of wine! Well it won the Trophy at the Air New Zealand Awards which is pretty close. By the Bottle £12.00, By the Dozen £135 (£11.25 each)
Allegrini put all the ‘A’s in ItAliAn wine! This comes from a lovingly recovered ancient and magnificent vineyard site. Elegance, length and pure class in every mouthful. By the Bottle £14.50, By the Dozen £162 (£13.50 each)
Classic Corner
Here the plan is to highlight a classic star or two. Usually they will be in short supply and priced to move!
► Meursault L’Ormeau, Boyer-Martenot ’05
► Gevrey-Chambertin, Humbert Freres ’01
Boyer-Martenot has an unctuous juicy generosity that for shows Chardonnay at it’s best. It’s also from that stunning ’05 vintage, can you go wrong? By the Bottle £22.50, By the Dozen £250 (£20.83 each)
The Humbert Freres Gevrey is power in a velvet glove. Complexity, length and subtlety. Tick three boxes and add some aging, very fine indeed. By the Bottle £27.50, By the Dozen £300 (£25.00 each)
The Box Scheme
Let us do the work and send you a special selection every two months. Although we are happy to tailor a selection for any day of the week, this is a selection that aims to expand your horizons. We’ll tackle a vinous subject with ever box. On top of a solid safe core we’ll add in some treats we hope you might never have heard of, let alone considered. Sign up now for The All Singing All Dancing Introductory Box.
Monkey Food and Monkey Toys
So wine alone can be exciting, but add some food and you’re well on your way to a feast! Coming from a Restaurant background I’ve always been amazed at how food seems to slip by the wine trade – it cuts the other way too, but don’t get me started! Every month we’ll be tackling the thorny subject of food and wine matching by cooking up a feast and drinking too much in The Great Recipe Test Experiment! – notes to follow. We’ll also be opening the Monkeyshed Larder to offer treats, ingredients and frivolities – we started with two fine olive oils - but stay tuned. The right glass really does make a bottle taste better. Watch this space……….
Onwards and Upwards!
Welcome to Monkeyshed Wines
Hmmmm?
You might say there seems no significant shortage of wine merchants, wine websites and wine clubs on our corner of the planet. Indeed, open the weekend papers and you can’t help but be buried in the latest and greatest offers (the wine offer will be just under the one for the combined wellie remover and tree lopper). There is even a danger of slurping and spitting sneaking below the watershed as prime time TV jumps on the bandwagon!The profile is high so just why do you need Monkeyshed in your life?
Naturally, because we look at the world of wine from our own individual angle, do it better and offer you something we feel the rest are neglecting.
What the traditional flesh and blood wine merchant can offer is a personalised service that develops as your relationship intensifies. What websites offer is the convenience of access from where you chose, when you chose. Clubs can take all the work out of the process, delivering a regular supply of tipple just when you are running out and wondering how to take the edge off the last very strenuous week. All three deliver one part of the perfect wine partner – in the Monkeyshed all three are combined.
Naturally, because we look at the world of wine from our own individual angle, do it better and offer you something we feel the rest are neglecting.
What the traditional flesh and blood wine merchant can offer is a personalised service that develops as your relationship intensifies. What websites offer is the convenience of access from where you chose, when you chose. Clubs can take all the work out of the process, delivering a regular supply of tipple just when you are running out and wondering how to take the edge off the last very strenuous week. All three deliver one part of the perfect wine partner – in the Monkeyshed all three are combined.
What we do!
As with all the best specialist wine merchants, we wont send you any wine without the sort of vital information or spurious gossip necessary to truly experience your wine. Wine is such an intangible that feedback is vital and yours key, we seek it. We might set you straight if needs be (only in the nicest possible way you understand) but we’ll definitely learn and hopefully get even closer to the perfect match next time.
If the web offers convenience, most miss the point of making sure it is your convenience. For those that know what they want with no fuss our list is there. But that can be just a springboard. Please scratch the surface and use the services that lurk beneath.
To the club thing we add a spot of imagination. We don’t want to fill your racks with something built to a price point that might have ended up discounted to cost or below at your local monster store, we want to take you on an adventure. If you're game we have a monthly box addressing a chosen topic, covering benchmarks and expanding horizons. Boldly go, safe in the knowledge that the good captain of the Monkeyshed is there to make sure every episode is a Christmas special.
The Secret Ingredient…..
Finally, our secret ingredient is food. Not such a secret I know but how rarely are food and wine addressed together. Cook books are about food. Wine books about wine. They cross rarely on the box and only to use wine as a vocal lubricant. Most restaurant reviewers are retired alcoholics who stick to water and rarely mention the restaurants they are reviewing let alone what might have tickled the blonde’s vinous fancy. A trick is being missed! Whilst there is very little to beat a good glass of your favourite tipple or a great meal, pair the two, throw in the company and nothing comes close.
The plan is to tackle a recipe every month. Exploring traditional regional and stylistic wine matches or diving into uncharted territory to grapple with cuisines unfamiliar to the joys of wine - if only to admit were stumped and try to find you a good price on your favourite beer! There might even be something exciting for your your larder.
Or not
If that all sounds a bit like hard work just relax with the prettiest sounding bottle on our small but beautiful list and indulge the moment. All our wines are selected with this as the highest priority criteria, world peace running a close second.
How it works.
Monthly Newsletter
► Just send us you email details (to wine@monkeyshed.com) and you’ll receive our monthly newsletter on a month by month basis!
Wine List
► Maintained on the web at www.monkeyshed.comWine List
► Our core list that can be ordered from as and when you fancy.
► BUT please, please put us through our paces and ask if you want something specific we don't list. The hardest part of parting with Harvey Nicks was saying goodbye to the warehouse that allowed a list of about 1000 active lines - most I can still access but they just don't fit under my stairs!
► We'll be adding a selection of vital wine toys and an expanding selection larder ingredients.
The Box
► A selection that explores a particularly pressing subject every two months. Maybe:
- a variety – Great Grenaches of the world
- a technique – Bio-dynamics, or what to do with that pesky cow horn
- something tasty – It's Saturday night, I've ten top friends arriving, just what am I going serve with the pan fried foie gras and corn fritter starter? I know I'll ask Monkeyshed!
- an occasion – wines for Mid Summer's Eve and the straw wrapped sea bass on the barbeque.
► Accompanying tasting and background notes. More background than tasting, as is my wont – although we’ll point you towards the gooseberries and cats pee where necessary.
► Variety. The selection that will vary in size, perhaps a dozen bottles, perhaps only six, but always great value!
► Cost. Order it as you like for £130 delivered or take away the risk of missing out sign up and get that bi-monthly treat for just £120.
The Food File
► With every box we'll review a recipe and perhaps include a parallel food offer in The Box. Gourmet smoked eels, handmade aniseed biscuits, a bottle of olive oil or even a six pack of olive oil as the monthly box.
Cellar Services
► Whether it’s a rescue mission or a blank canvas we have the technology. ► We’ll value your stocks, assess drinking habits and look at your cellaring needs all to deliver a Plan.
► Then build, sell and buy to meet the plan and give you a working cellar.Our extra dimensions.
For those that want a more involved experience the world is your oyster. There are no ideas too outlandish only, only ..... er martians? (or however it goes.......)
Alexander Ignatieff
Monkeyshed Wines
+44 (0) 7771 936297 (mobile)
(alex@monkeyshed.com)
Labels: About Monkeyshed
Cooking - The Great Recipe Test Experiment
Looking back on it now I can think of no better start in the world of wine than my three year baptism of fire as Sommelier, in full penguin suit, of the 5 star Treasury Restaurant of the Intercon in Sydney. We had a wonderfully classic wine list from which I could taste away to my heart's content eventually picking up a great grounding in the wines of the world. Working with a 5 star kitchen taught me more than is safe to know about the chefs' psyche and, more importantly, just what magic a good marriage of food and wine can do for a meal.
Ok, ok, ok - a good bottle of wine is a thing of beauty in its own right but add the right company, food, music, lighting, oysters ...... and who knows where it can all lead.
As you can't but move for the stack of new cook books and tele we thought we'd review a few and add some wine thoughts too. All in the strict interests of science you understand!
For ingredients and more visit...The Monkeyshed Larder
Obviously....The Chicken, Recipe #1
For ingredients and more visit...The Monkeyshed Larder
Obviously....The Chicken, Recipe #1
Labels: About Monkeyshed, Food
The Monkeyshed Larder
It's difficult to visit a Tuscan vineyard that doesn't have a bottle of homegrown olive oil at least for the dinning pleasure of the owners. It's a natural marriage and one that we want to bring you and as we get more involved in "recipe testing" our larder will grow as we hope will your girth - but mostly in a Nigella way, of course.
We've started the larder with two Oils:
► Alpha Zeta Extra Virgin Olive Oil '06 - £7.50 (500ml bottle)
► Fontodi Extra Virgin Olive Oil '07 - £11.50 (500ml bottle)
Not quite what I thought we'd be adding as one of the first larder items BUT here's a little something for the ears. Guy Fletcher likes his wine and is a wizard musician to boot, after years with the Dire Straits crew he's just released his first album Inamorata - have a listen. Goes particularly well with White Burgundy and Tuscan Reds!
See these in action in.....The Great Recipe Test Experiment!
Back to The Ingredient of the Month
We've started the larder with two Oils:
► Alpha Zeta Extra Virgin Olive Oil '06 - £7.50 (500ml bottle)
► Fontodi Extra Virgin Olive Oil '07 - £11.50 (500ml bottle)
Not quite what I thought we'd be adding as one of the first larder items BUT here's a little something for the ears. Guy Fletcher likes his wine and is a wizard musician to boot, after years with the Dire Straits crew he's just released his first album Inamorata - have a listen. Goes particularly well with White Burgundy and Tuscan Reds!
See these in action in.....The Great Recipe Test Experiment!
Back to The Ingredient of the Month
Champagne Aubry Brut NV
Grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier
Each: £21.50
HALF DOZEN OFFER - £110 (£18.33 each)
What to say? Benchmark Champagne, very tasty.
Edge from the Chardonnay, fullness from the Pinot Noir and an opulent immediacy from the Pinot Meunier. Not a difficult recipe, as recipes go but this one is spot on the money.
Edge from the Chardonnay, fullness from the Pinot Noir and an opulent immediacy from the Pinot Meunier. Not a difficult recipe, as recipes go but this one is spot on the money.
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