& DRINK An for great taste
(£6 for 37.5cl). This has been created by Lustau, one of the top sherry producers. The sherry has been aged for up to 12 years and this
THERE have been many snarky asides at Antoni Porowski’s expense. As beautiful, charming and thoughtful as he may be, as the food and wine expert on Netflix’s Queer Eye reboot, his culinary credentials have been repeatedly trashed.
Take the time the 35-year-old Canadian ‘taught’ someone to make grilled cheese sandwiches , or (unforgivably) added Greek yoghurt to guacamole.
The former model and actor has been upfront about not being professionally kitchen trained, but that hasn’t stopped him launching ‘fast-casual’ New York restaurant The Village Den.
Neither have the cynics dissuaded him from writing his first cookbook, Antoni In The Kitchen. But how exactly do the recipes measure up? We gave them a try...
WHEN entertaining, you can’t go wrong with a crowd-pleasing dip.
My first realisation about this recipe was how huge it was going to be, and secondly how rich, given there are four types of full-fat diary involved.
You don’t even need to have set foot in a kitchen before to make this. It’s literally throwing all the ingredients in a bowl and mixing with a spoon.
Into a bowl goes the mountain of artichokes, an entire block of Gruyere and half a block of cheddar, plus copious amounts of cream cheese and sour cream. I follow with the few non-diary ingredients – lemon, style is in the range after Co-op members asked for it to be added.
It’s a timely addition, as in a few days it’s International Sherry
Week (November 4-10). I love a drop of sherry. Pedro Ximenez is a deliciously rich, sweet sherry, best paired with ice cream, chocolate and all things naughty.
At the opposite end of the scale is a fino sherry. There’s a good value example over at Aldi – rosemary and pepper – before stirring. Antoni says to ‘mix until smooth’, which doesn’t seem possible...
The glorious rosemary and lemon-infused smell of baking cheese from the oven is a good sign, and the end result is gooey and creamy with the right amount of sharpness from the lemon to cut through it.
aging. A nice way to kick off an evening would be a glass of fino and some salty snacks.
Anyway, I’m digressing from new wines but I’ll stay with Aldi.
The retailer has launched a new line of premium wines, the Classic Icon range. It is sold exclusively online and has 22 wines, including a vintage champagne –
(£6.99). I’ll probably be seeking that out as warming solace now the dark nights are well and truly with us.
Waitrose, meanwhile, has also been adding some new drinks to tempt us. It has added cider, wines and spirits into its new top tier range, No.1.
One wine I’m pleased to see is
Everyone agreed it was delicious and dangerously moreish.
AS a general rule, I don’t buy beef to cook with at home, but Queer Eye is all about pushing yourself and reassessing your boundaries, right? So gimme the steak.
While it’s a straightforward recipe, in that it’s just a slab of beef brought to room temp, seasoned and grilled (on a griddle pan, rather than over hot coals in my case), then eaten, there are a few smart nuances that make it a bit more interesting than simple caveman fare.
First it’s marinated in grated fresh ginger, and you can really taste it branded into the crinkled, burnished outer layers.
Second, you have the chargrilled limes, the juice of which I squeezed over (£12.49). It’s a Marlborough sauvignon blanc made by the family-run Astrolabe winery, with grapes grown in the Awatere Valley. I’m pleased because when I went to NZ I met the producers.
There’s two Burgundy wines I can’t wait to taste, both made by Maison Joseph Drouhin.
The (£23.99) is rich, ripe and fruity.
I mentioned those cold, dark nights are now with us.
If you want a flashback to summer then maybe the newlyreleased
(RRP £7.50, the Co-op) can help. It’s a new wine from the meat, the wedges I served with it, as well as the salad. I plan to chargrill limes at every opportunity from now on – it gives an instant dressing that hits amazing sweet-sour-salty notes, adding more zing than even the chilli and scrunched mint leaves.
Quite a decadent mid-week meal for two.
NOT a difficult dish to make – you roast the cauliflower and add the spicy dressing along with almonds, dates and fresh coriander. I particularly liked how Antoni specifies you roast the leaves of the cauliflower along with everything else – not only does it encourage less food waste but they add a delicious crunch to the dish.
I didn’t use the Korean chilli paste Antoni recommends, but I have a similar Chinese version. Gochujang is not the most accessible of ingredients, so he suggests Sriracha as an alternative. I was pleasantly surprised; the dressing was hot but tangy thanks to lime and honey, the cauliflower was tender and the flavours of the almonds, dates and coriander married well. I was more than a little chuffed that mine looked pretty similar to Antoni’s, although my basement kitchen doesn’t exactly provide the best lighting for food photography.
For a main meal, Antoni recommends serving it with a rice or grain, but that strikes me as a bit dry. I served it with pearl barley cooked in spinach and chilli, but that didn’t quite match up to the cauliflower. Maybe this recipe is best as a side dish.
McGuigan Wines with grapes sourced from South Australia.
The aim is to deliver a “craft” wine experience to consumers. People can see the winery batch number and yeast strain identified on the label.
Yes, the wine speaks of summer. Strawberries, cream and a flash of citrus.
To find out more about sherry and International Sherry Week go to www. sherry.wine. You can also follow International Sherry Week updates on social media using the hashtag #sherryweek.
Jane is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers. Find her on social media and online as One Foot in the Grapes.