TALKING WINE

Cuenca – the most expensive wine in the world

Overlooking the River Júcar in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha is the historical city of Cuenca. Since it was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996, Cuenca’s main economy comes from tourism. In addition to the touristic interest in the historical churches, cathedrals and museums, one of the areas of growing popularity for tourists are the vineyards and bodegas that produce the wines La Mancha Denomination of Origin.

Wineries in Cuenca, as with many areas of Spain, were influenced by ecclesiastical orders. Monks travelled from France bringing with them knowledge and experience to improve the production methods in the medieval vineyards.

Castilla-La Mancha is Spain’s largest wine producing area and the world’s largest continuous wine producing region. La Mancha has over 190,000 hectares of vines and covers the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Toledo and Cuenca.

Cuenca has many small vineyards and surprisingly one small winery in Las Pedroñeras has made headlines in the global press for producing the most exclusive and most expensive wine in the world. Hilario Garcia, owner of Bodega Aurum Red has a wine that has a starting price at auction of 340,000 euros. Señor Garcia produces limited quantities of his exclusive wines – 300 bottles of his Gold Series which typically sells around 25,000 euros a bottle, and his Silver Series with a production volume around 5,000 bottles selling at around 110 euros.

Fancy something a little more affordable, there are many wineries to choose from in Cuenca. One beautiful vineyard with excellent wines is La NIÑA de Cuenca. Conferred Denominación de Origen Manchuela, the vineyard is in the town of Ledañan, harvesting the best grapes to create artisan wines, produced in limited quantities, fermented and aged in earthenware jars.

Producing a range of red wines, white wines and rose wines, one bottle that has great acclaim is RUBATOS produced from the Bobal grape variety which is dry farmed and cultivated in calcareous clay at 725 metres above sea level. Harvested by hand, the grapes are fermented in 500 and 1000 litre earthenware jars for ten months, then bottled and left for another three months before leaving the cellar. Production is limited and each bottle is numbered. A 2018 bottle will set you back a mere 16.75 euros.

A Taste of Scotland Moira’s Kitchen

Many of you ask about the recipes and have been surprised to know that I research every recipe, adapt them to make them my own, and on many occasions invent my own. I then cook everything to check if it needs anything or could benefit from an addition. I then photograph all, to the frustration of my loving husband who has to wait until I have the best shot, whilst he often holds the backdrop, and then eventually can eat! Believe me I have tested his patience as I develop my "David Bailey" skills. Hope you enjoy and release your inner chef.

Method

1. Soak the peas, lentils and barley in cold water and leave overnight. 2. Melt butter in large soup pan. 3. Add diced onion, carrots, swede, and chopped leek to the butter and soften over gentle heat for 5 minutes. 4. Rinse the peas lentils and barley and add to the softened veg. 5. Cover with stock. Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours. 6. If using shredded lamb add at this stage and warm through. 7. Season with salt and pepper and serve piping hot. 8. Enjoy.

Scotch Broth

Ingredients

1 chopped leek 1 diced onion 2 diced carrots 1 diced turnip (or swede) 110g barley 70g split yellow or green peas 70g red lentils 2.5 litres of lamb, beef or chicken stock 30g butter Optional - shredded lamb

What is this strange name Cullen Skink? Simply it’s a hearty soup made of smoked haddock and potatoes. A specialty from the town of Cullen in Moray on the northeast coast of Scotland. “Skink” is an old Scottish name for a knuckle, shin or hough of beef which most soups were made from. This has been a family favourite of ours and mine since I was a child. I hope you enjoy.

Ingredients

25g butter 1 finely diced white onion 400g potatoes 300g smoked haddock 300ml whole milk 300ml boiling water Parsley for garnish

Cullen Skink

Method

1. Dice potatoes and wash thoroughly to remove the starch. 2. Melt butter in pan, add finely diced onion and soften for around 5 minutes until onion soft and golden. 3. Add the potatoes to the onion and sauté for a minute before adding 300 ml of boiling water. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until potatoes are cooked through. 4. Whilst potatoes are cooking, add smoked haddock (skin side up) to pan and cover with milk. Heat the milk and fish gradually (watching it doesn’t boil over) and cook for about 10 minutes, depending on thickness of your haddock. 5. Remove the haddock from the milk and leave to cool. Keep the milk. 6. When fish is cold, remove any skin and bones, and lightly break up the fish into good sized pieces. 7. Lightly mash some of the potatoes in the pan but keep some whole. 8. Add the milk to the pan of potatoes and cook for a couple of minutes. 9. Add the chunks of haddock and stir together. 10. Season with salt and pepper and serve piping hot. 11. Garnish with parsley and enjoy.

You can really use any fish and its good to buy whatever is best offer. You can batch make them and freeze for another day. Having a buffet or a few people round for drinks? make them in small balls or patties for bite sized nibbles with a nice glass of chilled white wine. Be adventurous – add chilli, lemon grass, dill, cajun spice – whatever takes your fancy. Get creative.

Method

1. Place the salmon fillet on a piece of tinfoil, drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper, and 1 tbsp of lemon juice. Close the foil to make a little parcel & bake in oven (200 degrees) for 15 minutes. When baked, remove from oven, open foil and allow to cool. 2. Peel potatoes, cut into small chunks and cook in boiling salted water for 10/15 minutes until soft (but not mushy). 300 g salmon fillet 300g potatoes 1 tsp olive oil 1 tbs fresh lemon juice Handful of chopped fresh parsley Salt & Pepper 1 tsp paprika 1 cup plain flour 1 beaten egg 1 cup homemade breadcrumbs Sunflower oil for frying

3. Drain the potatoes and leave in pan to dry and cool then roughly mash. 4. Add the lightly roasted salmon, making sure to remove any skin or bones, to the mashed potato and add in the chopped parsley and a tablespoon of flour. 5. Roll the salmon and potato mix into balls and place on plate. 6. Put flour with salt, pepper and paprika into a bowl. 7. Put the beaten egg into a bowl and the breadcrumbs into another bowl. 8. Flatten the fish balls to make a patty and then dip in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and put onto a large plate and store in fridge until you are ready to fry. 9. When ready, heat the oil in a deep-frying pan until hot and gently fry your fishcakes turning once to ensure they are golden brown on both sides. 10. Transfer to oven and keep warm whilst you make the rest 11. Serve and enjoy.

Steak and Kidney Pie

(or leave out the kidney if you don’t like o al)

I have great memories of Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve) in Scotland and people queuing at the butchers to collect their prepared Steak and Kidney Pies. My grandmother always made her own and always with puff pastry. Tradition was it would be eaten at around 11 p.m., prior to the bells ringing at midnight. It was “mandatory” to have everything cleaned up and not a dirty dish or cloth in the house when we would “bring in” the new year. The steak and kidney pie and accompanying mashed potatoes, was important in lining the stomachs of the people going out “first footin” (visiting people after midnight) to celebrate the new year with all neighbours and friends -and of course accompanied by the mandatory glass of whisky. Of course, steak and kidney pie, or just steak pie, is a well-loved dish all year round in Britain. Hope you enjoy yours.

Method

1. Defrost pastry. On a floured surface, roll out pastry to ¼ inch thick and to the size of your pie tin. Keep in fridge until ready to use. 2. Pre-heat oven to 220C. 3. Heat vegetable oil in large pan and brown the diced beef. Add the kidneys and brown for a couple of minutes, then add diced onions and cook until onions have softened. 4. Add the flour to the meat, covering well and gently add the stock and bring to the boil. 5. Simmer for 1-2 hours depending on size of meat chunks until they are tender. 6. Season with salt and pepper, Worcester sauce then add meat to your pie tin and allow to cool. 7. Remove pastry from fridge and allow to come to room temperature. 8. Brush the edges of your pie tin with water and place pastry top over the top, crimp edges to seal. 9. Brush pastry with beaten egg and bake for 40 minutes until golden brown. 10. Serve with creamy mash. Ingredients: 1 block frozen puff pastry 1 egg 700g diced braising steak 200g diced kidney 2 diced onions 2 tbsp vegetable oil 30g plain flour 850ml beef stock Dash of Worcester sauce Salt & pepper

It’s a little bit like a Christmas pudding but not so rich and spicy and minus the rum, brandy or whisky. Scots would rather drink the whisky than put it in the pud.

Clootie – is an old Scottish name for a cloth and it was an ancient cooking method that has survived in Scotland, but I am sure only for us of a certain age.

If you fancy a bit of tradition, give it a go. The main dumpling can be served on its own, enjoyed with a cup of tea, or served with custard or some whipped cream. One of my favourites, although maybe not so healthy but delicious, is the old Boxing Day tradition of frying it in butter and serving with bacon and eggs. My Grandmother followed tradition by putting “lucky” sixpences in the pudding. But if you want to avoid a trip to the dentist, maybe give that a miss.

Get your cloth out, even an old pillowcase, and give it a go – you won’t be disappointed.

Tradi�onal Sco�sh Cloo�e Dumpling

Ingredients

200g plain flour 125g oatmeal 150g suet 125g soft dark brown sugar 3 tbsp treacle 2 eggs 2 tsp mixed spice 2 tsp cinnamon 2 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 250g currants/sultanas/raisins 150g milk

Large muslin cloth or tea towel (cloot) Piece of string about 12 inches long Large soup pan & heatproof tea plate Method

1. Take a large muslin cloth or a large tea towel and drape over a colander in a clean sink. Pour boiling water over the cloth making sure you wet the whole cloth. Leave it to cool. 2. In large mixing bowl add flour, oatmeal, suet, sugar, spices, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, currants, sultanas, raisins and mix together. 3. Add treacle, eggs and a little milk and mix into the flour and fruit until everything combined. 4. Add a little more milk until you have a soft sticky mixture that forms a ball. 5. Take your cloth and. Ring out any water and place the cloth on a clean surface and lightly dust the whole cloth with flour. 6. Add your dumpling mix, in the shape of a ball, onto the middle of the cloth. 7. Draw up the corners of the cloth and tie tightly with the string – allowing a bit of room for the dumpling mix to expand. 8. Put your tea plate upside down in the bottom of your soup pan. 9. Place your clootie dumpling on the tea plate and cover with boiling water. The dumpling will float a little, but this is ok. 10. Place lid on the pan allowing a gap for steam to escape. 11. Boil for 5 minutes and then reduce to a simmer for 3 hours. 12. Make sure the boiling water is always covering the dumpling. 13. After 3 hours, remove the dumpling and put it into a colander to drain of excess water. 14. Gently remove the cloth and try to keep the skin intact and put onto a baking tray. 15. Heat your oven to 180 degrees C and place the dumpling in oven for 10 minutes to brown. 16. Remove from oven and allow to cool. 17. Serve with custard or on its own.

A Scottish tradition, tablet is similar in flavour to fudge although fudge has a softer consistency whilst tablet is a bit more crumbly and harder.

I grew up with my grandmother making tablet. No big sugar thermometers in those days, just a drop test. My grandmother knew when it was ready without clocks, temperature gauges or any gadgets, just a keen eye on the colour, consistency and of course years of experience. I was always waiting for the mix to be spooned into some cold water to check if it was ready to be taken off the heat and beaten to a thick smooth mixture. To this day, even tho’ I use a thermometer, I still drop that caramel in the cold water and love to see the mix go to soft ball stage, just so I can eat it.

There is no getting away from it, tablet is sweet and if you like sweet, you will be hooked on this.

Sco�sh Tablet

Ingredients

900g granulated sugar 397g condensed milk 250ml whole milk 85g butter Method

1. In a large non-stick pan, slowly, over a gentle heat, dissolve the sugar, milk, and butter. 2. Add the condensed milk and bring it to a boil, stirring continuously to stop it burning. 3. Simmer for about 20 minutes until the mixture becomes a dark caramel colour. 4. Remove from heat. Beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until it becomes thick and pour into a buttered and lined tin. 5. Allow to cool and before completely hard, score into portions. 6. Allow to harden in the fridge.

• Use a large pan to allow mixture to expand. • Don’t try and rush this, you need to have patience. • Temperature will depend on your hob • A sugar thermometer is a great help - should reach 120C • If no thermometer, carefully use drop test when it looks like its nearly ready, this is how my grandmother did it as they didn’t have sugar thermometers in those days • Drop test = put a little chilled water in a cup or on a saucer and drop a teaspoon of your mixture into the water, if it turns to a fudge like consistency, it is ready. • When you beat the mixture, make sure you beat for a good 10 or 15 minutes, better than going to the gym, and helps with the guilt when you eat the tablet later! It has to thicken, or it won’t set. • Overall – be careful as melted sugar can give you a serious burn.