Seasonal Produce

Colette's Top Tips for June....

Lately we seem to be getting inundated with advice from top chefs to eat seasonal produce. This is a great way to get maximum flavour for minimum price in terms of abundance, however how do we know what’s good to eat when shops have very conceivable type of food all year round.

This is when old wives tales really do come into their own, not that I remember very many, just the one about not eating mussels when there is no R in the month so guess what……………its June and we are not serving mussels. However we have Asparagus which is in the height of its British growing season. I personally adore it and it can be quite versatile in ways that generally are not put on menus.

One of my favourite dishes is Spaghetti Carbonara but why don’t you try making it substituting Asparagus instead of the bacon…………….delightful, even for a meat eater such as myself

Carbonara is so deliciously creamy that sometimes it becomes quite an achievement to find a wine that you can enjoy whilst eating it. I know that oaked Chardonnay’s have fallen out of favour lately but there can be only a few other wines which can accompany such a heavy dish. One of my favourites from the list is quite an unusual wine, being a Pinot Grigio from South Australia. It has a fantastic mouth filling creamy quality and is unoaked. However the label would have you believe that it’s dry and minerally……………..on which sliding scale did they measure it on.

You all know how much I love wine, I’m sure I’ve told you countless times but its all about your own tastes and preferences, however we do spend a long time trying out the wines we list (ok repeatedly) to find some lesser known jewels for you to appreciate. Next time ask a member of staff to recommend something new, you never know it might turn out to be your new favourite too