Five Meals to Remind You of Your Summer Holidays

We’ve teamed up with SimplyCook to bring you five popular dishes from some of the world’s top holiday destinations, and a recommendation of the wines to pair with each meal. From the Mediterranean to Latin America and Asia, we’ve chosen recipes that capture the flavours and magic of some of our favourite tourist hotspots.

Italy – Penne alla Rustica

First stop, Italy. Recreate that Mediterranean feel at home with a classic Italian pasta dish that’s bursting with flavours of cherry tomato and chorizo. This is a dish with a hint of spice from the sausage, an array of herbs including rosemary, mint and roasted garlic, and a touch of sweetness from the red pepper. All brought together in a rich creamy sauce with a dash of lemon, Penne alla Rustica has everything you’d want from a pasta dish ordered in a rustic Italian cafe.

Pair this Italian masterpiece with an Italian grape, and go for a juicy red one to complement the tomato and chorizo flavours in the recipe. We’d recommend trying a full-bodied Barbera as its high acidity will match the acidity found in the tomatoes and lemon zest, while the low tannins mean it’s a lovely smooth texture match for the luscious creamy sauce of the dish. A Sangiovese will also do nicely, but it tends to have more subtle flavours.

If this dish tickles your fancy, you can find the recipe with ingredients and method on the SimplyCook website.

Bali – Balinese Chicken Curry

Next, we’re off to beautiful Bali. And we’ve chosen a recipe that has many of the wonderful flavours traditionally found in Indonesian street food. Balinese cuisine often features coconut, chilli, garlic and chicken – all key ingredients of a classic Balinese Chicken Curry. The rich, coconut sauce is made even creamier with the addition of cashew nuts, and is seasoned with coriander and kaffir lime leaves – a wonderfully aromatic flavour pairing that’s synonymous with Asian cuisine, and found in many styles of curry in the hawker markets of Bali.

For a creamy curry like this, you’ll want to pair it with an equally rich and full-bodied wine. As it’s chicken, we’d recommend a dry white, but one with a slightly honeyed (almost ‘oily’) mouthfeel to mirror the creaminess of the curry, cashew nuts and coconut. The best wine for the job is a Pinot Gris, as it’s dry and delicate in flavour yet far less acidic than a Pinot Grigio, with a noticeably smoother finish. Pinot Gris also has the perfect flavour profile for this dish, boasting notes of lime and lemon with floral aromas such as honeysuckle. Alternatively, a nice buttery Chardonnay will work too.

Check out the recipe for this magnificent curry on the SimplyCook website.

Mexico – Tacos Al Pastor

The next leg of our culinary trip is across the pond to Latin America. Mexico is famous the world over for its tasty tacos, burritos, fajitas, nachos… the list goes on! There are so many signature dishes to choose from, but we’ve gone with Tacos Al Pastor. The star of this dish is the grilled pork, prepared in the style that’s favoured by Mexican street vendors. Served with fresh pineapple chunks and Mexican pickled onions, the tacos are finished with a handful of coriander and a generous squeeze of lime.

Now, the temptation here is to mix yourself a tequila-based cocktail! But if wine is what you’re after, then a fruity, medium-bodied red like Zinfandel is a truly mouthwatering match for this dish. Zinfandel and pork is a timeless pairing, and this particular grape variety is also fantastic with BBQ sauces and sweeter flavours, making it ideal for a savoury dish with juicy pineapple chunks in it. If you’re feeling daring, and you’re a lover of red wine, then don’t be afraid to experiment with sightly heavier reds – for instance, a fruity Cabernet Sauvignon blend complements grilled pork and BBQ style cooking nicely.

For the full recipe head to the SimplyCook website.

Japan – Japanese Seared Steak

Our penultimate destination is Japan, where we’re indulging in a bit of Yakiniku. This term refers to a style of grilled meat and sweet dipping sauce, often served with vegetables and steamed rice. The dish we’ve decided to look at and pair wine with is a Japanese Seared Steak, which tends to be served medium-rare in a miso sauce with very lightly charred vegetables. Shiitake mushrooms and asparagus are often found in this succulent dish, accompanied by fresh and vibrant flavours from a lime and spring onion topping.

While the steak calls for a nice bottle of red, it’s actually the savoury (or ‘umami’) taste of the mushrooms and asparagus that dictates the specific wine you should reach for. The perfect partner for these flavours is Pinot Noir, which actually displays its own earthy, umami notes of mushroom and wet leaf! It also has subtle red fruit flavours and smoky nuances that complement a lightly grilled steak. If you’d like something that’s still light and earthy but a little juicier, opt for a bottle of Beaujolais instead (generally made from the Gamay grape) and look for ‘Cru’ on the label for one that’s got more pronounced floral notes.

To recreate this Japanese delicacy at home, head to SimplyCook for details of the recipe.

Jamaica – Jerk Chicken

To round off our whistle-stop tour of dream holiday destinations, we touch down in the Caribbean. And what better way to bring the flavours of Jamaica to your own kitchen than by cooking up some Jerk Chicken! Jamaica’s most popular dish is all about succulent chicken grilled until crispy, served in a fiery habanero pepper and ginger sauce. Traditionally enjoyed on a bed of rice with kidney beans and sweetcorn, this is a true feast!

With chicken being the meat of choice, it’s best to crack open a chilled bottle of white. Ingredients in jerk sauce such as brown sugar and cinnamon give it a sweetness that marries up very well with Riesling. Typical flavours of this grape variety include apricot and honey, and it has just enough acidity to be able to counterbalance spicy food. If you want to highlight the chargrilled chicken and herbs rather than bringing out the sweetness in the jerk sauce, go for a crisp, zesty white like Pinot Grigio.

If this tasty treat sounds like your kind of thing, check out the recipe on the SimplyCook website.

Get started with SimplyCook here and get four authentic recipes, each with restaurant quality ingredients, for just £1.