Pairing Wine with Classic Pasta Dishes

Pappardelle with Beef Shin Ragu and Parmigiano Reggiano

As with any good ragu, it’s time that really works its magic here. Slow cooking the beef shin ragu yields deliciously rich and succulent meat that can be pulled apart at the merest touch of the fork. Good things come to those who wait… The robust flavours of the ragu mean that it needs to be matched with a pasta of equal stature; the thick, flat ribbons of pappardelle provide just that, soaking up every last morsel of the rich ragu. This is a meat-lovers paradise!

Serves 4

Ingredients

600g Fresh Pappardelle
300g Beef Shin
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 large celery sticks, finely chopped
1 litre of passata
3 tbsp of tomato Puree
1 Bay Leaf
75ml Beef Stock
100ml Red Barolo Wine
Olive Oil

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 ̊C
• Heat olive oil in a large oven-proof Dutch oven over medium high heat. Brown the meat on all sides, about 5 minutes, working in batches if necessary. Once browned, set the beef aside.
• Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion and garlic to the same pot and sauté until fragrant and beginning to brown, about 2 minutes. Add the carrot and celery and sauté until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato puree along with the passata and cook for another few minutes.
• Deglaze with red wine and simmer until reduced by half, about 5 more minutes.
• Once the wine has reduced, add back the browned beef, along with beef stock and bay leaf. Bring the liquid to a simmer over medium high heat. Then, cover the dutch oven and transfer to the preheated oven. Cook for 4 hours or until the beef is very tender.
• If the sauce is too liquidy at the end of the 4 hour cooking period, remove the beef and reduce the liquid over the stovetop, over medium heat, until thickened.
• Pull the meat into chunks and stir through the sauce. Taste for seasoning and adjust salt and pepper if necessary.
• Cook the pappardelle in salted boiling water for around 3-4 minutes or until al dente (test a strand before removing from the water).
• To serve, finish with freshly with grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Pair with Les Arbousiers Reserve Coteaux du Languedoc 2017

Soft, peppery Grenache marries beautifully with richly textured Syrah in this luscious red, and the bottle age adds a savoury nuance which will complement and stand up to a beefy ragu.

‘Ultimate Lasagne’ with Beef & Barolo Ragu, Bechamel & Parmigiano Reggiano

As its name suggests, this is the ‘ultimate’ comforting classic. Carefully layered with fresh lasagne sheets, creamy bechamel and meaty beef shin ragu, it’s dishes like these we like to indulge ourselves with at Sunday lunch, or even Monday, if there’s any left that is…

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the ragu, prepare as per the recipe above (Pappardelle with Beef Shin Ragu and Parmigiano Reggiano).

For the lasagne –

400g fresh lasagne sheets
⅓ cup (50g) of Parmigiano Reggiano to sprinkle over each layer (don’t forget the top)

For the bechamel sauce –

600 ml of milk
60g plain flour
60g butter
Generous grating of nutmeg
Salt and black pepper to season

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180 ̊C.
• Prepare the beef shin ragu as per our recipe above (Pappardelle with Beef Shin Ragu and Parmigiano Reggiano).
• Start first by making the bechamel sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add flour. Whisk until combined and cook on low heat for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat and gradually add the milk, stirring continuously until thickened. Season with nutmeg, salt and black pepper to taste, and set aside. 
• To assemble the lasagne, ladle a thin layer of ragu on the bottom of the baking dish. Top with a layer of lasagne sheets – don’t worry about overlapping sheets here
• Follow this with another layer of ragu – be more generous this time; using the back of the spoon push it right to the edge. Follow with a layer of béchamel then sprinkle over a generous handful of grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Repeat these steps (pasta, ragu, béchamel and parmigiano cheese) to use up both sauces and pasta. There should be at least 5 layers of pasta and the top should be sprinkled with Parmigiano Reggiano.
• Cook the lasagne for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for at least 5 minutes. To serve, slice into equal sized portions and finish with freshly shaved Parmigiano Reggiano. Buon appetito.

Pair with Conte di Campiano Sangiovese Rubicone IGT 2017

Sangiovese loves well-seasoned dishes with big flavours, as they will soften the acidity levels in the wine. So this fruity red with a hint of spice will be right at home with this lasagne.

Pici Cacio e Pepe

Owing its name to the dish’s two key ingredients – cacio e pepe, or cheese and pepper – this lesser known classic of Roman and Tuscan cuisine is creamy, cheesy indulgence at its best. Deceptively simplistic, it’s a sauce that proves you don’t need a long list of elaborate ingredients to create a sauce full of flavour. As tradition would have it, all it takes is pecorino, black pepper, boiling cooking water and some Parmigiano Reggiano to serve. Cacio e pepe is best served with pici. A thicker, chewier version of spaghetti, pici allow for maximum absorption of flavour. Cheesy, we know…

Serves 4

Ingredients

500g Fresh Pici

For the cacio e pepe sauce –

1 cup (around 120g) of freshly grated Pecorino cheese 4 tsp of black peppercorns
Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano and ground black pepper to serve

Instructions

• Toast the peppercorns until fragrant in a dry frying pan over medium heat, about 2 minutes. Keep them moving to prevent them from burning. Once toasted, roughly crush
• Then, cook the pici in a large pot of generously salted boiling water for around 4-6 minutes, or until ‘al dente’.
• While the pici cook, add freshly grated pecorino cheese and crushed black peppercorns to a deep-frying pan over medium heat. Gradually add a cup of the boiling cooking water to the pan, adjusting as necessary to melt the cheese and obtain a silky, smooth sauce that’s able to completely coat the pasta.
• Once cooked, add the pasta to the pan and toss vigorously to coat. Be careful not to overcook the pasta here. 1-2 minutes over medium heat is plenty.
• To serve, finish with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano and ground black pepper.

Chef’s Tip: The critical component in this recipe is the addition of the starchy pasta water; it binds everything together to create a wonderfully creamy emulsion. To ensure maximum starchiness, we recommend adding the pasta water around 1 minute before you’ve finished cooking your pasta.

Pair with Just the Juice Vermentino 2017

Pronounced citrus aromatics with a hint of something herbal and a salty character on the palate are ideal for matching with hard cheese like Parmigiano Reggiano.

Orecchiette with Pistachio Pesto

Orecchiette come under the category of pasta bianca (white pasta), a term used in reference to pasta made without eggs. Using only flour and water, these little shapes, or rather ‘little ears’ as their name denotes, have a firm bite but soft interior. A classic pasta from the southern region of Puglia (forming the heel of Italy’s boot), orecchiette are particularly deft at scooping up smaller elements of any sauce with its small, hand-pressed dimples. Our pesto sees a slight twist on the classic Ligurian version, swapping out the pine nuts for the highly prized Bronte pistachio from Sicily. For the sake of ease, any pistachio will do.

Serves 4

Ingredients

500g Fresh Orecchiette

For the pesto –

1 cup of shelled pistachios
4 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
¼ cup of Parmesan
Handful of basil
3 cloves of garlic 
Sea salt to taste

Instructions

• Add garlic, basil leaves, a pinch of salt and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to a pestle and mortar and grind until creamy. When grinding, use a circular motion with the pestle while slowly rotating the mortar with your free hand. Doing so creates extra friction, helping to break everything down.
• Next, add the pistachio nuts and grind until they start to combine, repeating the same circular motion as before. You should have a creamy yet slightly chunky consistency.
• Drizzle the remaining olive oil and combine into a creamy paste. We recommend leaving it a little rustic.
• Cook the orecchiette in large pan of generously salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes until ‘al dente’ (test one before removing from the water). Once cooked, transfer to the pesto. Toss gently to coat. To serve, finish with some freshly shaved Parmigiano Reggiano.

Chef’s Tip: Whilst you can certainly save yourself a bit of time using a food processor, the results are not nearly as good as following the traditional method of using a pestle and mortar. Slow grinding in a non-porous receptacle, like in a marble or granite mortar, produces an emulsion that neither a food processor or blender can. It’s also easier to control the consistency of the pesto which we think is best with a little bite.

Pair with Le Jamais Contente Colombard Sauvignon Blanc 2018

The natural herbaceous zing of Gascogne Colombard is amplified beautifully by the addition of zesty Sauvignon Blanc. This will be refreshing alongside the basil scented pesto pasta.

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