Fattoush with …
a 12-year-old Grenache wine of 16% alcohol…it tastes hot and past it’s best now, right? Wrong! (maybe no surprise to some of you).
This wine shows that you can’t judge a book by its cover, any more than you can judge a wine by the alcohol on the label.
From a warm, early harvest, this was a lovely ripe, generous wine from the outset but how is it looking now? We opened a bottle the other night to drink alongside some spicy meatballs (cinnamon and allspice, not chili which is best avoided with higher alcohol reds) and Fattoush. Fattoush is a middle eastern salad of tomatoes and cucumbers that has a garlicky yohgurt dressing and is a favourite in our house. It’s quite simple and surprisingly delicious thanks primarily to the dressing (which also includes plenty of good olive oil that balances the acidity of the salad, giving a creamy texture to the dish). I expected the meatballs to go well with this wine but the Fattoush I wasn’t expecting to work. We ate it for health and balance rather than wine matching. Surprise! The Fattoush worked fine with the wine, even well I would say.
The 2013 Eclipse was looking lovely too, full of flavour, round in texture and beautifully balanced. So there you go; with both the wine and the food you shouldn’t assume until you’ve tasted for yourself because life is full of pleasant surprises!
Our Fattoush recipe
200g Greek yoghurt and 200ml full-fat milk
2 large day-old Turkish flatbreads or 1 small baguette
3 large tomatoes, dice to around 1.5cm pieces
3 Lebanese or mini cucumbers (around 250g), chopped into 1.5cm pieces
A good-sized bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, along with a few mint leaves (basil mint is great if you have it)
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
60mL of best quality olive oil
A splash of white vinegar, salt and ground black pepper to taste.
Some recipes include onion, spices and lemon juice but we think it works better without these if serving with red wines.
Whisk yoghurt and milk together in a bowl, start at least three hours in advance.
Leave in a cool place or in the fridge until bubbles form on the surface, it should look like it’s starting to ferment.
Tear or chop the bread into bite-size pieces and place in a large mixing bowl.
Add fermented yoghurt mixture, followed by the rest of the ingredients, mix well and leave for 10 minutes for all the flavours to set.
Sprinkle with sumac if you have it handy or garnish with parsley to serve.