Saturday Kitchen 18.2.12

(by susie)

So, go on, what wine would you recommend to go with a full English breakfast?!

This was the big question on Saturday Kitchen this week, as Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton was cooking up one of his signature dishes – a decadent take on this classic breakfast/brunch, as featured on his brilliant Pollen Street Social menu (which Peter’s enjoyed several times).

In the end, I went for the great value Jacob’s Creek Sparkling Pinot Noir/Chardonnay, from £7.99 (widely available, but we filmed in Tesco). This seemed like a great alternative to champagne – or indeed good English fizz – both of which are sadly out of our price league on Saturday Kitchen. (I also suggested a bloody Mary, while twitter friends chipped in with Irish coffee…)

Either way, the fizz went down a storm in studio.

While host James Martin expressed consternation that I had headed away from champagne, he described it as, ‘fantastic: really really good, a bit of a bargain at under £8’.

Jason said it, ‘works really well – nice and refreshing – I really like it,’ while fellow Michelin-starred chef Aggi Sverrisson said it ‘cuts through the fattiness of the egg – works perfectly.’

Sources from inside the studio later mentioned how the wine had been a particular favourite backstage; even the Series Producer (He of impeccable taste) nipped out to buy a few bottles afterwards. So a top tip then…

Aggi was rustling up ling with spiced quinoa, for which I chose the Summerer Gruner Veltliner 2010, Langenlois (from £7.49, Marks & Spencer).

Aggi said the wine was, ‘very good, clean and fresh, goes very well.’ James Martin described it as, ‘Just fantastic: the combination of the two works perfectly’.

The show featured archive material from Celebrity MasterChef, Keith Floyd and Rick Stein. You can view my wine bits (filmed in Bedford, by the way, hence the two-faced photo above) in the videos below. The recipes from the show you can find here.