Wine and Food Pairing with Winter Roast Vegetables
A meal without wine is called breakfast. Beyond that, from the merest canapès to the mightiest of feasts, food finds a new level in the company of fine wine. Australia’s love of sun, surf and the great outdoors can lead to winters that feel long and cold, and with little to do. If you’re planning to stay in, treat yourself to a glass of fine wine and some no-stress recipes for domestic deities that make the most of your time.
Shiraz? Cabernet? Shiraz Cabernet? Australia does all three very well across regions and styles. If there’s snow on the mountains make sure you have some winter warming reds on hand. Smooth, powerful and fruit forward, this is why the wine loving world fell for Australia. What will you be pouring, whatever the weather?
Spicy, savour, succulent wines of terroir, of place. The home of Shiraz and Grenache, these wines are different to their varietal Australian counterparts. You search for power, balance, tannic truth and sublime saveur can start or end here. The roasted landscape of the Rhône in vinous form needs no convincing where oven borne feasts are concerned. Explore the Rhône now.
The hero of an oven roasted feast is invariably beef, lamb, chicken or even a whole fish. But we all know that the vegetables do the hard work and so deserve a glass of fine wine for their efforts. During the winter months is the time for deeply roasted root vegetables with a blush of garlic and brush of rosemary.
Winter Roast Vegetables
Here’s our no stress recipe for hearty winter roast vegetables.
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
1 hour+
Ingredients
• 4 carrots - peeled and cut lengthways into quarters (or 6 Dutch carrots washed, trimmed but unpeeled)
• 3 Dutch Cream potatoes – cut the potatoes lengthways into quarters
• 3 parsnips – peeled and cut in halves (or leave them whole if small)
• 2 small beetroots – peeled and cut into small pieces – they take longer than the potatoes so make sure they’re not as thick!
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 1 head of garlic – cut the top off to expose the tops of the cloves
• Salt to season
• Olive oil
Preheat the oven to 200CB Bring a larger pot of water to the boil and add the potatoes, carrots and parsnips – do not add the beetroot Parboil for 10 minutes When ready, drain the water well and transfer to a large baking tray. Add the beetroot, garlic, rosemary (whole sprigs) and a good glug of olive oil to coat the vegetable well. Roast for around an hour (or more to your desired level). Every 20 minutes give them a stir. Remove the oven when ready and season with salt.