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Last night with the onset of cool darker autumnal evenings, my better half cooked a wonderful shepherds pie, you know, the remains of last Sundays rare roast beef minced up with a little beef stock and wine added, onions and a few field mushrooms finely cut, then topped with a layer of potatoes creamed with butter salt pepper and nutmeg, all browned in the AGA; real comfort food as nanny used to make!
You might not believe this but some days I don’t drink alcohol, or at least not much! As at lunchtime I had a good glass of very old Oloroso sherry about 17.5 degrees, my body was telling me last night that a visit to the cellar was not required. So when we sat down for dinner with a jug of iced water the cook was mildly apoplectic...." {mosgoogle} I've been stuck here all day slaving over a hot stove..."you know the sort of thing, or am I the only one who receives such terms of endearment? I immediately jumped to attention and as we were having a starter of some homemade smoked salmon pate, grabbed a glass of Manzanilla from the fridge and poured us both a decent glass, phew, all was suddenly well. The Manzanilla from a good friend, great horseman and shot, Xavier Hildalgo, comes from his bodegas in Sanlucar near Cadiz, is fresh, with slightly salty crispness, not as fat as a Fino, and around 15% can be drunk like wine, excellent with the fish pate, and I get it either from Waitrose, but they also do little quarter bottles, just enough for one before dinner, with no danger of not having a freshly opened unoxidated bottle, and its amazing good value at around £6 a bottle, I wouldn’t buy much wine at that level. Anyway, when it came to the Shepherds Pie, I gave the boss another top up of Manzanilla whilst I had a big glass of water, she was very happy, and said it went surprisingly well, with the acidity and freshness countering the fatness of the food. We both slept very well.
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