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As part of our ’Keep Doing What Matters’ event series, top chef Daniel Hannigan and wine expert Brigid O’Hora recently curated a delicious meal and wine pairing at Coppinger. Now, they're sharing even more of their expertise – here's their favourite recipe and wine pairing for the ultimate at-home date night.
Try as you might to reinvent the wheel when it comes to date night, the old reliables earned their stripes for good reason. The beautiful simplicity of an at-home wine and cheese night cannot be underestimated, communicating pretty much all of the love languages at once.
You’re putting time and effort into creating a special evening for one another. Buying the ingredients, picking up the wine, cooking together and sharing a meal — it all fosters conversation and an intimacy with one another that can’t be achieved to the same degree at a fancy restaurant or during a movie night.
We’re all trying our best to carve out time to keep doing what matters, both for ourselves and for the ones we love, so an evening dedicated to romance and food should be on all of our agendas. To make sure that we’ve got all the essential elements, we asked some experts for their two cents.
Daniel Hannigan—head chef at Coppinger Row—dished up a recipe for a mouth-watering (and veggie friendly!) cauliflower cheese with caper and raisin purée. Here’s how to whip it up…
Cauliflower cheese, caper and raisin
Serves four people
Ingredients
For the roasted cauliflower florets:
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Pinch of salt
For the cauliflower cheese sauce:
- ½ head of cauliflower or the leftover trim from preparing the cauliflower florets
- 300ml milk
- 200g of grated Hegarty’s cheddar (or any strong cheddar)
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 egg yolk
For the caper and raisin puree:
- 200g golden raisins
- 100g sugar
- 100ml sherry vinegar
- 50g capers
For the caper and raisin dressing:
- 50g bloomed raisins (made when making puree)
- 50g capers
- 1 diced banana shallot
- 100ml olive oil
- 20ml sherry vinegar
- 1 pinch salt
Method
- Chop cauliflower into florets or bite-size pieces with 3-4 per portion.
- Retain any trim from cauliflower and leftovers after preparing your florets.
- Place the cauliflower leftovers/trim into a pot, pour in the milk and turn on a low simmer.
- Simmer for about 15 minutes until the cauliflower is completely soft.
- Strain the cauliflower and add to a blender (a Nutribullet works perfectly), then add the cheese, mustard and egg yolk and blend to a thick, silky puree. Leave to the side.
- In another pot, add the sugar and sherry vinegar and bring to a boil. Add the raisins until they have plumped up and take out 50g of raisins for your dressing later.
- Add the capers to the pot and blend with the remaining raisin mix to make a smooth puree.
- In a bowl, add the 50g bloomed raisins, capers, diced shallot, sherry vinegar and olive oil to a bowl and mix.
To finish
- Turn on your grill to high heat.
- In a pan, heat the olive oil and add the cauliflower to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes until golden brown and then flip the cauliflower over to show the brown side.
- Spoon the cheese puree over the roasted cauliflower and cook under the grill until brown and crispy.
- Place the caper and raisin puree around a plate followed by the roasted cauliflower cheese and then spoon the dressing over the dish and serve.
We asked wine connaisseur Brigid O’Hora (aka Brideys Wine Chats) to recommend the perfect wine pairing for this delicious recipe, and she did not let us down. Here’s what she had to say…
Aussuli Grillo, ‘Fiordiligi’ DOC 2022
Grillo is a native grape to Sicily. This particular wine is made from Grillo grapes that are left to bake in the Sicilian sun, with the addition of volcanic soils that keep the acidity lively and fresh.
Tropical fruits like pineapple and mango are partnered with baked lemon acidity that is perfect for cleansing the palate after a bite of the rich cheesy cauliflower. The ripe tropical fruits also contrast beautifully well with the subtle nutty hints of the cauliflower.
Grillo is a wonderful alternative to Sauvignon and is bountifully ripe to partner with this exquisite dish.
AIB supports customers by offering financial advice at all life stages so you can keep doing what matters to you. To book a chat with an AIB advisor to get real guidance on how to use savings, pensions, and investments to build your financial future, simply visit www.aib.ie/make-a-plan.
Please visit www.drinkaware.ie for more information on how to drink responsibly.
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