Are there any wines that match with spice?

One reason many shy away from pairing wine with spicy food is that it’s so, so easy to get it wrong. There are several constituent parts in a wine that unfavourably accentuate the heat of a dish: for example, spice can increase our perception of alcohol, causing an unpleasant burn, intense acidity and astringent bitterness. This stifles the fruit and smothers the complexities of the dish, too.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link

Tropea, Harborne, Birmingham: ‘A forward-thinking take on the Italian trattoria’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

No one could ever mistake south-west Birmingham for the Calabrian coast. In any Venn diagram denoting the commonality between the two, there would be very little in that overlapping section in the middle. Or, more precisely, there would perhaps be just the one word: Tropea.This restaurant in Harborne, named after a sunkissed Italian resort, has made a quiet name for itself over the past few years with its Salizà amaretto sours and provolone arancini to savour at sunset on a charming terrace. Yes, this particular sun terrace may overlook the traffic on the Lordswood Road, but hopefully some of the edges will be blurred after a round of bombardinos

The long black: will this soon be the UK’s favourite coffee order?

Fans of the drink, brewed differently from an americano, say its taste is vastly superior – and are turning a niche product into a bestsellerIf you’re a regular at specialist coffee shops in the UK – the kind where baristas carefully weigh out your grounds on tiny hypersensitive scales and practically frogmarch you from the premises if you order syrup – you may have noticed that americanos have fallen out of favour. In these fancier coffee spots, everyone’s dependable, unfussy go-to is being eclipsed by a newer import from Australia and New Zealand: the long black.Conducting an unofficial survey of coffee spots, I noticed nearly every barista had a slightly different explanation of the drink. “It’s basically exactly the same as an americano,” one whispered conspiratorially. “It’s a shorter black coffee, the same size as a flat white,” explained another

Queens of the stone fruit and grape expectations: Australia’s best-value fruit and veg for February

Late summer brings juicy plums, plump figs and golden queen peaches, while creamy Reed avocados are stealing the salad spotlight from HassThe final month of summer heralds peak season for grapes, new varieties of stone fruit and a glut of salad leaves in every shade of green.Figs are in their prime and about 99c each, says Brendan North, owner of Paradise Farm Markets in Tamworth, New South Wales. “You usually pay $1 to $1.50 for figs this time of year,” he says.They’re delicious fresh, but cooked figs bring an irresistible jammy texture to both sweet and savoury tarts

How to make cassoulet – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass

Being French, this rich, leguminous casserole passes as “a voluptuous monument to rustic tradition”, rather than being relegated, like our own pease pudding and ham, to the faintly dismissive category of “comfort food”. In truth, however, it is both: soothingly starchy and deliciously savoury. My take on this classic dish makes no claim to be the one true Carcassone, Castelnaudary or Toulouse cassoulet, but it is worth your time.Soak 8 hr+Prep 15 minCook 4 hr 15 min Serves 6-8800g dried haricot beans 1 onion, peeled and halved1 head of garlic, left whole and unpeeled, plus 4 peeled garlic cloves, roughly chopped2 fresh thyme sprigs 1 bay leaf 1kg bone-in pork belly, or lamb breast2 confit duck legs, plus their fat 4 garlicky Toulouse sausages Salt and black pepper 300ml white wine 120g dried breadcrumbsHaricot are preferable here, and you can get some lovely heirloom French varieties online, but if need be dried cannellini or other white beans will do. Put the beans in a large, ovenproof pot, cover with cold water and soak for at least eight hours; I’m afraid this is one recipe where tinned shortcuts just won’t cut the mustard

Paprikash fish and leek and olive stew: Irina Georgescu’s recipes from the Danube

The way we Romanians cook at home is more varied and regional than what you get in the country’s restaurants, which generally serve a pretty standard menu across the country. We have old traditions of preserving and of cooking with seasonal fruit and vegetables, influenced by observing 180 days of fasting annually (fortunately not all in a row). Even when we do cook with meat or fish, our dishes often feature spring onions, leeks, chard, spinach, courgettes, aubergines and tomatoes, and there are constant culinary nods to the Roman empire, too: leeks, so loved by the Romans, are the culinary symbol of Oltenia in the south of the country; we still bake ash bread under a dome-shaped earthenware lid called a testum, known locally as a țest, much as they did in Pompeii; we add vinegar, a Roman favourite, to our soups; and we use lots of lovage and parsley, which flavoured many ancient Roman dishes. But the similarities stop at garlic, which Romans hated, and which we love.Dishes with leeks have dual nationality in my family