More Champaggner?

The one good thing about getting older is you generally get more chances to enjoy the finer things in life, Champagne being a prime example. I'm talking about the genuine stuff from France, the best of which leaves our Aussie sparklers in the dust, the worst of which is a rip off.

On the subject of value I've always believed money spent on something you don't enjoy is money wasted regardless of how cheap it is. So a bottle of Bollinger is infinitely much better value than a bottle of Omni Blue, oh the horrors! So without further ado here are the champagnes, I'm still too poor to afford a taste of vintage champagne so it's all non-vintage stuff and scores are out of 20.

Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial 15
Had it on it's own after dinner and again with oysters. A fine mousse, nice flavours but seemed to lack a depth to them. Nice crisp finish. Not my favourite champagne, needs more depth of flavour and a bit more crispness, but it's obviously popular for a reason.

Moet & Chandon Nectar Imperial 16

Pommery Brut Royal 14

Piper Heidsieck Cuvee Brut 15

Lanson Black Label 12

Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label 16

Mumm Cordon Rouge 17

Bollinger Special Cuvee 18

Pol Gessener 15

Cattier 16

Pol Roger 16

Charles Heidsieck 15

Pasta Curls with Chilli Salsiccia Fresca

Ingredients

• 500g pasta curls
• 600g Salssicia Fresca
• 100mL of pure olive oil, I acutally used a blend of sunflower and extra virgin olive oil with about 1 tablespoon of extra virgin and 4-5 of sunflower.
• 2 medium onions
• 2 teaspoons of dried chilli flakes
• 6 small green jalapeno chillies
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 large capsicum, roasted
• 2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 4 tablespoons of tomatoe paste
• 2 cups of sweet red wine, Lambrusco from a cask will do just nicely
• 1 425g can of diced tomatoes
• 1 800ml bottle of pulped tomatoes
• 6 large button mushrooms

Steps

1. Dice the roast capsicum and onions, the onions should be diced fairly large whilst the capsicum should be a finer dice.
2. Chop the garlic into pieces that are coarser than minced.
3. Slice the mushrooms, if the slices are large cut the slices in half.
4. Slice the jalapenos thinly.
5. Slice the salsiccia in half and remove the casing.
6. Dice the salsiccia into medium chunks, as big as the onions at most.
7. Heat the oil on high heat and fry the onions for 2 minutes.
8. Add the chilli flakes and continue frying for 2-3 minutes until the onions become translucent and acquire a slight golden tinge.
9. Add the jalapeno chillies and fry for another minute.
10. Add the garlic and fry for another 2 minutes.
11. Add the smoked paprika, cumin and cloves and fry for another 2 minutes.
12. Stir the tomato paste in and fry for another 2 minutes.
13. Mix in the can of tomatoes including the juice and stir for another minute.
14. Blend in the bottle of pulped tomatoes and reduce to a medium simmer for 15 minutes.
15. Add the mushrooms to the sauce and simmer for at least another 5 minutes until the mushrooms are tender.
16. Serve with the cooked pasta, blending the more liquid parts of the sauce with the pasta and spooning the chunkier parts on top.
17. If desired top with pepper and a grana cheese, I used pecorino pepato which as the name suggests has flecks of pepper thereby using just the one condiment.