Recommendations
Lamb chops and rosemary with Cálem Porto Special Reserve
A roasting tray comes to the table with lamb cutlets, potato cubes, whole garlic cloves and cherry tomatoes that have just burst open, everything infused with rosemary. Set against that, the port brings a glass with seven years in cask, which clears the lamb fat and picks up the rosemary.
From the shelf
The bottle
Calem is a port house from 1859 with lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia. The Porto Special Reserve is a reserve: a blend of carefully selected wines with an average age of seven years, matured in cask. That places it in the class that the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto regards as reserve, and which according to Wines of Portugal is on average five to seven years old, with a colour between ruby red and brownish. The bottle is 20 percent alcohol and comes in 75 centilitres.
The combination
Why this works together
Lamb is rich in fat and protein, and that is exactly what a port with tannin needs. Tannin binds to proline-rich proteins in saliva and makes them clump together, so that the saliva loses its lubricating effect and the mouth feels dry; Zanchi and colleagues have described that mechanism. The protein and the fat from the lamb already catch part of that tannin on the plate, so that the glass feels soft in the mouth instead of astringent. There is also a second line: rosemary is resinous and almost balsamic, and seven years in cask give the port a woody, slightly spicy tone that sits alongside it. The cherry tomatoes and the balsamic bring the acidity that keeps the whole upright.
At the table
The dish
- For 4 people
- Ready in 40 minutes
- Type main course
What you need
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 8 lamb chops
- 1 kg potatoes, cut into small cubes
- 4 sprigs of rosemary
- 4 cloves of garlic, left whole
- 250 g cherry tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper
How to make it
- Preheat the oven to 220 degrees, or 200 degrees fan. Heat half of the oil in a roasting tin or ovenproof pan and brown the chops for 2 minutes per side. Take them out of the pan and set aside.
- Pour the rest of the oil into the pan, add the diced potatoes and fry them for 4 to 5 minutes until they start to colour. Add the rosemary and the whole garlic cloves and return the chops to the pan.
- Put the pan in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Scatter the cherry tomatoes over it, drizzle the balsamic vinegar over it and put the pan back for another 5 minutes, until the tomatoes burst.
- Season with salt and pepper and serve the dish straight from the pan.
In the glass
Serving
Serve this reserve at 12 to 16 degrees, the temperature the port institute prescribes for the ruby style; a quarter of an hour in the fridge usually brings a bottle at room temperature there. Use a tulip-shaped glass and fill it no more than a third. Decanting is not necessary. An opened bottle of reserve keeps well: for tawny and tawny reserve the institute allows three to four weeks, for ruby and ruby reserve eight to ten days. Store the bottle upright in a cool place.
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