Every Friday, InterWined.com pairs one great wine that exceeds its normal £10 ($20) threshold with one great meal, prepared following the instructions of some the Internet’s best food blogs.

This week’s ‘Blow the Bank’ comes in the form of Sunday lunch and its own recipe for Haloumi on Aduki Bean & Spinach Bed.

In recent weeks, it seems that every supermarket has unveiled its own version this week’s ‘Blow the Bank’, call it serendipity or coincidence. Just don’t call it a controversy. Leave that to the wine.

The 2006 Red Heart Cabernet Sauvignon Petit Verdot from South Australia, £5 from Sainsbury’s, is shrouded in controversy. Bottled in Northamptonshire for Buckingham Vintners, yet allegedly produced in South Australia’s Riverland. But, as Kim Wheatley and Paul Kent of Adelaide Now reported in December 2006, “Sainsbury’s says the wine comes from Kingston on Murray in the Riverland, but declined to elaborate on the vineyard that produces it. The Sunday Mail has contacted the main growers in the region, including Kingston Estate, Banrock Station and Salena Estate. All said they knew nothing of Red Heart.”

All very mysterious…

But wait; there’s more. Red Heart advertises itself as the Britain’s healthiest wine, containing 32% more antioxidants than average. Indeed the back of the bottle reads more like a press release for the health page of woman’s magazine than it does the traditional tasting notes and “excellent with cheese” malarkey more commonly found on the back of wine bottles these days.

According to Wheatley and Kent’s report, the wine’s health allegations put it in breach of wine export regulations. The two quote Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation corporate affairs manager Eric Wisgard as saying, “It’s almost promoting wine as a health drink and that’s something that’s not permitted. Because of these reciprocal agreements between all the wine trading nations, it effectively would be an international breach.”

Regardless of the controversy, InterWined’s ‘Blow the Bank’ is first and foremost interested in pairing foods and wine and the Red Heart makes an interesting and satisfying match to the haloumi salad.

A red wine most often paired with grilled meats and grassy steaks, the Cabernet Sauvignon Petit Verdot blend here nicely compliments the grilled and chewy texture of the haloumi cheese, helping to give it a meatier quality and smooth its often salty flavour. The Red Heart’s juicy, blackcurrant taste and pepper/chocolate nose also support the subtle flavours of the peppered aduki bean and spinach bed. And, while the controversy surrounding the wine might not matter much to the average drinker, it matters to InterWined: 7.9. A good match, soured by controversy.

InterWined’s Own Recipe In Full

Haloumi on Aduki Bean and Spinach Bed

Ingredients:
1 packet of haloumi cheese (pasteurised cheese from Cyprus)
1 bag of fresh baby leaf spinach
½ red onion, finely chopped
8-10 pomodorino (cherry) tomatoes, loosely chopped
½ tin of chopped tomatoes
I cup of cooked or tinned aduki beans (alternately use green lentils; maybe even black beans)
Olive Oil
Black Pepper

Preparation:

1. Sweat the onion with olive oil in a large saucepan on a medium-high heat, before adding the pomodorino tomatoes and stirring vigorously
2. As the tomatoes begin to soften and cook, add the cup of aduki beans and continue to stir for 2-3 minutes
3. Add the tinned chopped tomatoes and stir again
4. Slowly begin to stir in handfuls of spinach leaves, letting each handful wilt before adding the next
5. Once all of the spinach has wilted, reduce the heat to its lowest setting or remove from the burner and season with lots of black pepper
6. Heat the olive oil in a separate saucepan or skillet, and slice the haloumi into long thin pieces
7. Before the oil begins to burn, lower the heat to medium, and place the slices of haloumi into the pan or skillet (Depending on the size of your pan, you might have to prepare the haloumi in batches)
8. Grill the haloumi on each side for 2-3 minutes, until the outside of the cheese has browned
9. Serve on a bed of bean and spinach

Download & Print Recipe

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