King Prawns and Award Winning Belgium Sparkling Wine

I must admit that just recently I have been watching those iconic episodes of Keith Floyd on his journeys across the globe, thank goodness we have Youtube where we can overindulge in great series of cooking such tempting culinary delights. Whenever I watch Keith, no matter what time of the day, I get the urge to get the pots and pans out, in our case the Le Creuset pans and my woks for frying and hoping that I have such ingredients to at least resemble one of the dishes that the cameramen Clive or Hector would have filmed him preparing live on the side of some road, by the harbour or in the vineyards… One of the episodes he delved in to shellfish and cooking some king prawns of which I could lay my hands on, so a quick peek down the list of wines I have yet to review chez Glass of Bubbly and I picked out the 2011 Zilveren Parel to accompany the dish I was about to prepare.

Nothing too complicated, simply a pan of heated olive oil where I added the king prawns along with green pepper and cherry tomatoes. Some brown rice and boiled celery accompanied the dish with a sprinkling of homegrown fresh chives. I chose the Zilveren Parel as I knew it would be a lively wine and something that would do battle with the oily king prawns so to neutralise the overall tasting experience:

2011 Wijnkasteel Genoels-Elderen ‘Zilveren Parel’ Brut: “Dry and crisp – Lively when it hits the palate. Lime zest initially then gives way to minerals and dark green apple skins – Leaving the wine to breathe a little really awakens up some varied aromas and flavours where you’ll experience then a more buttery nose and taste becomes slightly less crisp, but more rounded.”

King Prawns: “Simple dish that allows each of the ingredients’ flavours to shine through and allowing the king prawn meaty flavours to dominate.”

Pairing: “Changes the wine immensely to become more Riesling flavoured along with fresh yellow fruits. The dryness and certainly the crisp and zesty flavours are neutralised allowing for a more smooth and fruity taste experience.“