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FOOD 12 | SUNDAY • 10 FEBRUARY 2019 maltatoday • 1 red pepper • 1 onion • 3 cloves garlic • ½ bulb fennel • 150g spicy chorizo • 3 tomatoes • 1tbsp lemon peel • Handful of mint • 2 medium cuttlefish, cleaned • 50g green olives • 200ml white wine • 400ml chicken stock • Olive oil • Salt to taste 1. Chop the red pepper, tomato and chorizo into similar sized cubes, around 2 inches. 2. Slice the onion and the fennel, and roughly chop the garlic. 3. Slice the olives lengthways and chop the cuttlefish into pieces around 3 inches in size. 4. For the lemon zest, remove the skin of half the lemon with a potato peeler and slice it into thin strips. 5. Now that your prep is done, put a pot on a medium heat. 6. Add olive oil and start by frying the onion, fennel, red pepper and chorizo. 7. Cook them for 5 minutes and add in the garlic. Leave for another two minutes and add the chopped tomato. 8. Cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring every so often. 9. Add the wine and allow the alcohol to cook off. 10. Add the chicken stock, mint, lemon zest, olives and cuttlefish. Bring to the boil and drop to a simmer. Leave to cook slowly in this way for 3 hours or until the cuttlefish is very tender. 11. Keep an eye on the liquid level, topping up with water if needed. 12. Once the cuttlefish is ready reduce the liquid to a stew consistency. 13. Set the water for the polenta to boil in another pot. 14. Once boiling, add a couple of pinches of salt and add in the polenta. 15. Lower the heat to medium, stirring constantly for 2 minutes to avoid lumps. 16. Stir in some butter to your liking and adjust the seasoning if needed. 17. Spoon the stew over the polenta in bowls and garnish with more mint leaves. CHARLES GRECH Bin 2 Shiraz Mataro 2014 Penfolds, Australia Bin 2 Shiraz Mataro is a classic Penfolds wine, steeped in nineteenth-century tradition. Typically it is a generous medium-bodied wine based on shiraz, but shot with the aromatics and muscular strength of mataro. It's best to drink early, but like many of Penfolds reds can last the distance in the cellar. Bouquet: Scents of black olive and dark black cherry laced with mixed spices/herbs, Dark chocolate notes and a skerrick of liquorice. Palate: Mataro's green tea-leaf characters immediately apparent, as is Mataro's inky/ rubbly palate imprint. Grainy/particulate/powdery tannins throughout. Ditto, barely perceptible oak (some vanillin, crushed biscotti f lavours). Evocative Shiraz fruits and savouriness dominate the mid-palate. Refreshingly medium-bodied, enticingly textured. Food Affinities: veal, roast chicken, planked salmon. Exclusively imported by Charles Grech & Co Ltd Valley Road, Birkikara T: 21 444 400 Fine quality Italian wines of tradition Irpina. Donnachiara, winery located in Montefalcione (Avellino), with its vineyards that stretch along the hills typical of the Irpinia, produces white wines and red wines of high quality including Greco di Tufo, Fiano di Avellino, Taurasi DOCG but also sparkling like Santè Falanghina. Soft crushing of the selected grapes and after that cold decanting of the must fermentation at 57-60°F in steel vats for 15 days. Malolatic fermentation is not done. Full expression of it's territory, the heart of Greco di tufo, with a specific attention to all the factors of maturation of it's aroma's. Nose: Offers fruity flavours of pear, apricot, pineapple and citrus Palate: Smooth, elegant and structured, with good freshness and a great persistence that confirms and amplifies the olfactory sensations. Food Affinities: Perfect with all seafood, pasta with light sauces , white meats and herb cheeses Exclusively imported by Charles Grech & Co. Ltd, Valley Road, Birkirkara T: 2144 4400 Donnachiara Greco di Tufo: DONNACHIARA Private chef as well as Chef at Gourmet Today and at Mediterranean Culinary Academy Cuttlefish and chorizo stew Enjoy a taste of the Mediterranean with Debbie's cuttlefish and chorizo stew This recipe first appeared on Gourmet Today TV January 2019. Catch Gourmet Today TV on Thursday at 6.30pm on TVM Debbie Schembri Ingredients For the Polenta • 100g quick polenta • 400ml water • Salt to taste • Butter to taste