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Riesling, rizza, will always have a special place in my heart. It was one of my first wine obsessions, the bottle that gave me that a-ha moment, and evidently my first Oprah quote.
Riesling is a variety that gets a bad rap as many people have only known to its cloyingly sweet incarnations, but modern Riesling will give you basically whatever you need, from bracingly crisp, dry examples to noble harvests and icewines.
There are limited plantings of this variety in South Africa and Riesling only makes up 0.21% of all grapes planted. But there are a few winemakers who are trying and giving this variety a red hot go. The ward of Elgin lends itself to Riesling production and many of the better examples hail from this cooler area surrounded by mountains. I have really enjoyed a few Rieslings that are locally available and I really recommend trying the Vrede en Lust “Artisan Range” and the Nederburg Riesling both of these wines land at around the $10 mark and I say have both on hand when you make this recipe so you can compare and contrast the two wines.
I digress, but the lemony freshness of Riesling lends itself to freshwater fish and a Zimbabwean favourite of mine is Tilapia or Kariba bream. I have paired a widely available and very good value example of South African Riesling the 2013 Nederburg winemaker’s reserve and I am pairing this wine with a really simple fish dish and sauce, flavoured with white wine, cream and capers
Tilapia A la Meunier With white wine lemon and caper sauce
The Meunier is French for the miller, so most things dusted in flour bear this name. I like it for the crispy finish you get off each piece of fish. I have given this classic a twist by using sweet potato flour, this flour rocks when it comes to getting the ultimate crunch and crispness on batters and frying. It also makes beautiful pancakes, it’s a really sustainable product in southern Africa and I am all about local produce
Ingredients
100g Sweet potato flour
Salt
Lemon Pepper
Garlic salt
100mls fresh cream
75mls Nederburg Riesling
2tsp capers
Vegetable oil and butter for frying
Method
Heat butter and vegetable oil in a pan the butter is there for flavour, oil will make sure your butter does not brown too fast.
Make sure your fish is as dry as possible by gently patting with kitchen paper. Then lightly coat your fish in the flour salt pepper and garlic salt.
Quickly fry your tilapia while basting the fish with the butter mix, a quick note on pan frying fish
- Make sure your pan is hot
- If your fish fillet has skin on then know that you will do 70% of the cooking skin side down to get a lovely crisp texture
- Fish continues cooking with residual heat so be sure not to dry it out It will continue cooking so there is no need to cook the living hell out of it
- Most white fish loves butter, garlic and lemon and this makes a classic combination
When the fish is cooked through set aside in a warm place and quickly get to work with your sauce. In the same pan add the chopped shallots, and garlic, then splash in your wine to lift all the tasty flavour at the bottom of your pan, add your cream and your capers and Voila!! Plate up and serve. You can have it as a simple summer lunch with a salad or bulk it up with some crushed potatoes or lemon scented Cous cous.
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Takura Makadzange is a Sommelier and chef, he lives and works in Harare and Bvumba wine and food education is his calling. He posts regular recipes on his website and facebook pages Cheftakura.com. You can email him on chefatakura[@]3-mob.com
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