We had my sister and family over last night - lovely, relaxing evening. She's vegetarian, vegan in fact, and I had tried to make something vaguely interesting for her to eat - knowing that she also like fresh, local ingredients/producers.

In the end I settled on a tart. Using shop-bought pastry (who makes puff pastry any more when the bought stuff is this good?), I started with a layer of sliced deep red tomatoes (these were the real deal - they smelt just like the ones my granddad used to pick out of his greenhouse), and then added some toasted pine nuts that I had mixed with some finely chopped garlic. A sprinkle of olive oil finished it off, and the tart was then baked in the oven for ten minutes to soften the tomato base. I then popped the tart out to add the finishing touches - a layer of fresh purple sprouting some vegan Parmesan cheese substitute. A grind of pepper, some Maldon sea salt, a sprinkle of olive oil and back in the oven for five minutes. As Gordon Ramsay might say - Vegan supper DONE! (In fact, it apparently tasted quite good too... but when I went to rush for the camera for a Blog photo I'd forgotten to charge the camera battery - doh!)

Making something so different from what I normally create had me in the the mood to try something new. Mmmm - it's a bank holiday w/end so why not go the whole hog and experiment with some wines not from our own list? Yes, shock, horror, Andrew doesn't always drink his own wines. As the day had been very spring-like, and in fact quite warm, my thoughts were turning towards glasses of chilled white. I've also determined to explore some other retailers' wines in the next few months....comparing and contrasting what we stock against what else is out there.

In the end I settled on two wines from Waitrose - I've always really rated them for food if I have to supermarket shop, and their wine selection is always interesting. Went for a Vinho Verde from Portugal and a Gruner Veltliner from Austria. Both were exactly what I was looking for. The Quinta de Azevedo Vinho Verde was bone dry; almost squeakily so. Almost took your breath away. The non-veggie food was a salad Niçoise made with fresh tuna and this wine went brilliantly both with the fresh fish and with the olive oil I'd used in the dressing. And, I tried it with a slice of the tart. It worked OK with that too.

We had some fresh asparagus too (can't get fresher than just out of the soil at Q Gardens Farm shop!), instead of the more traditional green beans in the salad, and I was intrigued to see how the second wine, the Schloss Gobelsburg Gruner Veltliner would fare with the asparagus. It has always been one of my favourite food and wine combinations. Worked great - I love the mineralty in the wine and the way it plays with 'greenness' of the asparagus. Plus, the Gruner Veltliner had enough weight to work with the fresh tuna. Very well made, and pushed me just that little bit nearer to re-inventing part of our white wine listing at Surf4Wine - we used to have a very interesting Austrian selection, but it was a bit like Alsace - fab wines but not a lot of people got behind them. Maybe time to try with Austria again...!

When I was at Q Gardens Farm Shop on Steventon Hill on Sunday (they don't have a web site, so I can't link to it here - a great shame as somewhere to show people what they sell would be useful. They are one of my favourite places to buy high-quality local food. Especially now they have their own butchers with excellent local reared meat. Anyway, I digress...), I saw an advertisement for new season's asparagus on the blackboard behind the counter. A quick inquiry and I found out that the first of their outside grown crop would be available in the shop around lunchtime on Monday.

Now, we LOVE asparagus in this house! It is one of the few green vegetables that son Douglas will consume with vigour and enjoy. So, I couldn't wait to get my hands on some. The intention had been to maximise the flavour of this beautiful new-season asparagus by either steaming and serving with melted butter (very traditional), or grilling and serving with Maldon sea salt and Parmesan (all very Jamie Oliver!)

In the event, things didn't go to plan. Yes, I got my asparagus, but by the time I would have been cooking it for supper I was most assuredly not well. So, it stayed in the fridge. Until Alison took it out tonight and combined it with zingy lemons and Arborio rice, plus some of the home-made stock and leftovers from Sunday's chicken. In fact, it was an adaption of Nigel Slater's lemon and Asparagus risotto. Nigel Slater is THE food guru in our house - we are big fans of his sensible, tasty recipes and food writing - his recipes just make you want to cook! In fact, I have just bought Alison his book 'Appetite'... not so much a cook book as a way of cooking. Definitely worth buying.

Anyway, a beautiful creamy risotto was produced. A lovely tang of fresh lemons, tender but still crisp asparagus; a lovely creamy, sticky risotto. Now, I'm not drinking tonight... but I did have some risotto. If ever a dish cried out of for a particular wine, it was this dish yelling and screaming 'find me some Gruner Veltliner'. This little known grape-variety (little known in a sea of Sauvignon and Chardonnay) is most cultivated in Austria and I first fell in love with it on a trip to Austria many years ago.

Good producers Of Gruner Veltliner make wines with a definite minerally style, integrate the natural acidity of the grape, and produce very food-friendly wines. These are wine without oak. Think Riesling but with a more minerally quality, a sightly greener edge and perhaps a bit more weight. We used to have 3 or 4 on our list, but I've just realised don't have a single one at the moment. That will change very soon!

So, with the Asparagus Season just kicking off, take my advice... go down to your local farm shop (it tastes so much better from there than from the supermarket!), grab yourself some fresh asparagus and buy in some Gruner Veltliner and give yourself a real treat. let me know what you think...