Homemade pasta and Laibach Merlot 2003

The top-scorer in this month's category tasting of Merlot was the Laibach 2003, which scored 4½ Stars. We asked Luciana Righi, chef/co-owner at Assaggi in Johannesburg, to devise a food match. Joanne Simon reports.

Everyone's talking about Assaggi, the restaurant spawned by a deli - as so many authentic Italian eateries are - by mother-and-son team Luciana Righi and Giancarlo Peroni six years ago.

But nobody's talking as loudly as Righi herself - the only snag being that most people can't understand her. "My Eengleesh is ter-r-r-rible!" she apologises with a laugh before calling her manager to the phone to translate. In the background, I can soon hear her getting ready for the lunchtime rush and issuing instructions: "Alora, come, come! Pronto! Ay-yay-yay…"

It's easy to imagine a scene straight out of the heart of Italy - Ravenna near Bologna, perhaps, where Righi was born to a family of restaurateurs. But noisy, convivial Assaggi is located in a small shopping precinct of Illovo, so it's just as easy to imagine looks of utter bemusement on her staff's faces from time to time...

Still, no doubt helped along by much hand waving and demonstrating, the result is simple but superior Italian fare. With pasta made fresh every day, along with masses of creamy yellow polenta to go with the Osso Bucco, the regular menu is authentic and unpretentious. There is also a long list of daily specials, from strips of butter-tender calamari served with zucchini chips to Coteletta alla Milanese (veal chops, crumbed and fried) or grilled calf's liver with white wine and onion jam served on homemade pasta.

So what will Righi whip up to serve with the Laibach Merlot 2003, the ripe, full-bodied, dark-berried wine that scored 4½ Stars in this month's category tasting of Merlot?

It turns out to be a simple dish of strozapreti funghi con salsiccia - homemade pasta served with a sauce of button mushrooms, Italian sausage, tomatoes and even a glass of the winning Merlot. Unfortunately Righi's passion in explaining why she chose this dish, with a "bellissimo" here and a "robusto" there, is obviously lost in her manager's rather blunt translation: "[She] chose the Italian sausage which is made from pork as [she] thought that the flavours of the Merlot and pork complemented each other perfectly."

Strozapreti is traditional pasta from Romagna, rolled and twisted by hand. It is therefore irregular in form and chewier in texture than most pasta, making it perfect for a chunkier sauce such as this one.

The name, incidentally, means "priest choker" because, centuries ago, it was common practice in Italy to let priests eat for free, and some cooks secretly wished that these "freeloaders" would choke on the pasta course before they could get to the next, more expensive, meat dish...

Assaggi, Post Office Centre, 30 Rudd Road, Illovo, Johannesburg, Tel 011 268 1370.

Strozapreti funghi con salsiccia
Homemade pasta with button mushrooms, Italian sausage, tomato and Merlot
(Serves four)

1 onion, finely chopped
½ glass extra virgin olive oil
1 glass Merlot
1 bottle passata (Italian tomato)
1 punnet (250g) button mushrooms
1 cube chicken stock
500g Italian sausage
1 Tsp grated Parmesan

Fry the onion in extra virgin olive oil. Add the Italian sausage meat and fry until crisp - about 10 minutes.

Add the Merlot, and when the wine has evaporated, add the mushrooms, passata and stock cube. Cook for half an hour.

Serve on top of homemade pasta, sprinkled with grated Parmesan.