Savoury pecorino, peas and mint muffins: the perfect recipe

L'food and wine pairing for me it is an obsession... not by chance my podcast is called "Red (doesn't) go with everything!". I love experimenting with recipes to go with the wines I get to taste! My summer recipe (but they are also delicious in winter!) is this: the savoury pecorino, peas and mint muffins, strictly paired with a sparkling wine with a slight residual sugar such as Merotto's Prosecco Dry! My husband liked them so much that I now prepare them every other day... luckily Merotto sent me several bottles to taste! 😄

I particularly like this recipe because to make 12 muffins I hardly soil anything: you only need a hand whisk (or a fork if you don't have one!), a spoon, a grater, a knife, a cutting board and a bowl! Of course, I recommend you buy the baking tin for 12 muffins and the 6 cm ramekins Delicia by Tescoma. I bought it on Amazon in December and can no longer do without it! The ramekins, on the other hand, I keep buying by the truckload, because at our house there is unimaginable muffin consumption as my husband eats like a pack of wolves! 😄

Just think that while I'm writing this article I left out the pecorino cheese I had left over to make the spaghetti carbonara (find my perfect recipe here) lunch and devoured it... then he thought about it later and is now 'accusing' me of not telling him not to eat it! 😄😄😄 Lucky for the Slow June tastings by Slow Food Italy they sent us three large pieces of Sardinian pecorino and I can fall back on the smoked one... 😅

Savoury muffins are a clever recipe why you can prepare them 30 minutes before having guests and they will make you look great. In fact, everyone keeps asking me for the recipe, which is why I decided to write this article! Served lukewarm or even hot, they taste even better because you will find the string cheese inside! Moreover, being vegetarian and with a rather easy taste, they are perfect for whomever you welcome... and this is also why I have suggested Merotto's Prosecco Dry to go with it! But let's talk about the food and wine pairing later...

Ingredients for 12 savoury muffins 6 cm in diameter

For the dough:

• 2 whole eggs at room temperature
• 230 g 00 flour
• 200 g of fresh, partly skimmed milk (but whole milk is also fine) at room temperature
• 60 g sunflower oil
• 30 g grated pecorino cheese
• 10 g instant brewer's yeast powder
• 5 g fine salt

For the filling:

• 70 g fine steamed peas (the classic ones in the can)
• a piece of pecorino cheese
• 12 fresh mint leaves

Savoury muffins: quick and easy preparation

To prepare the dough put all the ingredients except the flour in a bowl and beat with a whisk or with a fork for about one minute. Now toadd the flour and beat a few seconds by handplease do so for as little time as possiblejust enough to mix the ingredients. This is a type of dough where we don't have to form the mesh of gluten so the less we whisk the better! If your muffins come out 'tamugged' it's only because you've beaten too much!

And now to the filling!

First step. Put the ramekins in the mould and add a spoonful of batter to each mould.

Second step. Add a cube of pecorino cheese, half a mint leaf and a teaspoon of peas to each mould.

Third step. Put a big spoonful of dough in each mould. If there is leftover dough, finish it off... but it should be 12 tablespoons right!

Last step! In each mould place a cube of pecorino cheese, a teaspoon of peas, half a mint leaf, a grating of pecorino cheese and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Switch on the static oven at 180°C and wait until it is hot. I recommend that you do not turn on the oven until after you have completed the savoury muffins to give them a few minutes to rise. Cook in the half rack for 20 minutes approximately depending on your oven. Take them out with the help of a small spatula and let them cool on a wire rack for 5/10 minutes before serving. If you don't eat them straight away, leave them on the cake grid an hour before placing them under a glass bell or in an airtight container. They keep at room temperature for up to 3 days, I can't tell you beyond that because they never made it to our house! 😝

If you like this article, subscribe to my Newsletter or scroll down the page to continue reading and discover the perfect combination of savoury muffins with pecorino cheese, peas and mint! 😋

Savoury muffins: food and wine pairing with Barbara's La Primavera, Prosecco Dry 2019 from Merotto

It has a beautiful bright straw yellow colour. The perlage is numerous and on pouring forms an abundant, creamy, evanescent froth. The nose is intense and characteristic with notes of brown sugar, smoked, aromatic herbs, rose flowers, almost ripe pear. On the palate it is very pleasant, with good structure, great freshness and a nice tanginess that balances the residual sugar. I must say Of all the sparkling wines I have tasted so far from Merotto, this is by far the one I liked best.

It goes very well with savoury muffins for two reasons:

• although the savouriness of the pecorino is well balanced by the sweet tendency of the peas, it remains a rather tasty muffin. Dry means 'dry' and despite what one might think, this type of sparkling wine has a residual sugar content of between 17 g/l and 32 g/l. In particular, La primavera di Barbara Prosecco Dry 2019 has 21 g/l of sugar. This residue matches by contrast the savouriness of the pecorino, balancing the recipe to perfection.
• The mint I used is a wild mint that grew in my garden and is very fragrant, but mint in general is very aromatic. So choosing a charmat method sparkling wine made from an aromatic grape variety such as glera is absolutely perfect. Neither the savoury muffins nor the wine prevail, every mouthful and every sip is truly harmonious.

Of course we drank this wine at lunch with my legendary spaghetti alla carbonara. A good pairing, the bubbly for degreasing lends itself well. However, in this case I prefer a pas dosé or an extra brut because the carbonara has a marked tendency towards sweetness that is barely balanced by the savouriness of the guanciale/pancetta, and a Dry for me has too high a residual sugar to be called a perfect match. However, in this specific case of La Primavera di Barbara Prosecco Dry 2019 from Merotto, the smoky note of the wine matched perfectly with the aromaticity of the bacon and pecorino cheese!

I sincerely hope you enjoyed this recipe and combination... as always, I invite you to scroll down the page and leave me a comment.

Cheers 🍷

Chiara

All my notes on wine and food in one book.