When we were younger, Mum could always rely on one dish to guarantee that we wouldn’t leave a single grain of rice unhoovered from our bowls. But it wasn’t one of her own incredible creations that ensured we finished our dinner.

Resting in a small dish, which was steamed alongside the rice, was something magical called fried dace with salted black beans. Many Cantonese people will be familiar with this intense dish and the iconic oval yellow and blue tin that houses it. Dace, a small fish, is fried until its flesh is golden and firm, then submerged into oil alongside salty preserved black beans. The result is pungent, but fabulously savoury and unbelievably tasty when eaten with plain rice.

At our tasting of New Zealand wines at the New Zealand Cellar in Pop Brixton, we sipped two delicious wines by Babich, New Zealand’s most experienced family winery. One of these was a crisp sauvignon blanc, a wine that New Zealand is world famous for. Babich’s version is a riper variety which delivers an interesting, easy-to-drink wine. And the acidity was just spot on too – lively without being too intense. The fresh, sweet and tropical flavour of this one made it Julie’s favourite, and we could see how it would pair really well with delicate seafood like our garlic prawns and shellfish.

The second wine we tasted from Babich was their beautiful pinot noir. When the deep red wine hit our tastebuds, we knew that we wanted to develop a bold recipe that would stand up well against its dark stone fruit and earthy flavours. Enter that old childhood favourite: salted black beans! Combined with beef, which we know works very well with red wine, the strong savoury flavour of salted black beans are a great match for the slight hint of spice and dark earthiness that we get from the Babich Pinot Noir.

Because we love a supercharged black bean flavour, we prefer to use the whole beans that are available in Chinese supermarkets, over the black bean sauces that you can buy in jars. As long as you give them a good rinse before using them, they won’t be too salty. For some nice crunchy contrast and a welcome pop of colour against the juicy strips of beef, we’ve also included some green beans in the stir fry. Our black bean beef + a couple of generous glasses of Babich’s Pinot Noir = the perfect date night in!

This post was kindly sponsored by Babich. All of the opinions expressed here and recipes are our own. For more information, visit: http://www.babichwines.co.nz/