KP came over to share in my cooking escapades last week. I wanted to make a chicken something that would work with a red wine. Usually I would love to pair grilled chicken with a merlot or cab...but.....Andrew is gone and I don't know how to work a grill! I know he's taught me but I don't trust myself when fire and air flow and high temperatures are involved. I found a recipe for chicken marsala, but then Kevin couldn't find marsala wine at the store, so we improvised and made a sherried chicken mushroomy thing. We are the Macgyvers of the kitchen! Kevin brought a yummy cranberry and almond salad and even busted out his guitfiddle to play some tunes!
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, butterflied
2 tspn salt & 1/2 tspn pepper
- 2 cups Sherry cooking wine
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 tspn thyme
- 1 tspn basil
- 3 Tblspn olive oil
- 2 Tblspn butter +2 more Tblspns butter for later
- 10 oz white button mushrooms, quartered
In a pan heat oil, season the chicken with salt and pepper, sear the chicken over medium high heat on both sides, not cooking through just browning. Remove from pan. In same pan melt butter, add mushrooms and thyme/basil. Sautee until brown, add garlic and heat until the garlic aroma is pretty strong. Add wine and cook for 10 min or so, until the alcohol is cooked off. Add remaining butter, and stir until thickened. Return the chicken to the pan and simmer until chicken is cooked through.
The Merlot had a very strong, sweet black cherry taste, but the aftertaste was tart like a blackberry. The mushrooms were bold, so they blended great with the roasted smokey flavor of the wine. I was a big fan of this brand's Chardonnay, but the aftertaste to their Merlot almost took over the food. It had a lot of tannin flavor that made my mouth feel almost gritty after a few sips. In the end, it was a $3 wine, but my expectations were so high after the Chardonnay!
Cheers!
KLM
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I decided to start blogging my experience with food and wine pairings! I'm quite excited because I have absolutely fallen in love with wine tasting and culture; and more recently I have tried to add cooking to my repertoire so I can combine the two. It fascinates me to learn about where certain grapes are grown, different vintages, how barrels affect taste, etc etc, you know, the nerdy stuff. I also just like drinking it....
I will not claim my cooking or opinions on wine are anything extraordinary, I am still learning and training my palate, but I try to offer something different. I have simplistic views on wine, and am definitely no wine snob, in fact, bargain wines are some of my favorites!
My number one rule is drink what you like, duh. Another simple tip I use is to match light flavored foods (fish, vegetables, chicken, anything steamed or baked, cream-based sauces) with white wines; "heavier" foods (red meats, pork, tomato-based sauces, anything roasted or grilled) with red wines.Pretty easy!
Lastly, good stemware is a very important part of wine tasting! Quality glasses 1) make the experience more fun and 2) are designed to highlight the most important qualities of wine: smell, sight, taste. I like to judge wine glasses by the size of their rim. It's true a thinner rim is chipped or broken easier, but it also lets the wine flow to all corners of your mouth, which is important because different parts of your palate pick up different tastes: bitter, sour, salty, sweet. As for those cool looking stemless glasses? I am not a fan. They warm up your wine faster and get so smudgy, yuck! I am lucky to have a WONDERFUL mother and AWESOME boyfriend who have gifted me some Lennox and Reidel stemware of my very own :)
Once I was home, I looked through the cabinets and decided I had all the ingredients for a lil somethin I like to call "Favorite Things Pasta." This is also known as "Everything-Andrew-Doesn't-Like Pasta."I take all of my favorites, mix them together in a pasta sauce! You can adapt the recipe to include everything that you love. Here's what I used:
- Any type of pasta (I just had regular spaghetti, but my FAVE would usually be some wheat penne)
- Whatever pasta sauce tickles your fancy (I just got some basic alfredo)
- Can of tomato puree (I tried the "sun roasted" kind)
- Artichoke hearts
- Sliced black olives
- Mushrooms
- Garlic
- Onion
- Basil
I also made my favorite salad: romaine lettuce, sliced green grapes, and balsamic vinaigrette. Mmmmm!
So swirl, sniff and sip away!! This wine, this $3 wine, was great! Just as good as any $10 bottle I've had. California pumps out a lot of excellent chardonnays, and this one didn't disappoint. It smells tart and a bit oakey. The taste is very crisp and appley but leaves an almost buttery aftertaste. I've had chardonnays that are very light, and find that I do not enjoy them near as much as more medium-bodied ones like this one. Wines that are too light taste almost water-like to me, ick.
How was that for easy?? I hope you find yourself inspired to cook something up and find the perfect wine to pair with your dish! Until next time.....
KLM
