Hope everyone celebrated #InternationalWomensDay on March 8 recognizing so many remarkable women contributing to our industry and our life. We read some wonderful social media posts that really made us stop and think about how valuable women are every day. A good time for your scribe to reflect on such matters is over dinner with my wife, Joan. We did that at Sunday dinner yesterday and also discussed some favourite culinary dishes. Sure, it is an outstanding, healthy, and delicious pairing for fish and seafood, best served with a top Chablis or another quality dry white wine. A lighter red wine might work, depending on the sauce and accompaniments. However, a more dependable still healthy match exists for both white and red wine with chicken dishes. Many more poultry options are available today that have been humanely raised without antibiotics. Numerous recipes exist that use various parts of the bird or the whole roasted chicken. We have found that arguably the best tasty versatile part for regular cooking are chicken thighs. The flavour is better if you cook them bone-in and skin-on but either or both can be removed just before serving if preferred. Cooking with bone-in meat provides even heat distribution and deeper flavour. Skin-on meat offers a higher fat surface to sear into a crispy crust. The darker meat, from active muscles, contributes juicy, savoury flavours with little risk of overcooking compared to breasts. A cook-friendly ingredient worth exploring.
Over the past couple of years, we have tried many different chicken thigh recipes. Most are interesting and provide a useful addition to your dinner repertoire. Some prefer sous vide (165-170F) for moistness followed by searing, but IMHO that method is not necessary. Here are two easier, dependable recipes we enjoy rather often:
SHEET-PAN CHICKEN WITH POTATOES, SCALLIONS AND CAPERS by Kay Chun a recipe developer and regular contributor to New York Times Cooking: (Recipe)
ROAST CHICKEN THIGHS WITH FENNEL, GREEN OLIVES AND LEMON adapted by The Wall Street Journal from a recipe by Chef Colin Wyatt of Twelve Restaurant in Portland, Maine, who stated “All these flavors work in unison.” They certainly do, with the sweet fennel balancing the briny olives & tart lemon: (Recipe)
As you see in the photos, many different red wines paired well with these chicken thigh recipes, including the 2013 Hester Creek Character blend of Syrah, Malbec, and Petit Verdot; the 2005 Chambolle Musigny Les Cras Guyon; and the 1970 Chateau Lynch Bages.
The Radish restaurant in Vancouver produces an excellent chicken dish with green olives and currants that paired perfectly with our 2013 Barbaresco Paje from the Produttori. Experiment and enjoy!
You might also like:
 |
 |
 |