Eat This With... Lisa Pretty tells you what to eat with her favorite winesLisa Pretty tells you what to eat with her favorite wines   

Eat Roasted Chicken with Anglim Roussanne

Lisa on September 13th, 2010

 

An artist friend of mine, Fred Ventura, fairly recently started to create

some very fun pottery items. You have likely heard of chicken on a

beer can. Well, if not, the idea is you take a can of beer, drink about

a third of the beer, cut off the top, add a few herbs, then you sit the

chicken on the can, balance it on the grill and roast the chicken. Fred

decided to go upscale with this and made a  chicken roaster with the

"can" built-in. Very clever and something I knew a couple of foodie

friends of mine may appreciate.

 

 

I gave one of Fred's early creations to Pat & Pete, my foodie

friends, partially because I knew they would invite me over when they

tried it out, and partially since I was curious to see what they would

do. They went the wine instead of beer route - adding white wine,

lemon and some herbs to the "can" portion of the roaster as well as

coating the entire chicken in the mixture. As I predicted they invited

me over for a very nice summer dinner the first evening they tested

out the roaster.

 

 

 The chicken was perfect - nice crispy skin, perfectly roasted all over,

very juicy and with a nice lemon flavor. The roaster had several

advantages over the "can" technique: it was easy to keep the chicken

balanced on the grill, the juices were collected in the roaster, there

was less mess and well....we didn't have to drink beer. Another

benefit is you can use this all year round - if it is too cold or wet to fire

up the grill the roaster works perfectly in the oven.

 

To complete the meal, Pete had sliced up some fresh tomatoes with a

little olive oil and basil, he also prepared a very healthy (from the

South Beach Diet Summer cookbook) recipe of green beans

with cheese, pine nuts and fresh basil and some roasted fennel. A

perfect and healthy summer meal.

My contribution was the Anglim Roussanne - very refreshing - a nice

pairing with the roasted chicken and yummy vegetables. We all

enjoyed the meal and the wine. The cool Paso evening after a hot day

was just right for an evening dining outside. We toasted Fred and

thought of other ways we could use his roaster. 

I think Fred is onto something and I will be

experimenting with several recipes to use his very clever roaster. I'm

still waiting for my very own roaster - I requested a slightly larger and

orange version - nothing like putting pressure on an artist! When

mine finally arrives expect a new chicken recipe with a photo of what I

expect will be a very "pretty" roaster.

 

General, Pairing 2 Comments » Sep 13

 

Eat Grilled Rib Eye Steak with Chateau Margene Cabernet

Lisa on September 13th, 2010

 

When I am making dinner for a man I don't know all that well I tend

to go with a big, juicy grilled rib eye steak. What man can resist a

huge steak cooked to perfection? Always seems like a safe culinary

decision.

 

 

Well, I have to say after working out, a nice steak cooked rare or

maybe medium rare is what I crave. After a recent workout, one of my

friends and I treated ourselves to a fabulous ribeye with a huge

salad. We decided since we had worked out so hard we deserved a

special wine with dinner - I broke out the bottle of Chateau Margene

Cabernet Sauvignon that I had in my cellar.

 

I still think Cabernet Sauvignon is the KING of red wine and one of my

very favorites from the Paso Robles area is Chateau Margene's.

Vintage after vintage the wine wows me.

 

We had the 2006 vintage and I would totally agree with the winery's

notes: "Dark purple, extracted wine with a bouquet of blackberry,

cocoa and toasted oak. A fruit forward wine, with a rich, bold mouth

feel, exceptional balance and a lingering finish. 85% Cabernet

Sauvignon / 11% Merlot / 4% Cabernet Franc"

 

Served with a steak, a nice salad and a lot of girl talk makes this a

perfect dinner for girl's night in - although I'll keep this combination in

mind for date night as well!