I Love Simple Stuff

When it comes to eating and cooking I love simple stuff.  I really do.   It’s a really easy thing to just get something fresh, don’t mess with it too much and just let the freshness shine.  It elevates the whole thing when you are genuinely surprised by how well an uncertain wine pairing works out, which brings me to a recent Sunday dinner.   This dinner actually happened three weeks ago, but with last Sunday’s extravaganza I figured I’d wait a bit to post this one.

The menu was simple:

Applewood Smoked Roasted Chicken with a Chicken Jus and “Mashed” Spaghetti Squash.  The wine was a 2007 Rioja Vega.

Normally I wouldn’t think of serving a Spanish Rioja with smoked chicken (I’d go big fruity Pinot or domestic Syrah) but it worked perfectly, the roasted pepper and spice of the wine matched nicely with the subtle smokiness of the chicken and the high toned fruit really cut through the crispiness of the skin quite well.  Also I did use a fair dollop of butter and cracked pepper in my mashed squash and the acidity of the Tempranillo was just a great antidote for the richness of the squash.

I didn’t do too much to the chickens, just rubbed them with a little high quality olive oil from Napa Valley, some coarsely chopped cilantro, sea salt and cracked pepper.  I also rub just a little honey on the breast because I love the way my smoker gets the skin good and carmelized without burning it.  I take that skin, chop it up and put it in the jus, which is made with a stock from the innards and necks of the birds along with standard stock items (onion, pepper corns, celery) while the birds smoke and then thicken the stock with a little coffee colored roux.

The throne doesn’t look too comfortable for this pair of fresh hens from Whole Paycheck, but their ultimate sacrifice is soon to pay off.

The twins get in the ready position on top of my Big Green Egg, quite simply the greatest outdoor cooking device I’ve ever come across.

A couple of hours at 325 degrees makes a couple of birds a very tasty thing indeed

Roasted Chicken with Jus and Mashed Spaghetti Squash doesn’t necessarily make for the sexiest picture in the world, but man does it taste good.

Dining with pair of children aged 4 and 2 provided me with a variety of drinkware from which to choose, but ultimately I opted for the wine glass.

All in all a first rate, laid back dinner and for me a genuine surprise wine pairing.  I always would have thought Rijoa to be too austere for a dinner like this but I might have just found a new wine and food pairing that seem to be a natural fit.

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