Chicken in white wine recipe

The classic Coq-au-vin, using red wine, is a classic of French cuisine. It was probably more fashionable in the 1960s and 70s but it is well worth revisiting.

Le Coq I Elizabeth Garrett Buy From Art.com

I like this version with white wine. It is ideally paired with an aromatic medium bodied white, perhaps a Viognier, but preferably a firm Vermentino. The recipe is adapted from the “Myra Breckenridge Cookbook” a rather tongue-in-cheek collection celebrating food, sex and the films of the golden era of Hollywood through the eyes of Gore Vidal’s outrageous character.

Ingredients for 4 people

• 1 chicken, jointed
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 clove garlic crushed
• 3 rashers bacon, diced
• 12 small pickling onions
• 1 medium carrot
• 2 cups button mushrooms
• 250ml white wine
• Olive oil

Method

Use a heavy based ssaucepan or a casserole dish over medium heat. Saute the bacon and the garlic for a couple of minutes to release some of their flavours into the oil. Remove and set a side.

Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour and brown in the saucepan, adding a little more oil if necessary.

Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pan to release any bits that may have adhered. Turn heat down to low, and return the bacon and garlic to the pan. Add the mushrooms, sliced carrots and peeled onions.

Cover the saucepan and simmer for 45 minutes. You may need to add a little more wine or water.

Serve with steamed potatoes or a green vegetable in season.

Wine Suggestion

This dish is ideal for a medium bodied white wine. I would suggest a Vermentino - the wine will have enough depth of flavour not to be overwhelmed by those of the bacon and mushrooms.

This is a variation on the traditional steak and kidney pie recipe. I first found it in an old Margaret Fulton cookbook. The basic sauce is the same, but instead of the traditional crusty pie topping there is a lighter sponge on top.

Basic Steak and Kidney Recipe

1 kg of stewing beef, round, blade or rump steak are suitable cuts
1 Ox kidney or 4 lamb kidneys
1 Tablespoon of plain flour
Salt
ground black pepper
Pinch of dried herbs, thyme, sage or oregano
100 ml red wine

Trim fat and gristle from the beef. Cut into 2 cm dice.
Remove core and membrane from the kidneys an cut into smaller pieces.
Coat the meat and kidneys in the seasoned flour. I find the easiest way to do this is to put the ingredients into a plastic bag and give it a good shake.
Put the meat into a casserole and simmer very gently for 2-3 hours.

For the sponge

1 cup of Self raising Flour
Good pinch salt
2 eggs separated
1 cup milk
50 g melted butter

Sift flour and salt into a basin. Make a well in the centre of the flour. Beat the egg yolks into the milk and pour into the well. Add the butter and stir the mixture until it is smooth.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and then fold into the mixture.

To assemble
Put the steak and kidney mixture into a basin that will fit inside a large saucepan or boiler. Do this while the sauce is still hot.
Pour the sponge mixture over the back of a large spoon onto the steak and kidney mixture so that it spreads out evenly.
Put the basin into a saucepan with boiling water half way up the sides. Cover the saucepan and bring to a fast boil for a half hour.

Some Wine suggestions
The strong flavours of this dish demand a hearty red wine. I would suggest a Durif or a full bodied Zinfandel

Veal Scallopine Recipe
This is a simple dish to make, but you need to be careful about a few points.
1. The veal should be fairly thin, if it isn’t give it a bash or two with a meat mallet.
2. Use a pan that will just hold the meat slices neatly, so that they don’t stew, or the fat doesn’t burn.
3. It needs to be served quickly.

Ingredients

• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• Plain (all purpose) flour
• Thin slices of veal
• Butter
• Olive oil
• One lemon, sliced
• A handful of fresh sage leaves

Method
Season the veal slices and toss in the flour to coat well.
Melt a knob of butter with an equal amount of olive oil in a frying pan. Fry the lemon slices for a minute or two, then remove.

Cook the veal in the frying pan, sealing quickly on each side. It should only take about 2 minutes.
Remove the veal to a warmed plate.

Add some more butter to the pan if necessary and fry the sage leaves until crisp.

Serve the veal with the sage leaves on top, garnished with a green salad or vegetable.

Variation

Instead of sage, use a cup of thinly sliced mushrooms. After you have cooked them for a couple of minutes scrape any browned bits of veal off the pan and pour in about 100ml of white wine. When the wine has reduced by about half pour the sauce over the scallopini.

Food pairing suggestion

This Italian style dish would go well with a crisp Arneis white wine

You can find information about Arneis in Australia by here.

Brasato al Barolo is a classic Piemontese dishes, and really does require a good bottle of Barolo to come out right. You need to begin preparation the day before. Nebbiolo hails from the same region of Italy, so this braised beef dish is an ideal food pairing with Nebbiolo from other parts of the world.

Barolo is the most elegant expression of the Nebbiolo grape. You can make this dish with similar full bodied highly tannic wines, use the best you can afford…and you’ll need a second bottle (or more) to drink with the finished dish.

Ingredients for 6 people

* 1.5 kg beef, topside or rump is suitable
* A bottle of full bodied red wine
* A large onion, sliced
* A large carrot
* A stalk of celery
* A bay leaf
* A teaspoon of black peppercorns to taste
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 rashers of bacon or some salted pork
* 1/4 cup brandy (optional)
* Salt to taste.

Method.

Begin the day before you plan to cook the meat. Slice the onion, celery, and carrot, and put them in a bowl with the meat, bay leaf, and peppercorns. Pour the wine over the mixture and marinate it until the next day, turning the meat occasionally.

Remove the meat, reserving the marinade, and pat the meat dry.

Strain the marinade, bring it to a boil, and cook it until it’s reduced by half.

In the meantime, tie the meat with string so it keeps its shape and brown it in a heavy based pot with the butter and prosciutto fat. Once it’s well browned on all sides, flambe with the brandy.

Then season the meat with salt, pour the reduced marinade over it, add the vegetables that it marinated with, cover and simmer over low heat or in a slow oven until the meat is done, about two hours.

When the meat is done remove it to a platter and remove the string. Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and either put them through a food mill or blend them.

Stir the blended vegetables back into the sauce, pour it over the meat, and serve. The meat should be so tender it could be carved with a spoon.

Serve it with mashed potatoes or a polenta, and another green vegetable. Don’t forget that other bottle of Nebbiolo.

This beef stew is a typical rustic Greek style dish that I have based on a recipe on Katerina’s Healthy Greek Recipes website at http://www.squidoo.com/greekcuisine

It makes an ideal food pairing for a South Australian Grenache red wine.

Ingredients for 8 servings

2 kg of beef - rump, round, or other stewing cut, cut in 5cm chunks
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup of olive oil
2/3 cup of red wine
1 1/2 cups of water
3 ripe tomatoes, chopped in blender
250ml ounces of tomato passata
1 tablespoons of sea salt
pepper
large pinch of cinnamon
1 teaspoon oregano or dry thyme

Method

Sprinkle the meat with 1 tablespoon of salt, pepper cinnamon and oregano. Sauté the onion in the oil over medium heat for a couple of minutes then add the beef and cook for another 8 minutes, turning often.

Stir in the wine, cover loosely, and cook for another 10 minutes.

Add tomatoes and tomato sauce and cook until it boils. Add water as needed, reduce heat to low and cook gently for an hour and a half (the longer the better).

Remove from heat and let sit for 10-15 minutes covered before serving. Serve with spaghetti, oven baked potatoes or mashed potatoes, and perhaps a country style greek salad.

If you don’t have a Greek red wine to drink with this dish a rustic red wine would go very well. My suggestion is for a Grenache.

Osso Buco Italian Style Veal Shanks

Jamie Oliver’s Italy could be a great addition to your Italian cookery book collection.

Click the image to order it from Amazon.com

Much of classic Italian cuisine has its roots in traditional home cooking where the emphasis is on simple hearty fare. Osso buco is a favourite dish throughout Italy but it is especially popular in Milan.

Ingredients

4 veal shanks
Olive oil
2 carrots
3 sticks celery
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
flour seasoned with salt and pepper
2 tins canned tomatoes
100ml red wine
400 ml beef or vegetable stock
dried oregano
1 bay leaf
rind of half a lemon
chopped parsley

Method
Make a sofritto by finely dicing the carrots, celery onion and 2 of the cloves of garlic and sauteing in olive oil. Sofritto means ‘half cooked’, so you really need to just soften the vegetables. Remove them to a large ovenproof dish.

Dredge the veal shanks in the flour and brown them on both sides in oil. Arrange the osso buci on top of the vegetables. Deglase the saute pan with the wine and add the tomatoes. Break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Add the stock and herbs and bring the sauce to a boil. Taste it and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables and cook, covered in a modeate oven for two hours.

Use the extra clove of garlic, the finely chopped parsley and the grated lemon rind to make a gremolata, just combine the crushed garlic with the other ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle it over the dish just before serving.

Serve the osso buco with risotto milanese.

Food pairing with Osso Buco

This rich Italian dish is ideally accompanied by a savoury Italian red wine - a Sangiovese would be most suitable.

Here is a Zinfandel food pairing suggestion from food and wine writer Fiona Beckett.

This is a really robust pasta dish from Fiona who has her own regularly updated site www.matchingfoodandwine.com

The Zin gives a richer, more warming flavour than the usual tomato-based sauce, Fiona says.

You can use rigatoni, penne or similar pasta in this recipe.

Ingredients: Serves 4

350g Italian sausages or other coarsely ground 100% pork sausages
4 tbsp olive oil
1 medium aubergine/eggplant (about 250-300g) cut into cubes
1 medium onion (about 150g), peeled and finely chopped
1 medium red pepper (about 150g), de-seeded and cut into roughly 2 cm
squares
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 rounded tbsp tomato puree
1 level tsp dried oregano
175ml zinfandel or other full bodied fruity red wine
175ml fresh chicken or light vegetable stock made with a teaspoon of
vegetable bouillon powder
350g dried rigatoni or penne pasta
4 heaped tbsp freshly chopped parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Slit the sausage skins with a sharp knife, peel off the skin and chop the sausage meat roughly. In a large frying pan or wok heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil and brown the sausagemeat breaking it up with a spatula or wooden spoon. Remove the meat from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add another 2 tbsp of oil to the pan and stir fry the aubergine for 3-4 minutes till it starts to brown. Add the remaining oil and chopped onion and fry for a couple of minutes then add the red pepper and fry for another minute or two.

Return the sausage meat to the pan, stir in the tomato puree and cook for a minute then add the garlic, oregano and Zinfandel. Simmer until the wine has reduced by half then add the stock, stir, and leave over a low heat to simmer while you cook the pasta following the instructions on the pack.

When the pasta is just cooked spoon off a couple of tablespoons of the cooking water into the sauce then drain the pasta thoroughly and tip it into the sauce along with 3 tablespoons of the parsley.

Mix well together and leave off the heat for 2-3 minutes for the flavours to amalgamate. Check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon the pasta and sauce into warm bowls and sprinkle with a little of the remaining parsley. You could also sprinkle over some grated parmesan if you like though I’m not sure that it needs it.

Recommended wine match:
Given you’ve got a bottle of Zinfandel open that would be the obvious match but you could also drink a southern Italian red like a Primitivo or a Syrah.

More about Zinfandel in Australia

Fiona has written several wine and food books. See details of a couple for sale through Amazon below.
…

Pasta is an important component of a healthy Mediterranean diet. As it contains flour and eggs it contains proteins, vitamins and energy… and that’s before you add the sauce.

Pasta Machine available from Amazon

Making your own pasta seems like a lot of trouble, but it can be well worthwhile. It is much easier if you have one of the pasta machines that clamp onto the table. In fact you can have your fresh pasta made and ready to eat in a similar time it takes you to cook dried pasta.

Ingredients for 4 people

400g plain white flour
4 eggs
good pinch salt
extra flour for workbench

Method

Mix flour and salt and place it on a clean workbench. Make a well in the heap of flour and break the eggs int the well. Stir the flour into the eggs with a knife, then knead the mixture with your hands. Use some of the extra flour if the mixture is sticky. Divide the dough into three or four pieces and flatten them with the ball of your hand.

Pass the piece of the dough through the machine with it opened at its maximum, fold over and repeat until the dough is smooth. Then gradually move the rollers closer until they are on the narrowest, or second narrowest setting. If the pieces become too long for easy handling just cut them in half. Dust with a little more flour if your dough becomes sticky.

You now have sheets of fresh pasta that you can use to make lasagna, or you can use then to make filled pasta such as ravioli or tortellini, or you can use the cutting rollers to make wide or thin strips.

To store your pasta toss through some flour to prevent it sticking. Or you can use it immediately.

To cook pasta bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and check after 2 minutes. It won’t take more than 3 -4 minutes to cook, so have your sauce ready.

Maintaining your pasta machine

Don’t immerse your pasta machine in water or you will damage the rollers. After using your machine just brush away any flour and dough with a dry cloth or brush.

Food and wine pairing for pasta really depends on the sauce. There are some wine suggestions on each of the sauce recipes.

My good friend Matt has learnt all about making pasta from his Italian in-laws. He has made an excellent home made video on how to make home made pasta

Papoutsakia means “little shoes” in Greek. The finished dish resembles shoes or boats. This recipe is vegetarian, but you could use some minced lamb as well in the stuffing mixture.

Ingredients for 4.

* 2 medium eggplants
* 4 spring onions (including green tops), chopped
* 6 cloves garlic, crushed
* 1 cup chopped celery, including some leaves
* 2 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped
* 1 green capsicum, seeded and chopped
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 teaspoon dried mint
* 1 half cup chopped fresh parsley
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 1 cup chicken stock, or tomato juice
* Freshly ground black pepper
* Kalamata olives (optional)
* Feta cheese (optional)

Method

Halve eggplants lengthwise. Scoop out centers to make boats. Chop scooped-out eggplant pulp.

Saute the chopped eggplant with the onions and garlic in some of the oil for a couple of minutes. Stir in the celery, tomatoes, capsicum, oregano, mint and parsley; mix well.

Stuff eggplant “shoes” with mixture. Sprinkle with a little olive oil. Place shoes into a baking dish. Pour chicken stock or tomato juice and remaining olive oil into dish, around the shoes. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated moderate oven for 45 minutes, or until eggplant is tender.

Garnish with freshly ground black pepper, Kalamata olives and feta cheese.

This dish can be served as an entree, or as a side dish to souvlakia or greek style roast lamb.

Food pairing ideas

You could enjoy this dish with a full bodied Viognier, or perhaps a lighter style Petit Verdot.

Roast lamb is the essence of traditional Australian cuisine, and quince trees were once common in Australian backyards. Traditional ingredients to make an innovative dish to match with an alternative varietal wine.

This recipe is suggested by Sue Thornton of Amulet Vineyard in the Beechworth Wine Region of North Eastern Victoria. This recipe was originally published on the Food Lovers Guide to Australia in an episode featuring the Peppermint Bay Hotel in Tasmania

Ingredients: Serves 6-8 people
Preparation time: a day to marinate
Cooking time: 3-4 hours

• 1 large whole leg or whole shoulder of lamb
• 5 halved and squeezed lemons
• 5 halved heads garlic, with skin left on
• 4 quinces, skinned and cooked to a puree
• 4 cinnamon quills
• 8 whole cloves
• 200g honey
• Plus 4 quinces, peeled and halved
• Splash olive oil
• Splash red wine, Amulet’s Barbera
• Splash water
• Sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper

Method:
Place all the ingredients in a bowl except the halved quinces, wine, water and oil. Pour over the lamb and marinate in the fridge overnight or longer if possible. Two days is better.

Pre-heat oven to 160’C. In a large roasting tray, place the halved quinces and lay the lamb as flat as possible on top. Pour over the marinade, add a splash of the olive oil and enough wine to cover the base of the tray by about 1 cm. This method of ‘wet roasting’ allows the liquid to gently steam the meat. The liquid also stops the sugars in the marinade from burning.
Cover tray with foil as tightly as you can. Place in the oven.

After one hour, check the progress of the lamb. If there is still sufficient liquid in the tray, replace the foil and continue cooking. If not, add a little water.

After three more hours, remove the lamb from the oven. It should be a darkened caramel in colour. Rest for at least one hour as this will ensure the lamb stays moist.

When it’s cool enough to handle, gently run your fingers along the muscle to separate it from the bone. It should slide off easily. If the bone emerges clean then you know that it is cooked perfectly. Pour any excess liquid over the meat and garnish with the roasted quinces.

Gently re-heat the lamb with a little more wine and cover with foil again.

Serve with couscous tossed with roasted walnuts, tahini, yogurt and harissa (a Moroccan chilli paste)

Recommended wine: Amulet 2004 Duck Label Barbera.

Additional comments from Winemaker Sue Thornton: At Amulet” we having been considering a suitable recipe to go with our 2004 Duck Label Barbera.”

As lamb producers we have come up with this succulent lamb recipe which we found on the Food Lovers Guide to Australia website. It also features quinces and quince trees are often found in the orchards of old farm houses. So this recipe has flavours of country Australia.