Spent the last several days in the company of one of my oldest and dearest friends. Yesterday we had a blast covering wine country in the Western Sonoma edge at the Russian River Valley in Healdsburg. More laid back ambiance, beautiful valley, gr8 peeps and yummy wine.
Toured Arista, C.Donatiello, Mill Creek, Christopher Creek and Rodney
Strong with a yummy lunch at H*B*G.The day was awesome, great way to cap off a wonderful visit and amazing NorCal weather.... highlights of the day - Andy at Arista, "Only 300+ bottles of wine in our basement", Peanut Brittle, JPeterman at HBG, the wine juice dude and the great grape caper!!!!! Can't wait till Paula G moves here with the kiddies!!!!
On home for a farewell meal.... something with simple ingredients thought it sounds more complicated.
Rosemary lemon chicken, over wilted spinach and toasted almonds, with a mushroom sauce in a white wine reduction and herb coated heirloom tomatoes. So here goes
.Rosemary lemon chicken - what I used:
• whole chicken
• juice from 2 lemons
• fresh rosemary, about 1 sprig
• salt & pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil
- Preparation:
I split the chicken down the back bone,opened it up and placed it in a baking dish breast side up. Rubbed all over with the lemon juice, then I added salt & pepper and the rosemary and rubbed all that in with a wee bit of olive oil. making sure all the chicken was coated in the seasoning and the olive oil. I placed it in the oven and baked at 375° for 30 minutes. Then I switched it to broil on HIGH for another 30 minutes and the chicken was good to go. (I recommend you leave the chicken marinating for about 20 min after coating before baking so it absorbs some of the flavours a bit better)
Mushrooms in a white wine reduction - what I used:
• 1lb White mushrooms (you can use crimini or baby bellas for this as well)
• 2 slices of bacon
• 3 cups of white wine (any white wine will do)
• salt & pepper
• 1/4 cup of milk or cream (optional)
- Preparation:
While the chicken was rockin I cut up the mushrooms into slices, placed a small pan on the burner on medium/high heat and cut up the 2 slices of bacon into wee pieces and threw them in the pan in order to render some of that fat and flavor. Once those bits of bacon are crispy, throw in your mushrooms and sautee till the mushrooms start to soften. Add 1 cup of white wine, salt and pepper. Stir and reduce that liquid about 1/2 way. once reduced add the 2nd cup of wine and let that again reduce then add the third. Bring that to a slow simmer and slowly stir in your milk then bring that to a slow simmer and let it reduce about 1/2 way and it is good to go.
Wilted spinach - what I used
• 1 bag of organic baby spinach
• 2 tbsp of butter
• 1/4 cup of slivered almonds
• salt & pepper
-Preparation:
In a roomy pan melt your buddah slowly on medium heat, add the almonds and stir those till they begin to toast and take on a golden colour, add your spinach a bit at a time and fold that into the pan so it starts wilting, take the heat down to medium/low for about 5 minutes, this way the spinach will release more of that bitterness and take on more of the toasted nutty yummyliciousness!
Heirloom Tomato situation - What I used:
• Pearl sized heirloom tomatoes
• EVOO
• Salt / Pepper
• Fresh rosemary
• Fresh Basil
Preparation:
You should prepare this about 20 minutes prior to serving. Cut tomatoes in 3 slices or 1/2 depending on the size of the pearl tomato. add salt, pepper, chopped rosemary and chopped basil, and then about 1tbsp of EVOO. fold all these things together in a bowl and then place the bowl in the freezer for about 20 min. When you're ready to serve just take them out of the freezer and serve cold... they'll have a nice 'POP' and flavour to balance out the temp of the warm dishes and the white wine reduction in the sauce.
So that's the dish... hope you try it out, again let me know if you do and if you liked it!!!!
Cheers!
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