chicken thighs in riesling

I'm often in amazement of the simple meals I manage to put together. Really, did I just make something taste freakin' amazing out of the humble crap I found in my fridge? When I found myself with some defrosted chicken thighs, a half bottle of riesling and a bit of heavy cream, I saw a recipe that looked like it would be an ideal fit. Chicken braised in wine, accompanied by root vegetables and kissed with cream. Perfect comfort food for a chilly evening.

Now the photos don't do this meal any justice. Fall and winter evenings with dim lighting do not make for appetizing or tantalizing shots. Instead you get those weirdly orange photos that look more at home in a thrifted cookbook from the 1970s. But that's okay because you'll just have to take my word that this meal was incredible. In fact, I think it's the best single meal I've ever ever ever cooked in my life. High praise indeed. This meal was so good it should have been shared with friends or at least with a little candlelight and cloth napkins.

It's humble in it's main ingredients: chicken thighs, carrots, shallots, potatoes. But it's the riesling and cream that make you want to shout out to the world. So go on, pat yourself on the back and dig in.

chicken thighs in riesling
(adapted from Gourmet)
1 serrano pepper, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t oregano
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 t ground cumin
4 skinless chicken thighs
salt & pepper
1 T olive oil

1 T butter
4 large shallots, roughly chopped
4 medium carrots, cut into 2 inch long rounds
1/2 - 3/4 c riesling
4 potatoes, cut into quarters
1/4 c heavy cream
1/2 lemon, juiced

1. Rinse and pat dry chicken thighs and add them to a bowl with the garlic, serrano peppers, oregano, cumin and lemon juice. Stir and let sit for 30 minutes. Heat olive oil over med-high heat, and add in chicken and marinating liquid. Brown chicken on all sides. Remove from pot and set aside.

2. Heat butter and saute shallots and carrots for a few minutes and add chicken back into the pot. Pour riesling over top and cover over med-low heat until chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes or so.

3. Meanwhile, cook potatoes separately in boiling water until just tender. Drain and add to the chicken pot. Add in heavy cream and lemon juice, stirring gently so everything gets coated. Serves 2 very hungry people or 4 people with small appetites.

killing me softly: wine-braised short ribs

It's been pouring rain outside all day long. While I would have rather been inside working (although I did manage to do some of that too), I also ran about doing things like renewing my driver's license (I don't drive, but it's nice identification), "rolling off" a bowling game (I'll be away in Portland, Oregon* and need to bank a game for my league), and pick up groceries and wine. My driver's license photo will most likely be horrific, my bowling game was dismal (sorry team!) but I stayed dry and managed to get all the ingredients for some delicious braised short ribs which will be our dinner tonight. Now, this is something I can take comfort in.

Normally, we don't cook with a lot of meat other than chicken or fish, but I'm designing some birth announcements for a friend and we made a deal that included 10 pounds of free-range, grass fed beef along with a cash deal. So I've got short ribs along with a bunch of other stuff in the freezer. I've never had short ribs before but after looking at a lot of recipes, I decided that braising would be ideal. So I browned the short ribs until they were golden and crispy and looked (and smelled) incredible and then worked off the rest of the ingredients. They've been cooking in the oven under a low heat for the past few hours and the smell has been killing me softly. I'm so ready to dig in!

As you can see, I illustrated my meal instead since a big ol' mess of brown wouldn't make the most appetizing photo. But don't let that steer you wrong...this meal is rich and special. Just let that meat fall off the bones and into your gullet. It's good. Reaaallly good. Oh hey, if you are in Vancouver, pick up the Georgia Straight this week cuz there's a big ol' photo of me (along with an interview about Vancouver bloggers). You can find the online version here.

* Oh that's right, I'll be in Portland again! My favorite city ever. So send me your things to do, eat, and all the good stuff. Things will be silent here until mid-next week, so feel free to browse my archives.

wine-braised short ribs
2 short ribs
1 T olive oil
4 shallots
4 garlic gloves
2 large carrots, chopped
4 small potatoes, cut in half
1 large can of tomatoes
4 sprigs of thyme
3 sprigs of rosemary
1 bottle of nice drinking red wine

Preheat oven to 325F. Season the short ribs with salt and pepper and brown in the olive oil in a heavy cast iron pan. Do not skimp on this step, as you really bring out the flavour by browning (I let mine brown for close to 15 minutes). Remove ribs and add in the shallots and garlic and saute for a few minutes, adding in carrots and potatoes. Throw in the can of tomatoes, the bottle of wine and the herbs and bring to a boil, letting the liquids reduce slightly. Put the lid on your dutch oven and place the whole shebang into the oven for the next 3-4 hours or so. Check in once in a while and if you like, you can skim off the fat (and oh, there will be fat!) into a bowl and place it in the freezer so that the fat firms up. Throw out the hard fat, leaving behind the lovely jus and dump that back into the pot. When you can't stand it anymore, dig in!