12/16/10: Bogle Vineyards Chardonnay with Curried Chicken and Rice Salad

Tonight we enjoyed a lighter curry chicken salad with a very smooth and slightly sweet Chardonnay from Bogle Vineyards.  
*side note: This is currently being written to the Benny Hill theme song.  I suggest you read it with it.  Benny Hill...which Sarah just muted.  Party killer...


Right, back to the dish.  


The chicken salad itself was simple enough to make.  The recipe calls for microwavable rice and pre-cooked chicken.  We opted to buy fresh chicken breast and cook it ourselves which added significantly to the estimated 11 minute cooking time from Cooking Light.  The chicken salad was rather sweet with the french vanilla yogurt, apples, and craisins.  We thought that we were in for a stronger, spicier dish, which is why we opted for the Chardonnay.  If you desire a spicy flare, add 1 tsp of extra curry and 1 tsp of hot chili pepper as I did. -Chris


The Bogle Vineyards 2009 Chardonnay was priced at $11 at our local liquor store.  It had a light nose and a pale yellow color to it.  The wine was instantly sweet at the tip of the tongue and finished extremely smooth with a slight oaky aftertaste (Sarah mentioned a nutty flavor).  


In all, both the curried chicken salad and the wine were excellent, though I would recommend them both with other pairs.  The sweet chicken salad would be best served with a drier white. The sweet Chardonnay would be better with a fish dish, like oysters, clams, crab, etc to off-set the intense flavors they have.  Another option we did not try would be to substitute sour cream for the yogurt.  This would seriously cut down on the sweetness and possibly make it a good suit for the wine we picked.


With the recipe and wine together we'd give the meal an enjoyable, but flawed, 3 out of 5.  Individually, we would say a solid 3.5 out of 5 each.



Here's the recipe for the chicken salad from Cooking Light:


Curried Chicken-Rice Salad


Ingredients:

• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen microwavable brown rice
• 1 cup vanilla fat-free yogurt
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (roughly one pound) *We bought fresh chicken and baked for 20 minutes at 350 F.
• 1 1/2 cup chopped Gala apple (1 medium apple) *We used 1 red delicious apple
• 1/2 cup chopped celery 
• 1/4 cup Craisins
• Green leaf lettuce leaves

1.  Prepare rice according to package directions.  Spread rice in shallow pan; place in freezer 8 to ten minutes.
2.  While rice chills, combine yogurt, curry powder, and salt in a large bowl.  Add chicken and next three ingredients to yogurt mixture, stirring until coated.
3.  Stir chilled rice into chicken mixture.  Spoon chicken salad onto lettuce leaves, if desired.  Yield: six servings (serving size: 1 cup). *Yea, right.  Between two of us about half was left.

Enjoy! 

Chris & Sarah

First Recipe! Chicken Pot Pie with Oak Grove Pinot Grigio

First off, we realized halfway through the meal that when choosing a wine to go with food one should probably try the wine first.  I guess luck was on our side tonight because the 2009 Oak Grove Pinot Grigio from California was an excellent pair with the chicken pot pie.

The wine can be characterized as a drier wine with a sweet and fruity finish.  It is a very light colored wine with an equally light nose.  Sarah commented that there was an initial bite on the front of the tongue followed by a smooth and fruity finish.  The flavor was sweeter and more intense than I expected which paired superbly with the mild flavors of the pot pie.  For an appetizer, I lightly fried some four-cheese bread in olive oil and served it with muenster cheese, sopressata, and grape tomatoes.  

The wine was $14.99 at our local liquor store and the ingredients for the pie came in around $15.

Here's the recipe for the pot pie off of allrecipes.com:

Ingredients

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 2/3 cup milk
•  
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Allrecipes.com Chicken Pot Pie

Note: This recipe made us two 9" pies.  One pie fed four of us easily.

The crinkled pastries in the oven shot are the excess pie tops smashed together and coated in butter, cinnamon, and sugar.

 

We are The Wine Pair

Hi Everyone!


Our names are Chris and Sarah and we are The Wine Pair.


We are two amateur wine and cooking enthusiasts who enjoy eating and drinking the best.  But being in our twenties, our selections will also have a budget in mind.  While we would like to drink $250 bottles of old wine and eat steak au poivre every night, we realize the importance of living in one's means.


Our mission is to enjoy a new wine and recipe each week and share our suggestions with the world.  We are far from expert wine tasters or gourmet chefs, but we hope our experiments and recommendations can help all of you have a better meal too.


Tonight we will be posting our first recipe and wine suggestion.  We hope you all enjoy! 


Chris & Sarah