Monday, March 30 2009
Flakes of Snowy White, Glasses of Ruby Red
Now that's what I call grillin' and chillin'!
Note: Today's blog comes to us courtesy of Peter Mills, Winexpert's account manager extraordinaire from Atlantic Canada. A bon vivant of some note, he shares with us his dinner plans, leisure pursuits and wine matching advice. And here I thought Australians were all ruffians and ex-convicts--it seems I was partly mistaken.
White Meat, Red Wine...Why Not?
Almost all casual wine drinkers match their food and wine by the only rule they know: white meat white wine, red meat red wine. All-in-all it's not a bad rule, a good place to start but somewhat limiting. Now I'm not afraid of experimentation (just ask my sailing crew...oh, never mind), but I do admit to being somewhat reluctant to ruining a decent bottle of wine by matching it with the wrong food. If you are a regular reader of Tim's Blog (would that make you a Vander Grifter?), you will know that matching the right food with a wine can make an enormous difference in your appreciation of both the food and the wine. But there are exceptions to every rule (like starting a sentence with "but"), and in the case of red wine red meat, etc, there are lots of exceptions. I'd like to tell you about a great one of those exceptions I stumbled on (official wine term...) over the weekend.
Everyone knows us Canadians like our barbecue, or grill if you prefer the term. In fact, the only nation that is better known for their grill culture is Australia, and since I am an Australian Born Canadian I love to cook on the grill all year round. My wife will happily shovel a path through the snow across our deck if it means I can grill instead of her cooking in the kitchen, so here is a very simple recipe we do all the time, all done on the grill:
- 4 Boneless skinless chicken breasts, brushed liberally with Smoked Hickory BBQ Sauce (PEI Preserve Company)
- 1 Small Green Pepper
- 1 Small Red Pepper
- 1 Medium Onion'
- 1 Portabello Mushroon
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tbsn Club House Montreal Style Chicken Seasoning, or similar
- 1 1/2 Cups of Rice, preferrably Jasmin
Chop the vegetables into chunks, coat them with the olive oil, then toss with the chicken seasoning. Grill the vegetables over medium heat in a vegetable grill basket for 15 minutes. Grill the chicken breast at the same time. I use the upper rack as they tend to cook through better without burning the BBQ sauce.
Boil the rice at the same time, on your side-burner if you have one, serves 4, and is as tasy as it is simple!
Now, what wine to serve? Most people would reach for their nearest bottle of Reisling or Gewurztraminer, and both would be great, but here's where we break from the establishment. This dish goes amazingly well with Pinot Noir, but I would tend toward a more robust Pinot, such as a Chilean or Argentinean, than the more delicate Burgundies. Ontario or B.C. Cabernet Franc is also an excellent match, so go ahead, break the rules; you only live once! (Hold the emails, it's just a figure of speech...)
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