Southern Flavor

In the South, we have a certain ingrained love of food. As Southerners, the rumor has always been we will cook anything on two and four legs. While some of that is true, I can't imagine the person who would want to eat a possum!

I’ve been cooking for over 20 years and have developed my own “flavor” for the food of the South. I’ve cooked for country music stars and businessmen alike, and no one has every left my table hungry. My goal with this blog is to post some recipes, along with my food and wine adventures. The South, after all, has a rich wine history -- from Jefferson at Monticello continuing today in the booming Southeastern wine industry, where wineries are springing up across the lanscape.

So go on, travel the unbeaten dirt roads with me to discover news on food and wine as well as a laugh or two along the way.

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The adventure begins

I want to start this adventure with a few recipes I created on the fly tonight. Having a busy life, complete with family and work, who has the time to make a quick and tasty dinner?

Sometimes the best dinner comes from using what you find in the fridge and cupboard, not even knowing the direction you will take until the journey begins. So, I looked around and used what I had on-hand. What do you get when you take a pack of chicken, mushrooms and some great wine and a few other odds and ends? One AWESOME dinner!

Tonight’s dinner ended up being a wonderful skillet chicken recipe. It features Viognier wine, olive oil and season salt, with angel hair pasta with a Chardonnay sauce for two.
Like all true Southerners, I love to cook in cast iron, and I believe you can’t get the same effect from cooking with any other type of pan.

Chicken Viognier skillet
Ingredients:

2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbs- Olive oil
1 C. Viognier (I used a 2005 Smoking Loon Viognier)
2 Tbs season salt

Preheat oven to 375
Using the olive oil, coat the bottom of the cast iron pan
Sprinkle the chicken breasts with the season salt and place in the pan.
Pour in the Viognier and place the pan in the oven on the middle rack. Turn the chicken breasts after 10 minutes and continue to cook for an additional 10 minutes. Place the pan on the top rack to finish the chicken off for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and place the chicken on a plate while you make the sauce. Reserve everything in the pan for the sauce.

Angel hair pasta with Chardonnay sauce
Ingredients:

½ box of Angel hair pasta
1 1/4 C. Chicken broth
1 C. Chardonnay (I used a Three Sisters 2002 Chardonnay Reserve)
1 Tbs fresh basil
½ Tsp Oregano
1 C. sliced portabella mushrooms
¼ C. Onion
8 Kalamata Olives pitted
1 Tbs flour
1 Tbs butter
Kosher Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Fill a 2-qt stock pot with water and heat to boiling, adding 2 pinches of Kosher salt. Place pasta into the pot and cook until al dente (slightly firm) and drain. Place the pasta back into the pot and toss butter to melt and coat. Taking the cast iron skillet complete with dripping, pour chicken stock in the pan and cook over medium heat, add the onion , mushroom, basil, oregano and olives. Cook until the onions are clarified and season to taste. Mix flour and remaining chicken stock, whisk together and pour into sauce to thicken. Slice the chicken and place in sauce, ladle over the angel hair pasta and serve.

I recommend finishing the bottle of Chardonnay Reserve with this meal.

Enjoy and happy adventures.

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