A Chicken Recipe Worth Writing Home About

[Editor's Note: With this blog, we welcome a new author, Suphada Rom, who will be bringing her restaurant background to bear on recipes and food and wine pairings in a series we're calling Eat Drink Tablas. I can't tell you how excited I am about this.]

Hi everyone, my name is Suphada and I’m excited to be starting Eat Drink Tablas, a food and wine series for the blog! A little background on me, I am a native of Vermont with an outstanding passion for both wine and food. After college, I worked in a restaurant for four years, where I tasted many different dishes and wines, including Tablas Creek. I fell in love with the whole profile of Tablas Creek: the wines, the family, the story... the whole thing got me more jazzed about a career in the wine industry. A year ago (though It seems like just yesterday) I moved from the East coast to work at Tablas Creek, and every day has presented something new and exciting. You can find me in just about every department, from pouring wine in the tasting room to working with our wine club or events, to sorting grapes in the cellar.  It’s all great! I am beyond thrilled to be working for such an incredible winery and wondering how I got so lucky as to be here, doing what I do.

After moving out from New England, I thought I was done with winter.  And yet, the first post of Eat Drink Tablas is a cold weather pairing. In New England, at this point in the year, I was cooking not only to feed myself, but also to keep warm!  Well, it’s winter here in Paso Robles, and believe it or not, it’s cold.  Before we receive any outrage from the colder regions of the country, I need to clarify that it’s cold compared to my previous perception of California winter.  But even non-natives are talking about how cold it's been, with most nights this month dropping below freezing, and recent days topping out only in the 40's.  This morning, as I took my normal commute to Tablas, the sun caught the branches just right, exposing the sparkles of frost that had accumulated overnight. But given the brevity of California winters, all the more important to share now a recipe that will keep you warm and full when it's chilly outside.

Winter for me signals roasting, braising, or baking just about anything. Any excuse to turn on an oven to warm up my (what feels like freezing!) home is all right in my book. I've got an arsenal of tried-and-true recipes, and this Garam Masala Crusted Chicken with Fig Jus (originally from DeWolf Tavern in Bristol, Rhode Island, via Food & Wine Magazine) is one of them. I have a love/hate relationship with chicken, because well, it’s kind of a “meh” protein, especially when you size it up next to pheasant, duck, and other fowl. I promise that this recipe does not disappoint. The chicken is well spiced and is finished nicely with a fig jus. I love using the smaller chickens versus the larger- I find them to be a bit more flavorful and I love the skin to meat ratio (because that crunchy flavorful skin is what dreams are made of!). It is truly a great balance of sweet and spicy flavors, along with being quite succulent.  The result, from this morning:

Oven roasting the chicken allowed the spices to bake as well, creating an almost smoky nuance. The only change I made to the recipe was to add about a 1/2 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to the finished sauce, to cut some of the sweetness from the figs.

We chose two wines to pair with this dish, both based on Grenache, the most widely planted variety in the southern Rhone valley and a grape known for its balance of lush fruit and bright acids, flavors of red fruit and plum, and softer tannins. The garam masala (a blend of ground spices typically including coriander, cinnamon, and nutmeg) adds flavors that are richly aromatic without being spicy or hot,  and the bright acids of Grenache offer contrast and refreshment. We chose to open bottles of our 2013 Cotes de Tablas (55% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 10% Counoise and 5% Mourvedre) in addition to our 2013 Grenache with this dish, and found both to pair nicely.  2013 is a vintage that is still young, though quite intense, and we liked the youthful tannins and fresh acids in both wines cut through and provided contrast with the crunchy, spice crusted skin. I felt that this was a case where the dish provided something the wine did not (smoke), but it worked because it wasn’t overwhelming. 

So this holiday season, turn down your heater, turn up the oven, and fix yourself this warm and comforting meal. If you do (or create a TCV wine and food pairing of your own!) be sure to let us know on any of our social media handles, be it Facebook or Twitter or Instagram - or just leave us a comment here!  When you do, tag @tablascreek and use #EatDrinkTablas

A few other resources:

• For the recipe for garam masala crusted chicken with fig jus, click here.
• Also, check out PRWCA’s How To Master Holiday Meal Wine Pairings.
• You can order the 2013 Cotes de Tablas online here, or find it in distribution around the country.
• The 2013 Grenache is a smaller production wine that was a part of our fall 2015 wine club shipment. Learn more about the VINsider Wine Club here.