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Major Wine Pairing FAIL:
So I did exactly what I set out to do. I wanted Chicken Piccatta and that’s what I made. The Piccatta was legit, the wine choice of Riesling to go with it was not.
Saturday afternoon (after laboring over some Organizational Behavior case study) I ventured out into sunny downtown Santa Rosa for a pint (or two) with my buddy at one of the favorite haunts, Third St. Aleworks. I enjoyed a nice margherita pizza and some IPA.
Afterward, I headed back to the neighborhood and stopped by the newish little wine shop in downtown Cotati (http://www.cotaticorner.com/worth stopping by). I popped in and chatted with the saleslady who was “filling in” for the owner, we discussed my thoughts on dinner and Riesling and she said she was more of a Chardonay girl. Undeterred, I made my selection:
An aside here: Riesling is an under represented varietal in the store, their focus is definitely on the Reds.
I found a nice 2007 Esterlina Cole Ranch Reisling, and since the register wasn’t working right I got it for a steal at $14.50 (price tag said $17 and saw it at Oliver’s for $20). Happy with the purchase I was off to Oliver’s for groceries.
I picked up some fresh Rocky’s Roasters boneless/skinless, fresh broccoli, eggs, basil, cappellini and a bottle of Sauv Blanc (we’ll talk more about that in a minute).
Prepping for Dinner:
Ingredients:
All purpose flour
Butter
Olive Oil (the extra virgin good stuff!)
Kosher Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
3 Lemons halved and squeezed (about 1/3 – 1/2 cup depending on your preference)
some lemon zest (easier to zest before you squeeze BTW)
Capers 1/3 cup rinsed and drained
Dry White Wine 1/3 cup
Chicken Stock 1/2 cup
1. using a meat tenderizer/hammer pound the breasts flat to about 1/4″ thickness. I put the chicken on a good cutting board, cover with saran wrap and beat the hell out of them.
2. in a large skillet 12″ melt 2 tblspn of butter with 3 tblspn of olive oil over high/medium-high heat until it starts sizzling.
3. in 2 9×9 pans or whatever works for you, beat 2 eggs in on, fill the other with flour and add salt and pepper (you can salt/pepper however you want, but this worked pretty well for me). Dip chicken breast in egg then dredge in flour mixture, place into hot skillet.
4. Brown chicken on both sides (should cook about 4-5 min on both sides), meanwhile fire up the oven to about 250 to keep chicky hot while you’re doing the sauce.
5. After chicken is done cooking (fully cooked) put on a plate and put in over to keep hot. Pour lemon juice, wine, chicken stock, 2 more tblspn butter, 2 more tblspn olive oil, and capers stir and scrape up brown bits for more flavor reduce a bit.
6. After sauce starts thickening add chicken back to pan and simmer for another 5-10 min.
7. Pasta: I used cappellini which was pretty good, but you can use any I’m sure. Get this ready (maybe this should be step 4 or something, I ain’t no Chef)
8. Veg: I had broccoli, but thought about green beans (they didn’t look good at the store so I skipped em) Asparagus might be yummy with this too.
9. Okay, dinner should all be pretty much ready at this point. Put chix on the plate, some pasta and veg next to it. Pour remaining sauce over pasta and chicken.
Dinner:
Now, on with the mangia. The chicken was awesome, perfect lemon flavor, not too overpowering, just right. First sip of the Riesling…
D’OH! I don’t know what I was thinking. I totally blew it. The Riesling chasing the lemon from the piccatta came across insanely sweet. I should have known better. Fortunately, I picked up a great Sauvignon Blanc, Honig Napa Valley. I used this for cooking (some might think that’s a waste, but why not cook with good wine?). Anyhow, this paired very well. The light and crisp grassy notes blended superbly with the lemon and capers. Fwew!
Anyhow, all-in-all another yummy dinner at the Wing house.
I want some chicken picatta. So, I’m off to some markets today to go get what I need. I’ll be updating this post with pictures (maybe some video too). Tweet me some suggestions for wine, I’m thinking Reisling 
Norcal Wingman 