Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Asian Inspired Chicken


It's not often I see a recipe and have nearly everything on hand to make it, but this happened the other day with an Asian inspired chicken roasted in a pot.  The only ingredient I was missing was a daikon, and that was quickly remedied. 

In short - the daikon was chopped and added to some peanut and sesame oil in a pot along with chopped garlic, the white part of scallions, some sliced shiitake mushrooms and some slices of fresh ginger.  That cooked for about seven minutes and was then removed from the pot.  I added a little more oil and then browned a whole chicken on all sides.  When that was complete the veggies went back in along with a small amount of chicken stock, a little soy sauce, some Shaoxing wine and three, whole star anise.  I covered the pot and it went in a low oven for an hour.  There were some new smells that filled the house and both Gordons kept poking their head in the kitchen and sniffing.

I carved the chicken into serving pieces, added a tower of brown Basmati rice and some of the pot vegetables to the plate.  The broth was a little flat so I added a couple of tablespoons of rice vinegar and the scallion tops.

The wine was a 2009 Leitz Eins Zwei Dry #3, Riesling Trocken.  Dry nose of flowers and a touch of citrus.  Tart and fresh with some apple tastes joining the citrus.  Good acid and a sharp fresh taste in the mouth.  Very low sweetness on the finish with a chilled, crisp apple filling in for any residual
sugar. 

This was a good flavor match with the chicken.  There was no spicy heat involved here so the dryness of the wine was refreshing and a nice compliment to the ginger flavors and the aroma of the star anise.  The acidity cut through the richness in the chicken.

12% alcohol and $15

3 comments:

Edward said...

Dan,

It looks superb.

Dan McGrew said...

It was very good - and the leftovers made a wonderful chicken salad.

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