Monday 22 April 2013

rosemary salt-crusted roast chicken and salad

Having used half of the bird for yesterday's picnic lunch, the fridge is predominately full of baleful-looking mutant chicken, that's mainly two legs attached to a carcass.

Luckily for the fridge (and my OCD wife who takes a very dim view of any lurking unsavory dead animals), being a skiving dole bludger means I've got plenty of time on my hands to not only fully dismember the remaining body, but to turn it into one litre of delicious chicken stock on the one hand, and on the other, a second installment of last week's rosemary salt-crusted roast chicken legs.


I have to say the enamelled pie dish is just about the best kitchen acquisition I've made this year: It's perfect for nestling chicken legs in for a thorough roasting, and due to the snug fit they rarely dry out. In fact there's usually the perfect amount of roasting jus at the bottom of the pan, for judicious tasting with any handy bread.

Even better, it provides perfect portion control for those of us attempting not to eat for England. Admittedly though, I had a sandwich whilst it was roasting, plus the judicious tasting, which explains why I'm full after dinner and Ana's still hungry. Keep that under your hat though...

Wine Time
The rosemary is obviously one of the bigger flavours here, but the rape seed oil is surprisingly power-packed: It's difficult to pin down, suffice to say it has a heavy, straw-like quality. Generally I'd go for chardonnay with the chicken, but the heaviness of the oil plus the punchy, resinous quality of the rosemary means you're looking for something with similar weight AND with herbal notes. Viognier is probably going to be a little too sweet, and a dry Riesling would be too green, but Pinot Gris combines the best of both worlds: Weight, aromas and it's a little off-dry. Perfect!

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