My favorite new dish for an aged CdP

[Jenise]

Years ago when I had to "dress for success", because of a relatively rare shoe size it was easier for me to buy first the shoes then an outfit to match vs. the normal other-way-around. Some wines are like that.

And if I had a second bottle of 1989 Chante Perdrix Chateauneuf du Pape, which I don't, I would allow it to be served with nothing other than Chicken Mirabella, a braised dish I know of but had never had where the chicken is soaked in a prune and olive marinade for a day or three before it goes in the oven.

Never had before Friday night, that is, when the dish was made by our good friend Vic Kritz, and we were the lucky ones invited to dinner. I took three bottles of wine because this CdP was a leaker and it would have been folly to leave home without a backup, and because the likelihood of needing a backup was high I took a backup for the backup. What didn't get opened, I would leave with our host.

And the CdP turned out to be more than okay, even if not a pristeen bottle--no oxidated or 'off' flavors. The cork came out whole but was saturated.

Obviously, since I chose that bottle I thought that any decent aged CdP would be a pretty good match for the dish as I understood it to be. But this was way beyond good, it was the kind of food-wine match you only get maybe once every couple of years, it was perfect, it was sublime, it was seamless: the savory meat and olives (green & black), the sweet mustiness of the prunes with the age of the wine--it was all there both on the plate and in the glass.

I will aspire to serve my best CdP's with this dish in the future.

Now would be the point where I should post a recipe, but I don't have Vic's exact recipe to post. He did, however, say he found dozens of copies on the internet and little variation between versions. Nearly all were attributed to the Silver Palate Cookbook. It's easy to find, in other words, and it's reliable.

Jenise,

I have fond memories of this vintage of Chante Perdrix, and also of the similarly named Chante Cigale. The dish I'm not familiar with, but, alas, it has to be deferred until I have a working oven again.

-Paul W.

Ha! I am so familiar with Chix Marbella I can identify it by walking into the house..I still love that dish. Actually, I succumbed to the 25th edition of Silver Palate--it was a fun book to cook from way back when.

b

Ha! I am so familiar with Chix Marbella I can identify it by walking into the house..I still love that dish.
b

Barb, me too. In fact, when I was in my twenties, I worked for a caterer and that was one of her signature dishes. She made it as an appetizer with chunks of breast meat. It's best with bone-in skin on chicken though, as I'm sure you'd agree.

Jenise, you'll have to make it yourself now, if just for the way the house smells while it's cooking. Do not miss the final step of a splash of white wine and sprinkle of brown sugar. What would be a close second to the characteristics of that particular wine that could be gotten today?

[Jenise]

Jenise, you'll have to make it yourself now, if just for the way the house smells while it's cooking. Do not miss the final step of a splash of white wine and sprinkle of brown sugar. What would be a close second to the characteristics of that particular wine that could be gotten today?

I can't wait to make it/have it again. Bob and I prefer chicken to all other meats, for one, and it's a splendid dish in its own right, for two. As to the wine, green olives is a common characteristic of Chateneuf du Papes, and prune is a common characteristic of aged wine. You can buy aged wines at retail (I paid $40 at auction for this one just a few months ago), but you do have to find a reputable retailer who brokers other people's cellars and can send them to you. Benchmark Wines in Napa, California, is one such retailer. The cool thing about buying aged wines is that price increases over the years are such that what you spend on an aged bottle is typically not more, or may even be less, than the new releases sell for at retail. I'm not strong (knowledgeable that is) on CdPs but if you want to locate a good bottle to have this adventure with, this board is full of people who have that knowledge. Stuart, for instance, is a big southern Rhone fan. Sounds like Paul is too.