A hard day's wok

November is a long month, wednesday is a long way from the weekend. And it's been a long day. T needs to take care of appearances which takes him to Helsingør and back and so it is a late dinner. And the bearnaise-tryouts, fondants, cream sauces and the approaching holidays all add up to at least one more 'lighter' meal. Hot and Light is what we go for. Wok'ed veal and chinese cabbage with noodles.

1 red onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 and a half chili
1 red bell pepper
4 small yellow and orange carrots
half a head of chinese cabbage
1 half leek
3 cm ginger
zest of half a lime
All cut in julienne

300 gr sliced veal

All cooked in a very hot wok for about 5 minutes

Add a dressing made of
Soy
fishsauce
whitewine
lime
a bit of sirup

and finally cooked
egg noodles

To drink we had a Livio Felluga Pinot Grigio 2007 which stood up very well to the spicy food
8/10

Preparing for Christmas part I – Tuna and Bean salad

Christmas is approaching and like many others we get a bit apprehensive about it. It's not only the challenge of finding presents and getting into the mood that cause worries. It is also the anticipation of all the food. Not that we don't like food... But it will affect our weight. So after recent excesses we need to look at something lighter before all the pork roasts and ducks and what have you.
For some time T has been talking about a salad of beans and tuna and even if he cannot be very specific about it we set out to make an attempt.

A day in advance the butter beans and red kidney beans are prepared. The beans are soaked in two separate baths of water for 8 hours+.

The water is discarded and the beans are put in separate pots with fresh water, onion, some garlic and a bit of thyme. Cook at a low boil for approximately one hour.  Salt the beans after 25 minutes. Set aside to cool off.

The salad itself consists of:
½ finely sliced fennel
1 finely sliced red pepper
1 diced red onion
1 finely chopped big clove of garlic
2 cups of kidney beans
2 cups of butter beans
2 tins of tuna (in water)
A big handful of chopped broadleafed parsley

All is tossed in a bowl with the dressing.
The dressing is made of
Olive oil
a squeeze of lemon
some white wine vinegar
a bit of water and whitewine
s/p

We, T, K and Fine, were very satisfied. It is a successful salad, but there is a price to pay for eating all those beans...
With the salad we had some bread from Meyer's Bakery and to drink a bottle of Thelema Chardonnay 2008. Overall we rate the salad 8/10, the wine 7,5/10 and together 7,5/10

We finished the meal with a slice of Knuthenborg sheep cheese, which is sold at an astronomical prize at Irma. And it is good. But is it that good?

Rub your pork

It seems impossible for either one of us to follow a recipe. Usually we get inspired by something we taste, see or read about or it is the contents of the fridge and vegetable basket that is the trigger. Recently T mentioned that he had read a recipe in Politiken with pork roast and fennel seeds that brought water to his mouth, and so with that as the base we set out to try it. And we really aimed to follow the recipe but a bit of other ingredients went in. We got a piece of organic pork neck with rinds. Rubbed it thoroughly with salt and crushed fennel seeds and let it sit for an hour.
Apples, carrots, parsnip, red onions, garlic, fennel, thyme and s/p along with a generous pour of champagne (an open bottle a couple of days old. How come such bottles magically appear out of thin air?) was put as the base in an ovenproof dish with the roast on top. It all went in the oven at 180-200°C for a good hour – but mind the rinds. The point is to get them crisp and puffy but they easily burn – or even worse – just ends up soft and bland. If they do not puff turn on the grill shortly. Watch out. Burned rind doesn't do much for the dish.
It came out of the oven smelling and tasting just delicious. 9/10. The liqorice-like taste of the fennel seeds suited both the pork, but also the beet crops very well – and in particular with the sweetness of the apples. We had set out and bought a piece of roast that would be sufficient for three in case Fine would be home for dinner. Fine didn't eat dinner with us on this occasion, but nevertheless there was nothing left!
With it we had a bottle of Castaño Colleccion 2004 from Yecla. Even if it was rather good, particularly K likes it, 8/10, it was not the best of matches with the pork, so we have to settle for a 7/10 there.

Sassicaia on a thursday

It is sometimes nice to have an excuse for excesses. If one reads through these pages one may suspect that every day is excessive for us, which is not entirely untrue, but on this specific thursday we do have something to celebrate.
We start out with truffle-ravioli (bought) with a bit of melted butter and parmigiano. Simple and good and a dish we often return to. To drink a Puligny-Montrachet 2008 from Joseph Drouhin – a very nice glass with grapefruit notes, almond and rich butteriness.

Pheasant is in season right now and we get a rooster (in fact we bought two – one go in the freezer) for a very reasonable prize. In fact so reasonable that it cannot even fully be categorized under excesses. Not until it meets with olive oil, butter, garlic (lots), rosemary (quite a bit), marsala and chicken stock in a pan. First the breast has been wrapped in prosciutto crudo. Brown in butter and oil, add garlic and herbs. Add marsala (ambra dry) (about 1/3 of a bottle) and stock (3-4 dl) a little by little and braise for app. 40 min.

Remove the bird, add about one dl cream and reduce to a suitable texture. A recipe that originally was inspired by the River Café cookbook but has developed over several years.
In another pan a quartered endive is braised in a bit of butter and water. And over time a bit of sirup and balsamico is added.
And on the grill pan slices of zucchini gets the hot, short treatment.

On the plate the we each get a piece of breast and leg, a generous pour of the sauce, the endive and several slices of zucchini. And in the glass Sassicaia 2004. Darn, that's good!
If you've read about our visit to Chateuneuf-du-Pape, you may recall that we mentioned a favorite wine of K. And so here it is. A fact that also has manifested itself by the fact that K is a member of the legendary Sassi-klubben (The Sassi Club). A club that T will soon join. That naturally means that an occasion such as this immediately triggers a storm of MMS'es to other members who immediately returns envious sms'es.

food/wine matching 9/10

K's red cabbage salad

Tonight we have been invited by Betty to a wine tasting of South African wine by the Danish importer, Protea wine. The event has many visitors and has a very informal atmosphere where everybody gets to taste what they like and in their own preferred order.
K is naturally sceptic towards everything that is not European, but concedes that she has been swayed on a number of occasions lately.
We are very pleasantly surprised and despite T's ban on buying more wine in 2011 we find ourselves ordering several cases. Here's what we liked:+
2009 Thelema Chardonnay (even though K found it a bit too sweet and almondy – T did not)
2008 Thelema Merlot – very drinkable right now
2009 Springfonteine Pinotage (T doesn't really know how that happened, but we just found it quite nice)
2004 Barcarato Barbera d'Asti Nizza (which of course is sort of Italian). Nicely mature right now.
There were also other nice wines (and some not quite so interesting ones) so all in all we were very happy to have attended.

After this we again need to have a quick and light dinner. As opposed to our latest wine tasting, where we were unprepared, this time we have bought two berberi duck breasts and some bread in advance. The rest K will prepare from what is in the fridge which she announces will be red cabbage salad. This fills T with apprehension as the traditional Danish Christmas dinner is duck and red cabbage. The latter prepared in a way that is very sweet and overwhelming and normally precludes any wine recommendations.
Not unexpectedly K easily overcomes T's worries and makes a salad that earn much praise from both Betty and T. Here's what went into K's red cabbage salad:

Thinly sliced red cabbage (the mandolin, of course)
Thinly sliced leeks
Thinly sliced apple
Zest of orange
Chopped walnuts
Pomegranate
The dressing is a little secret, but T spots at least one of its ingredients. They are
Juice from one orange
a bit of raspberry vinegar
a bit of sesame oil
Soy sauce
Just a tiny sprinkle of fish sauce
a little chili
S/P
We drink a bottle of Santenay 2000 which again is excellent.
For dessert we have 'brunsvigerkage' from Meyers' bakery and coffee. We are very impressed with the bread from the bakery – but the 'brunsviger' was a disappointment! There are some things that the New Nordic kitchen should not mess with. – We will try to make it ourselves soon.

Bearnaise-mission accomplished

On the historic date 11.11.11 MK turned . . . 7, which on the date was celebrated throughout her extended family – and will be celebrated on several days to come. On friday we – T, K, M, MK and Fine – went to a local (Helsingør) Italian family restaurant, Ciao Ciao. This is a place we often return to as the kids love it and other options are few in this area.
M and MK had bruschetta for starters, Fine, T and K Antipasti Misti. The bruschetta for MK was classic tomato and mozzarella, M got the extended version which also included one with cured ham and cheese and one with tuna and capers. The plate of antipasti had melon and prosciutto, vitello tonnato, carpaccio, marinated bell pepper with cheese and a giant shrimp. All was made traditionally and was very tasty. To drink a chardonnay from Casa Girelli. For main course M and MK had Rigatone all Tartufo with sliced beef and the rest of us had Scallopine al Tartufo – Lots of cream and truffles. The Rigatone tasted as though some Ricotta had been added to the cream for texture. It was very rich and good. With the main course the waiter persuaded us to try a 2004 Brunello from Pinino, whomever that is.
Finally two times pistachio ice cream and three extended dessert plates; chocolate mousse, tiramisu and ice cream.
Ciao Ciao is a hot favorite with the kids and despite the heavy use of cream in their pasta dishes we also kind-of-like it. The staff in particular is splendid and as such it feels authentic.
On Saturday evening the family comes to celebrate. MK has chosen the menu, well almost. In her early years MK's favorite dish was Spaghetti alle Vongole and T hopes it still is, even though he suspects that given the choice MK would go for Pasta Pesto. For the secondo MK wants Bearnaise. And since we have neglected the challenge for too long this is a welcome opportunity to make another attempt.
The vongole is by now familiar, but nevertheless we succeed in cooking the pasta in too small a pot and we have to throw away some of it as it sticks together. Let that be a lesson about cooking pasta, but we also have to concede that pots for 14 people is not part of our stock. Despite this mishap everything is eaten and the sauce is scraped off by our guests.

Coming up next is the Boeuf Bearnaise. The roast has been out at room temperature for a couple of hours and placed in a dish with some salt and oil and a few rosemary stalks on top. In this way it is not cold when put it into the oven and also the gas that is used for keeping the meat fresh in the plastic wrapping tend to need to vaporize. It is put in a hot oven (210°) for 10 min, then turn down to heat to 180°. Cooking time for a 2 kg roast is about 45 min for medium rare.
The potatoes is a K-speciality and doesn't take a lot of work. Leave the peal on, half or quarter the potatoes to friendly sizes. Boil in salted water with lots of unshredded garlic cloves and rosemary for 10-15 minutes. Drain and put in a dish in one layer. Add a generous splash of olive oil and bake in the oven until lightly brown. When finished sprinkle with flakes of salt.

When all this out of the way we turn our attention to the bearnaise. Actually we have had to prepare the butter and vinegar reduction in advance.
For 4-6
First melt 250 gr butter at very low temperature so the fat and whey is separated. Set aside.
Next vinegar reduction. Stalks of tarragon and one shallot, chopped, in a pot with half white wine vinegar and white wine (app. 1 dl all-in-all) and crushed pepper. Reduce to a couple of spoonfuls. Set aside.
Now place the reduction-pot in a larger pot for a bain-marie. Whip in the egg yolks (4 yolks) until foamy and thickening. Now s-l-o-w-l-y add the butter while whipping. Finally add chopped tarragon and chervil.

It turned out beautifully. But just to make sure that it was not a one-time-happy-go-lucky we decided to repeat the dinner on tuesday – and it turned out even better – if possible. Now on to the low-fat dishes....

We like grenache for this kind of dish and so we had Clos de l'Oratoire 2008 Chateauneuf du Pape on the evening of MK's birthday and a 2009 Ogier Chateauneuf du Pape on Tuesday. It is a good match (8,5/10). T preferred the former.

Big Fish

Looking at this blog reveals some statistics about our eating habits and we are sad to say, but the label fish is not too frequent. To remedy this and to celebrate the fact that T has bought a new car (out of dire need) T purchases a whole turbot at Metro. Bringing home such a big fish, T almost feels like a successful angler returning home to present his catch. We immediately start looking into various literature for inspiration. K finds Brøndums fiskekogebog, which is clearly recommended not least for its  humor. K re-reads the following definitions: Revenge: Preparing a meal for your adversary which he or she cannot possibly surpass. Or how about: Calmness: Knowing that you have sufficient dry white wine.

After some research we set out to bake the turbot in the oven on a layer of chopped parsnip, sweet potatoes, leeks and fennel. Furthermore we take half a celeriac and make 10 thin round pieces that we fry on a pan and let simmer in some chicken stock for 10-12 minutes. The remaining celeriac is cut into cubes and together with the cut-offs we boil this in 2 parts chicken stock, 1 part milk and 1 part cream. When tender the celeriac cubes are blended with a little of the cooking liquids and finally some truffle oil is added.

In the meantime the turbot is baked in the oven fo 35-45 minutes at 160°C degrees while the fish is being frequently dripped with melted butter. As it says in Brøndums fiskekogebog "your hand should be as baked as the turbot".
Evaluating the meal we find it all delicious, but we are not quite satisfied. The truffled celery puree looked appealing, but accompanying the rest of the dish was not optimal. The celeriac prepared on the side and the root crops were very good as was the turbot, but it did lack a little acidity, a fact that we quickly remedied with some drops of lemon.

To drink we had a long time favorite: Catena Alta Chardonnay. T's good friend has supplied them since the year 2005, but by now we have a bottle of 2008, while the few remaining 05 and 06 are stored away. The 2008 is a perfect companion to the turbot and we rate it as follows: Turbot 8/10, Catena Alta 8,5/10 and together 9/10

Ambition

Saturday is time for dinner party. If you think that we have been quiet as of late it was because we needed to rehearse a little for this event. Also we have to consider the limited space in the kitchen, which is challenging when planing to have more than two guests for dinner.
We start the day out thinking that we have plenty of time to rest and reflect on the dinner from last night's 75 year birthday party, which included traditional, honest Danish food in Toldbod Bodega. And so we stay in bed late and read the newspaper knowing full well that we are prepared and this will help us execute according to schedule. After a while we head towards torvehallerne to make our last purchases. On a Saturday afternoon this is a very busy place. Not like their southern models in the sense that many people come here just to sniff around as opposed to coming with a specific objective. When we are about finished we consider a cup of coffee only to realize that we have been away for two hours and so stress sets in.
We will skip telling about the afternoon, which included an event of rare occurrence, namely T not (or almost not) watching his beloved football team cruise to a comfortable win. (The rare thing was T not watching, even though the comfortable part is also becoming quite rare).

First course is a salad. We have purchased 4 different kinds of lettuce which we will refrain from translating (Rød syre, Rucola savoy, mustard, the last one evades us by now). The leaves were mixed in a vinaigrette made of raspberry vinegar, olive oil, s/p and a little water. On top of this some smoked duck's breast thinly sliced (well, as thin as T could manage), cubes of apple and walnuts. To this we drink Meursault 2008. We had decanted the bottle for several reasons. For one thing it was something T had wanted to do for some time and secondly our poor guests were to be left guessing as to what they were drinking.

Next it is time for our primo which is oxtail ravioli. For this we have prepared oxtails one day in advance.
(Put the tails in cold water, heat to boil, skim impurities, skim, skim. Discard water. Prepare the usual soffreto (with whatever you have): onion, garlic, carrot, celery, parsnip, s/p and herbs. When soft add the lightly boiled tails, a small squeeze of tomato paste and a glass of white wine. Let steam off for a couple of minutes. Add water to cover. Cover tight and let simmer for 3-4 hours. When very tender, separate meat, vegetables and soup. Discard vegetables and let meat and soup cool. When the soup is cool it is easy to remove the top layer of fat.)
During our hectic afternoon the meat was separated from the bones. Two shallots, a couple of finely chopped cloves of garlic and 250 gr porcini is fried, chopped finely and mixed with the meat. A splash of good truffle oil. And finally a little grated parmesan to glue it all together (a fact that we cannot hide from our non-cheese-eating guest, but that does not prevent him from eating, thanks msm wb). In the meantime we have made a dough of durum flour, 3 eggs and a little salt. Now it is time for the pasta machine to roll out very thin layers of pasta and then cut out small round pieces and fill them with the stuffing. It should not be a big surprise, but this takes quite some time. Maybe it's because we do not have the help of MK and M as we did when rehearsing. The ravioli are served with broth from the preparation of the oxtails, pepped up with a little sherry and a splash of lemon juice, and a gremolata of parsley, chopped garlic and lemon zest is sprinkled on top. For this we have a 1996 Barolo from Manzone.
We now go into the kitchen to prepare the secondo and predictably the wait means that we can serve some wine in between and this we have prepared for. Nobody is able to identify the bottle of 2005 Utopia from the Danish winemaker Kelleris, but it holds up quite nicely and we will soon experiment a little with dishes to have with this wine.

The secondo is fillet of lamb served on top of puree of eggplants and baked root crop, namely pale root beets and turnips baked with oliveoil, white wine and pieces of organic lemon and some baked fennel.
The puree is made by cutting the eggplants open and filled with a little rosemary and garlic before reassembling, rolled in foil and baked for app 40 minutes until very soft. Then the insides are scraped out (removing the garlic and rosemary) and mixed with a little olive oil, vinegar and s/p. A small splash of sauce from the meat and a little red wine. For this dish we serve a Grant Burge's Filsell 2000 Barossa Shiraz from old vines.

Before dessert we serve three small pieces of Danish cheeses, all of the dry kind. First a sheep/goat milk cheese from Knuthenborg, Fyn which is the mildest then a Høost and finally a Fyrmesterost which is, we were told, actually a Vesterhavsost that has matured longer. To go with the cheese we have made chips of very thin slices of rugbrød (pumpernickel) covered with a little butter before baking for 6 minutes at a 160° C. Furthermore a small splash of homemade rhubarb marmelade. The rugbrød is a little too fresh and moist which means that we cannot slice whole big slices but they smaller, uneven slices are just as tasty, nevertheless. For this a glass of Rio Viejo Olorosso sherry from Lüstau.

For dessert it is time for Chocolate fondant with a sorbet made from elderflower and on top some fresh raspberries.
The fondant is made from (4 servings): 100 gr dark chocolate (70%), 100 gr unsalted butter, 1 dl sugar, 3/4 dl flour, 2 whole eggs, 2 yolks. Melt the butter, chocolate and sugar in a bain marie (as cool as possible). Add the eggs and flour. Stir. Pour in suitable tins. Preferably single ones. Not like the ones we used in this photo! Put in refrigerator. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 200°C.
The sorbet is made from 6 dl. frozen dark elderflower syrup/concentrate mixed with water to a suitable sweetness. The mix should still be half frozen. Zest and juice from a lime is added. 3 egg whites are whipped and mixed. Put in freezer. If you don't have an ice cream machine, stir every now and then to get the best texture. (One kitchen appliance, we don't have – yet).
This is our most difficult serving as getting the chocolate fondant out of their baking tins take some time and so when we get the last one out and come into sit with our guests, some have already eaten theirs and asks for seconds, but alas, we have no more! Makes us wonder if we made too little food....
This is served with a glass of 2005 Chateau de Rayne Vigneau, 1er Gand Cru Sauternes.

Our big-city-kitchen is very small and does not posses a dishwasher, so we are grateful for all our guests who might not have been prepared for this kind of dinner party where everyone was made to work for their food, either as kitchen help, serving or dish washers. Which they very willingly did. THANKS!

Pinot Noirs and what to eat after a wine tasting

Tonight T gets inspired be the newsletter from aov.dk. It is a nice source of wine events in Denmark and maintains a calendar that is very helpful. Know your Pinot noir catches the eye and so we go to Kjær og Sommerfeldt for a wine tasting of various Pinot Noirs.
The first is a cava rosé from Cordoniu. Fine bubbles and well balanced and dry, but not that complex - a nice aperitif (7/10).
Next is a 2008 Burgundy Pinot Noir from Chateau Meursault, which is a little bland, but has a nice aftertaste (6,5/10).
The next wine is from California, where the mists flowing in over Monterrey bay give the colder climate required for Pinot Noir. The wine is a 2009 Fog head (something that most Danes have a little difficulty pronouncing). Still, it is much too jammy to our taste and furthermore the 14,5% removes most of Pinot's elegance, we think. 6/10.
After this comes a bottle from Oregon, a 2008 Erath. This is much more to our liking, but still not too complex, 6,7/10
The next one is a 2009 Tasman Bay from New Zealand. It takes a little time in the glass, but after a little while it displays itself very nicely, well balanced and with a long aftertaste. 7,5/10
Now, it is time for some real Pinot Noir - a 2006 Vougeot from Le Clos du Prieuré Rouge. We like it very much, but when you compare the price tag (45€) to the Tasman Bay's (14€) it is simply too expensive. Still it is well balanced with a long aftertaste 8/10.
The last wine of the tasting is also Californian from Russian River valley - a 2008 Sequana from Dutton ranch Vinyard. Like the Fog head, this is also quite jammy, but the fruit is more easily discernible and better balanced. The aftertaste is also long and smooth. However, K thinks that it is a bit over-designed, which almost kills the pinot noir's elegant hallmark notes. 7,5/10.

We are now in a difficult situation with regards to dinner. It's a bit late and this calls for something quick and we would like to continue drinking Pinot Noir for dinner. In the end we opt for speed and go home and prepare an Spaghetti al'arrabiata, but alas we cannot drink Pinot to this and settle for a Rendola Rosso di Montalcino 2007.

The sugo is made out of 200 gr diced pancetta, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 onion, parsley, a generous splash of white wine and 500 gr de-seeded fresh san marzano tomatoes... and of course chili.
The de-seeding of the tomatoes is done by squeezing hard over the sink until the seeds splash all over the walls and not where they are aimed.

We take one whole chili and decide to de-seed half of it. K, always the one most keen on spicyness decides that rather than de-seeding one side, we should de-seed the lower half as there is no seeds in that part. She gets away with it and that's good because it turns out that this is just right.

While the spaghettini are boiling, fry the pancetta, add the 'dryer' (onion, garlic, chili) ingredients to soften when the pancetta is tanned, then the tomatoes and herbs and a tiny squeeze of tomato paste. Add wine, s/p and perhaps a bit of sugar or honey if the tomatoes are not in super shape. When mixing with the pasta you might want to add a bit of the pasta water if it seems too dry. And a bit of your best olive oil – just for taste and texture. Serve with grated parmasan cheese. 8/10

The dish and wine serves its purpose and even though we try to watch a movie neither of us stays awake for more than a few minutes.

Eat your carrots

One of the most used sentences in the average Danish home at dinner: "Eat your carrots". Neither K, nor T are particularly fond of them, but the vegetable box from Aarstiderne very often contains bags of carrots and there was really no way out. But we are actually jumping into the evening when we need to start at the beginning. And the beginning is in the supermarket where we select some pork chops and then also decide for some beans. Before this it had been an eventful day during which T attempted to stall traffic in central Copenhagen when his car broke down almost in the middle of a traffic light.

Anyway, back to the food. The pork chops were fried on a grill pan with rosemary, garlic and lemon and the beans were cooked and one finely chopped red onion was mixed into the beans.

The very pretty carrots in different colors were cut into smaller pieces and cooked and K had the inspiration to serve them with salted capers, which led to T actually having a second helping of carrots – now there's a rare sight. A little green salad is almost always on the agenda and no deviation tonight.

All in all this was a simple but very successful dinner. 8/10. The wine selection was difficult though. We tended towards Sangiovese (again), but after some discussion we looked into the "wine storage" and there was a single bottle of 2000 Santenay looking at us. We decided to try it out and it turned out very, very well. Since Fine had joined us the evening had turned out extraordinarily nice (well, our dinners are normally nice, but we do enjoy the company of Fine and others). In the end one bottle was not enough and we had to find another. The next bottle was corked, so by the end of the evening the stash of the 2000 Santenay was reduced by three. Oh well, at least it frees up space for something else. Wine 8/10. Match 8.5/10

Lemon Chicken

MK's eating habits are still evolving. Like many other kids we know, she will put all kinds of things on her plate and then end up eating next to nothing. Not because she doesn't like the food, but her appetite is just not that big. While she needs to learn not to take more than she can eat, T still envies the other side of it and that is to stop when you are no longer hungry. Since that is not the case, he has to be careful about his diet with Christmas and everything coming up. In the meantime, MK's favorite dinner is still a buffet.
Tonight, MK has dined at a friend's but she routinely asks if we have eaten and since we haven't, what's for dinner. When she hears that we are cooking K's famous lemon chicken she decides that she will have dinner once more.
The chicken is cut into eight pieces and placed in a dish on top of pieces of red beet and parsnip,  garlic and herbs - in this case parsley and thyme, s/p. MK did not want us to put wine in the dish, despite assurances that she would not be able to taste it. So, K tried something new and added some apple juice for sweetness and acidity. This was very successful with the root crops. Finally pieces of lemon cut into eights. This was the put into the oven at 180 degrees for an hour. Occasional dripping of the juice from the bottom of the dish to keep the chicken juicy - and it was.

Furthermore to add some vegetables we took half a butternut squash and cut it into cubes. This was fried in a little bit of olive oil on a hot pan and sprinkled with flakes of salt.
And then, of course, some green salad.
From the outset we were aiming at Sangiovese (naturally), but then opinions differed. T suggested an Il Grigio (Chianti Classico Riserva), but K felt it should be something without the barrel aging and so we went for a bottle of Riecine 2008 Chianti Classico. And we filed that under a success for K's position. So, coming to the ratings we make the dish 8/10, the wine 7,5/10 and together 8/10.