Roasted Chicken with Smoked Paprika Tapioca
One of my dad’s favorite desserts growing up was tapioca pudding but we rarely ate it because of the strange texture that turns most people away. The gooey pearls of who knows what, floating around in creamy globs of vanilla pudding. Recently, my girlfriend made a batch for herself and it intrigued me. I wondered if instead of adding sugar and vanilla extract to sweeten it, could I add savory spices?
I had a bottle of the 2006 Baileyana Firepeak Vineyards Pinot Noir which is grown on volcanic soil so I tried to play with that concept and create some ‘lava’ (smoked paprika tapioca pudding). The Baileyana is one of the most intriguing Pinot Noirs from California that I have ever tasted.
The vineyard is located at the foot of Islay Mountain, the southernmost in a chain of extinct volcanoes known as the Seven Sisters. The french winemaker creates this Pinot with a little Burgundian, old world influence, a little new world power, and a third futuristic element that comes from the soil. This is not your typical California, straightforward Pinot. The volcanic element in the soil known as “Devil’s Dirt” puts stress on the vines, forcing them to struggle, which in turn encourages the intense characteristics of Pinot Noir to shine through.
I started experimenting with the tapioca and eventually achieved the intense smoky flavor and bright magma color that I was looking for. Tapioca is actually a starch extracted from the Brazilian cassava root and is used as a thickener as well as the base for tapioca pudding.
Continuing with the healthy eating in 2010 theme, I subsituted mashed potatoes for cauliflower puree. After boiling the florets in milk, I transferred them to the blender and added some salt and lemon juice… no butter believe it or not (it was hard but I refrained).
The result was smooth as silk texture and light as air, fluffy puree; a perfect bed for my roasted chicken. I brined my chicken 12 hours ahead of time to keep the meat moist and juicy. Brining is a great way to enhance the flavor and texture of chicken or turkey. Simply soak the meat in water, salt, and sugar for up to 24 hours before cooking (keep the ratio: 1/4 cup salt to 1/4 sugar to 1 quart water).
The salt changes the muscle structure and allows it to retain more moisture throughout the cooking process; a chef’s secret to why chicken tastes better when you go out to eat.
I removed the drumsticks and thighs from the brine and dried them off completely before I pan roasted them with some shallots and lemon. The skin got nice and crispy while the dark meat was succulent and tender on the inside. I plated the dish with some blanched broccoli rabe to add some color and a bitter component that followed the healthy trend.
The wine was bigger and fruitier than most Pinots, bursting with black raspberry jam and black cherry fruit. The tannins were stronger than normal but still smooth which made it stand up great to the dark chicken meat and the smoky ‘lava’. I would classify this as a big, powerful Pinot, which is somewhat of an oxymoron. The wine is full of spice and interesting acidity and minerality that makes you wonder what you’re drinking. The wine was superb and it was a perfect match for my tapioca experiment; kind of like the baking soda/vinegar volcano experiment I did in second grade.
