Rooftop Gourmet

Shellfish, Pig, and Fruit… sounds crazy right? Trust me on this one;  the combination is absolutely delicious. After a long day at work I was in the mood for something quick and simple for dinner. As I strolled through the supermarket, the first thing that caught my eye were the bright red, plump strawberries. I threw a package in my cart with the intention of having a healthy dessert as opposed to the typical cheese plate or ice cream. After wandering around for another 20 minutes with nothing to show for it in my cart but a lonely box of strawberries, I got an idea. I still had some leftover Double Smoked Bacon in the fridge that I could pair with the fresh fruit.

 I don’t know where this idea came from, but if you still can’t grasp it… think about the strawberry jam you spread on your toast at brunch dropping  into your bacon. The marriage between the smoky, salty bacon and the sweet, and tart strawberries are a match made in heaven (very similar to a Hawaiian pizza: pineapple and bacon).

 I picked up some fresh shrimp and headed home to get started. My goal was to bring these three bold flavors to life by keeping the preparation simple and hoping that they would all come together as a complete dish. Each ingredient is typically eaten on it’s own anyway and I thought it would be interesting to combine all three.

After some tedious peeling and de-veining  of the shrimp, I threw them on the grill while the bacon was rendering on the stove. The entire apartment reeked of savory bacon which kept my brief stint on the deck even more brief. I simply tossed the warm shrimp, with a slight char on them, together with the sliced strawberries and the crispy bacon strips. A squirt of fresh lemon juice and a little salt and pepper completed the dish, creating a perfect harmony of all three ingredients.

The warmth of the bacon and shrimp elevated the natural aromatic essence that strawberries have, perfuming the room. Each bite was delectable and surprising, ranging from sweet and salty to briny and smoky.

The contrasting textures were a plus as well going from the crispy bacon, to the fleshy berry, and finishing with the pop of the shellfish. I decided to pair this dish with a wine that is just as simple yet complex as the food was. The 2008 Forefront Sauvignon Blanc is new project by Pine Ridge Wines, which offers more affordable wines with the same Pine Ridge quality. This wine is composed of 67% Sauvignon Blanc from Sonoma, and 33% Sauvignon Blanc from Napa.

The blending of the grapes from neighboring appellations gives this white balance and complexity. The Napa Valley fruit brings the crisp acidity while the Sonoma fruit compliments it with a rich mouthfeel. This is a very approachable wine that has classic grapefruit flavors as well as some lime and honeydew melon. The subtleness and acidity was just what this complex dish needed as its counterpart. Unfortunately I ate all my strawberries with dinner so I was forced to settle with ice cream for dessert.

As I was taking the trash out yesterday I noticed some construction going on behind my apartment building so I wandered over to see what was going on. Someone was replacing the front steps to their building and there was a huge pile of old bricks laying in the street. Strangely enough I immediately thought about an old Tuscan cooking technique that has been around for centuries and I knew what was in store for dinner. I walked over and grabbed a handful of bricks and carried them up four flights of stairs to my kitchen where my girlfriend looked at me like I had three heads. Pollo al mattone, or chicken under a brick is classic Italian dish where, sure enough, you cook the chicken under the weight of a brick.

The idea is to basically fry the chicken skin side down in its own fat and juices. The weight of the brick presses the bird to the dry pan and while cooked slowly over medium-low heat, the fat in the skin starts to render. Soon enough the chicken will be pan frying in its own fat. The result is a golden brown, crispy, crackling skin and a tender, juicy inside. The preparation and butchering of the chicken is probably the most important part of executing perfect results. I start with a whole chicken (it’s extremely cost efficient to buy whole chickens and butcher them yourself) and with cooking shears, I snip both sides of the breast bone and remove it; splitting the entire chicken in half. I discard the wing , dislocate the leg from the thigh, and de-bone the breast making sure to leave all of the skin intact. What I end up with is a boneless breast and a leg with the skin on… a perfect portion (for me at least).

 The next part is loud and obnoxious so make sure to warn your neighbors before they call the police. Using the bottom of a heavy skillet smash the half chicken on your cutting board until it is as flat as possible. This is extremely important because you want as much surface area of the chicken touching the pan as you can. I wrapped my bricks in tinfoil so that my chicken didn’t taste like 40 years of the bottom of my neighbors’ shoes, and got a pan on the stove with a little olive oil. I placed my chicken in the hot pan skin side down and quickly applied the pressure from the bricks.

I wanted to serve the chicken with a fresh salad with tons of acidity because I thought that something light would be nice with the crackling, salty skin. I shaved some fennel bulbs and stalks and simply tossed them with baby arugula, tangerine supremes, and shaved red onion. Just a dash of extra virgin olive oil and some freshly squeezed lemon juice and the salad was complete. The sweet tangerine was great with the faint anise flavor of the fennel and the salad in general really lightened up the whole meal.

After the skin on my chicken was nice and crisp, I finished it in the oven to cook throughout with a little rosemary, thyme and garlic. I chose to pair this dish with the 2008 Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc-Viognier blend from California. The wine is comprised of roughly 80% Chenin Blanc and 20% Viognier, resulting in a wonderfully light, yet complex wine. The nose is very floral and citrusy, and the wine tastes like melon and pear with a slightly off-dry finish.

There was just enough acidity and lime flavors that paired nicely with the golden brown skin, and the juicy meat didn’t overpower the wine at all. I typically don’t care for Viognier but when blended with the Chenin Blanc, it was very pleasant; definitely a good choice to pair with turkey. If you’re looking to change things up this holiday season, try cooking your Thanksgiving turkey “al mattone”, or take a walk through a construction site to get inspired for dinner.