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OK I have two favorite foods - Italian and seafood. now if you give me Italian seafood OHH baby am I a happy gobbler. (that's right that is coming soon) So guess what you are going to get a lot of. But I just bought ( for my 60th b-day present ) a really incredible BBQ / Smoker combo grill. Of course I have my outdoor Deep fryer lobster steamer giant pot, my cast iron skillets & ironclads that all lend themselves to great food recipes. So yes I am here to blog on wine but the recipes are what you'll really get into. Wine, especially the ones Lewis and I created this week the absolutely best crossfire and riata JK has ever produced, are going to just dazzle you. So I know I have not blogged much this week but I have been cooking. I did my planned recipes, my Mom's spinach salad and pepper steak chedda ( new England speak ) noodles. But last night I looked in the frig and said to myself, self I don't want to go to the store lets see what we can create.

So I found some large Idaho potatoes, a fresh tomato, a jar of diced hot cherry peppers, half a white onion, a jar of sun dried tomatoes ( one of my favorites to cook with ), 2 green peppers, some chicken leg and thighs, medium shrimp, and a bag and a half of baby spinach left over from Thursday nite dinner and hot pepper sauce. So then I went to the pantry. Olive oil, cracked pepper, salt, minced garlic, course sweet basil, marjoram, herb seasoning and chervil.

So, for I don't know for how many years, I would do this kind of cooking and get nothing but raves from whomever I was feeding but could never duplicate it, at least exactly, so now I actually right it down.

After I cooked it and had some with my 2007 stray dog zin I was impressed with both. I new I was going to need a name for it and the closest thing it reminded me of was "choucroute" not a true one but that was what came to mind. Emeril's choucroute is one of my favorite winter dishes.

I had enough left over to have it tonight with my newly bottled 07 crossfire. man was that a great combination. SO LETS COOK.


Chicken, Shrimp and spinach choucroute;

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp chopped or minced garlic

3 large Idaho potatoes peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 large green peppers cut into strips
1 large tomato
1/2 large white onion
4 whole chicken leg and thighs - cut up, separate the leg from the thigh
1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes - julienne cut
1 tbsp cento diced hot cherry peppers
3 dashes hot pepper sauce
1/4 tsp course sweet basil
big pinch of marjoram
big pinch of herb seasoning
big pinch of chervil
24 raw medium peeled and deveined shrimp
2 6 oz bags baby spinach

In a really large deep skillet with a lid add the olive oil, cracked pepper, salt and garlic simmer on medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes. add chicken pieces and brown on all sides. add potatoes, green peppers, tomato and onion, sun dried tomatoes, diced cherry peppers, hot pepper sauce, basil, marjoram, herb seasoning and chervil. cover and cook stirring every few minutes until chicken is cooked about 20 minutes. add shrimp and cover until shrimp is pink 3 to 4 minutes. cover mixture with all the spinach, drizzle with more olive oil and salt lightly cover and simmer until spinach is cooked. remove from heat toss in the pan to mix up the spinach and serve with some crusty bread. a stray dog zinfandel or the Dancing Vine reserve cab sauv coming up on Bargainsonwine.com. So give this a try and let me know what you think.
BARGINS BABY BARGINS