Sunday Supper: Food and Wine Pairing of the Week
Chicken Corn Chowder with Riesling
This week’s Sunday Supper stems from one of our favourite comfort food recipes. Chicken and Corn chowder was a recipe Erin started making when she was still a student, in her early 20’s, trying to figure out the difference between a clove of garlic and a bulb. Needless to say the winning combination of cheap, easy and delicious means it’s been in Erin’s recipe repertoire ever since.
Chicken Corn Chowder
serves 6
What You Need
- 1/4 pound cubed pancetta or bacon – optional
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 cup flour
- 3 Tbsp each salt, pepper & dried thyme
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 large leeks, light green and white parts thinly sliced
- 3 large cloves garlic, minced
- 2 medium carrots cubed small
- 3 celery stalks, sliced
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 2 medium, yellow fleshed potatoes, cut into small cubes
- 1 red pepper, cut into small cubes
- 1 Tbsp hot pepper – optional
- 2 cups frozen corn kernels
- 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
- 12-15 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 large dried bay leaves
- 1 cup whole milk
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 can creamed corn
How You Do It
- Heat Large stock pot over medium heat, when warm add bacon or pancetta, if using
- If not using bacon, heat olive oil in stock pot
- Sear bacon until brown and remove from pot, draining on paper towel
- Meanwhile, mix flour, salt and pepper and dried thyme. Dredge each chicken thigh in flour mixture, shaking off excess
- Add chicken in batches to warm bacon fat or oil in pot – do not overcrowd
- Seat chicken until brown and remove from pot
- Melt butter in empty, uncleaned pot
- Add leeks and sauté a minute or two
- Add carrots and celery and sauté until slightly soft – three or four minutes
- Add garlic and stir
- Add fresh thyme, paprika and bay leaves stir to coat
- Add wine and scrape brown bits from bottom of pot
- Add in potatoes and hot peppers*, if using
- Pour in chicken stock
- Bring to a boil, skimming foam from soup
- Reduce heat to a simmer
- Add chicken and summer until cooked through, about 15 minutes
- Add red pepper and corn, cook another 5 minutes
- Stir milk
- Add in creamed corn
- Adjust for seasoning and serve
*we normally use raw jaelpeno, but we didn’t have any on hand, so we used jarred hot peppers in oil
* creamed corn offers a sweet, creamy, hearty consistency that we like, but it’s not necessary if you don’t have any on hand
The Wine Sisters’ Wine Pairing
Inniskillin “Niagara Estate” Riesling, VQA Niagara Peninsula 2012
$9.95 LCBO 83790
Lip smacking acidity with flavours of lemon-lime, crisp green apple and subtle mineral notes. Bright and fresh, with a tiny amount of sweetness to counter the pinpoint acidity.
How Did the Pairing Work?
We initially reached for Chardonnay as all the flavours in the dish are classic pairings to a creamy, oaky, Chard. It worked well, of course, but on a whim decided to see what the chowder would be like paired with Riesling. Surprisingly, it was the winner. The bright citrus flavours and exacting acidity livened up the heavy chowder, and brought out a sweetness in the dish.