Chardonnay: The Great Chameleon

I learned to cook from my Mom, cooking programs on PBS, and a wide range of authors whose books perched on the kitchen shelves, patiently waiting for the moment they were needed. We reached for these books frequently, usually three and four at a time, spreading them across the kitchen table to compare ingredients and techniques. We had a rule – always follow the recipe as it was written the first time, then we could improvise. Of course, we broke this rule frequently, but there were a few time-honored recipes in our repertoire that we pulled out when we wanted an easy, delicious dinner. Several times a season, we made roasted chicken, either Marcella Hazan’s Lemon Chicken or the French classic Forty Cloves of Garlic chicken. These are comforting, easy dishes to get on the table in September when we’re heading into Fall, with the tumult of kids going back to school and adults back to work.

Both chicken dishes are great because they give so much flavor for so little work. For the lemon chicken, all you have to do is roll two small lemons on the counter to loosen up the juice, poke a number of holes in them with a fork and insert them into the cavity of the chicken. Season with salt and pepper, roast and serve with gnocchi or steamed baby potatoes and whatever green vegetable is in season. When serving, you can up the lemon quotient by squeezing the roasted lemons over the chicken at the table.

The garlic chicken is just as easy – separate 40 cloves of garlic, (but don’t peel them), put some in the cavity and sprinkle the rest around the chicken in the pan with a splash of olive oil. A sprinkle of salt and pepper and into the oven it goes. The roasted garlic cloves will add an earthy depth of caramelized flavor to the chicken and perfume your kitchen. You can mash the roasted garlic into the pan juices; pass them at table for your guests to squeeze out of their skins onto toasted bread or onto the sliced chicken. This dish calls for roasted potatoes, crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside and a hearty vegetable like braised greens or sautéed zucchini with herbs.