Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah with BBQ chicken, grilled eggplant with chimichurri and smoke gouda mac and cheese

Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah with BBQ chicken, grilled eggplant with chimichurri and smoked gouda mac and cheese

BBQ Chicken in Crockpot with Grilled Eggplant and Gouda Mac and Cheese

December 11, 2020 Posted by Robin Renken 12 Days of Wine Holiday Edition, Recipes and Wine Pairings, Syrah, Washington State, Wine and Food Pairings, Yakima Valley No Comments

BBQ chicken, grilled eggplant with chimichurri sauce, and smoked gouda mac and cheese with Co Dinn Roskamp Syrah

Our BBQ lunch to pair with this Washington Syrah from Co Dinn paired beautifully! BBQ with Syrah, especially when you play up the notes in the wine in the sauce, can be spectacular. Co had suggested eggplant dishes on his site and I found a recipe for Grilled eggplant with chimichurri sauce and lastly a smoked gouda mac and cheese!

Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah

This Co Dinn wine is fermented in one-ton bins. He presses when he feels the tannins are structured by not too grippy. The wine does secondary fermentation in neutral French oak. 100% Syrah. 14.6% abv SRP $45

Time: 2 hours 25 Minutes

Yield: 2-4 people

Slow cooker BBQ chicken thighs with a syrah inspired BBQ sauce

This recipe was inspired by Jennifer Banz – crock pot chicken thighs

https://jenniferbanz.com/crock-pot-bbq-chicken-thighs

2 people, 2 hr 15 min to 4 hr 15 minutes (depending on slow cooker setting)

Slow Cooked BBQ Chicken — Slow-Cooked BBQ Chicken

Ingredients

4 bone in chicken thighs (I recommend pulling the skin off of these, I did not and I regret that, the meat was not able soak up my brilliant sauce)

1 tbs paprika (smoke or sweet)

1 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp Montreal Chicken seasoning (it’s what I had)

¼ tsp ground white pepper

1 ½ cups of BBQ sauce (

Directions

Mix the spices and the salt and pepper in a small bowl
Put your chicken thighs in the slow cooker and sprinkling the spice mix over the top.
Pour on 1 cup of that BBQ sauce (use my recipe below, make your own concoction or grab a bottle from the store)
Cook on high for 2 hours or low for 4 hours.
Pre-heat the broiler.
Place the chicken thighs on an aluminum lined baking sheet
Baste with the rest of the sauce
Broil on the center rack of the oven for about 5 minutes (keep an eye on them) They should caramelize and bubble.

BBQ Sauce recipe

First, I love making BBQ sauce, and it’s never the same. I throw together flavors and taste as I go. Here is what I used for this recipe.

Minced garlic

Dried cranberries

Dark brown sugar

Worcestershire sauce

Apple cider vinegar

Honey

Balsamic vinegar

Espresso powder

Cocoa

Ketchup

Soy sauce

Tomato paste

Paprika

Ground white pepper

Montreal chicken seasoning

Black cherry preserve

Nutmeg

Salt

Directions

Nope, you don’t get exact measurements. You need it to be your desired consistency so that will guide you. The other thing that will guide you is your taste buds. Grab a jar or bowl, or a big 2 cup measuring cup. You are looking to have 1 ½ cups of this in the end. Add, stir, taste. Maybe there are other flavors you want to add in? Do it! If you are not sure, then take a bit to the side and try it there.

The important thing for this recipe, was the black cherry preserves (I added about 2 tbs) the cocoa ( I added 1 tsp) and the espresso powder (again 1 tsp). These were the components that would pick up in the notes of the wine.

Grilled Eggplant with Chimichurri sauce

20 minutes 4 servings

This recipe was adapted from one on Foodie Crush https://www.foodiecrush.com/grilled-eggplant/

I didn’t need to make quite so much and I’ll be honest, I mixed up my chimichurri so that it is more of a sauce and is not quite a traditional chimichurri which is thiner and more drizzly. None the less it was delicious. I also cut this recipe in half and adapted for ingredients that I had on hand.

Chimichurri style sauce

Ingredients

½ cup flat leaf parsley leaves only

¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves only

2 shallots finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic

¼ cup olive oil

2 tbs of red wine vinegar

½ lemon juiced

½ tsp salt

½ tsp red pepper flakes

Directions

Do this in a food processor
Start with the parsley, cilantro, onion and garlic, pulse to mince
Add the olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice, and red pepper flakes.
Pulse just to mix
Season with salt.

Grilled Eggplant

Ingredients

1 large eggplant

1 tbs of olive oil

1 ½ tsp salt

1 ½ tsp freshly ground pepper

Directions

Heat your grill pan over medium high heat (I typically grind fresh salt over the pan first, it will help with clean up)
Cut the eggplant into ½ inch slices
Brush the slices with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper
Grill turning once until they are tender and you have lovely grill marks
Plate and drizzle with the chimichurri sauce.

Serves 4

25 minutes

Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese

I love baked mac & cheese, but sometimes you just don’t have the time for that. This mac & cheese with smoke gouda is so good, I didn’t miss the baking! I found this recipe on Hey Grill Hey an adapted it cutting the recipe in half. I also messed up my sauce and guess what? Still turned out okay!

Ingredients

½ lb of elbow macaroni

¼ cup of butter

2 tbs flour

1 ½ tsp mustard powder

1/2 cup of crème

½ cup whole milk

2 oz of crème cheese

1 ½ cups of shredded smoked gouda

¾ cup of shredded white cheddar

Directions

Cook the pasta. Read the directions on the package, just use a big pot, bigger than you think you need, so those macaroni have space and salt the water. Salty like the sea, my chef friend always says!
Drain the pasta. (yes, I did that before I made the sauce, because I didn’t want to break my focus on the sauce, by having to stop and drain pasta)
Get out your cast iron skillet (12 inch) melt the butter over medium heat
Add the flour whisking until it forms a thin smooth paste. This is your roux, I am notorious for over cooking my roux, keep this over medium and you should be okay.
Whisk in the mustard powder.
Slowly pour in the milk and crème, continue whisking while you bring this to a boil.
Reduce the heat and add the crème cheese, whisking until smooth
Add the gouda and cheddar and stir until melted.
Turn off the heat, add the pasta and stir to make this a gooey bunch of deliciousness.

Watch our quick video for the highlights.

BBQ chicken, grilled eggplant with chimichurri sauce, and smoked gouda mac and cheese with Co Dinn Roskamp Syrah

We got lost on the way to this vineyard to meet Co Dinn. In Washington’s Yakima Valley GPS service can be sketchy and even when you look it up ahead of time, sometimes roads have gates and you find the maps program tried to take you in a locked back door. So after a bit of driving for us and Co talking us in through landmarks we were unfamiliar with, we finally connected and headed up to the Roskamp Vineyard in the Snipes Mountain AVA. Co sources grapes here, for his Syrah and Chardonnay and it is a great vantage point to see the Yakima Valley.