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

We made BBQ chicken thighs with my special blend BBQ sauce. I played to the wine with my flavors, including black cherry preserves, and spices, a bit of espresso and cocoa along with my usual mix of tomato paste, ketchup (yes, or catsup if you prefer), Worcestershire sauce, soy, honey, cider vinegar, balsamic, paprika, nutmeg, and assorted other spices. We did these in the slow cooker. If I do them again I will skin the chicken. Alright, I like fat and the flavor it imparts, but in this case, my sauce didn’t get to permeate the meat as well as I would have liked.

We also did grilled eggplant. In his tasting notes, Co mentions the wine will pair well with eggplant dishes.

Lastly, I made a smoked gouda mac and cheese. This made the whole thing feel like a Southern picnic to me and well, there is a little bit of pandemic virtual travel to be had in that!
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