Wine and food pairings 14: Mom’s chicken parmigiana

The Wine Curmudgeon pairs wine with some of his favorite recipes in this occasional feature. This edition: three wines with my mom’s  chicken parmigiana

My mom is a fine home cook, and one reason I write about wine and cook as much as I do is because she was so good. We even watched Julia Child together, in those long ago days when you had to keep a pad handy to write down the recipe.

Chicken parmigiana was always one of her best dishes, and my brother and sister would look forward to it as much as I did.  In fact, I still have the recipe, written on a sheet of yellow legal paper, that I took to college with me.

Now, is this classic chicken parmigiana? Nope. Actual Parmigiano Reggiano was not easy to find then. But know that Mom never used the stuff in the green plastic shaker. And, frankly, sometimes classic is in the eye of the beholder. Food, like wine, is as much about who you enjoy it with as the dish itself.

I’ve tweaked the recipe a bit over the years, making the coating simpler and less thick; it’s parmigiana, not chicken fried steak. And I use a Julia Child tip for the cheese — vary it for more interest (but Reggiano, if I have it). One thing I haven’t changed: Serve it with green noodles, because we always did.

Click here to download or print a copy of the recipe. What wines to pair? My dad would have had a glass or two of Bolla Valpolicella with it; in those days, it was that or Chianti.  So fruity red wines that won’t overpower the chicken but will stand up to the sauce:

• Abacela Fifty-Fifty Tempranillo-Malbec 2017 ($32, sample, 13.8%): Lush, rich and full, showing off Oregon malbec and tempranillo — lots of dark fruit, red and black, a little spice, and fine tannins. Very nicely done.

• Renieri Rosso di Montalcino 2017 ($13, purchased, 14.5%): Polished, structured, and enjoyable Italian sangoviese blend that tastes like it costs much more than the $13 I paid for it. How often does that happen? Imported by Southern Glazer’s

• Gru Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2017 ($11, purchased, 13.5%): Italian red that takes montelpuciano to a place I didn’t think it could go — earthy, funky, deep, dark, and black cherry fruit. Somehow combines all that is wonderful about Italian wine with modern winemaking techniques. Highly recommended.  Imported by R.S. Lipman Company

Blog associate editor Churro contributed to this post.

More about wine and food pairings:
• Wine and food pairings 13: Crawfish etouffee
• Wine and food pairings 12: Hot dogs
• Wine and food pairings 11: Croque monsieur, turkey style

Photo: Kenneth Dixon via Food.com, using a Creative Commons license

Slider photo: “Rome Elite Event: wine, food and nice people” by Yelp.com is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0