This was better than what you ate last night.
Magnificent.
Today I found myself in the mood for an old standby. I don’t recall where I first saw the recipe, but now I make it from the hip. The essentials:
Chicken
Artichoke hearts
Tomatoes
Red Onions
Feta Cheese
Pasta
Sauté the chicken (cut into small pieces) with the onion (chopped) in butter. Meanwhile, start boiling your pasta. I’ve used penne in the past; today I felt like bowtie. Ideally, throw some fresh minced garlic into the pan before the chicken and onions are thoroughly cooked. This time around I forgot, so I added some garlic powder later in the process — not quite as good but you need a little garlic flavor in there somehow. Then toss in the artichoke hearts and tomatoes and sprinkle with some oregano and let that heat through while the pasta finishes up.
Drain the pasta, add to the chicken mixture, and cut the heat. Then squeeze some lemon juice over it all, pour in a little olive oil, stir thoroughly, and serve with plenty of crumbled feta on top. Yummmm.
Before I started cooking this evening I paused to consider what beer should go in the fridge to accompany this, and I settled on Ommegang’s Ommegeddon because it’s a funky, earthy brew fermented with Brettanomyces. I suspected it would go well with the funk and earthiness of the feta and artichokes. I was right.
Without going into excruciating detail, most beers are brewed with various strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. All ales and lagers are fermented with one of many strains of Saccharomyces. But Brett is different. Beers fermented with Brett don’t fit into a convenient category. They are earthy, funky, and sometimes sour. It’s a whole different world from your typical pale ales, pilsners, or stouts.
This was a match made in heaven. Neither the food nor the beer overpower the other; they just dance on your palate in remarkable complexity. No off flavors, no clashes, just perfect harmony. I wasn’t at all certain of what I was doing here, but it was an educated guess that turned out brilliant.
I suspect any Brett-fermented beer would work well with this dish, and there’s a surprising variety of them out there.
Tags: Brewery Ommegang, Greek Chicken And Artichoke Pasta, Ommegeddon
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