Goin to Chicken

Wine: Pleiades xv Old Vines from Silverlake Wine

We cooked two dishes from Sunday Supper at Lucques. Her recipes are exceptional, but take some work to accomplish. These are really worth the effort.


Saba is like Balsamic but better! Saba is the sweet reduction of grape must, simmered in copper kettles over an open flame. It is the exact same must used for balsamic vinegar, but cooked down more, to about one-third its original volume. Aged for two years in chestnut and oak barrels, Saba is a pure, sweet, syrupy expression of the Trebbiano or Lambrusco grape. With a fantastic fruity character, Saba has hints of grapes, plums, and raisins. Try drizzling it over cheesecake, dressing a fruit salad, serving it on panna cotta, using it in marinades, or serving it over ice cream.

We started with a salad: Coleman’s Farm’s Treviso with Gorgonzola, Walnuts and Saba. Instead of Treviso we used radicchio a very close relative. The recipe calls for Saba and we were almost out. Saba is a great product but difficult to obtain. To make it even more difficult, we have a favorite Saba, imported from Modena, by Manicaretti. A few weeks ago, we asked Chris at The Cheese Store of Silverlake if he could get it for us. He surprised us this weekend by producing it. It was a real surprise for us! It is great dealing with someone who will special order foodstuffs for us. We also purchased the Gorgonzola from The Cheese Store.

For the second course we made an incredible chicken. We actually started it on Sat. to cook on Monday! I will simply name it, as it appears in the cookbook. It tells you the main ingredients! The recipe is way too complicated to write here. Buy the book! In the book there is a fabulous picture of the dish. It is a shame the Blog doesn’t have a smell function. It had a wonderful aroma! The name of the dish is: Braised Chicken with Saffron Onions, Italian Couscous, and Dates. It has a multi-layered texture and taste. For some reason we don’t remember ever eating this on Monday night at Lucques. We must have been on vacation the Sunday night she served this. Glad we were able to recreate it!