Chicken diavolo and quinoa salad shot at Lucy Waverman's home in Toronto, Ontario on June 5, 2014.Peter Power
At the trendiest restaurants, serving food family style is all the rage. I was recently at Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria in New York (where we sat next to the SNL cast). We were served platters of short ribs and chicken with terrific sides which fed four of us magnificently. It is a friendly, interactive way to eat and encourages conversation. The following recipe is one I use at home because it is easy and the flavours all come together beautifully. I had a version of it in Palm Springs, Calif., at the hipster Kitchen Workshop where it became our go-to dish. You could add a second platter or make a large potato salad if you wanted to serve more people. Cut the chicken into eight pieces for serving. Add a platter of ribs and you have a feast for six.
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Wine Pairings: Diavolo in Italian is devil, so this is hell’s chicken. The name is an allusion mainly to the spice, which in Lucy’s preparation is many degrees cooler than infernally hot. But as the original dish’s inventor conceived it, the name may also have been a reference to the charred character of the flesh. Both considerations come into play when considering a suitable beverage. This is time for a fruit-forward wine, something to cool or sweeten the burn. In the white category I’d opt for gruner veltliner from Austria or chenin blanc from France or South Africa. Both grapes dish up the fruit but also come with zippy sourness to shake hands with the lively herbal overtones of the sauce. Among reds, consider light, bright Beaujolais (or New World gamay, based on the same grape) or a plummy-herbal blend from France’s southern Languedoc region, such as Minervois or Corbières. Brew-wise, I’d try a fruity wheat beer. Beppi Crosariol
Lucy Waverman