The Supernatural Sauvignon Blanc & Spicy Chicken
The Supernatural Sauvignon Blanc & Spicy Chicken
The unique spicy notes in the Supernatural Sauvignon Blanc play off the melange of spices in this quick and easy chicken dish. The more you bite into this chicken, the better it tastes. The spiciness of the Ichimi Toagashi powder is the perfect accent to this dish. The yogurt rubbed into the chicken helps to tenderize it. Serve with a squeeze of lemon for extra punch.
(Serves 2 / Cooking time: 15 minutes (except marinating time)
Ingredients
1 package of chicken thighs (about 300g)
A 1 grated garlic clove
A 1 tablespoon plain yogurt
A 1 teaspoon soy sauce
A 1/2 teaspoon of chili pepper powder
A 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
A A pinch of Ichimi Togarashi powder
A pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of potato starch (katakuriko)
1/2 tbsp olive oil
Arugula, when appropriate.
Lemon to taste
Instructions
Remove excess fat and tendon from chicken thighs and cut into eight equal pieces. Mix [A] in a bowl, add the chicken and stir to coat the chicken with the rub. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to marinate. Add the potato starch and stir again until combined.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat and arrange the chicken skin-side down. Cook for 6 minutes until browned, turn the chicken, and cook for another 6 minutes until cooked through.
Garnish with arugula and lemon.
Mentioned in this blog

PROFILE
Supernatural Wine Co. is a producer of certified organic, naturally vinified, low sulfur white and skin-fermented white wines from a north-facing hillside estate in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. Supernatural Wine Co. obtained full organic certification with BioGro New Zealand (www.biogro.co.nz) in March 2015 and commenced biodynamic farming practices in 2015.
Supernatural Wine Co.'s philosophy relies on great terroir and traditional processes. Their aim is to make all their wines as naturally as possible to produce true terroir driven wines. They use indigenous yeast gathered from their vineyard for fermentation and add nothing to the wines other than a little sulfur before bottling. They do not fine our wines and they have not filtered the 2015 skin-fermented wines. They want to focus on producing dry aromatic and skin-fermented white wines in a very clean and direct style.
REGION
Hawke's Bay is the oldest wine region in New Zealand and the second largest. Hawke’s Bay’s maritime climate is similar to Bordeaux but cooler, producing a more vibrant Sauvignon Blanc style that is versatile and food-friendly. The wine style falls somewhere between Bordeaux, Loire and New Zealand and it has its own unique and appealing character.
VINEYARD
The Supernatural vineyard at Millar Road has proven pedigree being in proximity to and on similar soils, slope and aspect as Te Mata Coleraine, one of New Zealand’s most accoladed vineyards. Over 90% of New Zealand’s vineyards are on flat land with alluvial gravel soils, so this soil and site produce very distinctive wines in a New Zealand context.
The vineyard is an amazing site for viticulture being situated on a north-facing hillside with slopes up to 30 degrees. Soils are lime-rich clay with volcanic influence – they are classified as Matapiro sandy loam over Kidnappers Group sandstone and carbonaceous mudstone.
The Millar Road property is 19.4 hectares, with 8.9 hectares planted in vines – 8.0 hectares Sauvignon Blanc (18,000 plants) and 0.9 hectares Pinot Gris (1,800 plants). Vines were planted in 2004 and 2005.