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    Smoked chicken, asparagus, wild garlic leaf pesto sauce pasta (with pics)

    Posts: 2,352
    in EggHead Forum

    Wild garlic is in season at the moment, and I’m fortunate enough to have parents-in-law with this wonderful herb growing in their back garden. My wife picked some and used it to make a tasty, fresh wild garlic leaf pesto sauce. We had this with some pappardelle pasta, which was served with smoked chicken and asparagus. Utterly delicious.

    I smoked and cooked the chicken breasts indirect at 120°C/250°F using dried grape vines (from our “vineyard” … three vines creeping up the side fence) until the internal temperature of the breasts was 65°C/150°F. The platesetter was removed, Egg raised to 300°C/615°F for direct cooking/searing. The breasts were then seared for 1 minute each side, covered and left to rest, carved when the internal temperature was 74°C/165°F (pretty much straight after they were seared).

    At the same time as searing the chicken breast I also chargrilled the cooked asparagus to give it a nice, slightly crisp coating.

    The wild garlic leaf pesto sauce is dead easy to make, recipe is here:

    https://www.thecooksdigest.co.uk/2017/04/28/wild-garlic-leaf-pesto-sauce/

    The pesto sauce:

    From whence it came:


    Chicken breasts searing in the Minimax after smoking, with the asparagus added. Kicking myself for not using the CI grid:


    Plated and ready, with some spinach added for good measure. The pappardelle pasta is coated with the wild garlic leaf pesto sauce:

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    | Cooking and blogging with a Large and Minimax in deepest, darkest England-shire
    | My food blog ... BGE and other stuff ... http://www.thecooksdigest.com
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    Comments

    • Posts: 590
      That's a beautiful meal!
      Wisconsin, lbge, MM, kab, pig tail flippers, bear claws, and more rubs than I will admit to.
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    • Posts: 15,667
      Damn.  Very nice.
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    • Posts: 14,831
      I always enjoy your cook posts. Nicely done. Again.

      I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

      Michael 
      Central Connecticut 

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    • Posts: 14,544
      This belongs in a food mag!
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    • Posts: 506
      Damn that looks good! Great job! I have never cooked chicken that way, definitely doing that soon.  I am trying that pesto for sure.

      Medium BGE in Cincinnati OH.

      "

      "I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they frighten me. " Duke of Wellington, Battle of Waterloo.
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    • Posts: 1,112
      Nice looking food. We  eat a ton of chicken and we all still like it.

      XLBGE, LBGE 

      Fernandina Beach, FL

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    • Posts: 15,172
      Gawjus.....just gawjus.
      Ellijay GA with a Medium & MiniMax

      Well, I married me a wife, she's been trouble all my life,
      Run me out in the cold rain and snow
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    • Posts: 6,629
      Excellent!!!
      Charlotte, NC - Large BGE 2014, Maverick ET 733, Thermopen, Nest, Platesetter, Woo2 and Extender w/Grid, Kick Ash Basket, Pizza Stone, SS Smokeware Cap, Blackstone 36"
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    • Posts: 19,636
      Very nice!
      Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
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    • Posts: 9,867
      Great post and great looking grub my friend.  
      ------------------------------
      Thomasville, NC
      My YouTube Channel - The Hungry Hussey
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    • Posts: 2,352
      edited April 2017
      Thanks folks. I was as happy with the photograph of the pesto as I was with the meal. :)

      @evie1370 this is the first time I've cooked chicken breast like this. I normally just do it direct and raised into the dome, but I wanted to do something more low and slow to get the smoke in. It worked, a bit of a blend of luck and judgement. :D

      @northGAcock I had to read that a couple of times to work out what you were saying. SWMBO sighed at me.
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------
      | Cooking and blogging with a Large and Minimax in deepest, darkest England-shire
      | My food blog ... BGE and other stuff ... http://www.thecooksdigest.com
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------


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    • Posts: 10,142
      Holy crap that looks good.  Awesome cook and pics.

      XXL BGE, Karebecue, Klose BYC, Chargiller Akorn Kamado, Weber Smokey Mountain, Grand Turbo gasser, Weber Smoky Joe, and the wheelbarrow that my grandfather used to cook steaks from his cattle

      San Antonio, TX

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    • Posts: 1,826
      I'm no fan of asparagus but you make even that look good.  Great looking cook. 
      Marshall in Beautiful Fruit Cove, FL.
      MiniMax 04/17
      Unofficial BGE MiniMax Evangelist
      Facebook Big Green Egg MiniMax Owners Group


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    • Posts: 34,971
      Magazine quality pics right there.  Great cook and result.  Dang-  Nailed it across the board.  
      Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period. CHEETO (aka Agent Orange) makes Nixon look like a saint.  
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    • Posts: 181
      Great pics and food!  That's the most green I've seen on plate here!
      MM & XL BGE, Bay Area CA
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    • Posts: 6,481
      The pesto looks excellent. Beautiful meal. 
      Coleman, Texas
      Large BGE & Mini Max for the wok. A few old camp Dutch ovens and a wood fired oven. LSG 24” cabinet offset smoker. There are a few paella pans and a Patagonia cross in the barn. A curing chamber for bacterial transformation of meats...
      "Bourbon slushies. Sure you can cook on the BGE without them, but why would you?"
                                                                                                                            YukonRon
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    • Posts: 129
      That looks fantastic!
      LBGE
      Nashville, TN. 
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    • Posts: 2,352
      SaintJohnsEgger said:
      I'm no fan of asparagus but you make even that look good.  Great looking cook. 
      Tbh neither am I normally, but the combination of slight chargrilling and garlic pesto made it ... well, slightly more than palatable. Which is a boon because it's one of SWMBO's favourites.
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------
      | Cooking and blogging with a Large and Minimax in deepest, darkest England-shire
      | My food blog ... BGE and other stuff ... http://www.thecooksdigest.com
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------


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    • Posts: 134
      @Stormbringer  What roll did the dried grape vines play? Not sure how you folded those into your porcess here...
      Moved from upper left to Denver, CO | BGE LG & MMX + Kotaigrill [Hibachi]
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    • Posts: 2,352
      acolle said:
      @Stormbringer  What roll did the dried grape vines play? Not sure how you folded those into your porcess here...
      @acolle - I got the coals in the MM glowing and then added some dried grape vine twigs on top to generate smoke whilst cooking the chicken. It's a trick I learned in Bordeaux, several of the top chateaux there entertain guests and smoke meats over dried grape vines from their vineyards.
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------
      | Cooking and blogging with a Large and Minimax in deepest, darkest England-shire
      | My food blog ... BGE and other stuff ... http://www.thecooksdigest.com
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------


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    • Posts: 134
      edited July 2017
      Stormbringer said:
      show previous quotes
      @acolle - I got the coals in the MM glowing and then added some dried grape vine twigs on top to generate smoke whilst cooking the chicken. It's a trick I learned in Bordeaux, several of the top chateaux there entertain guests and smoke meats over dried grape vines from their vineyards.

       
      Interesting. 

      I would never have thought of this... And I have more grape vine than I know what to do with. Do you dry the twigs till they are snappable? Or do you leave moisture in them? And I assume you discard the leaves right? 

      Moved from upper left to Denver, CO | BGE LG & MMX + Kotaigrill [Hibachi]
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    • Posts: 2,352
      edited July 2017
      acolle said:
      show previous quotes

       
      Interesting. 

      I would never have thought of this... And I have more grape vine than I know what to do with. Do you dry the twigs till they are snappable? Or do you leave moisture in them? And I assume you discard the leaves right? 

      @acolle they are dried until they are bendy and snap with very little effort. Vine that are completely bone dry just smoke, whereas if there's a very small amount of moisture (sap? whatever it is) in them, it gives an extra flavour. We learned this from the owner of Ch. Haut Bailly when we had dinner there a few years ago. And you're right, just the twigs, no leaves.

      I'd love to try this with the vines at Ch. Gruaud Larose. Their terroir invariably produces wines that have a jambon fume note, the most recent classic example being the 2001. Given that flavour comes from the grape which comes from the vine, there must be something in their soils that's doing this. Smoking over some of their old vines would be most interesting.
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------
      | Cooking and blogging with a Large and Minimax in deepest, darkest England-shire
      | My food blog ... BGE and other stuff ... http://www.thecooksdigest.com
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------


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