Another Taste of Umbria: Truffle Roasted Chicken & Hédoné Bianco #travel #Wine

Continuing on The Road to Umbrian Food & Wine

On my recent exploration of the Umbrian region of Italy with the #ItalianFWT group, I made Black Truffle Linguine.  I enjoyed it immensely to the point that I didn’t want my truffle love affair to come to an end. So…it didn’t.  I still had some truffles on hand, so I decided to make Truffle Roasted Chicken and open a bottle of Hédoné.

As discussed previously, Umbrian cuisine is characterized by pork, olive oil and truffles.  There are the black truffles, or tartufo neri, which are found around the Norcia and Spoleto areas of Umbria. They have a very distinctive flavor and are very aromatic.  There are also white truffles, or tartufo bianci, which are rare and extremely expensive.  These are found in the Tibertina Valley, Orvieto and Gubbio in Umbria, as well as some areas of Piedmont and throughout Tuscany. In addition to fresh truffles, you can also find truffle oil (olio al tartufo) and truffle butter (burro di tartufo) and truffle sauce (salsa al tartufo).  For the salad that accompanied this meal, I used truffle balsamic dressing (condimento balsalmico al tartufo), which was out of this world!

Truffle Roasted Chicken

Ingredients
8 leg/thigh pieces or 4 Leg quarters
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/4 cup of dry white wine
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
2 garlic cloves, diced
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 oz. fresh black truffles, thinly sliced
*Truffle oil, or jarred truffles can also be used instead

Procedure
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Clean chicken, remove the skin and season with salt, pepper. Roast chicken in the oven for 35 minutes. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, saute the olive oil, garlic, rosemary, thyme, wine and truffles for about 2-3 minutes.  Do not burn.  After 45 minutes, remove the chicken from the oven and rub the sauteed seasonings.  Put it back in the oven for another 25-30 minutes or until the meat is tender to your liking.  

This dish was served with rice and a mixed green salad.  The salad had pecorino cheese and was drizzled with Truffle Balsamic dressing. If you like truffles, please see our Black Truffle Linguine recipe.

The Wining Hour’s Wine Selection:

Hédoné was the wine chosen to pair with this dish.  This particular Umbrian IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) wine was an excellent choice.   We selected 2014 Cirulli Aziende Agricole Hédoné Bianco.  Hédoné is a white Umbrian wine that usually pairs well as an aperitivo, or with first courses, white meats and seafood.  It not only paired well with this white meat, truffle roasted chicken, but it also brought out the flavors in the truffles.  Hédoné consists of the Trebbiano, Malvasia, Grechetto and Incrocio Manzoni (Manzoni Bianco) varieties. It had a fruity aroma of peach, as well as floral notes.  This wine was well balanced, tasting of fresh, crisp fruits and hints of lemon.  Hédoné is the Italian word for pleasure, and so it was!

What is your experience with food or wine from Umbria?