So I was a little low on white wine, and chicken was the protein of choice for the night. The question was this:
What sauce would make a red wine pairing work well?
Well, I've often made a red wine reduction to go with beef, or a pinot sauce for salmon...
Why not chicken?
I minced a small onion and started sweating it in a bit of EVOO. After a few minutes, I added a minced garlic clove, and a minute later I added a handful of chopped Kalamata olives. Then in went 1/2 C dry red wine. I let it all reduce to almost nothing, turned off the heat, and added some chopped sage and oregano, plus a few capers, and set it aside.
Then I made my standard chicken schnitzel...
http://www.thisoldchef.com/blog.html/schnitzel_redux_sandy_be_damned/
And some mashed potatoes...
http://www.thisoldchef.com/blog.html/my_mashed_potatoes/
To which I added some chopped chives to keep the herb-y thing going.
I reheated the sauce, and then added a splash of cream. On a plate warmed in the oven, I mounded some potatoes, leaned the schnitzel on the mound, and let the sauce drizzle down the chicken to pool on the plate. That way, 90% of the schnitzel remained crisp!
Served with the same dry red I'd used in the sauce - problem solved! And a great variation on the usual white wine sauce.
Lesson learned: don't let preconceived notions or the "received wisdom" about what-goes-with what stop you. Try something! If you like it, it's right! If you don't, there's always tomorrow's dinner!!!