Picnic: Music and mojito chicken at Landmark

Starting May 2 and lasting through October, Landmark Vineyards will have free live music and horse-drawn wagon rides on Saturdays. The rest of the week, the views of the Maycamas Mountains and bocce ball court are the draw. With the music season starting, it seemed time to design the perfect picnic to accompany Mark McDonald’s blues (he’s appearing May 2 at Landmark) so Mary Colhoun, proprietor of Landmark has come up with the Mojito Chicken menu, below.

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The picnic site:

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Landmark is a 20 acre estate at the base of Sugarloaf. You can picnic pond side, in the shade of a huge oak, or spread a blanket on the extensive lawns. “Landmark is the perfect place to picnic, says Colhoun. “You can soak in the breath-taking views of the Mayacama Mountains while enjoying the blooming gardens at Landmark.”

Landmark Vineyards

101 Adobe Canyon Road

Kenwood

The menu:

• Gruyere cheese and baguette
• Organic mesclun salad with vinaigrette
• Mojito Chicken (recipe below)
• Fresh strawberries with shortbread cookies

 Wine suggestions:

• Landmark’s 2006 Damaris Chardonnay (93 points – Wine Spectator)
• Landmark’s 2007 Grand Detour Pinot Noir

  The recipe:

 Mojito Chicken

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 5 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup chopped mint
• 1 cp chopped cilantro
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• Zest and juice of 2 limes, plus 1 lime for serving
• ¼ cup dark rum
• 6 chicken breast halves skin on and bone in

1. Melt 1 tablespoon each of butter and olive oil over medium heat. 
2.  Add the onions, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper, turn the heat to low and cook without browning, stirring from time to time, until the onion has softened. 
3. Transfer mixture to a blender, and then add the mint, cilantro, zests, juices and rum and puree. 
4. Reserve ½ cup of the puree. Use the rest to marinate the chicken for a few hours in the refrigerator.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
6. Remove chicken from marinade and pat dry, reserving the marinade. 
7.  Melt remaining butter and oil together in a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat.  Add the chicken pieces, working in batches if necessary, and brown both sides.  Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. When browned, turn over, skin side down and add the reserved marinade. 
8. Bake uncovered for approximately 20 minutes.  Turn the chicken pieces over, skin side up and bake another 15 to 20 minutes.  Cooking times will depend on the size of the chicken breasts.
9. Remove chicken pieces to a serving platter. 
10. Reheat the cooking juices with the reserved marinade, stirring thoroughly.  Correct seasoning with salt and pepper.  Pour a little of the sauce over the chicken and pass the rest separately.

“I’ve made this dish doing step number one, preheating the barbeque grill and grilling the chicken, which has been patted dry, and then using the reserved marinade as a sauce,” says Calhoun.  Can be served room temperature.

And don’t forget to add a comment below—your favorite picnic spot, favorite picnic food, worst picnic story, whatever—for a chance to win the Vineyard Cookbook.

Other picnics that may interest you:

A Day on Windsor’s Town Green

Sunrise Picnic at Goat Rock

 A local ingredient lunch at Arista Vineyards

A sunny afternoon at Chateau St Jean