Midnight Breakfast; Roast Chicken Thigh with Roast Vegetable Gravy

Actually it was more like 2 am: Last Saturday we went out with an eclectic group of friends for Evan's birthday. We started at the Top of the Hub, a bar and restaurant on the 52nd floor of the Prudential Tower, a mere three-minute walk from our apartment. On such a cold, crystal-clear night, the view of the city was awesome. After a bunch of drinks there, we froze our asses off scouting the area for another bar and ended up at Azure at the Lenox Hotel on Boylston Street. We then had a bunch of drinks there, and when the bar was ready to close we decided to bring handful of the more dedicated revelers back to our place for a late-night breakfast.

We stopped by our local 24-hour grocery store (I love the city) to pick up some eggs and bacon, and then we let out our secret for the world's most ridiculously fantastic eggs ever made. Melissa taught me this recipe, and it's usually pulled out late at night when scrambled eggs are the only thing we are competent to cook and eat safely. Beat eggs in a bowl wth a splash of milk or cream, a generous dose of grated Parmesan cheese, a few cranks from the pepper grinder, a small spoonful of chicken stock paste or powder, and a dash of Thai fish sauce. Yes, fish sauce. To be more exact, it's anchovy juice. You would never know it's there, it just adds a salty, savory flavor that your body craves after a big night out. Scramble in a skillet on medium heat and serve nice and slimy. We added bacon, baguette and a bottle of Paul Jaboulet Parallele 45 Cotes du Rhone (2006; grenache/syrah) to round out a great night out. Happy Birthday, Evan!

The following day, I whisked away Amanda (and her car) to go wine shopping at Trader Joe's. Gotta stock up for Thanksgiving and all the holiday parties coming up. After fighting the ridiculous pre-Thanksgiving Sunday evening crowds to buy a couple of cases of vino, we forced Amanda to join us for dinner and a True Blood catch-up session (our new favorite HBO series about vampires).

Melissa made oven-roasted chicken thighs with a roasted vegetable gravy that had us all chewing the bone and licking the bowls clean. She first seasoned the chicken thighs (bone-in, skin-on) with chicken stock powder and pan-seared them to cook out some of the fat. Then she roasted them in a large roasting pan (which is about to get a real workout on Thanksgiving) along with some chopped carrots, celery, onions and cubed potatoes. When the chicken was finished, she removed the meat and most of the vegetables, then made a pan-gravy by adding some chicken broth to deglaze the roasting pan, leaving in some of the roasted vegetables, and warming through on the stovetop. The final result was liquified with a hand blender to thicken and served under the chicken and vegetables in large soup bowls. Perfect for a cold night at home and some good TV.

We had both a Mondavi Private Selection 2007 chardonnay (Central Coast, CA) and a Matua Valley 2007 sauvignon blanc (Marlborough, New Zealand) open for this meal. The chardonnay was a much better match to the meal, but not everyone likes California chardonnay, and New Zealand sauvignon blanc is so good that we'll drink it with just about anything.

We're having a large Thanksgiving gathering tomorrow, so there'll be more to come very soon...