Relaxing on Father's Day

 

First, what does an old man have for lunch after eating far too much the day before?  The answer is fruit and Moscato.  The fruit was blueberries which were ok but not very sweet but the Moscato more than made up for that.  We bought Annalisa Moscato from Total Wine for $11 where it came highly recommended.  It is a light refreshing wine with a low alcohol content of 6.5%.  This Moscato made for a truly refreshing drink on the hot and humid Trattoria.

Having thus recovered from my overindulgence yesterday, I prepared for a worthy dinner.  I cut about a dozen small white potatoes into strips and doused them with olive oil and fresh rosemary from the south forty.  While these roasted in the oven, I sliced some small tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, garnished with fresh basil (also from the south forty) and drizzled with more olive oil.  Finally, it was time for the main course.  I started by smothering chicken tenders with “Cruz Bay Grill Rub”.  This is really one of my favorite seasonings from one of my favorite places in the world, St John in the USVI.  St John Spice has a large selection of unique spice combinations and this is my favorite.  After browning the chicken on high heat, I poured a little red wine into the pan, turned the heat down and covered to let it simmer for fifteen minutes.  This allowed me time to select the perfect wine to pair with the meal.  In this case I went with a Tempranillo Spanish Red, LAN Rioja.  This 2006 wine is from the Crianza region.  We purchased it from Wegmans for $11 and it was well worth the price.  It is a very enjoyable wine with 13.5% alcohol and is rated 44 out of 100 in Wine Spectator.  It certainly stood up well to the spicy chicken and I am looking forward to seeing how this "better" wine works with chocolate.