When we found a supply of Flensburger Pils in our Bangkok supermarket, we could not believe our luck. Flensburg, a small town, high up north just next to the Danish border, produces one of the best beers in Germany.
Can you see the old fashioned closure? Reminds me of my childhood.
Cheers to all
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The vegetable pastry
My twin daughters had prepared the antipasti (vegetable pastry, in Swabian: Maultaschen) and after that we had a chicken cacciatore.
Chicken cacciatore with potatoes
I had deliberately selected a red wine, a ‘2006 Leonardo Chianti Riserva’ by Cantine Leonardo da Vinci in Vinci, near Florence.
Normally, I try to avoid wine co-operatives and their produce but instead go, if I can, for single vineyard wines, small boutique wineries and family vineyards. More often than I want, I end up with what I call industrial wines, standard blends of grapes from many locations and different grape varieties.
The wine is a blend of Sangiovese 85%, Merlot 10% and some other red grapes 5% which are not specified. It has a beautiful colour, and a fruity aroma of red berries with notes of vanilla, a bit spicy. The wine is matured for about 10 months in French oak but the oak is not overpowering. The tannins are well balanced.
Leonardo Chianti Riserva
I admit that I bought the bottle because of its label. Who does not like Leonardo da Vinci and his famous drawing of the Vitruvian Man. I am a Renaissance man myself, a polymath, a jack of all trades and a master of none.
Beautiful dark red colour
Address:
Cantine Leonardo da Vinci
Via Provinciale di Mercatale, 291
50059 Vinci (FI) – ITALY
www.cantineleonardo.it
Leave a Comment » | food, wine | Tagged: Chianti, Chianti Riserva, Florence, Italian wine, Leonardo, Merlot, Sangiovese | Permalink
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Chicken is not my favourite meat. Therefore, I have really high quality standards when a chicken dish is brought before me.
Well, in comes the classic cookery book “Sunday Roast – the complete guide to cooking and carving” by Clarissa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott.
Their suggestion for a lemon chicken on page 100 is just a treat.
It is a traditional Greek recipe and you need the following ingredients (4 serves):
– 1.3 kg whole chicken
– 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
– salt and freshly grounded black pepper
– 1 large onion, finely sliced
– 3 carrots sliced
– 1 celery stick
– 6 sprigs of basils
– 2 lemons
– 300 ml of hot water
And what do you do with all this?
Well, heat the olive oil in a casserole and brown the seasoned chicken. Cook the onion slightly until it is transparent. Then add all the vegetables and the basil for a few minutes. Put the chicken back into the casserole atop the vegetables and pour the juice of the two lemons over the chicken. Cut the rind of the lemon in small stripes and sprinkle it over the chicken. Then you add the water and cook for about one hour.
And ‘simsalabim’, magic is done: serve.
Doesn’t it look great: Lemon chicken the Greek way
The asparagus with tomatoes
We had some boiled baby potatoes with it and a side dish of fresh asparagus with tomatoes. All in all super delicious. I could not believe it. The meat was not dried out at all, it was moist and very tender. Chicken can be very tasty. It just needs to be prepared the right way.
A great dish and a great Sunday lunch
Unfortunately, we did not have a Greek wine (no retsina or a nice red from the Greek islands). Therefore a bottle of ‘2009 Yellow Label Merlot’ by Wolf Blass, South Australia had to do the trick.
Beautiful colour
This Merlot is an industrial wine, well made, something for every day. I did not have anything else at hand, and did not want to plunder my already diminished treasures.
The front label of the Wolf Blass Merlot
I just love a straight Merlot. The Yellow Label Merlot is medium bodied with all the characteristics of the grape variety.
It matched the chicken very well, because it was not overpowering and not as fruity as for instance our own Merlot is (lots of cherry in the 2004 vintage).
13.5% alcohol
PS: I love this old fashioned book by Clarissa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott.
1 Comment | culture, food, food and wine, wine | Tagged: Australian wine, Clarissa Dickson Wright, Johnny Scott, Merlot, South Australia, Sunday Roast, Two Hills Merlot, Two Hills Vineyard, wine, Wolf Blass, Yellow Label | Permalink
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