Another Friday, another delicious dilemma: what wine pairs best with homemade pizza?
Our tradition is simple — pizza night every Friday. It’s easy to make, satisfying to eat, and always open to improvisation.
The Pie. – Photo by myself
Ingredients
1 store-bought pizza shell
1 can of Western Family Original pizza sauce
Mushrooms, green pepper, and onion (rescued from the fridge)
Leftover mild Italian sausage (from the freezer)
Shredded pizza mozzarella
🔥 Assembly & Bake
No instructions needed — just layer, bake, and enjoy.
🍷 Wine Pairing
Wine: 2019 Garnacha Tinta — Las Moradas de San Martin Initio ReservaRegion: Madrid, Spain Vivino Rating: 3.9
Pizza is naturally wine-friendly, especially when topped with savoury sausage and roasted vegetables. This Garnacha was fruity, bold, and balanced — perfect for the cheese’s richness and the sausage’s spice.
Photo – by myself
📝 Final Thoughts
A simple meal elevated by a thoughtful pairing. Whether it’s a weeknight ritual or a weekend treat, pizza and wine never disappoint.
We went all out tonight. Hot dogs, potato salad, macaroni salad, real salad and leftover pasta. Of course you’re wondering what wine would go with that. The winner, completely by fluke!
We have been liking Spanish wines lately,especially Rioja. This one is reasonably priced, a nice wine that Vivino rates as a 3.7. It fits our profile perfectly. Recommended as a decent wine to sit and eat hotdogs with.
Have a great evening. Will be a much better recipe on Sunday.
These one-pan Caprese chicken thighs incorporate all the flavors from a Caprese salad. They are turned into a main dish skillet meal with chicken. Why, yes, please! We like this dish with a green vegetable or salad, with warm crusty bread. As usual, I forgot to take a shot of my dish. I even forgot to note the wine we paired with it. No matter, it was very good and will make it again, and again.
Here we go.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients
8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
3 tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 lemon, zested and juiced, divided
1 teaspoon honey
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh basil
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups cherry tomatoes
1 pinch salt
4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
torn fresh basil leaves for garnish
Directions
As always, pat the thighs dry and then season with salt and pepper.
Grab a large mixing bowl. Combine the balsamic, broth, tomato paste, and lemon juice. Do not add the zest yet. Add the honey, 1 TBSP of minced basil, and the garlic.
Throw in (gently) the chicken thighs and mix until coated. At this point, you have two options. You can cover the result and refrigerate it for up to 4 hours. Alternatively, you can carry on to the next step. Up to you, either way the next step is the same.
Gently place the chicken and mixture into 12 inch skillet over medium heat. When the liquid boils, cover and reduce heat to med/low. Simmer for 7 minutes or so, turn the chicken and increase to medium, uncovered. This should take 7 minutes or less for them to no longer be pink in the middle.
Remove the chicken and juices to a serving dish. Tent to keep warm. Wipe the skillet and add the oil. Add the tomatoes once the oil is hot. Watch for splatter. Let them sit for a few minutes until they blister. Stir then allow them another couple of minutes. Add a pinch of salt if desired.
Once the tomatoes are done, pour them over the chicken, top with mozzarella, lemon zest and basil. Serve promptly.
Here is a story. I once edited and wrote for a short time for a now-dormant online magazine, The Harmony Chronicles. It was a magazine dedicated mainly to independent artists of any genre, recipes, self-help, and anything else we considered interesting. We, as several partners, willingly gave our time. We aimed to make a go at a collective dream. We wrote about what we loved.
It was a good time for all, but it became all-consuming. We wore ourselves out editing, interviewing, and creating material. We hoped this material would interest the public. It basically fell apart from there.
Enough maudlin! I recently felt the urge to start something like this again. I initiated contact with my friend Don (more on him later). The website for his online radio group was active (obviously). Luckily for me, the blog we had started to help out the magazine still existed.
With his and Sam’s (more about him later) permission, I again have access to that website and will begin writing again on various subjects that I love, not just music, but slanted in that direction.
I hope to start churning out some new material very soon, and I will post here and there simultaneously. All articles here will be mirrored on the Kat Radio Group site at HARMONY CHRONICLES
At this point, I am calling any musicians or groups that would be willing to interview for some free publicity. Send your request to johnlorieh@gmail.com
In addition to interviews, I am working on several new recurring series and resurrecting some old ones. Stay tuned.
Went for a nice hike on a forestry road that led us to the shore of Monroe Lake in the East Kootenays of British Columbia. The trek was 3.21 miles or 5.2 km. A screenshot of the route is below, in and out via the same route.
The scene below is indicative of the scenery along the road.
Once we reached the lake, there was a footbridge and an old dam, now in various stages of deterioration.
It is also the mouth of a creek, pretty much dried up as we are at the end of the season. Most creeks and rivers out here are snow and rain-fed, meaning they tend to dry up, or they are spring-fed, which this one is not. We have seen this creek higher up in the mountain in the past, but it was late October and there was runoff.
We continued to the right on the map and discovered some well-worn elk trails that we will explore later. We turned back and took the left spur to some amazing scenery. We have done this path before this and knew what we were in for. We have also kayaked through the meadow, a post I will put up once I finish playing with the video.
We also know about how to relax. A conveniently placed bench to look at the landscape.
And of course, it is not all about the scenery, let’s not forget the foliage and critters. In this case an interesting mushroom and some pretty butterflies.
The Weekly Photo Challenge this week is Up. The Amalfi Coast in Italy offers many looks that could be seen as an up. The very fact that they built cities into the cliff side is amazing,
This weeks challenge is lunchtime. Conveniently, I am an habitual foodtographer when we are on vacation, or any other time when we have something thoroughly enjoyable. Here is a couple of shots for you.
This is disturbing. We remember thinking, while in Italy, that the olive oil tasted way better there. We chalked it up to fresher olives, locally pressed etc. Not so. If you use Extra Virgin Olive Oil, read the linked article and watch the attached video. Major scam here. The article rats out the good and bad suppliers to help us in purchasing the real thing.
