Recipe For An Inexpensive, Delicious Evening

Trader Joe's repeatedly offers some of the best prices on wine around. For example, I've seen Sonoma and Napa wine's that I'd bought just days before at the wineries for lower prices at Trader Joe's. TJ's wine selection is 100% designed to satisfy your everyday needs, and this is why their vast selection of wines under five bucks is worth checking out. I will be posting brief reviews of these everyday wines.

Last night I tried a 2006 Sangiovese by Tuscan Moon Winery. Sangiovese is the primary grape in Chianti; in fact, if it's less than 90% Sangiovese, it's not a Chianti. At four or five dollars (I can't remember exactly) this is a great wine to go with pasta, pizza, tomato heavy salads, and so on. The Tuscan Moon Sangiovese is not as bone-dry as most traditional Sangiovese. Instead, it focuses on the juiciness of the grape, but don't worry, it's not jammy. (Note: the majority of the photographs of wine bottles featured on this blog will be empty. Look at it as proof of authenticity.)


We had our bottle with a simple but refined pasta dish:

Ingredients:
Linguine
Heirloom Tomato
Fresh Basil
tons of garlic
jalapeno
good olive oil (we used Laleli Cold Press)
salt and pepper
Parmesan

Directions:
When pasta is half way cooked, begin sauteing garlic and jalapeno in lots of olive oil in a large pan. Drain pasta. Turn off the sizzling garlic/jalapeno, and add the pasta to it, making sure to use enough olive oil so that it does not stick. Toss together with bite size slices of heirloom tomato, chopped fresh basil, salt, and pepper. Serve with Parmesan on side.