Cooking With Wine

It’s fun to cook with wine. Especially when you’ve purchased a bottle and, after taking a sniff, don’t really think it’s good enough to sip as a stand-alone. The key to making any dish pleasing to the senses involves adding a little sweet, a little savoury, a hint of fat, and a touch of tartness. And then we take it a step further by adding wine to tie all the flavours together with a spectacular result.

A classic coq au vin from the region where it originated in France traditionally means adding a glass of red to the braising sauce. The flavour of the recipe is profoundly piqued but sometimes the purple colour of the dish is a bit off-putting. In our version we take coq au vin to a new level by using Riesling—a lively white wine with a slight hint of sweet and an enticing aroma. It gives a remarkable lift, both to the eye and the palate.

Another healthy switch is cooking a traditional ragu sauce using ground turkey rather than beef and adding dry red wine to the slow simmering sauce. The results are sensational—especially when served over wedges of roasted butternut squash rather than the conventional pasta.

We invite you to try these recipes. You’ll find that a hint of wine goes a long way to taking your recipe from just plain simple to spectacular.

Recipes

• Sablefish in White Wine Sauce
• Slow Roasted Riesling Braised Chicken
• Delicious Cioppino
• Spicy Turkey Ragu Bolognese
• Sparkling Zabaglione with Winter Tropical Fruits
• Perfect Sweet Wine Winter Pears

What is clarifying?

Clarifying the stock removes any bits and cloudiness in the cioppino. Straining the stock, gently stirring egg whites into it, then straining it again results in a lovely clear broth that makes the seafood and vegetables pop.

What is deglazing?

Deglazing involves pouring a little cold liquid into a hot pan that’s been used to brown meats and vegetables. This is where much of the flavour resides. The liquid will sizzle up. Then use a wooden spoon to scrape the caramelized bits loose and stir them into the recipe.

Wine not?

• When adding wine to a recipe, the alcohol is quickly burned off through heat or flame.
• Wine makes a great marinade as it tenderizes tough meat cuts.
• Wine is also delicious splashed on a stir-fry or a fruit salad for some added “wow.”