Cooking With Wine

Using wine during cooking is an excellent way to add flavor to your dishes. Most of the alcohol in wine evaporates during the cooking process, which renders it virtually calorie-free, and ensures that you don't have to worry about getting too frisky on a Tuesday night. Choose red or white for foods you'd normally drink red or white with, for example red wine incorporated into a braising liquid for beef.

Here are two very different recipes with wine that are sure to doll up a mundane meal:


Meat Sauce

Finely chop onions and garlic, add in a pot to extra virgin olive oil and allow to cook gently until the onions become translucent; this is known as "sweating". While that's cooking away and giving fragrance to your kitchen, mince carrots, celery, and mushrooms. You want the vegetables to be small so that those in your family who claim they don't like vegetables will never guess they're in the sauce.

Add the veggies to the pot and once they are soft, mix in chopped fresh rosemary, and then add red wine (something you would drink). Let the wine reduce (evaporate) and then add ground turkey breast. Brown the outside of the meat and then pour in a big can of crushed tomatoes in tomato puree.

Make sure you season each layer of the dish with a little salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Let the ingredients hang out and simmer, and the flavors will meld and create a beautifully layered, rich sauce. Garnish with ribbons of fresh basil and serve over whole grain pasta.

Chardonnay-Raspberry Vinaigrette

Blend white wine (I used Chardonnay because that's what I had on hand. Feel free to experiment), a small splash white balsamic or rice wine vinegar, raspberry jam, minced shallots (or any kind of onion), salt, and pepper. Stream in extra virgin olive oil slowly while whisking. Enjoy over mesculin greens.