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April 25, 2005
Cooking with Wine
One of the habits that persists from my lowfat vegan days is cooking anything and everything in wine. I should also add that I enjoy drinking a glass of wine while doing the cooking... which probably adds to my lighthearted approach to cuisine. In any case, I learned to cook during a serious fat phobic phase of my life -- I used to try to eat fewer than 6 grams of fat a day! So I didn't use oil at all, instead doing all sauteeing, simmering, boiling, etc., in wine. I have never gotten over the way that garlic boiling in red wine makes the entire house smell good, or how vegetables baked in a dry white with a touch of salt and vinegar (I am a salt freak... you should have seen what MR had to go through to convince me to use half-salt. I think it was our first real argument...) taste so fresh and delicious. Everyone says that oil brings out the flavor in food, but I still prefer to cook in wine, and save my unsaturated fat for dishes like pesto, tapenade, and guacamole, where the fat is really the showcased ingredient.
Here are a few of my favorite simple recipes for cooking with wine. The variations are endless, so experiment!
The World's Most Excellent Summer Tomato Pasta or Not Sauce
This is so good. Do not use sub-optimal tomatoes, and I beg you, never cook with a wine you wouldn't drink. You'll taste it... trust me. You can make this dish with either a dry red or a dry white, and you'll get a very different outcome, but both are delicious. For the non-CR'd, serve over angel hair pasta. For the CR'd, serve over spaghetti squash, salad greens, or a plate of mixed steamed vegetables. You can also serve with a light salad of cannelini beans in balsamic vinegar with chopped green parts of scallions and diced red, yellow and green peppers. Or whatever. It's your life... serve it however you want to!
Tomato sauce:
tons of fresh tomatoes, the best you can buy, chopped but not too small
lots of garlic, fresh, minced (no garlic powder this time, friends)
fresh basil, chopped (not dried. I am not kidding.) -- just a few sprigs
a cup of dry white or dry red
simmer the minced garlic in about 1/4 cup of wine for about ten minutes, or until the house smells good. Stir in the tomatoes, and cover with remaining wine. Bring to a slow, rolling boil, and add the basil. Simmer until you take a little taste and you can taste strong basil and strong wine and strong tomato, all at once. Serve piping hot. Feel free to add a dash of half salt and pepper if you want, or to top with a very light dusting of fresh parmesean.
For a delicious salty variation, add pitted kalamata olives and a teaspoon of capers.
You will love me forever if you try this dish at the height of summer tomato season. If you simply must try it, but the tomatoes in your local market are bad, you can probably pull it off with grape tomatoes, or resort to whole peeled in a can. It won't be a total disaster, but it won't taste the same.
I've recently come to love seafood dishes cooked in wine. You've read about my scallops in white, and my shrimp with red pepper in red. Try this combo and see what you think, now that the asparagus is finally coming into season:
100 g ish of scallops
3 oz white wine
garlic, minced
about six stalks asparagus, chopped but not finely
Simmer the garlic ten minutes in the white wine, turning down the heat just as it starts to boil. Add in the asparagus and cook until light green, then stir in the scallops. Cook until not rubbery but not raw... consult your local fish fellow at the grocery store for further directions, as I am not sure how to describe this. Eat immediately, over pasta, spaghetti squash, or just in a shallow dish. Enjoy!
You're probably wondering by now if there's anything I won't cook in wine. Well, I'm sure there is, but I even enjoy wine-based desserts! Try this one:
1 pear, halved.
1/2 cup sweet red wine, like port (I haven't had port in ages... must remedy this situation)
Dash of cinnamon
Four semi-sweet organic chocolate pieces, just slightly larger than a chocolate chip.
Put the wine and the pear into a tiny shallow dish, the kind you might use to feed a cat (though please, not the same dish you use to feed your cat. That's somehow unappetizing.) Microwave on high for about five minutes, less if your microwave is very powerful. The pear should be pink and tender. Remove and cover with light dusting of cinnamon. Arrange the chocolate chunks on the four corners of the dish, as though you were a chef at a fancy restaurant. Take a bow when your guests cheer as though they were paying a lot of money for this. Be sure to refer them to my blog, and throw in a donation to the Mprize. It's the least you can do for all these quick and easy cooking tips.
Posted by april at April 25, 2005 12:50 PM
Comments
April, I remember how I used to cook in wine when my lo-fat mediterranean diet. Have you ever tried mussels boiled in white wine and then served just each one in the half shell they are attached to and only sprinkled with parsley and some lemon juice?
Another yummie recipe I used to prepare was plain boiled (or canned) white kidney beans then simmered in white wine where you have cooked fresh garlic and onions just a few minutes (and salt ;-).
And my favourite sauce: make a paste by crushing garlic, almonds and green olives; then mix it with a fair amount of your favorite dry wine, give them all a boil, and serve over the dish you were craving for. (Very good over pasta, chickpeas or rabbit).
And if going to cook some poultry, let it boil in red wine where you previously have chopped fresh tomato, onions, garlic and rosemary.
For non-fat fish, don't forget the basics: boil fish fillets just a few minutes into white wine with some finely chopped onions, garlic, a bunch of parsley and a handful of fresh peeled (or tinned or frozen) peas.
Bon apetit!
Posted by: Willie at April 27, 2005 9:45 AM