Wine Sauce Recipes
Pork Chops in Wine Sauce
Ingredients:
6 boned pork chops (1/2 inch, or 1.3 cm thick)
1/3 cup red wine (Nero d'Avola would be nice)
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
The juice of 2 lemons
Salt & pepper to taste
Preparation:
Lightly flatten the chops with the flat of a broad-bladed knife, season them with salt and pepper, and brown them on both sides in a skillet. Add the wine and fennel seeds, cover, and simmer for a few minutes, turning the slices often. Just before you serve them, sprinkle the lemon juice over them.
A wine? Red, and Nero D'Avola would be good.
Drunken Pork Chop
Ingredients:
6 pork chops, boned
3 cloves garlic, minced
A tablespoon of minced parsley
3 cups dry well aged red wine
A ladle of broth or water
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Preparation:
Begin by trimming the fat from the pork chops, then flatten them out by pounding them lightly with the flat of a broad-bladed knife, and season them with salt and pepper.
In the meantime, heat the minced herbs in the oil, and when the garlic has turned gold add the pieces of meat.
Cook them for about five minutes, turning them several times, then add the red wine and the broth.
Bring the liquid to a boil, cover the pot, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook the meat until the liquid is entirely gone. Serve the chops hot, with artichoke hearts or spinaci rifatti.
Some cooks prefer the lively acidity of a white to the red wine, while others mince the fat trimmed from the meat and combine it with the minced herbs to make a paste that they rub into the meat, which they then brown, adding the broth when half the wine ahs evaporated in the course of the simmering.
A wine? Red, for example Sangiovese di Romagna.
Chicken Marsala
Ingredients:
4 slices Italian bread
4 boneless chicken breasts, skin on
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
8 large white mushrooms, sliced
1 shallot, finely minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cup Marsala wine
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
3 tbsp cold butter, cut in small pieces
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
Preparation:
Toast sliced Italian bread and set aside. Season chicken breasts on both sides. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over med-high heat until hot. Place the chicken skin-side down and sear for 5 minutes. Turn over and cook for another 5 minutes, or until just cooked through. Remove to a plate and reserve while you make the chicken Marsala sauce.
Add the mushrooms, and a pinch of salt to the hot pan, reduce the heat to medium and cook the mushrooms until they begin to soften and give up their juices. Continue cooking until the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms begin to brown. Add the shallots, garlic and flour.
Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Carefully add the Marsala (it may flame up which is fine), turn up the heat to high, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes Add the chicken stock and cook until the sauce begins to reduce and thicken, about 3 minutes.
Reduce the heat to very low, and add the chicken breasts back into the pan. Toss in the sauce to coat and re-heat the chicken. Turn off the heat and plate each chicken breast on top of a slice of toasted bread. Add the parsley, and butter to the hot sauce and whisk until butter disappears.
Adjust seasoning with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, spoon the sauce over the top and serve the chicken Marsala immediately.
Rooster in Wine
Ingredients:
A rooster weighing about 3 pounds (1.5 k), dressed and chopped into pieces
An onion stuck with 2 cloves
A clove of garlic
A sprig of rosemary
A sprig of thyme
2 bay leaves
A little flour
2 cups dry red wine, heated
Beef broth
A small piece of cured lard and a walnut-sized chunk of butter
Salt
Preparation:
Melt the butter in a pot together with the lard (use just butter if you cannot find cured lard, or use ground prosciutto fat). When the meat is well browned, salt it, dust it with flour, and add the wine, which should be heated first.
Add hot broth to cover, the stuck onion, and the herbs, tied together op places in a small muslin bag. Bring the liquid to a lively boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for a couple of hours, adding broth as needed. Serve with firm polenta.
Beef Braised in White Wine
Ingredients:
A piece of beef suitable for roasting, weighing about 2 pounds (1 k)
3-4 lardoons (1/4-inch square, 4-inch long pieces of lard), rolled in salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, slivered
3-4 cloves
1/4 pound thinly sliced prosciutto
1/4 pound thinly sliced lard
Cheesecloth or muslin and string for wrapping
1/2 bottle dry white still or sparkling wine
2 fresh bay leaves
Salt & Pepper to taste
Preparation:
The chef began by gently pounding the meat with wooden bar about an inch in diameter. She then cut several slits with the grain to insert the lardoons (there's a special tool for this, otherwise make the cut and then slide the lardoon in, guiding it with your finger), and made slits across the grain to insert slivers of garlic and cloves.
Next she dusted the meat well with salt and pepper, wrapped it in the thinly sliced prosciutto, then added a layer of lard and wrapped everything up in the muslin, tying it securely with string as if it were a salami.
The meat was simmered on top of the stove in a half-bottle or so of sparkling white wine, to which a couple of bay leaves were added, for about an hour.
I don't recall if the pot was covered or not but think I would cover it at least partially, and would likely use a still white wine rather than a sparkling one (she said either will work fine).
Common wisdom has it you should drink the same kind of wine you use to cook the dish, and I think I might go with a Verdicchio here both in the pot and on the table.
Buon appetito!
