Sip Quips

We all occasionally pop open a bottle of something new and realize that it is just not at all to our liking. Hmm… what to do? Do you throw the whole bottle away? Do you force yourself to choke it down? Do you take it over to your neighbor’s house and pawn it off on them? What if you could turn this junk you aren’t going to drink into something irresistibly tasty? You can – it’s called Sangria. Sometimes it is the kindest treatment for subpar wine – red, white, pr pink.

Sangria is a summertime wine-based cocktail, native to Spain and Portugal. It is refreshing, lightly alcoholic, and deceptively easy to drink. The variations are endless depending on what type of wine you start with, what fruits you and and whether or not you want carbonation (believe it or not, I, the queen of bubbly drinks, prefer my sangria still).

The basic recipe is pretty simple, essentially nothing more than a ratio. Play around with it, try different fruit/wine combos until you find one you like best. As for the extra kick of brandy – feel free to use up that flavored brandy that you bought for one cocktail recipe and you have stuck in the back of your liquor cabinet. Once you try good homemade sangria you will definitely want to serve it at your next patio party, or just make up a batch tonight and have a little fiesta en su casa.

Basic Sangria Recipe

1 bottle of wine
2 cups fruit, sliced or chopped
1-2 T sweetener, I prefer honey, but lemonade concentrate also works really well
1 shot brandy, triple sec, or other spirit
2 cups sparkling water, club soda, or ginger ale (optional)
Lots of ice

Combine wine, fruit, sweetener, and liquor or liqueur in a large pitcher and stir well. Allow the wine to sit in the fridge for at least six hours, but overnight or longer is better. 

Just before serving, add ice and the bubbly beverage of choice, put some festive music on, set your patio table with olives, or an antipasto platter, pop up your patio umbrella, sit back and enjoy.

Some suggested combos?
Sauv Blanc and citrus
Sauv Blanc and kiwi
Riesling with apricots and oranges
Pinot Noir with raspberries (crushed up a little) and sliced strawberries
Viognier with white peaches and nectarines (especially tasty with peach brandy)
Merlot with plums and cherries
Zin with blackberries and raspberries (both muddled a touch)

Have fun with it and send me your best combos!

I can’t recall where I got this recipe, but it makes a moist, delicious, spiced cake. 

½ c sugar 

1 t vanilla

2 eggs 

½ c all-purpose flour

½ t baking powder

pinch of salt

½ t cinnamon

½ t cocoa (dutch processed)

¼ c red wine, I like bigger reds for this recipe

2 oz grated bittersweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla and eggs and mix thoroughly. In a medium bowl combine dry ingredients. Gradually add dry ingredients to the butter mixture alternating with the wine until well blended. Fold in the grated chocolate. Pour batter into a buttered 8-inch cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy topped with freshly whipped cream and a glass of ruby port

Sort of like a beurre blanc, this sauce is delicious on chicken, fish, or even pork. If you don’t have fresh tarragon on hand, substitute any fresh, leafy herb. Think about pairing it with a grassy Sauv Blanc. 

1 medium shallot, minced

2-3 sprigs fresh tarragon

1 c white wine, dry is best

1 T + 1 t lemon juice

1 stick of butter, cubed (I said it was tasty, not low-cal or low-fat)

In a small saucepan combine the shallots, tarragon, white wine, and 1 T lemon juice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and let simmer until reduced to about ¼ the original volume. Remove the tarragon sprigs and discard.

Add the butter, one cube at a time, whisking continually. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the final teaspoon of lemon juice. Pour over just about anything – it’d even be good on toast.

French food gets so much attention – coq au vin, hollandaise sauce, crepes, croque monsieur – all wonderful, all delicious, but they aren’t exactly what you would call ‘go to’ foods, but there is one find in your French cookbook that will change your culinary repertoire – the quiche. You probably hear quiche and think of stuffy ladies luncheons, or stale, tired brunch menus, but don’t be fooled. Quiche is simple, tasty, and a fantastic way to clean out your fridge.

I’ve taken to keeping a couple of pie crusts in the freezer for emergency dinner fixes. On a moments notice I can pop a crust out of the freezer, pull all of the leftover veggies from the fridge, fry up a little bacon, toss it all in the oven and dinner is ready momentarily. While the quiche is in the oven, I’ll make a nice green salad and pop open a bottle of rosé, or a pretty little Sancerre and suddenly the last night’s leftovers aren’t looking too shabby. 

It is sheer genius – a dish that can transform pedestrian leftovers and a couple of eggs into something so delicious and elegant. You get to clean out your fridge, and depending on what you fill your quiche with, you can pair it with almost any white or rosé in your wine rack. My favorite quiche complement would have to be Sauvignon Blanc, but I have been known to chill a Pinot Noir a touch with a heartier quiche. 

How do I perform this culinary alchemy – transforming old ingredients into delicious cuisine? Simple. Take a store bought crust and fill it with a half cup of sauteed onions or leeks, and a cup or so of some veggies – broccoli, spinach, chard, asparagus, mushrooms or any combination thereof, a half cup of bacon, ham, turkey, and good handful of cheese – anything shredded will work very nicely. For the custard whisk together three eggs, some salt, pepper, and nutmeg with 1½ cups milk, cream, ½ and ½, sour cream, or cream cheese or any combination of the dairy products. Pour the custard over all of your leftover goodies and pop it is a 350° oven for 30 minutes and voila! You have a delicious, elegant, and filling supper – how can you beat that?

Yummy pairing last night, it made me remember how nice a good Brouilly can be! Honestly it was a meal of convenience – the pork chops were in the freezer, I had some turnips and kale that needed to be used soon as we were getting a new CSA delivery, so there’s the basic ingredients for dinner.

I brined the pork chops (thank you Cook’s Illustrated for saving me from dry meats) in a salt/brown sugar/cider vinegar and water solution, then tossed them on the grill pan – or rather the husband did the grilling, our daughter was in need of a change when dinner needed to hit the heat. Then the turnips were steamed with a potato, mashed and finished with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Finally after the kale was boiled for ~ 3 minutes, it went into a hot pan with butter, s & p, and a little balsamic when we (or should I say he) pulled it off the heat. Simple? Yes! Delicious? Definitely!

The wine? A Brouilly from from Pierre Dupond. What is Brouilly, you ask. Well Brouilly is one of the ten Cru villages in Beaujolais. Yes, these are light bodied wines from the same area as those electric labeled Beaujolais Nouveaus you see around Thanksgiving, but the Cru villages are set apart as being the highest quality locations to grow Gamay in all of Beaujolais. 

The wines of Brouilly are light-bodied and packed with bright strawberry and raspberry fruit and a pretty little floral characteristic. It was such a perfect complement to last night’s meal because the simply prepared pork needed a fairly straightforward wine, and the sweetness of the turnips and the balsamic were really nice with the bright, red fruits of the wine. We served the wine with a slight chill, not intentionally, but because I forgot to pull the bottle from under the house until right before dinner, and it was a excellent choice. All in all, better than most restaurant meals, and a heck-of-a-lot cheaper than restaurant meals. Especially since the wine was from our last stock up at the BevMo 5 cent sale, but unfortunately it’s not around this time. It may take a little effort and thought, but we are eating and drinking like the recession has already recessed. 

2-3 pieces of bacon

3 cups of brussels sprouts (these are rough approximations, I don’t measure when I cook!)

Walnuts or pecans, if desired

Trim the bottoms off and halve the brussels sprouts, even the littlest ones – more surface area to absorb bacony goodness! Toss the sprouts into a steamer basket and bring the water underneath to a boil. Cook until the sprouts are crisp tender.

Rough chop the bacon, throw it in a hot pan and let the bacon render its fat and become nice and crispy. Remove the bacon to a towel lined plate and leave the fat behind. Toast the walnuts (if using) until they become fragrant. Toss your cooked sprouts into the bubbling bacon grease and crank the heat up. Let the sprouts brown just a bit, remove from the heat and sprinkle the cooked bacon over everything. Serve with a bottle of Syrah and a tasty steak and you’re in heaven! If you think you don’t like brussels sprouts, try this recipe and you will.

1 bunch Chard

Several beets, we used red and yellow

Chicken Breasts (one per person)

Goat cheese (any soft cheese will do)

Walnuts

Dried Cranberries

Red Wine and Balsamic Vinegars

Preheat your grill pan (or grill) to medium high heat. Season chicken breast with salt and pepper (I used a little garlic powder as well) and grill until cooked through.

Remove the ribs from the chard and reserve. Put the chard leaves into a pot of heavily salted boiling water. Boil for 3 minutes and drain well and chop roughly. Rough chop the chard stems and the roasted beets.

In the same pot add a tablespoon of olive oil and 1 clove of garlic, minced. Add the chopped chard stems and cook until they begin to soften. Add the chard leaves to the stems and allow to come up to temperature. Meanwhile mix 1 T red wine vinegar, 1 t balsamic vinegar, 1 t olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a small bowl or a dressing shaker. Pour the dressing over the pan of hot greens. 

Plate it up – dressed greens, topped with beets, crumbled goat cheese, toasted walnuts and dried cranberries. Slice the chicken breast and set it alongside the salad. Pop a bottle of crisp Sauv Blanc and dig in!