• 1/4 cup dry, red wine (pick a good one!)
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 clove garlic, sliced thinly

Preheat your oven to 400° F.  Cut your bread into 1-inch slices but do not fully separate them from the main loaf; aim for semi-sliced bread that will bake as a unit, but with slices that will be easy to separate later on.  Place a large amount of foil on a baking sheet, and place your bread on top of it.  Curl up the edges of the foil to contain the soon-to-be-made wine and butter mixture.  Between each slice of bread, place a thin slice of garlic.  Mix the wine and melted butter in a bowl, then pour the mixture evenly between bread slices.  Pour whatever is left evenly over the top of the bread.  Bake for 22-24 minutes until the bottom of the bread is nice and crisp.  Enjoy!

 What you’ll need:

• 1/3 cup dry red wine
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 8 whole mushrooms, diced
• 12 pearl onions, peeled
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 to 6 chicken legs, or a small chicken
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 bay leaf (optional)

Napa 4- bottle wine dispenser

Put your diced mushrooms and onions into your slow cooker.  Add the chicken broth, dry red wine, tomato paste, rosemary, thyme, garlic salt, pepper, and bay leaf.  Stir.  Add your chicken.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.  When ready, place chicken on a warm serving dish, and transfer the liquid in your slow cooker to a small pan to make a nice sauce.  Add the 1/4 cup of flour to it and, if necessary, a 1/4 cup more chicken broth.  Cook until thick, and stir.  Remove bay leaf, and distribute the sauce evenly over the chicken.  (This recipe also works well with two cornish game hens.)  Since this dish will be cooking all day, consider using a wine preservation device like the Napa 4- bottle wine dispenser to keep the remainder of your wine fresh to serve with the meal.  Happy eating!

A photograph of lemons by André Karwath

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup white wine (we recommend any good Sauvignon or Fumé Blanc)
• 2 lemons, or more
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

While your chicken is cooking, mix the flour, pepper, and salt together in a bowl.  Add the olive oil and wine.  Mix well!  Pour the mixture into a small pan, and heat on medium until the sauce reaches a desired thickness.  Next, cut your lemons, and squeeze as much juice from them as possible into the pan.  (You can add more lemons, if desired, and bottled lemon juice will suffice if you’re in a pinch.)  Stir quickly, then remove the pan from heat.  Transfer the sauce into a serving bowl, and top with parsley.  Spoon the sauce over your fully-cooked chicken, and enjoy!  As always, be sure to serve the wine you used to make the sauce with the meal.  If you have wine left over, don’t throw it out; consider using a nitrogen-based wine dispensing system like The Keeper Wine Preservation System to keep it fresh for the next time.  And to bring out the flavor of your Fumé Blanc even more, consider adding one or more of the following ingredients to your sauce: dill, basil, chives, crushed hazelnuts, mustard, or capers.  Mmmmm!

Roast Duck Breast Meat (photo by Chensiyuan)

Here’s what you’ll  need:

• 1 heaping cup frozen blueberries
• 1 1/4 cups tawny port wine (or ruby port)
• 1 tsp. dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp. redcurrant jelly

Thaw the frozen blueberries.  Pour the port, jelly, and half of the blueberries into a saucepan.  Heat on medium-high and simmer for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mixture becomes thin.  Remove from heat and add the remaining blueberries.  Stir in mustard.  Keep your port wine sauce warm until ready to serve.

Enjoy this unique blueberry port sauce with your favorite roast poultry dishes.  For an exciting variation, try substituting boysenberry jelly.  Enjoy!

First of all, you’re going to make two different sauces–one with white wine, one with red.  These sauces can be served separately, or combined to form an intriguing red-white sauce!  (Excited yet?)

A Thanksgiving Turkey (photo by Gregory Kohs)

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1/2 cup red wine (on the drier side)
• 1/2 cup white wine (dry or sweet)
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 4 ounces chicken stock
• 1 1/2 tablespoon chopped chives
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/8 cup unsalted butter

Put the red wine, butter, and chicken stock in a pan and simmer on low for 12-14 minutes.  Now, into another pan, put the white wine and chicken bouillon cube.  Heat over low for 6-7 minutes, then stir the heavy cream and chives into your white sauce.  Continue to heat 2-3 more minutes, stirring occasionally.  Voilà!  Once your turkey is ready, ask each guest’s preference before pouring the red or white sauce over it while serving.  And for guests looking for a real treat, pour both sauces over the bird.  Enjoy!

Littleneck Clams, image from Wikipedia

• 2 Tbsp. Butter
• 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil (Extra Virgin is usually best)
• 1 1/2 Tsp. Fresh, Minced Garlic
• 1/2 Cup Chardonnay
• 1 Pinch Salt
• 1 Pinch Black Pepper
• 8 to 12 Fresh Clams in Shells (or a can of baby clams)
• 2 Tbsp. Fresh, Chopped Parsley
• 1/2 Lb. Pasta (I use linguine, cooked as directed on the package)
• Shaved Asiago Cheese, to Taste

WineKeeper--Napa 4 Bottle

Before cooking your linguine/pasta, steam your fresh clams until their shells open; this is the sign that they’re cooked and ready.  (If using canned clams, there’s no need to steam.)  Prepare your linguine/pasta according to the package’s instructions.  When the pasta is almost finished cooking, combine the butter, olive oil, and garlic in a skillet.  Melt the butter, and saute the garlic for 1 to 2 minutes.  Add your Chardonnay, and pour in a little residual clam juice, if desired (about 1/4 cup from the bottom of your steamed pot of clams, or from the can).  Reduce temperature to low, and cook for 1 minute.  Add clams and parsley, heating them for another minute.  Put the cooked linguine/pasta on a plate, and cover it with this sauce.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper, evenly distributed, then cover with shredded Asiago cheese, according to taste.  Enjoy, and don’t forget to serve the rest of the Chardonnay with the meal!  If you choose to have another wine in its place, don’t waste your Chardonnay; use The Keeper Wine Preservation System, or the Napa 4 bottle WineKeeper dispenser and preserver unit to save the rest for another time.  Enjoy!

You’ll need:

Half-sphere Silicone Baking Pans

• 1 jar of maraschino cherries with stems
• 1 cup orange juice
• 7 1/2 teaspoons of gelatin powder
• 2 cups red wine, your choice!
• Rainbow sprinkles

Coat two mini half-sphere silicone baking pans (the kind with 15 indentations per pan) with a light covering of cooking spray.  Pour the orange juice into a saucepan, and cover it with 2 1/2 teaspoons of gelatin powder.  Heat on low, stirring frequently for approximately 5 minutes.  Immediately fill each half-sphere in the baking pan about 1/3 full with this, then refrigerate for 1/2 an hour.  While waiting, pour your wine into another saucepan (or rinse and reuse the same one) and add 5 teaspoons of gelatin powder.  Heat on low, stirring frequently for 5 minutes.  Remove, and allow to cool.  After the baking pans have cooled in the fridge for 30 minutes, take them out and put a cherry into each half-sphere.  Then, fill each half-sphere to the top with the wine and gelatin mixture.  Put the pans back in the fridge, and chill overnight.  Before serving, sprinkle colored sprinkles on top of each cherry treat.  Enjoy!

A bottle of Marsala wine, courtesy of Wikipedia

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 4 Turkey Cutlets
• 1/3 Cup Marsala Wine
• 3-4 Tbsp. Flour
• 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1/2 Tsp. Black Pepper
• 1/2 Tsp. Salt
• 2 Tsp. Minced Garlic
• 1/3 Cup Chicken Broth
• 2 Tsp. Fresh Chopped Rosemary
• 2 Tbsp. Fresh Chopped Parsley

On a large plate, mix the flour and pepper.  “Dunk” the cutlets in this mixture until they are covered completely with the flour and pepper mix.  Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large pan.  Add the cutlets, cooking each side for about 3 minutes.  Next, move the cutlets to a plate, and stir the garlic into the hot pan, sautéing it for 2 minutes.  Then, add the wine and chicken broth.  Cook on medium for about 4 minutes; some of the wine and broth will evaporate.  Add the rosemary and salt to the pan.  Put the 4 cutlets back into the pan, and cover them with the sauce.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees (usually in 2-4 minutes.)  Place the cutlets on clean serving dishes, cover with sauce, and top with parsley.  Enjoy!  For extra flavor, consider adding 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms or 1/2 cup of sliced scallions to the pan when you add the garlic.

• 1 bottle dry red wine (a Merlot is especially good)
• 1 cup water
• 4 cloves (whole)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 pinch of allspice
• 2 strips of orange peels
• 2 strips of lemon peels

Mix your entire bottle of wine with the water, sugar, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, orange and lemon peels in a saucepan.  Simmer over low heat for 25 minutes.  If desired, add more sugar for a sweeter drink.  A bit of honey can also be added, or even substituted for sugar, for an alternate variation.

And while enjoying your own mulled wine, ponder this profound passage from Marcel Proust’s The Remembrance of Things Past: “When from a long distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but enduring, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid the ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection.”

Red Wine Sauce

This makes a thick, intensely flavored red wine sauce that’s great on red meat.

Ingredients

•1/4 cup shallots, chopped fine

•1 tsp. honey

•1 tsp. paprika

•1 bottle red wine

•1 Tbsp. butter

•1 Tbsp. crushed bay leaves

•1 Tsp. fresh thyme

Directions

1. Sauté the shallots in the butter.

2. Stir in the paprika, bay leaves and thyme and continue to sauté for one or two more minutes.

3. Add the wine, then reduce until only one cup of liquid is left.

4. Add the honey and continue to reduce until thickened, about two or three minutes.

5. Add salt and pepper to taste, then strain to remove the crushed bay leaves.

White Wine Sauce

This white wine sauce is good on pasta or as an accompaniment to most seafood.

Ingredients

•1/4 cup dry white wine

•1 Tbsp olive oil

•2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

•4 cloves crushed garlic

•4 lemons, juiced

•4 Tbsp. butter

•Pinch of nutmeg

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over low heat.

2. Add the olive oil and garlic and sauté until the garlic becomes yellow and aromatic.

3. Add the lemon juice and wine.

4. Raise the heat to medium and reduce the liquid, stirring to prevent the liquid from boiling.

5. Add nutmeg and parsley to the sauce.

6. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Both of these recipes are easy to make, and utilize ingredients most people readily have in their kitchens.  The next time you’re in a rush to make a decent wine-based sauce, give one of these a try.  They may just save the day!

Image courtesty of bbcgoodfood.com