Easy Recipes to Cook with Wine

When you cook with wine, you can unlock certain flavors that only awaken when you involve alcohol. There are several notable recipes that incorporate vino and we invite you to try your hand at adding some wine to the cooking routine. Just remember the cornerstone rule of cooking with wine; always cook with a wine you like to drink by itself.

Grilled Cheese & Wine

Ingredients

• Bread, French, 2 slices
• Butter, 1-2 tbsp
• Onion, red, 1/2, chopped
• Garlic, 1, minced
• Rosemary, dash
• Thyme, dash
• Flour, 1 tbsp
• Wine, red, 3/4 cup
• Cheese, Gruyere, 1/2 cup

Directions

1. Melt butter in a pan set to medium heat.
2. Add onion to the butter.
3. After the onion begins to soften and turn translucent, add the garlic, thyme and rosemary. Saute the mixture for a few minutes.
4. Add the flour, mixing as you go. Once the flour has fully combined, add the wine.
5. Reduce until the alcohol has burned away and the reduction is able to coat a spoon. Make sure to taste for the loss of alcohol.
6. Spread the reduction on each slice of bread, then add the Gruyere and apply butter to the outside of each slice.
7. Grill within the pan, on medium heat, until you reach a golden brown.

Slow-Cooked Mediterranean Meatloaf

Ingredients

• Beef, ground, 1.11 cups
• Onion, small, 1, peeled and diced
• Sauce, tomato, 1.5 cups
• Wine, red, 6.75 tbsp
• Bacon rashers, 4, unsmoked
• Cheese, cheddar, 1 oz
• Mustard, 1 tsp
• Garlic puree, 1 tsp
• Oregano, 1 tsp
• Paprika, 1 tsp
• Thyme, 1 tsp
• Parsley, 1 tsp
• Salt & Pepper, to taste
• Optional: Herbs, fresh

Directions

1. Add seasonings, beef and onion into a large mixing bowl. Use your hands to mix everything together.
2. Turn the mix onto a clean area and pat it own so that resembles rolled out pastry.
3. Chop the cheese and spread it along the midsection of your meatloaf, then wrap everything up like a sausage.
4. Insert the meatloaf into a slow cooker set to low and that has been lined with a tablespoon of olive oil.
5. Mix the wine and tomato sauce together and surround, but not cover, the meatloaf with the blend.
6. Place the bacon atop the meatloaf so that it completely obscures the meatloaf beneath it.
7. Cook for 4 hours, just until the center is fully cooked.
8. Serve however you like (possibly with roasted vegetables).

Red Wine Chorizo Bites

Ingredients

• Oil, olive, 2 tbsp
• Sausage, chorizo, 16 oz, cut into 1″ slices.
• Wine, red, 3/4 cup
• Bread, artisan, loaf, fresh

Directions

1. Apply oil to a large non-stick skillet placed on a medium-heat eye.
2. Once the pan is hot, add the chorizo. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, just until the sausage turns a light shade of brown.
3. Add the wine and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, just until the wine reduces and the chorizo has fully cooked.
4. Serve these bites with the bread and enjoy it immediately.

White-Wine Braised Chicken

Ingredients

• Oil, olive, 1 tbsp
• Thighs, chicken, 4
• Drumsticks, chicken, 4
• Kosher salt
• Pepper, black, freshly ground
• Shallots, 4, sliced
• Cloves, garlic, 4, peeled and crushed
• Thyme, 4 sprigs
• Wine, white, dry, 3/4 cup
• Broth, chicken, low-sodium, 2 cups

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 425°F.
2. Add oil to either a Dutch oven or other heavy-lidded pot placed over a medium-high heat stove-top eye.
3. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, cooking until it reaches a golden brown color-around 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.
4. Add the shallots and garlic to the pot and cook, constantly stirring them, until they begin to soften up (around 2 minutes). Add the thyme and wine and bring everything to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat and allow it to simmer until the liquid reduces by two-thirds of its original amount. This should take around 4 minutes.
6. Return the chicken, skin-side up, to the pot and add the broth. Bring everything to a simmer, cover it up and move the pot to the oven.
7. Braise until the chicken is fully cooked and tender, somewhere around 20-25 minutes.
8. Remove the lid and allow the bird to continue cooking within the oven until the point that its skin crisps, around 8-10 minutes.

Red Wine and Cocoa Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients

• Yogurt, Greek, plain, 2 cups
• Wine, red, 3/4 cup
• Honey, 1/2 cup
• Cocoa, unsweetened, 1/4 cup
• Chocolate, dark, shaved

Directions

1. Whisk everything but the shaved chocolate together in a large bowl.
2. Transfer the thorough mixture to an ice cream machine and churn as it instructs.
3. When done churning, relocate the mix to a freezer-safe vessel and leave it in the freezer for half an hour.
4. Garnish with the shaved dark chocolate.

So there you have it; several recipes that incorporate wine while still keeping the cooking process relatively simple. While there are plenty of other recipes out there for you to cook with wine, feel free to use these examples as inspiration and try some of these recipes for yourself or for your family. Just remember, red wine pairs with red meat and white with white.