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This time you get the recipe for a classic vegetarian red wine sauce. You often eat this sauce with meat, which is also fine, but it also fits perfectly with a fine vegetable dish. And then the question arises what about red wine? What wine do you use for this sauce? How is it made and what about those grapes? Our guest foodie Fleur answers this in this blog, and Francine gives you the recipe for the sauce.
What exactly is red wine?
Red wine is made from blue grapes. The skin of the grape determines the color of red wine and the type of grape variety determines the taste. But the amount of sun and maturation are also factors that play a role in the taste and color of red wine. The longer the bottle matures, the lighter it becomes. Sometimes light orange!
Light red wines
Light red wines are generally made from light blue grapes. The color varies from light orange to light red. They are usually produced in a cooler climate. Let's take Italy as an example. In the north of Italy you will almost only come across light red wines made from, for example, the Nebbiolo and Pinot Nero grapes. While in the south of Italy you will come across almost syrupy, full-bodied red wines made from Negroamaro, Primitivo and Nero d'Avola grapes.
In addition to the grape variety, the aging of a wine also determines a lot for the taste and color. A powerful red wine such as from Bordeaux made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes that is 20 years old gives a very different wine than a wine that has just been bottled. As the wine ages, it becomes lighter or browner in color and the taste changes from primary flavors to secondary flavors. Last summer I was allowed to taste a Chateau Palmer from 1970 (from the Margaux, a municipal appellation in Bordeaux), you never know what you will experience! You smell full of red fruit in combination with leather, coffee and tobacco. Very special to be a part of. Because you rarely come across this combination, the elegant of red fruit versus the rustic of leather, coffee and tobacco. Certainly not with young wines. Then it's one or the other.
Heavy red wine
Examples of dark red wine are Syrah, Malbec and Grenache grapes. These wines usually have more tannins and tend towards the smell of leather and tobacco. You usually do not drink dark red wines with a drink. They are powerful and they lend themselves very well to combined with grilled red meat such as an entrecote from the BBQ. If you are going to make the sauce from this recipe, choose a good wine. It is often written that a cheap wine is fine for in a sauce. Nothing could be further from the truth, from a cheap sour wine you really do not suddenly get a full warm red wine sauce. Of course you don't have to use a Barolo of forty euros, but choose a nice middle class car. We only use half of the bottle, so you can drink the rest with dinner.
White wine from blue grapes
say what? Yes, white wine is also made from blue grapes. As discussed earlier, the skin of the grape gives the color to the wine. So if you squeeze the grape instead of crushing it, you get white juice. What certainly has a lot of influence is the duration of the fermentation with which the skins co-ferment. This is very important for the color. The juice of blue grapes is simply white. Why would they do this? Well… Certain grapes just lend themselves very well to this. The most famous example I can give is Champagne. Champagne can be made from only three types of grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The latter two are red grapes and are found in almost all Champagnes (except in the Blanc de Blancs Champange, which is 100% Chardonnay). Do you want to give this a try but don't immediately buy an "expensive" bottle of Champagne? Then I recommend the Blanc de Noir from Weingut Geil. A fan-tas-tic example of how delicious white sparkling wine can be made from black grapes. wine sauce recipe
Classic vegetarian red wine sauce
So, now you know a little more about red wine and how it is made. There is of course a lot for sale and often by trying and tasting you will find out what your wine is. I myself regularly go on a wine tour, as you have already read. I can wholeheartedly recommend that you do that and learn even more about wine. And now for the recipe, if you still want to go for meat, you can easily replace the stock for a beef stock instead of a vegetable stock. Serve it with tasty grilled vegetables. wine sauce recipe
Classic vegetarian red wine sauce
Here you will find the complete recipe with all the ingredients you need. I hope you have fun preparing the dish below.
Classic vegetarian red wine sauce
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Ingredients:
- 400 ml Red wine - (eg a merlot)
- 180 ml vegetable stock
- 100 gram unsalted butter - (cold from the fridge in cubes)
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 2 shallots
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 bay leaves
- peper
- salt
Nice and easy: click on the logo of your favorite supermarket to add the ingredients.
And this is how you make it:
- Chop the shallots and garlic very finely.
- Take your saucepan and put a little butter in it. Saute the shallots and garlic over low heat until translucent.
- Add the thyme, bay leaf, wine and stock and bring to the boil.
- Reduce until you have half of it left in the pan.
- Strain the sauce through a fine sieve into a bowl or pan.
- Now beat with a whisk the cold cubes of butter through the sauce, they must be really cold because otherwise your sauce can curdle. The sauce is now nice and creamy and gets a beautiful shine through the butter. Taste and season with some salt and pepper if desired.
- Until use, put the saucepan on a heat burner, but do not let the sauce boil.
- Delicious bites!
Delicious Happen is a multi-media company, so you can also find me on various social media. follow me on Facebook, Pinterest en Instagram under @delicioushappen. If you make this recipe I would love it if you tagged me #delicioushappen. A comment below in the comments is also nice of course!
This blog “Classic vegetarian red wine sauce” is a contribution by our guest foodie Fleur Verloo.
Want to read more great wine blog(s) and recipes? Then take a look at the following:
Delicious cheese and wine for Valentine's Day (but also the rest of the year).
Chardonnay blog with mussels au gratin.
On a wine tour with expert Fleur.
Tasty bubbles and lobster dumplings.
A glass of wine on prom night.
Delicious Happen is a multi-media company, so you can also find me on various social media. follow me on Facebook, Pinterest en Instagram under @delicioushappen. If you make this recipe I would love it if you tagged me #delicioushappen. A comment below in the comments is also nice of course!
wine sauce recipe Classic vegetarian red wine sauce
Also a way to finish your wine