What to Cook with One Cup of Red Wine?

[mudbug]

Get more you say? Well, my friend is saving to move to Japan, one of the most expensive cities in the world so that's out.

This wine is what's left in the bottle of a dry red wine blend, he wants to "make something good" with it, something savoury... thought you all may have some ideas. Cooking skills good. Leaning towards Asian influence or Southern influence, but all ideas welcome of course... The more specific you can be, the better.... TIA

[curlywurlyfi]

Hmm, not sure how many Asian dishes use red wine, so my suggestion would be chicken livers sauteed with onions, garlic, bacon, thyme. Deglaze pan with the wine, maybe add a little balsamic if it needs a touch of sweetness.

[carswell]

Although most recipes call for a half bottle or more, your friend could probably stretch his third bottle to make a marchand de vin sauce for an entrecôte (boned rib eye). Fry a 1-lb. steak in butter. Remove it from the pan, season generously with salt and pepper, and set aside (a plate in a warm turned-off oven with its door ajar is perfect). Throw out the butter in the pan. Add 3 minced shallots and sauté until they change colour. Add the wine, turn up the heat, and reduce by 1/3 to 1/2, scraping the pan to free up any tasty bits stuck to the bottom. If the meat has given off any juices, add them too. Off the heat, swirl in small pieces of butter (the French would use several tablespoons worth; you can get away with much less). Correct the seasoning. Pour over the steak and serve with french fried potatoes.

Some people thicken the sauce with corn starch dissolved in a bit of wine; I don't like the texture that gives but your friend's milage may vary. The sauce can also be enriched with demi-glace if you happen to have some lying around.

[suzilightning]

bologenese sauce uses 1/2 cup of wine. double the recipe and invite friends over(it's cool enough here in nw nj to do that this weekend) or make a regular amount and sip the rest of the wine while cooking

good luck to your friend on their journey

[phaelon56]

Poached pears for dessert. I use Asian pears but I'm sure Bosc or Bartlett would do. Use moderately firm ones. Slice them up, throw some star anise, a cinnamon stick and a bit of sugar (Turbinado if you have it) into the wine and poach for thirty minutes or so. Turn it off to let them cool down a bit and serve. Really good with vanilla ice cream. It's probably not acceptable by some folks standards but I refrigerate a poaching liquid like this and reuse few times until it's cooked down too far to cover the fruit. I imagine most any red wine will work but I use the cheap 8 oz screw cap bottles of merlot and it comes out very tasty.

[lala]

While not currently applicable, a tip that's been mentioned on EG before is that you can freeze wine for future cooking. This is great if your'e single, or just not wanting to finish that bottle, but not wanting to waste that last glass. You can either freeze it in a container, adding more as you go, or in ice cube trays, which is great if you regularly use wine to deglaze a sauteed item. Warning: the higher alcohol wines will not freeze all the way through, and will be a bit slushy, due to alcohol's anti-freeze properties.