Wine can be used in many different ways. One of the most popular ways of including wine in your diet is by making a wine reduction sauce. While there are several steps involved, this sauce is not all that complicated to make.
Start by heating a pan and adding a tablespoon of olive oil and 1/3 cup of diced shallots or onion. If you like you can also add ½ cup of carrots. When your onions release moisture but they have not yet browned, you can add a couple of cloves of diced garlic as well as 1/3 cup of celery if you like. Once everything has browned, you need to pour about ¾ cup of wine into the pan. Scrape the pan regularly while cooking. Remember to use a white wine if you want a light sauce and a red wine for a dark sauce. You can use either for a cream sauce but if you use red wine, your creamy sauce will come out pink.
When the volume of your sauce reduces to about half, you can about another tablespoon of oil. Once the oil is incorporated, you can add a tablespoon of flour and whisk it together. Remember, your sauce will continue to thicken when it cools so don’t make it too thick.
If you like, you can add fresh herbs at this point although it is completely optional. You should also only add about half of the herbs and save the rest for just before you serve your sauce. You can add a total of up to ¼ cup of herbs (divided).
You can now add volume to the sauce unless you want a really concentrated sauce. If you want to increase the volume, add up to one cup of liquid (broth, milk, or cream). A cream sauce will need up to one cup of heavy cream or milk. If you choose milk, you should let it reduce for about 15 minutes. You could make a light sauce by adding up to 1 cup of chicken stock. Beef broth is best for dark sauces. If you are serving your sauce with fish, you can use fish stock.
If you plan on incorporating your sauce with pasta, you should add the pasta at this point. Remember, you don’t want to overcook your pasta! You can even add cheese but you should make sure that you choose the right cheese for your recipe. Different types of cheese work with different meats, for example, so you need to pair your plate properly. If you want to incorporate your sauce with some meat, you can add it at this point and simmer for a few minutes before serving. Finish off with salt, pepper, fresh herbs an anything else you like to adjust the flavours according to your tastes.