Author Archives

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Recipe: Red Wine Spaghetti

Are you ever looking for a use for that red wine in your fridge?  You know… the one that didn’t taste quite the way you expected when you brought it home?  I’m sure it doesn’t happen often, but instead of dumping it down the drain, try using it to make a lovely, simple supper for two.

Starting with a large, high sided skillet, heat 2 cups of red wine, 2 cups of water, a half box of spaghetti (half pound total… don’t use angel hair pasta on this one, but you could use linguine if you prefer) and a few pinches of salt.  Heat to boiling and stir occasionally, so the pasta doesn’t stick together.  Cook until pasta is cooked to your liking and most of the liquid has been absorbed or cooked off. Remove from the heat but don’t drain

While the pasta is cooking, I typically will brown up some thin pieces of chicken – tenders, sliced, make a great addition.  If you like, feel free to add some thin sliced onions to the chicken just to add flavor.  If you would prefer to make this more of a vegetarian meal, browning some mushrooms or a mix of veggies would work well here as well.  Add to pasta and lightly toss.

To finish the dish, stir in a thumb of butter (ends up being around 1T, but it looks like the length of a thumb) and some cracked pepper.  I like to add grated cheese (romano or parmesan work well here) at the end to add a finishing touch.

The pasta will be pink, so don’t expect this to be an especially “manly” dish, but the taste should make everyone happy.  It’s simple, pretty, and fairly quick & painless.  This is one recipe to keep on hand for one of those “I need to make dinner in a hurry” nights…

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Recipe: Ali’s Rock Star Tilapia

This recipe uses white wine… I typically use a Vidal Blanc or some sort of off-dry white wine.  James River Cellars makes a Chardonel that I love to pair with Tilapia.  Chardonel is a hybrid grape (made from Chardonnay and Seyval Blanc) that was created at Cornell University in 1953.  You could probably use a Chenin Blanc or a favorite Chardonnay instead?

Start with tilapia fillets – I use as many as I need to feed whomever is going to be there for dinner.  Top the fillets with salt, pepper, and paprika.  You can even use Old Bay…. use whatever spice makes your family happy.  Crush Ritz crackers over each fillet – it really only takes two crackers per fillet, but feel free to use more if you want more of a topping.  Next, thumb some of the wine over the fillet – you’re going for a ‘wetting’ of the fillets, not a drowning, so don’t go crazy.

I now have two options.  Option one is to pop the fillets into the microwave and cook on high for 7-8 minutes, or until the fillets are cooked.  Option two is to top the fillets with small broccoli florets, cover with a damp paper towel and cook on high for 10-12 minutes.  Make sure the fillets are cooked before serving.

I like to serve this with microwaveable brown rice (90 seconds to done)… that way, you’ve just finished making a three-course meal in under 15 minutes and you look like a Rock Star!  (Hence the name, Rock Star Tilapia)

I know there are those out there who are cringing at the thought of cooking fish in the microwave, but honestly, I’m lousy at making fish any other way.  Baking, broiling, grilling are all just beyond me… but I can be a Rock Star with my microwave!

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Recipe: Brownies… with wine

This is probably the single most incredibly easy recipe I could possibly share with you.  Each and every time I mention this in the tasting room, the reaction I get just makes me laugh.  I’m not a scientist and don’t claim to be one, so I have no real clue what it is that wine does to brownies, but let me tell you… they’re incredible.

To make this recipe, you want to find a box of brownie mix.  Not just any brownie mix, but find one that actually calls for the same amount of oil and water in the mix.  Don’t be daunted by the idea that you might not end up using the “name brand”… a generic brand will work just fine.  Keep searching on the back of the box to find one with this ratio.  I have no idea why it’s important, but it is.

Second step?  Replace the water in the recipe with an equal amount of red wine.  Here’s the thing… you can use a dry red wine, like a Cab Franc or a Malbec… you can use something with some Residual Sugar like Hanover Red (from James River Cellars) or Rad Red (from this same winery)… you can use a red Flip Flop wine if that’s what you’ve got on hand.  It’s all up to you.

Next step is to go back to the recipe and continue to follow it through the baking process.  I suggest underbaking these by a little, checking after the first time suggestion on the box.  If a knife, stuck into the middle of the brownies, comes out “mostly clean”, go ahead and take them out of the oven and let them cool.

Once your wine brownies are cool, cut them and enjoy them with your friends and neighbors.  Since the alcohol in the wine is cooked out, these are fine for kids to eat as well… provided they’re allowed to have this kind of chocolate-yummy-goodness.

You’ll probably be asked for the recipe…. feel free to point them toward this blog.  I love sharing my recipes, as you can tell by this blog!

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Tips for Visiting a Winery

So you’ve got some free time coming up and would like to visit a winery? That’s terrific! Wineries love having guests stop by for wine tasting. It’s a great way to get a feel for the winery, in general, and see if you like their wines. A discount wine merchant might have great prices on your favorite wine, but (in my humble opinion) there’s nothing like visiting that winery to give you a true appreciation of everything it has to offer.

I don’t know of any winery that will have all their wines available at a distributor… the idea is to get you to try a wine and enjoy it enough to want to come in for a wine tasting. It’s not any sort of “Bait and Switch”… it’s simply a way for wineries to expose their wines to the public. Wineries still have the wines you enjoyed through a distributor, but there are so many others that it allows you to hone in and find that wine that “sings” for you… makes you smile from first sniff to last drop.

When you make the decision to visit a winery, do a little research before you arrive if you’re able. Check out their Hours of Operation… check out their Tasting Cost… make sure you have driving directions to the winery programmed into your phone or GPS… and make sure you have their phone number in case you get lost. If you’re visiting a Virginia Winery, there are many helpful apps I’ve found, but none more helpful than Virginia Wine In My Pocket (I know… Shameless plug, but I use this app ALL the time!). It’s the best $3.99 you’ll ever spend on an iPhone or Droid app (again, IMHO). Look it up… if you don’t like it, feel free to leave a comment and tell me why.

The day of your winery visit, don’t wear perfume or cologne. This may seem like a silly comment, but the scent you wear could very well affect the way the wine tastes to you. It can also effect the way the wine tastes to others, so please consider refraining from splashing that cologne or spritzing that favorite scent. Remember, your favorite scent may change and if you’d linked it to a wine at your tasting, the taste of the wine could seem “off” the next time you partake…

Bring water and bread, especially if you’re planning to visit more than one winery that day. Water will help keep you cool and hydrated and the bread will help to soak up the alcohol that you’re drinking so you don’t feel quite so intoxicated, especially if you’re going from winery to winery. It’s not going to make you any less drunk, so don’t use this suggestion as your way to keep wine from affecting you.

BRING YOUR ID. It doesn’t matter how old you are; ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Controls) requires (in my own paraphrasing) that you have your ID with you if you are going to consume alcohol. Not all wineries will ask or require that you have your ID on your person, but come prepared. This law was driven home to me when I attended a company holiday party a few years ago at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and was NOT allowed to drink because I’d neglected to bring my driver’s license. If a winery requires everyone show their ID, then it’s helpful if you come prepared.

Once you get to the winery, turn OFF your cell phone and pay attention to the person who is guiding your wine tasting. In most cases, you will be learning a great deal about the wines at each winery. Take advantage of this attention and ASK QUESTIONS about the wines. The only stupid question is the one you didn’t ask….

Take your time to taste each wine but be mindful of your surroundings. If you arrive at a winery in the middle of a rush and have a large group of people behind you, please be considerate of their time (as others were when you arrived) and pay attention during your wine tasting. Everyone wants to have time to savor each wine at a wine tasting and those pouring your wines want you to enjoy your visit as much as possible. If you’ve finished your wine tasting, but haven’t decided what you want to purchase or drink, be considerate and take a step back so that others can take your place at the bar and enjoy their own wine tasting experience. It’s The Golden Rule.. do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Do tell others about your experience at wineries. Word of mouth is so important to small businesses and if you’ve had a great experience at a winery, let everyone know about it! Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and (yes, again) Virginia Wine in my Pocket are terrific avenues for sharing your experience. Additionally, if you didn’t enjoy your tasting at a winery, consider sending them a private message and let them know how they can do a better job at reaching their customers. Whether good or bad, YOUR opinion matters in this industry and you should always feel that you have an avenue for voicing concerns and raising issues if a visit doesn’t go as you expected. Maybe the winery was overwhelmed by visitors and events that day… maybe the volunteer doing your tasting wasn’t yet comfortable with the volume of wines they were describing… maybe it was pouring outside and stuffy in the tasting room, or too crowded, or too cold. Whatever the case, share your opinions. It might change how things are done or handled in the future.

ENJOY YOURSELF! Ultimately, you’re at the winery because you want to try the wines they offer. Have a good time, chat with the people who are pouring your wines, and relax. It’s not rocket science… it’s WINE!

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Beware, I cook using “The Force”

When I was first married, I followed recipes.  I would go to the grocery store with the purpose of picking up specific ingredients for a singular recipe and then go along, step-by-step, to hopefully come out with the picture-perfect dish that would make my new husband swoon with happiness.  After all, wasn’t the way to a man’s heart through his stomach?

It didn’t take me long to realize that this age-old phrase was simply that… a phrase.  The way to my own love’s heart was simply to be part of his life, whether I was cooking dinner in the kitchen or sitting across from him in a restaurant.  It wasn’t the three-course meal that was important; it was the thought behind the preparation… the plan behind the action… the love that was shown simply by paying attention and trying.

So I started to “wing it” when it came to food.  I know there are those of you who are cringing right now… cooking is a science and should be treated as such.  As much as I do agree that there’s a huge amount of science that goes along with cooking the right ingredients and the right temperature to achieve the right result, I also would insist that cooking existed for millions of years before we had oven thermometers and Pyrex measuring cups.  I simply don’t want to be tied down to a full-on planned recipe every time I want to make dinner.  It’s just not “me”…

So, I use “The Force” when I cook.  You know, the reference from Star Wars?  “May The Force be with you”?  I look to recipes for ideas, inspiration, and basic constructs of a dish… and then I branch out.  Sure it’s scary sometimes… but when it all comes together and makes a meal that everyone agrees is a WINNER, it’s a totally hyped experience.  Yes, there are those times when the recipe fails miserably, but thankfully those have become fewer and fewer over the years.

Take my chocolate chip cookie recipe, for example.  I started out using the standard Toll House Cookie recipe from the back of the package.  It’s tasty… it’s traditional… and it’s what everyone uses when they first start out making cookies.  It just started getting boring to make the same recipe over and over again.  My chocolate chip cookie recipe is a bit more “flamboyant”… for lack of a better word.  I’ve learned that I like to have some unique ingredients in my recipe, to add different back-notes of flavors to the cookie.  Over the years, my recipe has included chili powder, ground ginger, almond extract, espresso, blood orange balsamic vinegar, and yes… WINE.   Lest you think that I’ve abandoned the focus of my blog so soon, I will say that I do add red wine to my chocolate chip cookie dough.   It adds a lovely fudginess to the cookies and my guys seem to love it, which is why I’ll probably be making another double batch of dough to keep in the fridge before the weekend rolls around.

Many people like recipes to read like directions (step 1, step 2, step 3, etc) while others tend to allow for some creativity to flow when following a recipe.  It’s seen as more of a guideline than a directive.  For those of you who fall into the second category, you will understand my recipes much easier than those of you who crave the specifics of teaspoons, tablespoons, and quarter cups of ingredients.  In any case, I hope that you find some entertainment value in my cooking… I believe that it’s the journey that’s just as important as the final dish or destination.

Try using The Force in your cooking sometime… you might find a creative soul just waiting for the opportunity to shine!

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A little about me…

I’ve been contemplating a wine blog for awhile now… working at a winery can do that for a person… so I might as well jump into the pool and start sharing the recipes and information that I’ve gained over the past few years. To prelude this, I should share my story, in case it might seem a bit familiar to some.

I started going on wine tastings and tours in 2010, when my best friend gave me a tasting/tour/lunch for my birthday. It was one of the most fun things we could have done at that time and I was hooked. Hearing about the grapes, seeing how and where they were made into wine, and then actually sipping wines that tasted good to me gave me insight into something I hadn’t realized I was missing. This was an activity that I could enjoy doing any time…. I didn’t have to wait for a season to start or for a game to begin or for another person’s schedule to open up. I could learn and enjoy wine anytime I wanted… what a concept.

Since then, I have visited many, many wineries both in Virginia and in other states. I began spending more time at a local winery (James River Cellars winery) and subsequently was hired to work there. I’ve included a link to my favorite local winery on this blog so please feel free to check it out if you have a moment. I have branched out from my normal cooking and have begun adding wine into all sorts of recipes (which is primarily why this blog began). I have attended a few festivals and had the opportunity to continue learning more about wine.

I plan to post recipes and helpful hints here…. maybe something will click for you and let you expand your own thoughts about wine.

It’s been a fun year… from the bottom of a wine bottle. Join me, won’t you?