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Wine Lover's Kitchen

I'm pretty sure most of you don't have a fraction of the half-finished bottles I do in my kitchen but I bet you have one or two. And that you don't want - as with other ingredients - to waste them. The solution, of course, is to cook with them and that's what my new book Wine Lover's Kitchen is all about.

You'd expect to find the classics in the book - unsurprisingly they're mainly from wine-producing countries though you probably wouldn't expect to find a chicken korma with wine in it alongside a coq au vin. There are fishy favourites including moules marinières (and chips of course) spaghetti vongole (one of my favourite pasta dishes) and hake with sherry and garlic chips.

There's a three hour ragu (the best I've ever made, I think), an unashamedly trashy macaroni cheese with pulled pork glazed with tawny port and red wine spaghetti (a dairy free spaghetti cooked IN red wine with olives and anchovies)

There's even a cake made with wine - a red wine and chocolate frosted cake. and for those of you who are in the southern hemisphere an alcoholic slush puppie in the form of a frosé - strawberries whizzed up with semi-frozen Californian grenache rosé.

Finally are tips for using leftover wine (don't cook with wine you wouldn't drink) and how to use wine in butters, jams and relishes.

‘Great fun and lots of inspiration here for the post-holiday-season dregs that no one can quite bring themselves to finish’ Jancisrobinson.com

The lovely photographs - one with each recipe - were taken by food photographer Mowie Kay

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Comments: 2 (Add)

Vlad Antropov on May 2 2019 at 11:29

"don't cook with wine you wouldn't drink" - this has to be qualified. I don't drink vinegar but I cook with it. I don't drink soy sauce but I cook with it. The point is that there may be wines that are not good for drinking because, for example, they may be too acidic or too tannic, but this does not automatically mean that they are not good for cooking. On the contrary, high acidity may make the wine a great ingredient in a marinade.

I can also turn this argument the other way round: if one finds herself in possession of 'post-holiday-season dregs that no one can quite bring themselves to finish’, then such wine wasn't worth drinking in the first place. Nevertheless, Jancis cheerfully used such wine in her culinary pursuits. Or is it just a bias of professional wine tasters who have too much good wine around?

Monica Shaw on January 25 2018 at 12:36

I bought this book for Andrew for Christmas and we've made three recipes from it so far - mussels, chicken with tarragon, and the rabbit dish which was absolutely outstanding! Had no idea that the type of wine (beyond red vs white) mattered in cooking. There are loads of recipes here that are great for everyday cooking, and demonstrate how wine can be used to take ordinary dishes to new heights. Looking forward to trying more recipes! (Fish stew next, I think!)

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