Leftover Wine! ~ 18 Ways to Use it Up Deliciously
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When thinking about writing this post I made a note to myself to explain the term “leftover wine” but I just can’t – it seems to be an oxymoron. I suppose it could happen so if, inexplicably, you do have leftover wine here are my thoughts and ideas.
Leftover Wine Generally
~ My first idea ~ if it’s still good enough to drink, drink it!
~ Freeze it! Do so in ice cubes and you have a ready to use as a a “splash of wine” to add to your cooking as and when you need it.
~ Add to a pan sauces. These quick, easy and delicious sauces certainly benefit from a bit of vino.
~ Similarly stir into gravy. See my easy way to make real gravy here and act accordingly.
~ Braises, Stews and Casseroles all take kindly to a little wine.
~ Add a little wine at the start of cooking risotto – apparently it should be lightly warmed so as not to shock the rice when adding to the pan!
I
Wine Vinegar
Sometimes wine turns to vinegar without any help at all but here are a few guidelines so as to have a better chance of success.
The reason I say organic vinegar is that this is more likely to contain strands of vinegar ‘mother’ in it.
a bottle of organic vinegar
2 sterilised jam jars
leftover wine
~ Put 2½ cm of the vinegar into each jar and allocate one for white wine and one for red.
~ Pour leftover wine into the appropriate jars and cover with cheesecloth secured with a rubber band.
~ Store at room temperature topping up with leftover wine as it occurs, the liquid in the jars will evaporate so it is important to keep adding to it.
~ After about a week test the vinegar and as soon as it tastes good to you it is ready to use.
If a new vinegar mother has formed in the jar use it to start a fresh batch.
Leftover Red Wine
Chorizo in Red Wine
This is a delicious way of cooking chorizo and delicious on toast with a little Boursin!
Gastrique
This is a useful reduction of wine, sugar and water which adds a great boost to dishes, and is also great drizzled over blue cheese, added to pan juices. Once you’ve made your gastrique you can then make …
Caramelised Wine Vinaigrette
Whisk together 60ml red wine gastrique and 120ml olive oil, add a squeeze of lemon juice and season to taste.
Wine Glazed Shallots
These are lovely as a side to cheese, steak etc. and good on pizza.
Mulled Wine Syrup
This is truly the best way of making mulled wine and very useful to have in the storecupboard.
Pears Baked in Red Wine
6 not quite ripe pears – Comice are particularly good
250ml red wine
50g cold butter
100g soft light brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
~ Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/180ºC fan/gas 6.
~ In an ovenproof dish of size to hold the pears snugly in one layer, melt together the wine, butter and sugar.
~ Peel the pears and add to the pan turning to coat.
~ Add the cinnamon stick.
~ Cover the pan (foil will do) and bake for half an hour.
~ Remove from the oven and turn the pears in the juices.
~ Cover and continue baking till soft and tender – about 40 minutes.
Serve warm with clotted cream or ice cream.
~ Mulled wine syrup is the best way of making mulled wine and very useful to have in the storecupboard.
Leftover White Wine
Make a spritzer
Just a little white wine topped up with sparkling water.
Fromage Fort
This is a French potted cheese which uses leftover cheese and leftover white wine!
The recipes for potted cheese and fromage fort are here.
French Onion Soup
Somewhat surprisingly, is made with white wine.
White Wine Vinaigrette
Substitute white wine for some or all the vinegar in the basic vinaigrette recipe here and adjust the flavour with honey and lemon juice.
Onion, White Wine & Parmesan Tagliatelle
3 x 225g onions
45g butter
60ml dry white wine
500g dried tagliatelle
45g freshly grated Parmesan
freshly ground black pepper
a handful of chopped parsley
~ Cook the onions my favourite way, which is really good, until they are utterly tender.
~ Add the wine and simmer till it has disappeared.
~ Cook the tagliatelle in plenty of salted boiling water.
~ Drain and toss with the winey onions and grated cheese.
~ Taste and season using plenty of pepper then toss together with the parsley so that it looks as good as it tastes
Oh and see here for ideas if you have some leftover port!!
Lots of ideas and recipes for using up leftovers of all sorts in my book Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers.
Suzy Bowler
Having been a somewhat itinerant chef for over 30 years I was amazed, on my return to the UK, at the blatant food waste that now seems to be rife in the country; amazed and irritated. So much so that I decided to start a blog about spontaneous cooking from leftovers to show people that there are great alternatives to throwing food away.
