Red Wine Sauce (Nov/00)?

[Jen]

Has anyone made the Braised Shallots and Fall Vegetables with Red Wine Sauce (Nov, p. 160)? I'm wondering if the sauce is thin or thick. It sounds like it might make an interesting pasta dish (with the veggies kept in instead of thrown out) - but not if the sauce is thin! Anyone know?

Jen

[Gail]

Jen,

As I write this, the sauce is simmering on the stove (although I'm not planning on serving it till at least tomorrow.) Right now, it's thin, but I suspect that's because I just put it up to simmer and it hasn't had time to boil down, or for the thickening agent to do its thing.

At this point, I'm inclined to doubt that I'd want to retain the veggies, however. The slow-cooking process of chopped veggies pretty much reduces the stuff to a misshapen mush and by the time the whole thing is cooked down, they'll have given up most of their flavor to the sauce.

I'll let you know how it comes out soon as I know... http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[emilycat]

I don't have my issue yet (still at my old address http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif ), but if the long-simmering time is anything like making vegetable stock, you probably won't want to keep the vegetables. I tasted some leeks and onions that were in some stock I made several weeks ago, in the hopes that I could salvage them, but they were utterly flavorless. And I mean really NO taste. Ick.

[Gail]

Okay. Here's my verdict (for what it's worth.)

As I figured, boiling it down, the flour and some of the the mashed veggie (I was a little on the aggressive side with the spoon and strainer) DO thicken the sauce, and I somehow managed to eyeball the final boildown exactly to the required 2 1/2 cups. It isn't thick-- but it will coat the backside of a spoon. If you like it thicker, no law says you can't boil it down a bit more.

Those veggies are there both for flavoring and as a thickening agent-- by the time they've cooked all that time, they've lost all individuality (like in aforementioned soup) and recognizability. It's not the best wine sauce I've ever had, nor is it the worst. While I can't envision it necessarily as something I'd want on my pasta, I do see how it might well work on vegetables. And, I suspect it's the kind of sauce which will be better the next day.

Did I answer your question? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/tongue.gif